Walker vs. Fitzgerald, The Color Purple vs. The Great Gatsby
In The Color Purple, Walker writes about the struggles of a poor black woman in the South. Meanwhile Fitzgerald talks about a white man’s troubles with New York’s upper society in his work, The Great Gatsby. Walker narrates the novel in journal-like form, allowing the main character of the Color Purple, Celie, to describe her feelings on the events in her life: including the first time her stepfather rape her, the time she gave up her children, and her first meeting with Shug Avery. In complete contrast, the Great Gatsby tells the story of the main character, Gatsby, through his friend Nick. Fitzgerald puts every experience in Gatsby’s life, including the first time he meets Daisy, from the point of view of Nick while everything in Celie’s life is through her own point of view. Walker writes a story of a woman who wants her life to change while Fitzgerald’s character is content for his to remain the same. The novel, The Color Purple, shows that a woman can be happy, strong, and confident despite being poor and black in the South. Despite the fact that Gatsby was rich, he was very unhappy. Fitzgerald gives a novel with a tragic hero while the heroine in Walker’s book is promising and optimistic.
Although the two novels’ characters differ greatly, they face similar kinds of struggles. Throughout her life, Celie struggles to fit into the society she was born in. As for Gatsby, he struggles to fit into a society that would not truly accept him. He spent his life chasing one woman only to realize that it was all for nothing.