The Great Gatsby & Hollow Men essays

The Great Gatsby & Hollow Men essays The Great Gatsby has been one of the classic novels of the twentieth century. It creates a unique society that makes the story such a masterpiece. Another magnificent work that relates to The Great Gatsby is T.S. Eliots The Hollow Man. The lines in the poem portray the story so vividly that it should have been an epigraph for the novel. The poems references to hollow and stuffed men, can describe different characters in The Great Gatsby. The hollowness of men represents ruthless barbarians with no respect for humans and no understanding of love. However, the stuffed men seem to be educated, wealthy, and respectful. The differences in these types of men can be seen through the events of the novel. Another aspect of the poem that represents the novel is the idea of the paralyzed force. This force symbolizes freedom and uniqueness. It also is captivating and serves as authority. So, the similarities between The Great Gatsby and The Hollow Men remarkably show the hollow and stuffed chara cteristic of the people in Gatsbys secret society. The first similarity between the two pieces of work is the hollowness in mankind referred to by the poem. In the novel there are two main characters that depict such hollowness. The antagonistic character of Tom Buchanan represents the ruthless and careless American whose dream is to use women and acquire money. In addition he has no respect towards others, which creates pain for people around him. An example of this is when Myrtle repeatedly uttered his wifes name, which was Daisy. Tom took this as an insult and viciously punched her in the nose. He never took into consideration that hitting a woman is uncivilized. Another quality he has is to flaunt his wealth in other peoples faces. This can be seen when he takes Nick around his colossal house. Tom wants others to feel jealous of his riches, when he is actually jealous of the others around him. Th...