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Gender Inequality In The Great Gatsby

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American Literature often addressed problems that were occurring within the United States. Some American authors tackled grievances regarding gender inequality and racism, while others wrote about the American Dream and wealth. In today’s society, a lot of these ideas still exist but some are more prevalent than others. The idea of the American Dream has long been a vision for Americans as well as people moving into the country: They have the thought that hard work grants success or wealth. However, this idea is slowly meeting its demise, as the gap between the rich and poor continues to increase. One text that still connects to the idea for wealth and success is The Great Gatsby, in which the rich and lavish lifestyle of the one percent wealthy …show more content…

In the “‘The Great Gatsby Curve’”, we see how the wealthy are almost nearly advantageous in a lot of aspects as opposed to the poor. Matthew O’Brien begins the article by saying that the American Dream has moved to Denmark. America believes that it houses a classless society, but in reality there is a significant amount of inequality in our nation. It’s hard for the poor to become rich as technology and more marriages affect the income gap between the rich and poor. As the rich become more wealthy, they are putting more effort into their kids and their educations. O’Brien says that “Maybe they want to stay close to home to help their parents or be near a significant other. Maybe they just don’t believe they could get into a top-tier college. Whatever the reason, the vast majority of high-scoring, low-income students don’t apply to selective schools, but opt instead for community colleges or small state schools” (O’Brien par 9). This story connects to Fitzgerald’s ideas because it show show the less fortunate are forced to go to smaller state schools. This event highlights Fitzgerald’s idea that being wealthy in America gives an advantage in many aspects of life, including education and lifestyle. Not many students can afford loans for college and would have to work it off by doing part-time jobs which, most of the time, aren’t enough. Fitzgerald’s writing sheds light on this topic because it represents how the gap between the rich and poor is widening and in his novel, he wrote about a man who attempted to lie his way to the wealthy side, which ended terribly . “The Great Gatsby” represents America in many ways but it's main focus is the American

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In the example of Gatsby, however, his wealth came from engaging in illegal activities. As Tyson describes it, the American dream “must be a corrupt one” (71) as the only way Gatsby could emerge from the lower class was through illegal activity, which “deflates the image of the honest, hardworking man that the dream is supposed to foster” (71). So while lower-class citizens are led to believe that if they work hard enough, they will be able to rise out of poverty, the people in the upper class who the lower class strive to become, really only got to their position through immorality and corruption. Tyson goes into more detail on the matter in describing the relationship between Gatsby and Meyer Wolfshiem. One of Wolfshiem’s most notable accomplishments is that he was able to “fix” the 1919 World Series.

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Fitzgerald uses Gatsby to show the corruptness that money and power can bring upon not just an individual, but an entire class of society. The divide between the upper class of “Old Money” and

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Fitzgerald very strategically explores the correlation between, wealth, power and love. Meanwhile expressing what one will do for love no matter the cost and in doing so; he shows how the old aristocracy within the story have a far greater hollowness within them than the newly rich. The novel leaves very little to be desired in terms of creating an atmosphere that relates very closely to present day capitalist societies. When an individual thinks about their goals in life, financial stability is almost certainly an aspect that one hopes to obtain. Wealth, no matter where a person is, is crucial to survival.

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Many people believe that money is the key to happiness and they seek it persistently in order to run away from poverty. Poverty alone is challenging but it becomes a bigger challenge when you become a victim of the corruption of money. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the readers explore a story of ambition, tragedy, and betrayal;All because of money and reputation. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes symbolism to reveal the drastic differences between the wealthy and the poor.

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The impact of socioeconomic status can be examined through a myriad of lenses. F. Scott Fitzgerald aims to show the relationship between socioeconomic status and power. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Tom’s character shows that socioeconomic status is equivalent to power within the novel. Tom puts great pride and emphasis on his socioeconomic status and wealth.

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" It is here that Tom essentially recognizes Gatsby's way of living, however illegal it may be, as worthless due to his pretentious belief that the upper class consists only of those with old money and excludes those with newly hard earned wealth. With the application of imagery, Fitzgerald separates Tom and Gatsby's background and shows its effects on the traits and thought processes of each character, which adds to the diversity that creates such a rift between classes within itself that it essentially dismantles

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby describes the life of Jay Gatsby in the 1920’s. The novel shares his love story and his loneliness. A major question the author raises is how does wealth impact class structure and society? Fitzgerald answers this question through the distinction between “New rich” and “Old rich” and the significance of East and West Egg.

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During the 20s, the meaning of gender and how it affected people changed drastically with the emergence of flappers and suffragettes. The way one perceives gender and how they present themselves is significant regarding how people treat them and how they treat others, a theme carried throughout the entirety of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. In Gatsby, gender makes itself known concerning sexuality and how the way a certain character appears and acts can heavily influence how they are perceived. From Mr. Mckee and his evident femininity and Miss Baker’s contrasting masculinity to Nick’s undeniable admiration for Gatsby, it is clear that gender and sexuality present a very strong role in the novel. One of the characters closest to

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Francis Scott Fitzgerald once stated, “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart and all they can do is stare blankly.” Throughout his famous work, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrayed the American Dream. Contrary to the ideology of the “Roaring Twenties” society, he described the American Dream as a delusion. People of the era focused on materialism in order to boost their wealth and status and forgot the importance of their relationships. Several characters within the novel sought to gain a higher status in society.

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”

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The Great Gatsby is arguably Scott Fitzgerald’s most excellent portrayal of the American society in the 1920s when the country was undergoing an unprecedented economic boom. Through its theme of a romantic and prosperous love, the novel offers a strong indictment of the normalization of competing interests that bordered on greed and selfishness. Jay Gatsby, the novel’s principal and central character, seems to know everybody and yet is still somehow unknown to everyone. Gatsby is an extremely ambitious young man who challenges and breaks out of the shackles of social stratification with the abundant fortune he obtains throughout the years by insisting devotion to his pursuit of the American dream. Gatsby also utilizes this massive affluence

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The “American Dream” has powered the hopes and dreams of Americans for many generations. Unlike the old European societies with an extensive feudal past, we are told that the US is a classless society based on equal opportunity. F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates in The Great Gatsby that this is not true, and that there is a limit to the American Dream. This is shown in the difference between East Egg with the “old rich” who have been born into wealth and West Egg, with the “new rich” such as Gatsby, who acquired their wealth throughout their life. Fitzgerald uses this motif to demonstrate the split among even the upper class of society and the limit of American opportunity.

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The novel; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, explores multiple themes. One specific theme, however, that stands out can be considered the gender roles portrayed throughout the novel. Specifically, his portrayal of female characters, such as Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker and Myrtle Wilson. In some respects, Fitzgerald represents gender roles in his novel, in quite a traditional manner. In the novel, men are responsible for earning money, so that they can then care for the women.

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How come it 's always the women who are fighting for a stable and painless life? Why is it always the women who have the choice to live by suppressed under the society’s expectations or face the consequences of going against it and gaining nothing? Women equality has been an issue for a long time and it is dragged even to the present time. Fitzgerald, in his novel “The Great Gatsby” portrays women in two manners which are submissive and assertive but also showing how they both have desires for a comfort and stable life. Gender roles in society mean how certain genders are expected to act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct themselves.

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