How Is African American Women Portrayed In The Great Gatsby

The Illusive Dream
The American Dream, a concept desired by many, but achieved by so few. The dream, which consists of all Americans having equal opportunities to success through hard work and dedication, is equivalent to living ‘happily ever after’. ‘The Great Gatsby’, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, critiques this belief through the protagonist Gatsby’s desperate yet unsuccessful attempts to repeat the past and pursue his dream of marrying Daisy, his true love. Gatsby exemplifies that wealth and influence cannot fulfil a man’s desire, even during the materialistic time of the Roaring ’20s, and that nothing is comparable to love. In contrast, Theodore Melfi’s film ‘Hidden Figures’, set in the 1960s, highlights three African-American women,

This is exemplified through ‘white’ people’s authority over African-American’s rights, alongside African-Americans being forced to work harder whilst the 1960s society normalised racial segregation. During the film, Mary Jackson strives to attain an engineering role at NASA. When she is close to attaining the role, her ‘white’ supervisor, Vivian Mitchell, enforces the rule that all engineers must attend an all-white school, extending the racial discrimination Mary faces. This prompts Mary to exclaim, “Every time we have a chance to get ahead, they move the finish line.” The finish line is metaphorical for the authority that ‘white’ people have over African-American’s opportunities and dreams. This emphasises the audience’s belief that the African-American community faces extensive discrimination in the 1960s, as societal standards reinforce the ‘white’ authority alienate people who support civil rights movements during the time. Furthermore, multiple scenes in the film depict Katherine running to the ‘coloured bathroom’ with her work in hand. Al-Harrison, the leader of the Space Task Group, depicts the cultural assumptions of the time as he believes that Katherine is lazy and not dedicated to her work as she disappears multiple times daily. This is dramatic irony as Katherine carries her work with her when running to the other

Throughout the novel, multiple references are made towards the geographical segregation between the upper and lower classes. The lower class is restricted to only reside in the valley of ashes, “a certain desolate area of land… a fantastic farmland where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the form of houses and chimneys and rising smoke”(p.26). This dark description of the Valley of Ashes directly juxtaposes the neighbouring upper-class areas of East and West Egg, which consist of large gardens and luxurious mansions. Melfi utilises this juxtaposition to accentuate the severity of class segregation within the 1920s. The Valley of Ashes further represents the immoral choices which results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with disregard for the lower-class. The audience is positioned to view the Valley of Ashes as a direct relationship to the death of dreams, in which the lower-class people who live there have no hope for attaining the American Dream. Furthermore, Gatsby is originally in love with Daisy, but due to his low social status, she leaves him for a wealthier man. This motivates Gatsby to push through the societal barriers of the lower-class as he attains wealth through bootlegging. Using his wealth, Gatsby purchases an elaborate mansion