The Great Gatsby Comparison Contrast Final Exam Essay (American Lit Class)

by : Raditya Darningtyas

 

The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. Taking place in a fictional town on the Long Island, Fitzgerald was trying to depict the reality of wealth communities behind their lavish parties and luxurious houses. This story focuses mostly on Jay Gatsby, a rich man who lives in a big mansion next to the house the narrator of this story.  Throughout the novel, Gatsby is trying to rekindle his love with a woman from his past. Unfortunately the woman he loves, Daisy, has married to another rich yet arrogant man named Tom Buchanan.  Both the men love Daisy and refuse to let her go. As the result, they make some bad decisions in term of morality to win Daisy.  But they also show some differences between them in the way they try to achieve their goals. That is Gatsby to win Daisy back, and Tom, to keep Daisy on his side.  While persistency in pursuing our dream is mostly perceived as a good thing, it could also lead people to an upsetting disillusionment when they choose to break the rules to achieve their dreams.

The fact that all upper class people possess lots of money doesn’t necessarily means they are all alike. In the story we know that both Gatsby and Tom are wealthy, but they come from two very different backgrounds. Tom was born rich.  He comes from old money and he is used to this leisurely high class lifestyle. Nick Carraway knows him since their college and describes him as a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence who comes from a wealthy family and even in college his freedom with money was a matter of reproach (6). In contrast with Gatsby, who originally come from a poor family and he was actually working hard to earn his fortunes. So, Gatsby never takes his wealth for granted. At the time of Gatsby’s funeral, Nick read Gatsby’s old book and find Gatsby’s old general resolves; No Wasting Time, read one improving magazine or book every week (173). Nick found out that Gatsby was a diligent hard working man who was willing to improve himself even though he later uses illegal way and break the rules to build up his money. This difference between Tom and Gatsby affect their personality furthermore the way they handle things

Their different backgrounds result in different personalities and moral characters that later influence the bad choices they make in the story. Tom is an arrogant man who often shows off his power.  It makes him used to be in a position where he feels he is above another person. It even turns him into an ignorant racist who spread bad racialist ideas during lunch when Nick visits his house. Tom talks about how he and others on the table as the dominant race on the planet should do something before other race take control of the world (13). He also tries to get everything he wants without really having to bear the consequences. Just like having Myrtle as his mistress but can’t accept the fact that his action also results in Daisy’s affair with Gatsby (130). On the other hand, Gatsby has never shown any single behavior or statement that suggests he is an arrogant person. Gatsby never looks down on people. Instead he appears to be a timid person when he runaway during the first time he meets Tom (74). Gatsby is a romantic and hopeful person who defines optimism incorrectly. Gatsby believes that he could get Daisy back and change the past (110). Changing the past is an impossible thing to do because one can’t simply erase what has happened. So it makes him uneasy about Daisy’s statement that she loved Tom too. If only Gatsby feels contented that Daisy is willing to be with him without pressuring her to say she never loves Tom, i think Gatsby might have won the competition. However, Gatsby made the wrong choice and he has to die. Tom also makes wrong choice but somehow he never really has to bear any consequences.

Both Gatsby and Tom share the same ambition to have Daisy for themselves. Tom, who takes everything for granted, treat Daisy as a trophy and even cheats on her from the beginning of their marriage (15). Tom thoughts he has everything therefore he can do whatever he wants. He never realized before that Daisy is actually capable of leaving him. Gatsby tries to build up all his money and glamorous wealth to be able to make his dream comes true. He thought that Daisy has always loves him only and the only thing that makes them unable to be together is his poverty in the past. He believes that being wealthy and part of the upper class society would make Daisy instantly be with him. He can’t accept that no matter how much money he has, something that has happened cannot be erased completely. These dreams they shared result in their disillusionment about what they believe they can achieve while in fact the reality proves they can’t.

In United States, especially at that time period people have this idea of American Dreams. Whoever can get their dreams as long as they work hard toward it. However this book proves different. Gatsby works hard to get his dream including doing illegal things and he dies at the end. While Tom, a rich person from he was born doesn’t have to bear as hard consequences as Gatsby has, even though Tom also did cheating on Daisy which is as bad as doing illegal business. All these remind us again, that the way we chase our dream must be good and we never should sacrifice morality just to get what we believe we can achieve. Nick is the only character that survives all this drama in life because he has been maintaining his honesty and sense of morality.