2 February 2017
Campbell 8
Holding On and Letting Go Through Admirability
George Milton and Jay Gatsby both face the similar troubles of deciding when to hold on and when to let go however, George Milton was the more admirable character out of the two. George’s mindset was simply to protect Lennie from something worse happening to him. In both stories, George Milton and Jay Gatsby find themselves in a state where they ultimately end up asking the essential question of this topic, “When do I hold on and when do I let go?” George and Gatsby can both be seen having to face this rather difficult question in two different fashions. While they are both sufficiently different, they’re also somewhat alike in the sense that they’re both …show more content…
Not only does he go completely out of his way to ensure that everything is perfect for Daisy, but he also his emotions out at an extreme pace. He also bought a “house so that Daisy would be just across the bay." (Fitzgerald 51). Doing so, his close friends contemplate if Daisy is even still into Gatsby, considering it has been 5 years since they were together, and now Daisy is happily married. Gatsby is too ignorant to see this and pursues with his original intentions anyways, disregarding Daisy’s feelings and only thinking she has the same intentions that she did 5 years ago. “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: "I never loved you."” (Fitzgerald 82). Gatsby wishes for daily to just simply erase the past with no regard for her feelings whatsoever. He was significantly less admirable because he was simply chasing his own intentions and didn’t care about anyone else’s opinions or feelings, specifically Daisy’s, in his …show more content…
George and his companion, Lennie, skipped city to city finding different jobs to make a living, mainly due to Lennie’s actions or mistakes. George has a deep caring heart for Lennie, and doesn’t wish for him to get in any trouble, “Lennie—if you jus' happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an' hide in the brush… Hide in the brush till I come for you.” (Steinbeck 28). George kept Lennie safe, and made sure he didn’t find himself in serious trouble. Lennie eventually realized that George was getting annoyed with him, and when to the ultimate extremes to keep Curley’s Wife from letting George know that he made a mistake, “He shook her then, and he was angry with her. “Don’t you go yellin’,” he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish.” (Steinbeck 103) However, when Lennie was truly in trouble after this accident of almost sincerity to George, he realized what he had done. Once George found out, he too quickly realized there was no running away this time as everyone at the farm wanted Lennie dead. Curley walks in the barn and says,” I know who done it.” “That big-son-of-a-bitch done it. I know he done it. Why everybody else was outside out there playin’ horseshoes.” “I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll