Men of Love

A detailed Summary of Men of Love

In Voltaire's Candide, the main character Candide is madly in love with Cunegonde, the beautiful and intelligent daughter of a Baron. In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby has spent his whole life obsessing over Daisy. Although they are two very different novels, they are similar in that their leading men, Candide and Gatsby are obsessed with finding love. They both go on physical or mental journeys for the women they love. They decide to dedicate their lives to their love. Also, they both manage to obtain the object of their desire sometime during the story.

The journeys that are apparent in each novel are very similar. Both Candide and Gatsby go on their journeys to find their love. Both characters go on physical journeys but Gatsby also goes on a mental one. Candide's physical journey to Cunegonde takes him to many different places throughout the coast of Europe. He travels very far just to find her and when he does, he loses her again and must travel farther to find her. During his physical journey he encounters many obstacles. During each obstacle, the only thing that keeps him alive is the thought of being with Cunegonde again. It is the same for Cunegonde who was "frantic,

exhausted, half out of my senses, and ready to die of weakness." (p.36) Even in this horrible state, she tells Candide that through all her hardships, "my mind was full of the kiss which I gave you behind the screen, on the day when I saw you for the last time." (p.36) This statement keeps Candide going through the second half of the book. Gatsby's journeys are not nearly as difficult as difficult as Candide's. His physical journey is his trip through life, in which her obtains money just to impress Daisy. His mental journey is also part of his physical one. He realizes that Daisy will never marry a lowly soldier because she is wealthy and "her voice is full of money." (p.102) He decides that he will become rich enough to be worthy of her love. His journey is all about finally being worthy of Daisy. Both Candide and Gatsby's journeys end in heartbreak.

Ironically, both men finally obtain the objects of their desire. Candide travels all the way across Europe and thinks, "things are going as well as they possibly can" (p.93) because he is going to be reunited with Cunegonde. But decides he doesn't want to marry her anymore. She has become shrewish and ugly and she doesn't even know about it. He has no desire to marry her, but he was a man of his honor so he did. It was the worse mistake of his life and he became miserable. Gatsby was the opposite of Candide. When he finally got Daisy, they had a nice affair. Nick describes them as "possessed by intense life." (p.102) The time they had together was beautiful, but he wanted her to do things that she could not do, so she rejected him. He forced her to choose between himself and her husband, Tom.

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Approximate Word count = 1126
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English