A Comparison of Jay Gatsby and Charlie Wales - Classweb

Anonymous
Exemplary Paper
ENGL 201-036
March 22, 2000
Impractical Lives:
A comparison of Jay Gatsby and Charlie Wales
Anonymous / “Impractical Lives” 1
In the novel The Great Gatsby and short story “Babylon Revisited,” F. Scott Fitzgerald
creates two similar main characters, Jay Gatsby and Charlie Wales. Both men have an
ideal, unrealistic perception of money, people, and happiness, which in turn affects the
lives of others and results in tragedy. Gatsby and Charlie are two hopeless romantics in
search of their lost pasts—pasts which unfortunately hurt them.
Both Gatsby and Charlie throw their new money lavishly away in search of their
past. Fruiterers, caterers, orchestras, bars, music, lights, and laughter furnish Gatsby’s
parties every Saturday. It was a carnival for all the uninvited to attend, though the only
person whose attendance was truly desired was his long-lost love, Daisy Buchanan.
Jordan Baker assumes “[Gatsby] half expected Daisy to wander into one of his parties,
some night” (84). As soon as the search for Daisy is over, Gatsby dismisses all his
servants and parties, at her unspoken request, and this is when Nick realizes that the
money spent on extravagant parties was all an attempt to attract Daisy: “So the whole
caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the disapproval in her eyes” (120).
Charlie also wastefully throws his money away, to escape his past and to repress
his mistakes:
He remembered thousand-franc notes given to an orchestra for playing a
single number, hundred-franc notes tossed to a doorman for calling a cab.
It had been given, even the most wildly squandered sum, as an offering to
destiny that he might not remember the things most worth remembering,
the things that now he would always remember—his child taken from his
control, his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont (493).
With their unlucky money, both Gatsby and Charlie attempt to regain what they think
will recreate the past and make them happy once again. Gatsby truly believes that his

Anonymous / “Impractical Lives” 2
wealth will make Daisy drop everything—her life, her husband, her child—and that it
will lure her back to him. Gatsby buys the West Egg mansion across the bay from
Daisy’s house, the “real” books, the shirts, the ties, the suits, and even creates a new self,
all so the Daisy, from five years earlier, will return to him.
Charlie also believes that his regained wealth, along with his stability, parental
rights, and desire to be a father again, makes him a suitable guardian for his daughter
Honoria. Charlie says, “I’m able to give her certain advantages now. I’m going to take
French governess to Prague with me. I’ve got a lease on a new apartment” (499).
Marion, the sister of Charlie’s dead wife Helen, disagrees: “I suppose you can give her
more luxuries than we can . . . when you were throwing away money we were living
along watching every ten francs . . . I suppose you’ll start doing it again” (499).
Charlie’s motives for regaining Honoria have more to do with himself than his
daughter. If the Peters raise Honoria, he feels, she will eventually grow to share their
mistrust of him. When Charlie is talking to Marion, he is startled by her resentment
towards him:
[With] each remark the force of her dislike became more and more
apparent. She had built up all her fear of life into one wall and faced it
toward him. Charlie became increasingly alarmed at leaving Honoria in
this atmosphere of hostility against himself; sooner or later it would come
out, in a word here, a shake of the head there, and some of that distrust
would be irrevocably implanted in Honoria (498).
Charlie does not take into account the benefits of Honoria living with the Peters.
Although she would not have all the luxuries that Charlie could provide her, she would
have met more important needs such as the stability of a successful mother and father and
a healthy, homey atmosphere. The narrator supports this idea when describing the Peters
household:
It was warm here, it was home, people together by a fire. The children felt
very safe and important; the mother and father were serious, watchful.
They had things to do for the children more important than his visit here.
A spoonful of medicine was, after all, more important than the strained
relations between Marion and himself (502).

Anonymous / “Impractical Lives” 3
Both Gatsby and Charlie hold very high expectations of others. Gatsby believes
that his love for Daisy will conquer all practicalities and expects her believe this concept
as well, and tells Tom in a touch of panic, “You’re not going to take care of her any
more. Daisy is leaving you” (140). Gatsby believes that the love between Daisy and him
is all that is needed to be happy. He does not consider how stressful a divorce or custody
fight can be, and expects her to leave everything—her whole life, everything she has
worked for, just because she loves him.
Charlie believes and trusts in the value of character, that character is all that a
person needs to possess. Charlie is afraid Honoria may have lost her character amongst
the unstable relationship between Helen and him. He will be happy, even if Honoria is
not, because he will have the responsibility to develop her character. Charlie feels that if
he can raise his daughter successfully, he will not have to feel the guilt of his wife’s
death:
At dinner he couldn’t decide whether Honoria was most like him or her
mother. Fortunate if she didn’t combine the traits of both that had brought
them to disaster. A great wave of protectiveness went over him. He
thought he knew what to do for her. He believed in character; he wanted
to jump back a whole generation and trust in character again as the
eternally valuable element. (493).
Both men persist with their quests until the very end. Gatsby waits by Daisy’s
window in an attempt to protect her from Tom, and says he “doesn’t trust him [Tom]”
and that he will “wait all night if necessary” (152). Even after all the commotion, Gatsby
hopelessly waits to see if Daisy will come out to see him, and perhaps even leave Tom.
Even after Tom and Daisy have left town together, as Nick departs from Long Island,
Gatsby does not accept that everything is over between he and Daisy, saying, “I suppose
Daisy’ll call too” (161).
Charlie also believes, until the very end, that there is still a chance that Marion
will give him custody of Honoria. Charlie makes one last desperate attempt, just as
Gatsby awaits Daisy’s call, and calls the Peters to see if Marion has changed her mind.
As Charlie says to Lincoln Peters, “I called up because this thing is on my mind. Has
Marion said anything definite?” (505).

Anonymous / “Impractical Lives” 4
Both Gatsby and Charlie find that their pasts come back to hurt them. All the
rumors about Gatsby being a bootlegger, a gambler, having killed a man, and working
Wolfsheim remain mysteries to almost everyone in the story, and another such “rumor”
gets him killed in the end. Because Tom despises Gatsby and thinks he is such a
criminal, he tells George Wilson who he thinks was driving the car that killed Myrtle—
and thus he frames Gatsby. In the end, Mr. Wilson holds Gatsby responsible for Mrytle’s
death, and murders him. Likewise, Charlie’s past as a spendthrift and alcoholic does not
help determine Marion’s decision, for she holds Charlie responsible for Helen’s death
and keeps custody over Honoria.
Gatsby and Charlie both wish they could live in the past. Gatsby and Charlie are
left with huge disappointments, because they expected to gain love, money and their
pasts so easily. Neither can accept the changes in his life. Gatsby and Charlie did not
consider the practicalities of what they wanted, and focused only on what they envisioned
would recreate the past, and recreate their happiness.