Comparison of Themes in the Novels Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote and the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Losing Yourself
This theme has been represented severally in the two novels. In Breakfast at Tiffany’s Holly is seen to have love for many things. Her story begins at her late teen years after she came from country to the city of New York. She had no job and made a living by socializing with rich men that she thought she would marry. She believed in an honest way of making a living; this is seen in her statements, “The answer is good things only happen to you if you’re good. Good? Honest is more what I mean… Be anything, but a coward, a pretender, an emotional crook, a whore: I’d rather have cancer than a dishonest heart,” (Truman 25). Her love for material things is a motivation for her to keep socializing with men. The rich men gave her money and expensive gifts that she happily accepted. Holly liked associating her self with rich successful men, which contributed to her lack of satisfaction. The narrator had always been interested in her, since he met her, but she did not open up to him. Gatsby on the other hand, was keen on being successful in life. He made this his focus until he lost interest in other things for his love for Daisy. Gatsby’s friend Nick is seen to be isolated by his friends after the death of Gatsby. In comparing the two novels, this theme stands out because of the protagonists association with success, isolation and love.
Holly can be referred to as homeless for her lack of satisfaction to stay at one place. This is caused by her unsatisfied love to travel to many places. Her behavior always isolates her from the people she cares about in her life. She is constantly on the move, and she was never interested in finding a place to settle. She was orphaned at an early age then moved to a foster home. She later ran away from the foster home after life became unbearable for her. Her next home was one that she made with Doc Golightly. At first, she seemed to be pleased to stay there, but she ran away from the Doc. She later spent her time moving from one place to another after staying for a few months or weeks. She spent some of her time in the west coast and moved to New York almost immediately. She passed through the places she went to all the time. She justified herself referring to her natural urge. She was quoted saying that, “It may be normal, darling; but I’d rather be natural,” (Truman 14). She was not sure of her staying in New York; she had different thoughts on her mind that it did not seem to be her home. Every time she moved to a new place, she never unpacked her luggage, as she always seemed unsettled.
She expressed her love for New York even though she was getting ready to travel to Rio. She revealed that she did not want to stay in New York, and she flew to Rio to marry Jose. She indicated to the narrator that she was planning to settle down and have several children once she was married. She claimed she did not want to own anything until she found a place where she and things go together (Truman 27). Her plan never succeeded, and she decided to move to Argentina just before she married Jose. She does not find time to settle in Argentina as she moves to Africa for unknown reason. She seems to be on a tour around the world because she never settles at one place for long. She is well aware of her nature that she describes as wild and independent. She claimed that she did not want to own anything before she was sure of where to settle. She told the narrator that she was not sure that she was at the place that she could own anything. This creates a notion that she intends to settle down at one point. She talked about settling down with her brother in Mexico. She was grieved after she got news that her brother had been killed. Her brother was the only family she had, and she was devastated by the loss. The theme of travel occurs throughout the story given Holly’s constant movement from one place to another. This is an indicator that she has a long journey to go through before she finds a home. She sang songs that were associated to her travel life, and she always looked forward to moving to another place once she arrived. The narrator understood her well and gave her a Christmas present that expressed her true nature.
Holly was highly desirous. Her desire for everything is a theme that occurs throughout the novel. She has the desire of finding the perfect home that she would stay and is not willing to settle for less. Holly has a romantic nature that is not easily satisfied. The narrator believes that Holly’s character is bound to stay the same. Holly’s nature is fixed and is not likely to be changed. The narrator compared Holly to a girl he knew while in school. She was realistic with life and would not set standards that would be unattainable for her. He gave an instance with an illustration from a restaurant. His friend would choose the most nutritious meal on the menu (Truman 45). This is in contrast to Holly, as she would want to have almost everything on the menu. This is an unrealistic behavior to the narrator. This is a symbolic view of Holly’s behavior that is unpredictable. Holly always leaves her options wide open as she makes her decisions based on the diverse options that she believes she has. This is different from other people’s behavior that narrows down their options to work with, in many instances. She is determined to travel Brazil because she had never been there. This behavior reveals that her nature is adventurous and cannot be easily convinced to change. The idea that she has never done something or gone somewhere motivates her to restrain that desire. She believes that there should not be anything interesting in the world that could pass her. This is a confirmation that she gets anything that she wants no matter what it costs her. This is viewed as a childish character, which allows her to evade adult responsibilities and restrictions.
Everything is possible according to her. There is no difference between what she wants and what she can get. Holly’s world was not the same as she always had something new to achieve. She was willing to skip bail and to travel to Brazil. She justified her action by telling the narrator that she had never been there (Truman 60). Holly is free spirited and would not want anything to tie her to anyone or anything. This is because it would inconvenience her from traveling or doing something that she wanted. This can be interpreted as a selfish character because of her unwillingness to sacrifice. It is not in her nature to sacrifice her pleasures for the benefit of others. She always thinks of herself and would not want anything or anyone to come onto her way. She loses herself, in the end for her love of material things.
The Great Gatsby overcame many impossible situations to become successful. His story unravels the lifestyle in the United States in 1922. It is in the twenties that United States witnessed great prosperity in its economy. Gatsby had love for many things just as Holly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. His love to associate with some of his friends turned out to a tragedy for him. The book gives a general view of American social history during the years that America saw substantial prosperity. According to the narrative, Gatsby’s love for hard work made him successful. The era encompasses many events including the bootlegging, the development of Jazz music and the culture of flapper. The era also saw numerous criminal activities that threatened the economy of America. The author used these events to build the protagonist stories and develop the themes of the story (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 12). The author attributes the protagonist’s source of wealth to organized criminal activities that prevailed in the United States at that time. The author educated readers by using the plot of the story within the flow of history. Progress in the novel is reported to be slow due to the nature of the plot of the story. Some of the themes in the story are as follows. The novel serves as a connection point between the First World War and the Great Depression.
The book serves to reveal societal failures achieving its potential. There is an element of the quest for success, which culminates to obsessive love. The story is focused on a selected group of people who play significant roles in the development of the themes. This is a group of privileged people between the ages of 20 and 30. Moreover, this is an expression of the youth’s vision of living the American dream. It is also an expression that wealth can imprison and preserve (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 157). One character, named Nick, is in a materialistic state throughout the story. He is surrounded by unrelenting supply of material possession including fancy cars and lavish mansions. He is later frustrated with life after the people he thought were friends isolated him during Gatsby’s funeral. Nick saw an excess in the way the Buchanan lived their lives. Nick explained that they lived carelessly and destroyed things. They went back to spend their money in repairs. It seemed like their reckless behavior kept them together. They even let other people clean their mess. The Buchanan’s made messes in their lifetime. Some of the damages they caused were the death of the main character Gatsby. He was murdered by George Wilson who creates a sympathetic emotion to the reader. It is considered a true tragedy and loss that cannot be replaced (Gristwood 32). This is seen as destruction of an ideal American lifestyle. Gatsby aspired to become a successful man in his country.
This is seen as a definition of the ideal American character. Gatsby believed in the American dream that enabled him have a determined spirit of making it in life. He believed in using his own efforts to create his own wealth (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 188). He promoted his own image and was able to succeed financially and in many other ways. Gatsby could not make a sound decision in choosing the people to associate with as friends. He made Daisy the focus of his attention even though he had made much progress in his life. His previous beliefs and aspirations are overtaken by his obsession for Daisy.
Gatsby had romantic feelings for Daisy and decided to pursuer her for love. He was determined to pursue Daisy, even though it seemed that it was an unattainable goal. He wanted to have Daisy to fulfill his desires even to the least of an attainable degree. Gatsby realized that he was gaining more from pursuing Daisy than he would have gained when he got her. He had created an ideal image for Daisy just as he had created for his persona. He remains committed towards the attainment of his American dream. He is optimistic that he would succeed, which he pursues until his death. Gatsby struggled with some of his aspirations while he achieved others. He struggled with pursuing Daisy. That was the issue on which he wasted most og his time and effort. It is a good thing that he managed to prove his desire of achieving his American dream (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 34). Gatsby’s obsession for Daisy made him lose his illusions that made him inspirational in pursuing his visions. He gave much priority to pursuing the girl he thought would fulfill his aspirations to its fullness. This made him care less of the events that were happening in his life. He was not able to distinguish whether things were true or false. Gatsby was desperate to be with Daisy to such an extant that he did not care about what mattered in his life. Gatsby was murdered for suspicion of having an affair with Wilson’s wife. His friend Nick arranged his funeral, and was the only person among all Gatsby’s friends, who attended the funeral. The funeral was attended by his elderly father and a guest that he never knew.
Nick was disgusted by the turnout of his friend’s funeral. He realized that the people who claimed to be Gatsby’s friends were all pretenders. He expressed his dissatisfaction when he met some of the people who claimed to be friends with Gatsby (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 67). Nick decided to end his relationships in New York because of the events and decided to move to another town. Nick is the narrator in the story, giving his personal account of the events he saw. The two stories have similarities in their themes. Gatsby and Holly both have a drive to achieve an unattainable goal. Holly was always on the move looking for an elusive home. She had passed one home after another due to her unrealistic dissatisfaction. Gatsby had an ideal vision that he managed to achieve successfully. He made Daisy the object of his desire and made ideal standards that he struggled with. Both stories are presented through narrations of character in the stories. The two protagonists lost their selves for the love of things that are unrealistic. Gatsby lost his life in pursuit of his desires, and it is not clear whether Holly got what she wanted.
References
Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. New York: Knopf Doubleday, 2012.
Print.
Fitzgerald, Francis S, and. Bruccoli, Matthew J. The Great Gatsby. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995. Print.
Gristwood, Sarah. Breakfast at Tiffany’s: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion. New York: Rizzoli, 2011. Print.
