jesus comparisons in "great" american literature- WTF

[Green Kool Aid]

this summer, im reading books that my high school didn't bother to cover. i read great gatsby a couple weeks ago and just remembered this.

**GATSBY SPOILER**



At the end when Gatsby is walking to the pool with the float over his shoulder and he stumbles before his death, this was that same sort of Jesus comparison that I remember reading about in "The Old Man and the Sea" when the main character had the mast over his shoulders after returning from sea.

What was the first book to use the Jesus comparison? Why do authors insist on doing this?

It ruins the integrity of a story for me. The thing I enjoy most about books is completely human, sympathetic, characters, but this antic removes me from the character so much. Does anyone else feel this way?

[econophile]

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What was the first book to use the Jesus comparison?

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Not sure, but it predates American literature by a thousand years give or take.

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Why do authors insist on doing this?

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Until recently, the Bible was one book American writers could count on reader's having general knowledge of, and readers would have especially good knowledge of Jesus' story. Comparing a character to Jesus or Odysesseus or Buddha is one technique a writer can use to remind the reader that the book isn't about a particular character (Gatsby or Santiago), but about some aspect of the human condition.

[tdarko]

Green Kool Aid,

Have you read <u>Blood Meridian</u> by Cormac McCarthy by any chance? B/c this is an exceptional book that reads almost exactly like Faulkner with Gnostic themes. Even thouggh it is a violent book it has a ton of religious reference to it and to me it added depth to the character and made the protagonist/antagonist THAT much more interesting throughout the book.

~td

[Duke]

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What was the first book to use the Jesus comparison?

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The idea was around a long time before there was a bible.

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Why do authors insist on doing this?

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Because it's been a popular theme for more than 2000 years.

~D

[Green Kool Aid]

tdarko,

i haven't read it yet, but plan to at some point. i am raeding all the pretty horses now and really like mccarthy's writing style.

[Lothario]

lol i had an english teacher in 9th grade that was a jesus freak. I wouldnt consider fahrenheit 451 great american literature but for any1 familiar with the book she compared Montag going into the river with baptisim. I have never seen a critic make that comparision... dunno first random fact to come to mind