Rules of Civility reveals interesting similarities F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby due to its depiction of New York social strata, related themes and characters. I’ve always had a particular fondness of The Great Gatsby which I had the pleasure of reading in high school. Not only did I fall in love with the novel but is the only book I’ve read twice. During my reading today it was impossible to not draw connections between the two novels. As the plot unfold in Rules of Civility the similitude of Towels and Fitzgeralds’ plot development grows strong. Both are set in New York between world wars.
Rules of Civility in the post-depression era of 1937 and The Great Gatsby in the roaring twenties. Not only are the time periods homogeneous but each are narrated through the first-person perspecti
...ve as they reflect on past events; a protagonist immersed in the glamourous contingencies of high society. Both Katey, the narrator of Rules of Civility, and Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, observe the other characters in the story in a similar manner. Both Katey and Nick come from modest backgrounds.
Katey- born to Russian immigrant parents in Brooklyn, comes from humble beginnings, climbing the social latter with the help of new friends, new jobs, and fate encounters. Nick also navigates the social latter as he is exposed to a new societal atmosphere in West Egg. A central theme of unfulfillment is present in both novels. Wealth aids in building a commendable reputation amongst others, or at least the illusion of one, but fails to bestow self-gratification. While comparing the two novels it is easy to
draw parallels between the central characters.
Tinker Grey, a later version of Jay Gatsby, describe an ascent to high society but immortalizes a fall from civility. Both characters enthrall a magnetism difficult to forbear and secrete their own realities, masking their true selves to those around them. Similar to the narrators, Gatsby and Grey also both came from humble beginnings. Gatsby came from an impoverished farm family while Tinker may have grew up in a wealthy family, but his father lost all their money, forcing him to start over with nothing.
Gatsby and Grey both gained their fortune from immoral circumstances. While Gatsby acquired his wealth through bootlegging, let us just say Tinker was thrusted into high society as a male version of a mistress.Fitzgerald and Towels both use the technique of delayed character revelation. Gatsby created his identity, reinvented himself, and changed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby to match his new persona, similar to how Teddy changed to Tinker.
Tinker hides his true identity behind a façade, deceiving those around him. Both characters are molded to be alluring and favored by the reader but as the mystery fades, the truth prevails. Rules of Civility is a novel worth standing on its own as an enjoyable quick read but is incomparable to the quality of Fitzgerlads classic novel, The Great Gatsby. It may be unfair to compare these two works for what they are, but as I was reading it was impossible to not draw connections between the storylines and leading characters.
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