Jane Eyre Compared to the Great Gatsby - 1299 Words

Jane Eyre and The Great Gatsby The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald can be compared by what is valued by each character in the novel. Prestige, wealth, and education are some of the few things deemed important in each novel. In Jane Eyre, there is the notion that social status is analogous to wealth. During the novel, Jane is a poor girl who never holds any distinguished positions. As she is planning her wedding, Jane is worried because she cant offer Rochester beauty, money, or connections, but when she discovers her cousins and receives an inheritance, she slowly moves into a position of equality with her true love, Edward Rochester. However, in The Great Gatsby, there is a separation†¦show more content†¦As a mistress and rich woman, she is now equal with Rochester and as a result is able to marry him. Like Jane, Jay Gatsby lacks the equality needed to rekindle a relationship with the love of his life. However, unlike Ja ne, Gatsby is already rich and is longing for a true identity with which he can become a prominent figure in society. Gatsby was a Lieutenant stationed at the base near Daisys home when they started dating and fell in love. Gatsby lied to Daisy and let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself (Fitzgerald 156). He told her that he was a wealthy and prestigious man who can take care of her. Gatsby was soon called off to the war and Daisy promised to wait for him. She ends up marrying Tom Buchanan who has a solid social position and the approval of her parents. Since then, Daisy has moved on with her life with Tom in East Egg, but Gatsbys obsession with her has only grown. Nick learns of Gatsbys fixation when Jordan tells him that Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay (Fitzgerald 83). His fixation with her has caused him to completely change his life to try to be near her. Like Jane Eyre, Gatsby longs for a position of equality with his loved one. When Gatsby was young, he worked on a yacht owned by a wealthy man named Dan Cody. Gatsby immediately fell in love with wealth and luxury, and when Cody died, heShow MoreRelatedHow To Write Literary Analysis4174 Words   |  17 Pagesany contradictions or ironies? Great works of literature are complex; great literary essays recognize and explain those complexities. Maybe the title (Happy Days) totally disagrees with the book’s subject matter (hungry orphans dying in the woods). Maybe the main character acts one way around his family and a completely different way around his friends and associates. If you can find a way to explain a work’s contradictory elements, you’ve got the seeds of a great essay. At this point, you don’t