Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And The Catcher In The Rye

wiped out forever.”(Fitzgerald 139) Gatsby could not absorb the fact that Daisy has been married to Tom for years and they have a child. Gatsby believed he was the only one she loved just like she was the only one he loved. He expected too much of her, he expected her to be perfect, like she was in his dreams. The truth is that she would be lying if she told Tom she never loved him. He was naive to think she was not happy at times with her husband and the life they have together. Both Holden and Jay are trying to preserve their past loves. The difference between the two is that Holden is terrified of the effects of the real world and what they could have on the things he loves. While wandering through a museum he often visited as a child, Holden

They cannot obtain what they desire. Holden realizes he is falling. He blames his downfall on society and the influences of the adult world but truthfully he is just hypersensitive to reality. In his mind he believes life is unenjoyable when one starts to understand everything about reality. This thought process is what causes him to latch onto tiny details that do not allow him to live his life happily. During a conversation with his little sister, Holden is asked what he wants to be when he is older and he provides her with an unrealistic answer:

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy." (Salinger

Holden desperately wants to preserve children’s innocence and he wants to be guaranteed that people’s motives will always be pure. Of course, that is nearly impossible. His outlook on the world is childish and unrealistic, which exposes him to self-destruction. In some ways Gatsby’s downfall is quite similar to Holdens. Jay Gatsby’s entire existence is one big delusion and he is simply blinded to the fact that his made-up life is spiraling downhill. Gatsby is so sure that his past with Daisy can be rekindled or simply resumed. With this fantasy outlook he goes to unbelievable lengths to try and win over Daisy, such as: living in a mansion close to her home, flashing his great deal of money by throwing wild parties, buying expensive suits and colourful cars. Through all of this he believes Daisy is going to leave her husband for him. The narrator of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway engages in a conversation with Gatsby outside of Daisy’s home after their trip to New York: “‘How long are you going to wait?’ ‘All night, if