Topic #4: Text Connections

Nick Carraway within The Great Gatsby is seen as a character that has many social problems and can be considered very similar to that of Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. They both have many internal issues that seem to conflict them on a daily basis and can cloud their judgment. Within Catcher in the Rye, Holden has an extremely hard time with his self-image. He tries to create a mask of manliness by going to bars to drink and by buying prostitutes. Holden has many social issues and therefore cannot mentally operate similarly to the average person, shown by extremely detailed flashbacks that are abruptly interrupted by a switch to a different subject as if the event was unimportant or irrelevant. Holden had been attempting to ignore his feelings by overshadowing them by doing "adult" things. However, it is obvious that despite the attempts to hide them, Holden still expresses his sentimental feelings toward past events. Similar to Holden's social problems, Nick cannot wrap his mind around romantic love. Early on in the novel, Nick describes explicitly the relationship between his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom and mentions that he notices a lack of romance between the two; Later saying he barely knows them at all. This in itself in perceived as wrong because Nick had gone int extreme detail in describing the couple, but then claims he knows very little. With this in mind, the similarity between Nick and Holden is the seemingly uncaring nature for the people and events occurring are around them. Nick cares nothing for Daisy and Tom and Holden cares nothing for anything around him; they seem to undermine their care for certain aspects in life, but still occasionally show their own internal weaknesses. In the end, it is prevalent that throughout The Great Gatsby Nick's inability to express his emotions is similar to that of Holden's within the Catcher in the Rye.