Revolutionary Road Comparison

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The two novels analyzed recently, Big Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney, and Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, share an everlasting worldly theme; the idea of hiding problems and trying to escape them. This conceptual idea is most vividly seen through the main characters of each novel respectively, the narrator and Frank Wheeler. The narrator is 24-year-old New York City man who freshly was separated from his wife. A typical day for him is going to work during the day, hitting the bars at night, and getting very little sleep in between. On the other hand, Frank is a 29-year-old man who has a wife and two children living in the suburban, family-friendly neighborhoods of Connecticut. Both characters face many obstacles throughout their lives,…show more content…
Throughout Revolutionary Road, the Wheeler’s have constant arguments about ludicrous things, the very first one coming right after the play when April says that she questions Frank’s manliness and saying that she only loved him when he was nice. One of the recurring conflicts that occur is when April wants to abort her child, but Frank goes against that idea. Frank believes that she’s encroaching on his manhood by deciding to abort without his input. At this point, Frank doesn’t have a solution, but to create a campaign to make her follow his rule. The one altercation that’s essentially the tipping point for April was when Frank tells calls her insane for not loving him. He says, “It’s the inability to relate to another human being. It’s the inability to love,” (281). She responds saying, “So now I’m crazy because I don’t love you…” (281). This argument along with the many others makes April abort the child by herself, but instead unintentionally kills her. The major flaw that came from Frank’s side of the marriage was his inability to compromise in order to keep the relationship. He felt that it was necessary for him to take control of the family’s decisions because that was the “manly thing to do.” This ultimately cost himself his marriage and his personality for
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