Similarities Between Babylon Revisited And The Great Gatsby

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F Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “[m]ostly, we authors must repeat ourselves—that's the truth. We have two or three great moving experiences in our lives—experiences so great and moving that it doesn't seem at the time that anyone else has been so caught up and pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before” (Fitzgerald, “One”). The idea that one experience so deeply affects an author that he or she will retell the story in different ways is seen in F Scott Fitzgerald book The Great Gatsby and the short story “Babylon Revisited”. The parallel between the two pieces of literature is clearly shown through many aspects. F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great …show more content…

The protagonist in both stories is focused on winning back the girl that was once his. The idea is shared by the protagonists that if they won the girl back that it would recapture a happier past and wipe away the intervening three years. The protagonist is defeated on the verge on of capturing their dream. Both stories have a climax of confrontation. In The Great Gatsby, Jay tries to coach Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him, which led to Tom confronting Jay about where the money is from. In “Babylon Revisited”, drunk Lorraine and Duncan show up at the house where Charlie is trying to get custody of his daughter. After the confrontations the protagonist goes to the windows of the women they love. Jay waits outside Daisy’s window to make sure she is alright. Charlie while outside looks up at his daughter’s window with hope for the future. In The Great Gatsby and “Babylon Revisited” there is a copious amount of common themes. Love is a major seen in both literatures whether it a pure love or a tragic love. There is a pure yet tragic love between Charlie and his daughter Honoria. The same can be seen Jay and his lost romance with Daisy. The burden of the past and the ending situation keep the pure love as nothing more than a tragic

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