Introduction
Every human being is born with unique character traits. Even identical twins cannot have similar characters. Despite the uniqueness, some people may exhibit related characters to some extent. This paper compares the character of Gatsby and Eponine. Gatsby is a major character in from the book “ the Great Gatsby,” while Eponine is one of the character in the book “ Les Miserables.”
Gatsby and Eponine
Gatsby is a noted habitual liar. Even his closest associate, Nick and his girl friend, Daisy, were equally victims of his lies. One of his obvious lies was that “ he studied at Oxford University” (Fitzgerald, 156).
The truth is that Gatsby worked as “ an army man, sailor and bond seller” after he dropped out of St. Olfa’s college where he had learnt for only two weeks (Fitzgerald, 153). Eponine’s character was filled with malice and perception. At the age of eighteen, she would fight much like men older than herself. She chose not to disclose anything about her past like Gatsby, who instead kept lying to his friends about his past (Roche, 161). Gatsby struggled from a poor background and eventually became a wealthy man. The much wealth he amassed through illegal means made him proud and flashy.
He liked showing off with his money. The author narrates how he kept on organizing generous parties for strangers. He lived in the class of the rich; his mansion was built with expensive construction materials with a luxurious “ tower on one side” (Fitzgerald, 152).
The nicely finished compound had a swimming pool lined with marble and enclosed in a large parcel of land on which he tended a lawn and flower gardens. Eponine was also proud just like Gatsby. She was very proud that she knew how to write and read. “ I am going to write something to show you,” this was her favorite statement to express her feelings about her literacy (Hugo, 112). Her literacy placed her in a different social status with the rest of the women. Gatsby was quite a gentleman, he extended his generosity to everyone he came across. When Daisy, his girlfriend was accused of killing Myrtle, Gatsby stood by her side and defended her throughout the case (Fitzgerald, 151). He was kind to everyone and was ready to use his money to please people.
In one of the parties he organized, he gave a new gown to one of the guests whose gown was accidentally torn while at the party (Bohlin, 162). Eponine was emotional and fearful. All her songs are filled with emotions (Roche, 162). She cried so often as a way of expressing her emotions. Because of his cheating nature, Gatsby was a susceptible character. He embraced lies as a strategy to protect himself and perpetuate his “ great name” (Bohlin, 220). This character made him loose all his close friends. He also used the lies to convince her girlfriends in romance.
Eponine was depicted acting more as a boy than a lady. She associates more with barricade boys and fought just like men. She bears the brand of “ on my own” attitude which is rather a man’s character than a woman (Hugo, 109).
Conclusion
This essay made a comparison of the characters of Gatsby and Eponine as detailed in the books “ The Great Gatsby” and “ Les Mesrables.
” The two characters were effectively used by the writers to bring out the themes of romance, social class and struggles of life.
Works Cited
Bohlin, Karen. Teaching Character Education through Literature: Awakening the Moral imaginations in Secondary Classrooms. New York: Routledge Falmer. 2005. Print Fitzgerald, Scott and Prigozy, Ruth.
The Great Gatsby. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. 1998. Print. Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables. Fairfield: 1st world Library.
2007. Print Roche Isabel. Character and meaning in the novels of Victor Hugo. New York: Purdue University. 2007. Print.
