Now we've read up to chapter three, and have introduced to Gatsby, several odd parallels between The Great Gatsby and Fight Club. Many of the main characters reflect each other, with Nick resembling "The Narrator", Jordan resembling Marla, and Gatsby himself resembling Tyler Durden.
Nick (The Narrator) is a rather naive, innocent character (with questionable sexuality) who is rather lost in his new surroundings. He ends up meeting cynical, bored-with-life Jordan (Marla), who he ends up following around, and finds that he has rather deep emotions toward her. Around the same time, Nick meets Gatsby (Tyler Durden), a charismatic fellow who Nick looks up to. Gatsby is followed by hundreds of people, almost religiously at times.
Meanwhile, Chuck Palahniuk and Scott Fitzgerald share many similar writing styles, such as narration, confusing dialogue, and very convincing description of people and scenery.
I agree! I do see parallels between Tyler and Gatsby. They are both dark, mysterious characters, whom others know very little about. The Narrator in Fight Club reminds me of Nick because he is very cynical of what he observes. Nick may be less obvious, but he too thinks of himself as the one of the "few honest people that [he] ha[s] ever known." Both of the narrators offer a "fly-on-the-wall" perspective. I wonder if this parallel will continue, and if Gatsby will turn into an anti-hero as Tyler does.
ReplyDeleteIntriguing connection!
ReplyDeleteI find these connections to be stretched, at the very best. Connecting two characters due to mysteriousness is like comparing an apple to blood because they are both red. Ever since the popularity of gothic novels, the idea of mysterious main characters has been incredibly popular and mainstream. If anything, Nick seems like a complete opposite from The Narrator. Although mysterious, Nick is a guy who generally listens to others and follows directions. The Narrator, on the other hand, is a man plagued by his constant desire to brake away from the routines of everyday society. "Cynical" and "Bored of life" is something I see more in daisy than Jordan, and I fail to see Nick's "deep emotions toward her"...it seems as if Daisy is forcing Nick onto Jordan. I also feel that their writing styles are hardly comparable. Fitzgerald is concise, with easy dialogues and breathtaking descriptions, whereas Palahniuk creates incredibly complex conversations with sparse descriptions of uninteresting scenery.
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