2021- Intro to Literature- Assignment PDF

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Great Gatsby Essay Intro...

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Great Gatsby: Introduction The sociology of wealth exercised power and legitimacy over newly minted millionaires and working-class: Myrtle and Gatsby both lose their lives to Tom. The essay White Skin, White Mask: Passing Posing, and Preforming in The Great Gatsby by Meredith Goldsmith and the novel The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald draws inspiration from the Roaring Twenties to establish between rich and poor. “I should make clear that it is not my intention to subsume the differences between the narrative strategies or political contexts of these two genres” (444). It illustrates the disconnect Gatsby feels from the east coast elite through the frame of immigration, just as immigrants are isolated from the upper class of society so too is Gatsby. “The scandal of Jay Gatsby's success can only be described, it seems, through a series of ethnic and racial analogies” (443). It demonstrates the idea that origins are a key component to the evolution of the individual, in this case, the evolution of James Gatz into Jay Gatsby. Gatsby will always be seen as lesser, so he must mask his origins and pass for something else. We often assume the Roaring Twenties to be a period of never-ending partying, dancing, and drinking. However, it is often plagued with selfishness, mass consumerism, and shallowness. In this essay, I will argue that The Great Gatsby uses the Jazz Age, Harlem Renaissance, for racial crossing and cultural shift that establishes a line between the rich and the poor. Economic conditions often inspired writers who in turn allowed us to contemplate either a glimpse or aa detailed picture of economic reality. The people who benefitted most from the economic gains were the middle and upper class.

Work Cited Goldsmith, Meredith. "White Skin, White Mask: Passing, Posing, and Performing in The Great Gatsby." MFS Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 49 no. 3, 2003, p. 443-468. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mfs.2003.0050....