Similarities Between Babylon Revisited And The Great Gatsby

F Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “[m]ostly, we authors must repeat ourselves—that's the truth. We have two or three great moving experiences in our lives—experiences so great and moving that it doesn't seem at the time that anyone else has been so caught up and pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before” (Fitzgerald, “One”). The idea that one experience so deeply affects an author that he or she will retell the story in different ways is seen in F Scott Fitzgerald book The Great Gatsby and the short story “Babylon Revisited”. The parallel between the two pieces of literature is clearly shown through many aspects. F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great

Gatsby and “Babylon Revisited” share similarities that can be seen through the characters, plot, as well as theme.
There is a couple in each story that closely resemble one another. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy and her husband Tom share their characteristics with Helen and her husband Charlie from “Babylon Revisited”. Both female characters are not treated very well by their husbands. The females both represent the light; Helen’s name means light while Daisy is known for her light across the bay. The two females kiss other men which ultimately lead to their downfall in the stories. The husbands show many parallels to one another. Charlie’s name means manly while Tom is the perfect portrayal of the sport star of a man; there is an underlining idea that these two characters are true “real” man with everything that entails. Both men do not have to worry about money and therefore live recklessly with no regard for anyone else. Tom has a mistress and the insinuation that Charlie is having an affair is present, if not physically at least emotionally. In both stories the two relationships live careless, worry free high lives with money. Both relations are portrayed as high class during the 1930.
The mistresses in both stories are alike in minor ways. In The Great Gatsby Myrtle is Tom’s mistress while in “Babylon Revisited” Lorraine is shown as having an emotional affair with Charlie but possibly more. Both mistresses indulge in drinking as well as the desire to live a lavished life. The two women are seen as cheap and convenient by the men of their desires. Neither man will leave his wife even given the opportunity for his mistress. The wives may be aware of the affair but do not majorly intervene.
As the story “Babylon Revisited” unravels; the character Charlie begins to resemble Jay from The Great Gatsby. Charlie is trying to regain hiss loss love which is his daughter while Jay is trying to regain his loss love of Daisy. The purpose of their lives become trying to regain the loss love. Both come close to their dream of regaining the loss love but in the end do not succeed. The two men try to reform their old ways in order to be worthy enough of their loves. Jay transforms by gaining wealth in any way possible. Charlie transforms by only drinking once a day and cutting ties with his wild friends. When the two are denied their dream both men decide to keep pursuing with a sense of hope. Even though the characters are seen as a belligerent and outlaw, the reader has a sense of compassion.
The plot in “Babylon Revisited” and The Great Gatsby show an abundance of parallels.

The protagonist in both stories is focused on winning back the girl that was once his. The idea is shared by the protagonists that if they won the girl back that it would recapture a happier past and wipe away the intervening three years. The protagonist is defeated on the verge on of capturing their dream. Both stories have a climax of confrontation. In The Great Gatsby, Jay tries to coach Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him, which led to Tom confronting Jay about where the money is from. In “Babylon Revisited”, drunk Lorraine and Duncan show up at the house where Charlie is trying to get custody of his daughter. After the confrontations the protagonist goes to the windows of the women they love. Jay waits outside Daisy’s window to make sure she is alright. Charlie while outside looks up at his daughter’s window with hope for the future.
In The Great Gatsby and “Babylon Revisited” there is a copious amount of common themes. Love is a major seen in both literatures whether it a pure love or a tragic love. There is a pure yet tragic love between Charlie and his daughter Honoria. The same can be seen Jay and his lost romance with Daisy. The burden of the past and the ending situation keep the pure love as nothing more than a tragic

love.
Another large theme in both is greed and envy. Greed can be seen in the context of the desire for money. In The Great Gatsby, Jays envy leads to a greed for money. Jay becomes a criminal in order to obtain money, in which he saves enough to be wealthy to impress Daisy. In “Babylon Revisited”, Helen’s sister is envy of all the money that Charlie has. Greed is also seen in both stories as the children are neglected. Charlie’s daughter Honoria and Tom’s daughter Pammy are completely disregarded by both parents. The drinking and recklessly also ties into the neglect of responsibilities such as the daughters. The high living lifestyles show recklessness for the future and others.
A great theme in both stories is one of self-mastery. In “Babylon Revisited”, Charlie is an alcoholic that cutes down to one drink a day. In The Great Gatsby, Jay completely transforms his poor “nobody” life into a life of lavished living and wealth. One last large theme is classes. Each story portrays the different social classes through wealthy characters and underprivileged characters. The Great Gatsby has an array of wealthy characters such as Tom, Daisy and Jordan. To contrast the wealthy characters is the underprivileged such as Myrtle. Jay can be seen as low class until he works his way to a higher social class. “Babylon Revisited” has the same idea with wealthy characters such as Charlie, Helen, Lorraine, and Duncan. The lower class to these characters would be Helen’s sister. Charlie can be seen fluctuating classes by starting at a high class; dropping to low class and working hard to regain his high status.
Characters, plot and theme all tie together to show that F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and “Babylon Revisited” share many commonalities. There is clear connection between the main characters in The Great Gatsby and “Babylon Revisited”. Daisy and Toms relationship is a reflection of Helen and Charlie. The affairs are present in both stories. As “Babylon Revisited” goes on the character Charlie is seen to change more into replicating Jay from The Great Gatsby. The plot in both stories is almost identical with a minor change. Both protagonists are trying to regain a lost love which in “Babylon Revisited” is a daughter and in The Great Gatsby is a past lover. In both plots the climax is a confrontation that leads to the main character not earning back the loss love. An abundance of themes can is present in both stories. Love, greed, envy, drinking, recklessness, and self-mastery are only a few examples of shared themes but there are many more. F Scott Fitzgerald made a great point about authors experiencing one event so powerfully that authors retell that story over and over but in different ways. The Great Gatsby and “Babylon Revisited” are a perfect example of an author retelling the same story but altered slightly because of the numerous parallels.