Running Towards Unhappiness In Godfather Part Ii By Mario Puzo And The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
There is a well known expression: ‘Too much ego will kill your talent, but it will not only kill your talent, it will kill your career, your relationships and your happiness. Too much ego can actually ruin your life’ (Rana Naim, paragraph one). Mankind tries to bide by this rule as much possible - although authors of books change it up and allows civilization to see how it is on the other side. The egotistical tendencies showed by Michael Corleone from the Godfather Part II and Tom Buchanan from the Great Gatsby result into the driving force to their despair. This is depicted through such means of violence, being too demanding, and anger blinding their judgements.
Violent acts are present in everyday life. That is just another form of communication. For instance, when Michael strikes Kay across the face in the Godfather Part II - he deems these deeds as appropriate. “When Kay's contempt rises to the surface, Michael slaps Kay across the face. She falls onto the couch. ” By not birthing him a son, Michael acts on these impulse decisions. The result of these anger outbursts are due to his inability to level with normal people. Unfortunately for him, he learns that later in life - family is the single most important thing to cherish. A similarity is shown in the Great Gatsby when Myrtle Wilson questions Tom’s ego. “ ‘Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!’ shouted Mrs. Wilson. ‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai ——’ Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand. ” This violent stunt only distances Nick’s relationship with his. Although, this might seem like a small problem this contributes to Tom’s demise. He is placed on Nick’s hated list which he does not care about. What he does care about is Daisy, so when Nick is exposed to this side of Tom he surely wants Gatsby to win her over. He gave a horrible first impression and in the end loses a valuable resource.
Being the top dog in the room is priority number one for the characters in the Great Gatsby and the Godfather Part II. Michael despises his older brother Fredo, not only because he tried to assassinate him but more importantly Fredo at times speaks down to Michael. "‘Why did you betray me? I had always taken care of you. ’ He replied ‘You'll take care of me ! I am your older brother, I should be taking care of you. Have you ever thought of that?’ ” In modern times, the oldest is to be respected. In spite of this - Michael’s clever and twisted mind tells him that this should not be in place. His ego made him oblivious to the fact that he’s killing his own brother, his family. “Well, you take my coupe and let me drive your car to town. ” Who gave Tom the authority to command Gatsby? While one asks that, Tom expects everybody in the vicinity to know this. This persona he puts up proves to Gatsby that Daisy is destined to be with him. “He opened the door, but she moved out from the circle of his arm. ‘You take Nick and Jordan. We’ll follow you in the coupe. ’ ” In this excerpt, it displays Daisy’s outlook on the situation. Events that unfold after this may have been different if Tom haven’t been so blunt and passive aggressive towards Gatsby. So, it would have been in favour of Tom if he had been more passive in the situation. Whenever someone is angry they tend to not show any attention to the world around them. The prevalence of this occurs in both stories.
In Michael’s case, his anger his heightened from his unfortunate ego. It gets in t he way of every conversation with his wife Kay. Kay soon realizes that she doesn’t have to endure any more of this abuse from Michael and leaves with her kids. “ ‘Bitch! You won't take my children!’ says Michael. Kay states ‘I will. ’ ‘You WON'T TAKE MY CHILDREN!’ Screams Michael. ” The same goes for Tom. When Tom would talk to Daisy - he would speak to her as an object, something he doesn’t care about. He might have loved her but his words and actions spoke louder. “Come on, Daisy, ” said Tom, pressing her with his hand toward Gatsby’s car. “I’ll take you in this circus wagon. ” It’s difficult for Daisy to love someone who’s always telling her what to do. Tom’s experience with being acknowledged by the public has blinded his ability to be a decent husband.
Pessimism is achieved when Michael’s and Tom’s ego elevate. In an attempt to keep their loved ones dear they manage to only push them further away. Ego is in essence unchangeable but is manageable. These two stories involve this topic and shows us the destructive power of it. In this case, ego really have killed their talent, their relationship and woefully their happiness.
