Compare And Contrast East Of Eden And The Great Gatsby

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What is similar between apples and oranges? And what are different? It would be easier to see the differences between these two fruits than their similarities. One fruit is orange, the other fruit is red, and both vary in shape. However, they are both sweet, both contain vitamin C, and both are grown on trees. In East of Eden and The Great Gatsby, Adam Trask and Jay Gatsby are the orange and the apple. John Steinbeck, the author of East of Eden, portrays Adam as the naïve, honest man who lives on a farm in Salinas Valley. F. Scott Fitzgerald writes Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby as the man who is living the American dream with money and a mansion. These two characters share something similar. Adam Trask and Jay Gatsby both involve in unrequited …show more content…

Adam provided land and a home for Cathy, believing that she would be happy with him. However, that wasn’t the case. Cathy considered her marriage with Adam as an “accident” and plans “not going to stay here [Salinas Valley]” (Steinbeck 157; 173). Cathy’s original ambitions were “protection and rest”, her “money was gone”, and she needed shelter; therefore, leaning towards Adam being the only man who was able to provide that for her (Steinbeck 117). On the other hand, Daisy desired money from Gatsby as she is described with a voice “full of money” (Fitzgerald 120). Including her depiction has the girl dressed in white in a “white palace” like royalty (Donaldson). Because of these intentions that their interests had and their failure to see the truth underneath their fantasies, it leaded to their different…not-so-happy …show more content…

As both of their love interests have used them for their own purposes, their ambitions were different. Both Adam Trask and Jay Gatsby were blinded from their love and the false reality that they both created that they couldn’t see what was true. As they had a house and a certain lifestyle to help their Cathy’s and Daisy’s stay, this resulted them having sad endings. In the end, we can learn from the orange and the apple is that love can truly bite the

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