F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby paints the main character as being a hopeless romantic, spending a good portion of his life becoming rich, showing off these riches, and gaining mutual friends, all in a ploy to win a woman over instead of moving on. On the other hand, Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers portrays the father, Reb, and daughter, Sara, as both being absorbed in a pursuit to gain higher education or a state of mind, while oblivious to looming pitfalls. Both novels illustrate the characters as pursuing what they think will bring them happiness, but greatly miss out on the joys and opportunities of life. Gatsby’s efforts are conceived as somewhat childlike and would be viewed negatively by society, while Reb and Sara’s ambitions…show more content… After refusing to continue the first romance of her life, she states exactly how she felt about her studies with the following. In an attempt to come out of poverty, Sara does what she and most would agree is entirely logical; she pursues an education, ultimately at a cost of secluding herself. Though her passion can be viewed as commendable, it came with its own downfalls, one being her not being about to spend time with and better understand her soon deceased mother. Upon visiting her mother for the first time in six years, she finds her dying, and mentions how her mother “begged me to come see her”, and how she replied with “I can come to see you later but I can’t go to college later”. Upon death, Sara claims that she has “failed to give Mother the understanding deeper self during her lifetime”. In the pursuit of something viewed positively by society, Sara tragically finds herself in a damning fate of not being able to spend time with her mother once more. After six years of neglecting a large portion of her life, that being her family, she now must deal with not spending time with her mother and her no longer being alive. By comparing Gatsby’s obsession with Sara’s, one can see that any obsession, whether viewed positively or negatively, can lead to downfalls in the pursuit of happiness.
Reb - Missed Opportunity: Family Closeness
Reb, Sara’s father in Bread Givers, also strives towards a goal viewed positively by society during that time period, that being higher knowledge and divinity within religion. Reb saturates every aspect of his life in religion, and goes even as far as to prevent one of his daughters from marrying a love interest due to his lack of an equal conviction in religion. Once Reb questions Sara’s failure to marry a rich man and believes she will end up as a “dried up old maid”. He
