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Identity In The Great Gatsby And American Pastoral

854 Words4 Pages

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and American Pastoral by Philip Roth are three classic novels that provide unique insights into the American experience. Each book tackles different themes, but they all share a common sense of exploring the complexity of human nature and the pursuit of the American dream. This essay compares and contrasts the three novels with a focus on their themes of identity, the American dream, and the impact of history on the present. All three novels are concerned with the theme of identity and how it is formed.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set in the 1920s, a time of great prosperity and excess. The main character Jay Gatsby tries to create a new identity for himself …show more content…

Sethe is haunted by the memory of her past as a slave. She struggles to come to terms with her identity as a former slave and a mother who killed her own child in order to prevent her from being taken back into slavery. Morrison portrays the impact of slavery on Sethe's sense of self and the challenges she faces in reclaiming her identity. The novel challenges the idea that the American Dream is equally available to all and highlights the ways in which structural inequality continues to impact black …show more content…

These novels explore the theme of the American Dream and its evasive nature. In The Great Gatsby, the characters pursue wealth and status as a means of achieving the American Dream. However, Fitzgerald critiques the levity of this pursuit and the corruption and moral decay that it can lead to. Beloved challenges the traditional notion of the American Dream by showing how it is unattainable for African Americans due to systemic racism and oppression. Sethe and other characters in the novel are denied the opportunity to pursue their dreams because of their race and the legacy of slavery. In American Pastoral, the American Dream is portrayed as an illusion that is shattered by the chaos of the 1960s. Swede's daughter Merry represents the disillusionment and anger of a generation that has lost faith in the ideals of the American Dream. The novel suggests that the pursuit of the American Dream can be a pointless and destructive

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