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GRAPES AND GATSBY DIRECT COMPARISONS - Coggle Diagram
GRAPES AND GATSBY DIRECT COMPARISONS
OUTSIDERS AND MIGRANTS
Poor treated as inhuman - by border guards in TGOW, Tom Buchanan in TGG
Nick and Gatsby stoop to level of the rich to be welcomed into new environment, Okies always stay dignified
'Grampa and the old place, they was jus' the same thing' - can't separate person from past but Gatsby tries to completely disconnect from origins
WOMEN
Power through sex in Gatsby, through motherhood in Grapes
Ma Joad role changes out of necessity rather than self-promotion
Women as symbols (of desire, beauty, family etc) side-lines them as individual characters in both novels
Domesticity of women removes their agency in TGG, gives them agency in TGOW
WEALTH/POVERTY
Acquisition of wealth means nothing in itself to Okies - even disgusted by it
Living among rich inures Gatsby into thinking that wealth = character
Money specifically referenced in TGOW, rarely in TGG - afterthought
Supposed 'equaliser' of technology used to exploit the poor - Tom Buchanan & George Wilson, car salesmen scamming desperate Okies
CLASS/POWER
Class = power in TGG and TGOW due to inescapable influence of wealth
Okies see all evils as represented in the immorality of the rich/bourgeoisie
MARXIST - George Wilson characterised as 'weak' and 'beaten down' by Myrtle and narrator, indicates that his own shortcomings have led to his poverty, not systematic issues
George Wilson revenge vs upper class = solitary and empty, Tom Joad rebellion is communal and socially aware
'every time Pa seen someone writin', somebody's taken somepin away' - symbolism of books as status in Gatsby library
THE AMERICAN DREAM
Collective in TGOW, individual in TGG
Agrarianism = idealistic rather than realistic for Okies due to changing labour mentalities
Joads and Gatsby seek a fresh start and self-reinvention but continually defined by their origins - 'Okies' and 'bootlegger'
SETTINGS
TGOW begins with physical setting, TGG with social/character context - MAIN THEMES OF CLASS AND AGRARIANISM
TGOW sense of community in face of desolation vs collective isolation of VOA - tempting but elusive materialism
TGOW uses personification for life force of Oklahoma, TGG uses anthropomorphism for lowliness of VOA people - relative importance of nature
New York = fantastical, Oklahoma = realistic - novelist vs documentarian, more political TGOW
ENDINGS
TGG is love story but ending focused on America - 'love story with America
TGOW ending focused on community - core message
Only once Gatsby dies can Nick disconnect from entrancing lifestyle to see bigger picture - TGOW characters do this throughout
Neither ends with 'bad guy' comeuppance - perpetual issues
FAMILY/COMMUNITY
Individuals defined by independent identity in TGG, family/community role in TGOW
TGG unity = undignified, TGOW = dignified
ROS vs Daisy - embrace of motherhood role vs continual flapper lifestyle
Generosity learned and repeated in TGOW e.g. Mae, selfishness learned and repeated in TGG
CAPITALISM, CRIME AND GREED
Joads try to fight corruption of American Dream, in TGG they embrace it
Farmers must succumb to industry/mechanisation to migrate e.g. buying car
Casy selfless criminality vs Gatsby bootlegging
Bank exploitation vs Tom Buchanan exploitation of George Wilson