Great Gatsby Compare And Contrast Essay

“The Great Gatsby” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley” each tells a tale of upward mobility, wherein the triumph of the protagonists is due to their futuristic, imaginative, and theatrical personalities, which were built upon a desire to compensate for their origins; these specific characteristics cause Jay Gatsby and Thomas Ripley to find that reality falls short of their dreams. Each of the two men follows a path that leads to success at certain level, but failure in the ultimate satisfaction they sought. Their individual histories give them a reason to rise, and their mental capacity for imagining the future give them the capability to do so. When it comes to living in the reality they achieved both struggle with the flaws that refuse to line up with their dreams.

Tom Ripley’s past is one of degradation targeted at him by his primary guardian, Aunt Dottie. While, Tom has grand plans for his future, he blames his Aunt for his low social status and his incapability of holding a job. As he sails from New York to Europe, he remembers his

Almost to the day when they would be together, he is only waiting for Daisy to leave Tom Buchanan, and to explain that her love was always, and only, for Gatsby. When Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy are caught in a discussion of who Daisy loves, she says to Gatsby, “Oh you want too much! I love you now-- isn’t that enough? I did love him once-- but I loved you too” (Fitzgerald 133). Until the moment when he asked her to love only him, she was willing to run away with him, but when he asked her to pretend the last five years of her life simply hadn’t happened she couldn’t do that. Daisy couldn’t renounce Tom, and Gatsby couldn’t be satisfied with her loving him too. He had to have all of her affection, because that’s how he imagined the scene playing out. Gatsby never pictured the scenario going any other way, because he couldn’t accept the reality of the situation, he lost