Romantic Readiness Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye

“The Great Gatsby” is a quest for his holy grail of a man who tries to win the heart of his ‘childhood love’ Daisy, a lady of class and in love with glamour and wealth yet lacking intelligence, this is primarily the reason why Gatsby can’t get Daisy back as she is in love with the ‘Platonic conception’ this is apparent in chapter 5 “he took a pile or shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk..Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily”, she is in love with his wealth and not simply the old Jay. This shows the failed love relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. This is similar to Fitzgerald’s own life, as Zelda Fitzgerald was in love with Fitzgerald but as he was “poor” she did not marry but then as he became rich they married. Both Daisy and Zelda are in love with money and material luxury. Fitzgerald portrays lust versus love through Gatsby, he lusted after many women after Daisy’s marriage yet he had no respect for them “he knew women early…he became contemptuous of them, of young virgins because they were ignorant”. He knew the meaning of love as he describes Daisy “she was in love with me too… he sat with her Daisy in his arms for a long silent” this is before Jay set off to war. This is like Holden’s alienation in “The Catcher in the Rye”, as alienation is the cause of most of his pain and he needs human contact and love, therefore he tries ringing up people to hang out with. Throughout the novel Holden calls up “a prostitute in New York, Sally Hayes, Jane and old Carl Luce. Holden calls people up as he wants company to hide his loneliness. Critique “None of that David Copperfield crap” say that Holden tries to be the man about town; the lack of his muscularity causes Holden’s need for isolation versus his needs for companionship. Which links back to Gatsby’s isolation is due to Daisy’s absence.