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The Great Gatsby Act 1 Scene 1 Summary

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This scene depicts the confrontation between Mina’s father and her lover, Demetrius. Demetrius asks to see Mina, and her father says that is not possible. Mina’s father says that he once was young like them and thought he could change the world and be different, but the world doesn’t accept change so quickly. He doesn’t want Mina to go through the same struggle he did, but Demetrius soon interrupts, claiming that he knows more about struggle than him. Demetrius touches on the main idea that people act superior to other races, when really their skin shades are not very far from each other and they are all humans. Berreby emphasizes the research done by Sapolsky and brings to attention the puzzling and fundamental aspect of human nature: how …show more content…

The men are having a confrontation, but they are not screaming. They do not agree with each other, but they are not talking fast and fighting. Instead, the men talk slowly and with pauses. This creates suspense, tension, and leaves the viewers to wonder what will be said next or if the confrontation will get more heated. This relates to Berreby’s discussion of groups in our world and the potential these possess to change our world for better or worse. For example, looking at the relationship between Mina’s father and Demetrius, viewers do not know how the confrontation will end. Just like Berreby discusses about groups, we do not know how certain groups will affect the …show more content…

Humans have the desire to belong, and therefore, humans always want to be a part of something or involved with something. Demetrius felt he belonged in a relationship with Mina, but her father does not approve of this. Demetrius and Mina see themselves as “us,” whereas Mina’s father sees Demetrius as a “them.” Her father does not believe that our world can change and accept change in relationships between races. Groups will always be a part of our world, but perhaps racial groups shouldn’t be seen as having the potential to misshape our world. Tensions between races, or these groups, have existed in our world and will continue to, but perhaps races can learn to work together so our world can be one, instead of humans making assumptions that certain races are superior to others. Berger discusses European art paintings and how these depict a relationship between men and women: the painters and owners being men, and the object of the painting being a woman. He brings to attention the unequal relationship this creates and how it continues on throughout real-life and culture. Women today still view themselves as objects and survey themselves the same way that men survey them (p.

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