Similarity Page

Similarities between Heart of Darkness and Great Gatsby, specifically between Kurtz and Gatsby include:

1. Both appear great and powerful but are actually conflicted and lead convoluted lives
2. Both have lovers
3. Both strongly pursue whatever they care for most, be it material like ivory, or a lost love like Daisy
4. Both are mysterious to the protagonists and the public until a good amount of time into the story
5. Both go after what appears to make them happy, but actually causes strife, conflict, and ultimately their demise within their lives
6. Like in Carl Jung's theory on personas, both Kurtz and Gatsby create "social masks" for themselves because they care too much about what others think. 

Other similiarities in these stories include:

1. The “truths” that the protagonists have to tell the public when their “idols” die make the passed character seem as though they were never corrupt or made mistakes
2. Women represent the good, positive ideals of civilization that are desired by many to create a "nice" persona for others
3. Money adds to the idols' facades that they are above the "normal" people
4. Marriages in Great Gatsby involve infidelity, like Tom and Daisy's marriage and Wilson and Myrtle's marriage
5. Both stories are told from the point of view of a person uninvolved in the lives of other characters, Marlow and Nick, until soon before or after the beginning of the story

Thesis Statement: Heart of Darkness and Great Gatsby are literary works that possess traits of modernism, including the contrast between appearance and reality shown through the superficial views held by the public with regard to the seemingly nonchalant lives that certain characters of that society lead.