A Comparison of Jay Gatsby and Charlie Wales - Classweb

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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).
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