Jake Barnes and Nick Carraway are two similar characters conjured up during the roaring twenties. They represent the jazz era and everything that happened during that time period. Their actions mirror each other very closely at times. Nick and Jake show different aspects of life in the 1920s. .
One similar aspect between Jake and Nick is that both these men participated in World War I. In the war, both Jake and Nick began to construct insecurities about themselves. They began to question their manhood, Jake to a greater degree than Nick. Jake is especially perplexed about his manhood because he lost a key aspect of it during the war. Without his "parts", Brett wants nothing more than a plutonic relationship where she calls upon him only when she is in need. .
Another similar aspect about Jake and Nick is the love they hold for a member of the opposite sex. Jake is in love with Brett and Nick is in love with Jordan Baker. Both these men become increasingly involved with the girl as the novel continues. However, Nick becomes romantically involved with Jordan, while Brett won't do anything more than kiss Jake. Brett's kiss is meaningless because she does not love Jake. Love is an important part of Nick and Jake's life. It is also an underlying them of both books. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby's love for Daisy parallels Nick's love for Jordan. However, Nick's love is far less intense than Gatsby's.
Nick and Jake are also similar in that both are not really happy with their lives in terms of employment. Nick went to New York to become a "bond man." At the end of the novel he goes back to Minnesota to get away from American greediness. Jake leaves America as well, getting away from American politics. He seems like he doesn't really favor his work either. His career as a journalist does not seem fulfilling to him. He leaves his work for long periods of time, without a care on his mind.
