Comparing and Contrasting E.L. Doctorows Billy Bathgate and William Kennedys Legs :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Comparing and Contrasting E.L. Doctorow's Billy Bathgate and William Kennedy's Legs The many similarities between E.L. Doctorow's Billy Bathgate and William Kennedy's Legs suggest that Doctorow used Legs as a starting place for the creation of his own novel. Certain scenes are so similar that it seems that they did not originate independently. Marcus Gorman and Billy Bathgate had almost indistinguishable experiences while firing target practice and later when Jack Diamond and Dutch Schultz died. Doctorow did not, however, merely copy Kennedy's story; he instead used it as a building block to begin from. Billy Bathgate had many elements that Legs did not which expanded the story's significance. The pistol firing scene in Billy Bathgate palpably mimics the machine gun practice in Legs. Not only are the literal actions very similar to each other, but their impact on the characters is almost identical as well. The excitement and power gained by firing weapons lures both characters further on their descent into the criminal underworld. After shooting, Marcus thinks, "Do something new and you are new. How boring it is not to fire machine guns" (Kennedy 41). And Billy said, "I will never forget how it felt to hold a loaded gun for the first time and lift it and fire it, the scare of its animate kick up the bone of your arm, you are empowered there is no question about it, it is an investiture, like knighthood" (Doctorow 145). In the case of Marcus Gorman, the exhilaration of firing the machine gun was the benefit that would outweigh the risks of associating with Jack Diamond. Billy had already been attracted to the gang life. However, the power he gained from firing his automatic amplified his attraction. He finally understood why the other gang members had such closeness with their guns. Doctorow saw Marcus' introduction to the gang life through guns as an organic element in the story that worked properly. Therefore, he chose to borrow for Billy rather than trying to come up with something different that may not have worked as well. After their gun firing experiences, Marcus and Billy experienced many strikingly similar events. The most dramatic of these were the death scenes of Jack Diamond and Dutch Schultz. In both cases, mentor and protà ©gà © were together at the time of departure, and each protà ©gà © received a privileged transmission of information that no one else did.