Gatsby vs. Ruth: The Battle of Self-Creation
             In Fay Weldon's The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the main characters, Ruth and Gatsby, go through a process of re-inventing themselves. Each character tries to change themselves so they can, in some way, improve their lives. Though each character tries to re-invent themselves, both of their reasons for doing so are completely different. The characters may have different reasons for changing themselves, but both end up almost in the same spot.
             In The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Ruth is the character that goes through the transformation. After being cheated on by her husband, Bobbo, ridiculed by him in front of his parents, and basically deserted with her two children and the dog, Ruth decides that she needs to make a change. She wants to make Bobbo suffer for all the pain that he put her through.
             Ruth goes to the extreme limits to make Bobbo suffer. In order to make him suffer, Ruth has to change her whole life around. The first thing she does, is blow up their house. Ruth wants to get rid of the past, so she can start a new. She then drives over to Mary Fisher's house, Bobbo's mistress, and drops off the two children with him. Next, Ruth gets a job at Restwood Retirement Home, the same place where Mary Fisher's mother was a resident. After a while, Ruth sets it up so that Mrs. Fisher is kicked out of Restwood, and forced to move in with Mary, Bobbo, and his two children. Then, Ruth starts to work on herself. She changes her name to Vesta Rose, and starts the Vesta Rose Agency. This agency is a "temp" service that trains women basic secretarial skills, and even gets them jobs. While working there, Ruth starts sneaking into Bobbo's office in the city with the spare key she still had. Ruth would transfer money from Bobbo's clients' accounts to Ruth and Bobbo's joint...