Great Gatsby And Ethan Frome Essay, Research Paper

The attempt to capture the American dream is a theme in many novels, and that is

no exception when it comes to The Great Gatsby and Ethan Frome. Jay Gatsby, the

central figure in The Great Gatsby, had the American dream that he could acquire

happiness through wealth and power. Ethan Frome, the main character in the Edith

Wharton novel Ethan Frome, is a man who wants to acquire happiness through his

marriage with Zeena. Ethan Frome and Jay Gatsby both had fates that would come

true later in the novel. These two novels are very similar in many ways. One

similarity in the novels is that both men, Jay Gatsby and Ethan Frome, lived in

a world of silence. Jay once had a love affair with a lady named Daisy. He

understood that he could not marry her because of the difference in their social

status. Jay moves away from her to acquire wealth, then later buys a house just

across the bay from Daisy. Jay throws big parties and hopes she will come to

them. But Jay does not attend them himself, watching the parties from a distance

in his own world of silence. In Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome is a man who lives

in Starkfield, Massachusetts. In this novel, winter symbolizes loneliness and

bitterness which is what Ethan Frome’s life is a symbol of. Frome’s mother died

in winter, so Ethan married Zeena because he was afraid of being alone. Zeena

only brought Ethan bitterness and loneliness. Ethan Frome does not look forward

to spending any time with Zeena. Jay Gatsby and Ethan Frome both duplicate their

problems in these two novels. Jay Gatsby duplicates his problem by meeting Daisy

again. Gatsby asks people if they know Daisy and finds her cousin. Her cousin

sets up a meeting with the two and they start seeing each other again. This just

leads Gatsby to his fate of being with Daisy again and being killed. Gatsby

shows his true love for Daisy when the two are in a car accident. She is driving

the car when they wreck and he takes the blame for the accident. Later, Jay was

eventually shot while lounging in his pool, which was his fate. Ethan and Mattie

plan on being together and preserving their happiness by attempting suicide.

That duplicated his problem with Zeena, but Ethan pictures Mattie as the warm

sunshine unlike Zeena, who he pictured as the bitter winter. In order to achieve

happiness, Ethan must either be with Mattie or create an image in his mind of

being with Mattie. Ethan needs to leave Starkfield and escape the loneliness of

winter and find warmth and love. In these two novels, the two main characters

want to acquire happiness, which is their American dream. Their tragic lives are

overshadowed by gloom and hopelessness. Both Jay Gatsby and Ethan Frome lived a

tragic life and lived in a world of silence. Both men duplicate their problems

by starting lives with Daisy and Mattie. Both men have fates, Gatsby’s was to

die and to be with Daisy, and Frome’s was to be with Mattie. Jay Gatsby and

Ethan Frome both live out their American Dream. Everybody has a dream no matter

what it is, and everybody strives to fulfill it and that is what Jay Gatsby and

Ethan Frome did in these two novels.