Newland Archer and Jay Gatsby seem to have little in common. Archer is the product of rigidly conventional upper-class New York society, whereas Gatsby manufactures a persona out of his own imagination. Newland chafes against, but, ultimately, adheres to his family’s expectations, while Gatsby attempts to erase his past and replace it with a myth of luxury. Yet, Newland and Gatsby share an important trait: they both live within their own imaginations. Newland never acts decisively because “thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction that its realization.” He does not run off with Ellen not only because he lacks the self-knowledge to discern his love for her or because it would defy convention, but also because he enjoys imagining the thing to the thing itself. Similarly, Gatsby spends five years contemplating his reunion with Daisy, believing that she has remained in love with him the whole time. When Gatsby finally does reunite with Daisy, he fails to make her conform to how he imagined her–she is unwilling to leave Tom despite her feelings for Gatsby.
