How does Fitzgerald present clandestine relationships in The Great Gatsby with particular reference to the eponymous character?Furthermore...

Good question. Both novels deal with clandestine
relationships gone wrong, but while Gatsby is attracted to Daisy because she is a member
of better social circles and has an exciting lifestyle, Ethan in Wharton's
Ethan Frome cannot offer Mattie a glamorous life. However, it might
be fair to say that both females, Mattie and Daisy, are impressionable. The crucial
point in both works is perhaps what happens after the catastrophe- the car accident in
Gatsby and the sledding accident in Wharton's text. There is no happy ending for any of
the relationships. While Ethan takes Mattie into the house with him and his wife, this
is not really a happy household. Remember he was unhappy with his wife Zeena to begin
with. In Fitzgerald's text there is another crucial influence-money. All the
extramarital relationships are directly driven by money. Myrtle for instance is smitten
by George because he mingles in higher social circles and Daisy, of course, believes
that same misleading fact about Gatsby. Interestingly enough, Wharton usually depicts
those same issues in her fiction (the interaction of money and social status), but shies
away from it in Ethan Frome.