Comparison Between Holden And Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is set in the 1920s while The Catcher in the Rye is set in the 1950s. Despite the time periods being 30 years apart, both novels depict the American Dream in similar ways through the protagonist. The Great Gatsby follows the story of young man, Jay Gatsby, trying to win back his former love interest, Daisy, through his acquisition of wealth. The Catcher in the Rye is narrated by a male teenager, Holden Caulfield, and follows the story of how he ended up in a mental hospital. The concept of the American Dream is displayed in each novel. The authors of The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye use the American Dream to motivate the protagonist to try and achieve unattainable dreams. However, only Holden realizes his dream

In The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden tries to find the truth of himself by being surrounded with lies he tells. He feels the need to lie rather than tell the truth because Holden wants to change. Holden believes lying is better than telling the truth because people won’t know who he really is. Along with telling lies, Holden also calls people, especially adults, phonies. Holden hides true self by living in a corrupted life of lies.

Two characters that may have struck the audience to have nothing in common but internally have many similarities. They might have completely different actions in situations, different looks on the way of life, and different goal in the end of their time, but are very similar in certain aspects. These two characters are Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway. Jay Gatsby is a middle aged man that came from nothing but has now has worked his way to have “everything.” He came from a poor family but became incredibly rich. He did not achieve his success in the best way, but he made it. He owns a huge mansion on West Egg that he would have never been able to afford in his past. Nick Carraway is the narrator of the story. So, the readers get to actually hear

Alienation can be defined as a state of being cut off or separate from a person or group of people. There are many factors that cause people to become alienated: race, political views, social status, etc. The texts “The Great Gatsby”, “The Catcher in the Rye”, and the play “Death of a Salesman” all portray characters who are cut off from the rest society. Despite the character's best effort to fit in, they ultimately fail. The authors argue that one's ideology can cause them to be alienated.

In order to attain his wealth, Gatsby creates this identity by bootlegging. There are multiple rumors and stories that go around about his previous life, and what he has done. People who have never even met him say that “he’s a bootlegger” (61). However, to cover up his confidential business, he is deceived as an enhanced version of his actual self. Instead of telling the truth, he tells people that he “was brought up in America but educated at Oxford” (65). Gatsby says this so that he sounds more important and successful. People aren’t supposed to

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is a man who can be compared to Holden Caulfield from J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Jay Gatsby and Holden Caulfield are both caught up in their unattainable dreams and first love and as a result struggle with an obsession of their past.

Holden contemplates moving out west by himself to fulfill his desire of independence, leaving Phoebe, the only person who truly cares for him, behind in the process. When Holden returns home from Pencey, he explains to Phoebe that he got expelled from school. Phoebe expresses her great concern for Holden’s safety from their father, but Holden reassures her he has a plan. He tells her “In the first place, [he’s] going away. What [he] may do, [he] may get a job on a ranch or something for a while. [he knows] this guy whose grandfather’s got a ranch in colorado. [He] may get a job out there… [He’ll] keep in touch with [Phoebe] and all when [he’s] gone, if [he goes]” (Salinger 165). “I’m going away” makes Holden sound like he has committed to departing. “I may get a job out there” highlights how Holden has thought this through and how he wants to continue with this idea. However, “may” connotes a sense of uncertainty which portrays his corrupt morals because he does not have a definite plan for when he reaches the west, but he will abandon his sister anyways. Holden reassures Phoebe he will still be there for her by saying “I’ll keep in touch”, even though he decided to leave her. Holden’s explanation to Phoebe about moving fulfills his wants and will make him independent, however he will be leaving Phoebe behind, who is the only person who truly cares about him since his parents are never around and uninvolved. Later on in the novel, Holden finally decides to leave for the

A large part of Holden’s depression stems from his hatred of the adult world that Holden believes is full of “phonies.” To Holden, phony people are not limited to purely “fake” people, but also people who act in a stereotypical way. For example, if a Catholic preached to him and asked him if he was a Catholic, they would be “phony” in his eyes, because they behaved in a way that is generally expected of them. However, this view that Holden holds is hypocritical of him, because he is constantly making generalizations and lying at impulse to almost everyone he meets just because he “feels like it” (Salinger 58). Holden cannot control his compulsive lying which shows that his control over his primal instincts is restricted which is likely a

Gatsby fails to earn respect from wealthy socialites of the East Eggers because he disguises his true identity, which hinders him from achieving his dream. As a young child, Gatsby was not familiar with wealth since his parents were poor and unsuccessful farmers. Gatsby achieves success because he goes from having nothing to owning a huge mansion but he isn’t accepted by the high class society. Gatsby tries to trick others about his social status with lies of his own “I was brought up in America, but educated at Oxford because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years” (Fitzgerald 65). Gatsby’s tries to hide his background by saying he was “brought up in America” this implies that he wants others to think of him as socialite because he studied at Oxford, a prestigious college. Gatsby thinks that lying about his education at “Oxford” will increase his chances of being accepted into the society of “Old Money”. For instance, Gatsby lies about his education and birthplace to deceive people into thinking that Gatsby has always been a part of the “Old Money”. Gatsby’s own account of his prominent past

The relationship between Holden and the "phonies" shows how Holden despise the society at first. Whenever he meets people he thinks they are "phony" he would criticize them. For instance during the intermission of the play, the conversation between Sally and George

Holden Caulfield and Jay Gatsby are both phonies , Holden caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger complains about everyone and everything and he hides his real emotions so no one can see who he really is and get close to him. Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald lies about his past to be with daisey , leaving everyone in his past behind. Holden Caulfield is phonier than Jay Gatsby because he lies to people to make him seem more interesting or make someone feel sorry for him , he also lies to cover help how he really feels , and he lies because he's just bored and does it for fun.

Holden Caulfield and Phoebe Caulfield are siblings in the novel The Catcher in the Rye. Being siblings, they have many similarities as well as differences. Holden is the main character in the novel, and the narrator of the story. Holden is writing from a mental hospital about his experience, “around last Christmas just before I got run down.” (Salinger, 1) He writes about his journey from Pencey Prep School, in Agerstown, Pennsylvania, to his home in New York City. Along the way he encounters many different important people to the story, one of the most important characters he encounters along the way is his sister Phoebe who teaches Holden what it means to be mature.

Firstly, Holden and Gatsby both have high and unrealistic expectations for themselves. Holden held the illusion that Jane was a pure, innocent girl, and this is is evident when he says “She wouldn't move any of her kings... She just liked the way they looked the way they looked they were all in the back row.” (Salinger 41).The narrator says he “thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock... and his dream must have seemed so

When Jay Gatsby first met Nick, he told Nick the story of his life, or what he wanted Nick to believe. Gatsby claimed he came from a rich family that came from the Middle West, but when Nick asked Gatsby what part of the Middle West, he said San Francisco. “My family died and I came into a good deal of money (Fitzgerald 65).” That is when Nick started to put the pieces together. San Francisco isn’t in the Middle West. Gatsby was trying to deceive people into thinking that he was old money. Gatsby later admitted that he came from a poor family. “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people - his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all (Fitzgerald 98).” This brings up the question, why did Gatsby lie about

This is evidence that he is newly rich because one of the main reasons he acts like this is because he is not accustomed to having such a large amount of money. This is not who Gatsby really is. This is a person who has been created out of money and the freedom to do whatever he wants with it.