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Essay Comparing Their Eyes Were Watching God And The Great Gatsby

1296 Words6 Pages

In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many symbolic meanings that affect the characters in similar, and in different ways. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie, struggles to find her identity and becoming a woman. She runs into problems with her marriages, and with herself. Unlike what her Nanny taught her, Janie’s real dream is to be free and be her own individual, which is described through the symbol of the horizon. In The Great Gatsby, the main character Jay Gatsby, struggles to reach the green light. The novel describes how his love for Daisy never dies, and is willing to do anything to bring her back into his life. His only dream and hope in life is to be with Daisy. The resemblance of the green light and the horizon, reinforces the idea that people continue to strive for a better opportunity, no matter the circumstances underlying. In the first novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie has always had a dream to have freedom from the beginning, even though she grows up learning that she needs to have a man to depend on. After her marriages, she learns that she does …show more content…

Scott Fitzgerald uses the green light in The Great Gatsby to differentiate the american dream and love with many symbols and examples in the novel. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses the horizon to focus attention on love and dreams as well. Janie struggles to reach her dream, and once she has it, she loses it at the end. Gatsby’s whole life is revolved around his dream, but he is never able to keep a hold of it. Both Janie and Gatsby are hit with reality when they lose grasp of their dreams. Throughout the novels, it is shown that the main characters continue to pursue their dreams, no matter how much they have to risk to reach them. It is also proven that no matter how much time and effort is put towards a dream, the outcome may not always be what is

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