Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, and The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are writings that are very different in some ways, but very similar in other ways. Both stories encompass components of deception and discretion between characters. The many affairs happening between the two stories will cause the characters to feel guilt and sorrow after making an effort to cover up the dalliances; consequently, causing unwanted troubles for them. Even though the plot lines of the two works vary immensely, the protagonists eventually suffer similar fates. The compositions each expound the gradual downfall of the main characters. Jay Gatsby is a young man who lusts after a married woman: Daisy Buchanan. Similarly to Gatsby, Willy Loman
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The most prominent and obvious one is that Gatsby is a young, opulent, lavish man with a life that reflects his wealth, and Willy Loman is an older sales man who struggles to provide food and support for his family. The narrator of The Great Gatsby mentions Gatsby’s wealth, “There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights...while his motor-boats slid the waters of the Sound...On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight” (Fitzgerald 39). Gatsby desires to regain intimacy with his long-lost love; alternatively, Willy is just looking for success and commerce. In Willy Loman’s mind, one can only be successful if they are well-liked. Unfortunately, Willy thinks that everyone likes him, but he never really does become successful, “I’m fat. I’m very—foolish to look at, Linda...a salesman I know, as I was going in to see the buyer I hear him say something about—walrus...But they do laugh at me. I know that” (Miller 29). In the end, Willy decides to end his own life, and Gatsby had no control over his retribution. Gatsby died without regrets and thinking that everything was okay. Willy died with feelings of nostalgia and remorse from his
The most prominent and obvious one is that Gatsby is a young, opulent, lavish man with a life that reflects his wealth, and Willy Loman is an older sales man who struggles to provide food and support for his family. The narrator of The Great Gatsby mentions Gatsby’s wealth, “There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights...while his motor-boats slid the waters of the Sound...On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight” (Fitzgerald 39). Gatsby desires to regain intimacy with his long-lost love; alternatively, Willy is just looking for success and commerce. In Willy Loman’s mind, one can only be successful if they are well-liked. Unfortunately, Willy thinks that everyone likes him, but he never really does become successful, “I’m fat. I’m very—foolish to look at, Linda...a salesman I know, as I was going in to see the buyer I hear him say something about—walrus...But they do laugh at me. I know that” (Miller 29). In the end, Willy decides to end his own life, and Gatsby had no control over his retribution. Gatsby died without regrets and thinking that everything was okay. Willy died with feelings of nostalgia and remorse from his