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Similarities Between Homegoing And The Great Gatsby

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Benjamin Richardson Mr. Cook English III Honors 21 April 2024 The Great Gatsby, Homegoing, and the American Dream The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, follows the adventures of Nick Carraway after he moved next to a strange man named Jay Gatsby. This book not only criticizes the rich class, but also attacks the American Dream. Another book with a similar message is Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing. Homegoing follows the story of an African family that is split in half. Half go to America as slaves and the other half stay in Ghana. Homegoing also attacks the American Dream and shows how bad life is for the poor and minorities. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby and Yaa Gyasi’s book Homegoing both share similar themes and morals. However, among …show more content…

Then one day his pregnant wife never came home. She had been taken and sold into slavery. “They had checked every hospital, every midwife, even the witch doctors. No one had seen Anna or Baby H. ‘They sold her and the baby too,’ [Kojo] said” (Gyasi 129). Kojo had worked for a stable job and a big family but didn't want to give it up so he didn't flee the new law. After losing his wife, his relationships with his kids crumbled and he quit his job. He worked his way up from nothing and achieved his American Dream, just to have it all taken away in the blink of an eye. The American Dream blinded him and made him ignorant. It gave a false sense of security and false hope. The same false hope and sense of security that Gatsby suffered from. The Great Gatsby and Homegoing showcase how the American Dream provides false hope and how this false hope can and will ruin people’s lives. Both Homegoing and The Great Gatsby demonstrate the destructive capabilities of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby is filled to the brim with misdemeanors and tragedies. However, Fitzgerald pins all of these unfortunate events onto the American Dream and not just bad luck or the actions of the

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