In Fay Weldon's The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the main characters, Ruth and Gatsby, go through a process of re-inventing themselves. Each character tries to change themselves so they can, in some way, improve their lives. Though each character tries to re-invent themselves, both of their reasons for doing so are completely different. The characters may have different reasons for changing themselves, but both end up almost in the same spot.

In The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Ruth is the character that goes through the transformation. After being cheated on by her husband, Bobbo, ridiculed by him in front of his parents, and basically deserted with her two children and the dog, Ruth decides that she needs to make a change. She wants to make Bobbo suffer for all the pain that he put her through.

Ruth goes to the extreme limits to make Bobbo suffer. In order to make him suffer, Ruth has to change her whole life around. The first thing she does, is blow up their house. Ruth wants to get rid of the past, so she can start a new. She then drives over to Mary Fisher's house, Bobbo's mistress, and drops off the two children wit

I think that Ruth was very successful in her destruction of Bobbo. She made him feel unloved and unwanted, which was exactly how he made her feel when they were together. Through her destruction of Bobbo, Ruth re-invented herself. Physically, she had plastic surgery done, so she would not have such a ghastly appearance. Emotionally, Ruth made many changes. She no longer let people take advantage of her. Nobody could tell her what to do, and it seemed like nothing could get in her way. Also, she found a new level of confidence, which powered her in her quest for revenge. I do think that Ruth may have gone a little overboard, but everything worked out the way that she wanted it to.

I think that Gatsby was successful in his re-invention. He got Daisy to love him again, and that was his only purpose. Gatsby seems to be a little pathetic for doing this, but he shows that love is a very strong thing. Before going into the war, Gatsby was a normal man, with good morals. He throws all of his morals away when he tries to get Daisy back. Being rich and sophisticated is the image he feels he needs to portray. He gets his money through organized crime, and he becomes sophisticated with all of his expensive things, and his fake background, which includes an education from Oxford. Gatsby successfully turned himself into a rich, scholar.

When Ruth was together with Bobbo, she could not voice her opinion on any subject. She was always told what to do, and she could not argue with him. When Bobbo leaves her, Ruth decides that that is the last straw. Blowing up her house, shows that Ruth can be independent. She now has to live on her own, and not get supported by Bobbo. Ruth also sheds her "good girl" image. She begins stealing money, manipulating people, and she becomes ruthless. Ruth stops trying to please other people, and only tries to please herself.

Ruth goes through her transformation for revenge. Gatsby re-invents himself for the love of an

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Approximate Word count = 1332
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)