Modernism was a significant style of writing in the 1900’s. The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald and “1919 - Two Portraits” from John Dos Passos’s USA Trilogy both display the differences between each class through modernism. They share the theme of class stratification and power to emphasize the behavior of these different classes. Both stories illustrate the aspects of modernism by displaying the similarities by the brokenness of characters, rejection of traditions, and massive disillusionment.
To begin with, both stories illustrate the theme of class stratification and power by the fragmentation of characters. An example of this is shown in the first portrait of John Dos Passos’s “1919 – Two Portraits.” Passos tells the reader about a dominant banker, who is also a corrupt financer, and
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Both Passos and Fitzgerald used modernism to illustrate this in their stories. In “1919 – Two Portraits,” Randolph Bourne shows how hard he worked throughout his life to give the working class a political voice to the world. However, the narrator shows how this did not go well by saying, “friends didn’t like to be seen with Bourne” (Passos 949). His friends, who can be assumed as a working class, did not support him. This type of disillusionment was also shown in The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby worked really hard in order to be wealthy, so that he could impress Daisy Buchanan. However, it did not impress like he thought it would. For example, Daisy Buchanan said, “I love you now – isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past” (Fitzgerald 140). She said this to Jay Gatsby. Although Gatsby has great wealth, he still did not end up with her due to the fact that she is already married. She also has a child and is still “in love” with Tom. Both stories illustrate a disillusionment within the plot to emphasize how working hard does not always have a good