President Ranks Alongside Some of the Most Despised Characters In Literature
Trump's Duplicate Can Be Found In This Book, But Not As Its Title Character
One literary reference you can make about Donald Trump is the idea that he is no Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Americans have never seen the Jekyl side, only the Hyde of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous title character.
While it might be exaggeration to compare the President to the murderous Hyde, Trump certainly shares traits with several of the most despised characters in literature. An examination of ETVNet.com's top fifty hated fictional people shows that the POTUS draws unfortunate comparisons to three of them.
Tom Buchanon, the despicable husband of Daisy in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, seems to most resemble Trump. He exhibits his blatant racism during one of his first pieces of dialogue, right at the beginning of the opening chapter.
" The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be utterly submerged, " Tom warns narrator Nick Carraway. "It's all scientific stuff; it's been proved."
Not only do the two mean exude racism, but both also could be described as misogynistic. Trump frequently hurls insults about a woman's physical appearance, dating back to his days as a TV personality.
"It must be a pretty sight, you dropping to your knees," Trump told Apprentice contestant Brande Roderick during a 1991 episode.
Buchanan probably would have made similar remarks, only they would not have been printed when th book was published back in the 1920's. He did, however, reveal a low opinion of the gender.
"The trouble is they sometimes get foolish ideas in their heads and don't know what they're doing," Tom tells Gatsby in chapter seven.
Harboring such little regard for women, it is no wonder that Buchanon is having an affair throughout The Great Gatsby. Nor are we surprised when he shows no remorse for having indirectly caused the death of the mistress.
The President, who seems to have as little respect for women as does Buchanon, has also been tied to adultery. Not long after he took office, Stormy Daniels admitted to having relations with Trump while he was married.
Another despised literary character who seems in step with the President is Humbert Humbert, the obsessed professor in Vladimir Nabokov's
Lolita. So obsessed is he with the pretty child, that he weds her mother just to be near her. He finally beds the girl, a culmination of a sick incestuous pursuit.
In this area the President's creepiness trumps that of Humbert, and there are too many examples of incestuous remarks. The first indication of sexual interest in his daughter came during his appearance on The View, when Trump said he would be interested in dating Ivanka.
Comparisons abound to the universally despised Bob Ewell, the racist in To Kill a Mockingbird. It was Ewell who framed Tom Robinson, an African American, for the rape of his daughter.
One trait that Trump does not share with these antagonists is what makes him the worst of all of bunch, the fact that they are found only in fiction.
