Text – to – text connections:
The
novel, The Great Gatsby, revolves around
a love affair between two old friends, Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. In the
end, Jay Gatsby’s life results in a tragic death for the woman he has always
loved. Mirroring the same outcome of death is the famous play, Romeo
and Juliet, written by Shakespeare. In this
ever-so-popular play, Romeo, a naïve Montague boy falls in love with Juliet, a
young Capulet girl. When the play comes to a closing, both Romeo and Juliet
have taken their lives for the person they loved most. Both pieces of
literature, so strikingly similar, contribute a theme of helplessness and guilt
after realizing the one you care for most will never completely be yours.
Another
text-to-text connection can be made between The Great Gatsby and Looking For Alaska, written by John Green. In Looking For
Alaska, an inexperienced boy by the
nickname “Pudge” becomes infatuated with an outgoing yet deeply unhappy girl
named Alaska. However, Alaska is involved in a long-distance relationship with
a guy she claims she loves. As the
book goes on, Alaska dies in a terrible car accident. After discovering Alaska
is forever gone, “Pudge” becomes consumed with thoughts of her absence. Again,
the theme of vulnerability presents itself. Once a person finds someone that
seems to be so insanely perfect, no one else can compare.
I admire the connection you made between The Great Gatsby and Romeo and Juliet. You supported it very well by explaining your connection and this idea didn't cross my mind when I read this book. I now see that Gatsby took the fault for Myrtle's death to save his true love Daisy, in the same manner that Romeo and Juliet were willing to die if they could not be with one another. I credit your ability to make this connection between these two texts and I feel that you presented your idea well.
ReplyDeleteI too really appreciated the connection between this text and Romeo and Juliet. I do feel, however, that in the end it is not so much the love that Gatsby has, like Romeo's, for his significant other (Daisy/Juliet), as Juliet is faithful to Romeo all along and they die explicitly for each other and because they cannot love each other, whereas Daisy is a completely reckless person, who ends up getting Gatsby killed in her own pursuit of self satisfaction. Daisy is shallow and lives only to bask in the wealth and romance presented and provided to her by others, and Gatsby is merely entranced by her game. It is my opinion that Daisy would be completely willing to try this ploy on anyone else, but she feels that Gatsby is the pinnacle of wealth and glory, which at the time, in New York, is somewhat true. That is as far as I'm concerned the only reason she is at all faithful to him. Lust, not love as in Romeo and Juliet, turns out to be everyone's downfall in Gatsby. The pieces still do bear many of the similarities you described, like the despair of loss (especially in George Wilson's character, where his love for the one he has lost (Myrtle) drives him to insanity and prompts him to take his own life, as Romeo does in the end.
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