THE GREAT GATSBY - Essay Example

Compare and Contrast the Character of Gatsby with Jean Valjean Compare and Contrast the Character of Gatsby with Jean ValjeanJean Valjean is portrayed as the central character of Les Misérables which becomes an assessment figure for Hugo’s grand theories about the authority of sympathy and love. Valjean was sentenced to prison when he was a simple and polite man, but his time spent in jail has a apparently irreversible effect on him, and he come out from the chain gang as a tough criminal who hates society for what it has done to him.

By the time Valjean meets M. Myriel in Digne, he is so adapted to being a social pariah that he almost seeks out such mistreatment, greeting even the kindly bishop with contempt and hatred. Myriel, however, turns out to be the first individual in decades to treat Valjean with adore and respect. The meeting with Myriel perpetually transforms Valjean’s character, as Myriel makes Valjean promise to turn out to be an honest man (Hugo, 2010 ).Once Valjean opens up his compassion, he becomes a evidence to the redemptive power of love and sympathy.

His hard work and new vision change the dilapidated town of Montreuil-sur-mer into a flourishing manufacturing center, which in sequence teaches Valjean the value of charity. In taking care of Cosette, Valjean learns how to love others and how to pass that love. He is incomparable only in his physical strength and his enthusiasm to discover what is good, and this genuineness is enough to make him the novel’s hero as well as a rescuer and a friend to a number of individuals who find themselves in hazard.

Hardened by prison and rescued by the kindness of M. Myriel, Valjean is a empty slate, molded by his acquaintance and circumstances. This aptitude to change makes him a universal symbol of anticipation if he can learn love and charity after distressing so much injustice.Now comparing and contrasting Valjean’s character with Gatsby, following can be deduced: Jay Gatsby is the title character and leading role of the novel, Gatsby who is a staggeringly wealthy young man living in a Gothic house in West Egg.

He is well-known for the sumptuous parties he throws every Saturday night, but no one knows where he live, what he do, or how he made his wealth. As the novel progresses, it is revealed to Nick that Gatsby was born James Gatz on a farmhouse in North Dakota; working for a millionaire made him bestow his life to the achievement of wealth. When he meets Daisy while teaching to be an police officer in Louisville, he fell in love with her. Nick also discovered that Gatsby made his fortune through illegal activity, as he was enthusiastic to do anything to gain the societal position he thought necessary to win Daisy.

Nick views Gatsby as a deeply faulty man, dishonest and vulgar, whose unusual optimism and power to transform his dreams into realism make him “great” nonetheless (Biehl, 2000).Gatsbys love for Daisy is what drives him to reinvent himself, rather than greediness or true aspiration, and at the end of the day, this unblemished, sincere goal puts Gatsby ahead of the rest of the madding mob. Despite the fact that he attempted to fulfill his “imperishable dream” through repugnant, sometimes deceitful means, we still emerge from this story deeply concerned to him; he may have been a dupe at times, but he’s a deceive for love.

Even though he’s a self-created image built out of zilch, Gatsby’s emotional honesty has made him the real honest person.ReferencesBiehl, M. (2000). Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby. Munich: GRIN Verlag.Hugo, V. (2010 ). Jean Valjean: An Adaptation of Les Miserables. BiblioBazaar.