In the novel The Great Gatsby and the play A Streetcar Named Desire, the main characters James Gatsby and Blanche Dubois lead a long search for love. Both characters continue their search in similar and different ways. The characters choose illusion over reality, but the way they go about it differs. Always aiming to impress, both characters attempt to “buy” love by using material goods to attract people to them. Although Gatsby and Blanche devote much of their lives to finding true love, their searches fail. Gatsby and Blanche are blinded by their own pasts. Gatsby decides to live in the constant fantasy of getting Daisy back. He doesn't want to accept that she is married and loves another man. This is shown in this quote: “He stretched out his arms curiously toward the dark water, and as far away as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily, I glanced out to sea and saw nothing except a single green. light, tiny and distant, it could have been the end of a quay. There is a long distance between Daisy and her dock. She doesn't even really know where he is. He trembles because he knows the distance, but he does not accept it and, to try to justify himself, he stretches his arms towards the sea and towards Daisy. Gatsby can't escape his past, it's what made him successful and now he wants what will complete him, and that's Daisy. He bought the house in West Egg, so it was directly across the street from Daisy and it made him feel close to her. Likewise in A Streetcar Named Desire middle of paper...... hey, you had to be happy, it was love. They both achieved love in similar and different ways. In the end, even though Gatsby was able to realize that he would not be with Daisy and he accepted reality, Blanche still tried to live in a fantasy. They will never have their first true loves, and because of that, they have both lost a lot. Gatsby lost the final; he lost his life because of Daisy. Blanche lost the respect of everyone who loved her and was eventually sent to a mental hospital because she lied so much, and when she finally told the truth, it was incredible. Ultimately, both Gatsby and Blanche failed in their search for love. Works Cited Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925Shakespeare, William. Hamlet (The New Folger Shakespeare Library). Simon and Schuster; New Folger edition, 2003.