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Comparing The Great Gatsby and Ethan Frome

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The Great Gatsby and Ethan Frome are a novel and a movie written by two different authors, during two different time periods and may have seemed completely different. The main characters in these books, Ethan Frome and Jay Gatsby, appeared to be two distinct people, but in one aspect or another came together as one. Isolation from society, silence, and desire for something they cannot have are three similarities that bring these characters together.
Both Jay and Ethan suffer from isolation in society, great loneliness, and emptiness, never ending up achieving their dreams. Everything that Jay Gatsby has done in his adult life has been with the sole purpose of fulfilling the more unrealistic of dreams – to recapture the past. However, as he grew into a young man he had little to nothing, having voluntarily estranged himself from his family, and was left on his own to reinvent himself. Although he became a different man, changing his name from Jimmy Gatz to Jay Gatsby, becoming extremely successful, and throwing extravagant and outrageous parties all the time, Gatsby was still in a sense, alone. Ever since he moved to his house on West Egg. Long Island, even though he would see thousands of people at his house every week, Gatsby was more alone than ever. He did not have any close friends and people did not know much about him. People often made up rumours about the “Great” Jay Gatsby and never thought twice about making things up because Mr. Gatsby would never know who made

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