Examples Of Discrimination In The Great Gatsby

The progression of discrimination’s effects on the American Dreams of man?

Discrimination is the prevalent, arduous obstacle that hinders all American Dreams, preventing the necessary upward mobility through segregation of class, gender, and race. This is conveyed through F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925) and Theodore Melfi’s and Alison Schroeder’s Hidden Figures (2017), where various characters endure various forms of inequality, eventually succeeding in their American Dream or becoming too tired to continue “the pursuing”. Thus, Fitzgerald’s and Theodore’s texts thoroughly reflected the demanding obstacles formed through limitless racial, gender, and class discrimination during the 1900s, which significantly hindered the people’s

Men were automatically assumed to be the breadwinners, the controlling and dominant figures during this era, which is illustrated by both writers through the point of view of others towards the protagonists, resulting in the questioning of abilities or outright discrimination. Theodore’s Mary Jackson confronts the social standing of women towards the judge: "We go from being our father’s daughters to our husband’s wives to our babies’ mothers". Using a tricolon of men as the subject, the writer expresses the neglect of women during the 1960s regarding their jobs, pay and education, and consequently, their upward mobility to achieve the American Dream. Similarly, Fitzgerald portrays restraining misogyny through his diction of the contradicting actions of men: "Women run around too much" (pg. 100). Fitzgerald represented most men during the ‘Roaring Twenties’ through this ironic statement, where they have the wealth, class, and power due to the benefits of World War II, to control women and commit adultery, which was also widely accepted in the ‘Space Race’. This idea is further reinforced when Fitzgerald describes the aftermaths of the women’s complaints regarding their freedom: "In spite of the wives’ agreement... the dispute ended in a short struggle and both wives were lifted kicking into the night" (pg. 53). Through these statements, Fitzgerald intended to

Consequently, the minority was often faced with discrimination from said class, which actively prevented their potential for upward mobility and thus, their American Dream. Within both texts, both writers intentionally segregated the east, west, and remainders, representing the New Money, Old Money and No Money class status, illustrated through the Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby. The No Money status automatically establishes the lack of upward mobility, wealth, and freedom, as established by Fitzgerald: the "ash-grey men... who move dimly and already crumbling" and the “grey cars on invisible tracks (pg. 26)". Through Fitzgerald’s use of imagery and colour, he suggests that anyone who lives within this class will never achieve success within the strict hierarchy through legal means, preventing the possibility of any American Dreams. The West Egg was expressed as an "imitation of some Hotel de Ville… new under raw ivy", emphasising how people of New Money are just poor imitations of Old Money, supported by their lack of roots and history. Gatsby’s continuous use of “old sport” also reinforces this idea, characterising him as a mimic of Dan Cody for his wealthy mannerisms. Furthermore, Fitzgerald embodies the East Egger’s negative judgement of West Egg through Tom Buchanan, "I’d be a god damn fool to live anywhere else [other than East