Similarities Between Passing And The Great Gatsby

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Nella Larsen’s Passing and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby both share a miserable tone and displays the concept of what an accepted identity means. By creating eccentric roles for each characters in “The Great Gatsby” and “Passing”, both author conveys how simple it is to lose themselves. One of the characters in passing, Clare Kendry, who abandoned her real ethnicity, never had the opportunity to associate herself with a specific race because of her inconvenient death. Irene Redfield was part of the reason for her suicide because she was jealous of Clare, she destroyed her mentally until she lost all her senses and control over her emotions. In “The Great Gatsby” the protagonist, Jay Gatsby, tried to create a new life for himself. Frankly, …show more content…

Racism played a huge role between conflicts that happened. Blacks were treated unfairly by the whites. White people were powerful people that had control over Clare was passing because she wanted to get out of the white oppression over blacks. “Catlike...the best word that describe Clare Kendry” (Larsen, P.2). Clare’s friend Irene Redfield’s presents a despairing tone because Clare decides to pass as a white woman instead of embracing her true race. Irene looks down upon people who passes by creating a new identity for themselves just so society would accept who she is as a new woman and not looked down upon. In the “Great Gatsby”, Gatsby wanted to achieve the American dream. “ he hurried the phrase educated at Oxford” (Fitzgerald.P.65). This quote that was said by the narrator, Nick Carraway, demonstrates an anxious tone from Gatsby when he was telling Nick about himself and his wealth. The American dream was to be wealthy and powerful. Being capable of having those two in his hands, he’s able to show Daisy his love by showering her with all the money he had. In retrospect, Daisy left Gatsby because he was poor and not for who he is. Now that Gatsby came back with money, Daisy still doesn’t want him. Both characters changing their identity to be someone else, thinking it would help make the situation better just makes it worst. Money and changing your own identity, can’t buy happiness instead, it brings self destruction and misery to their

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