Examples Of Bias In The Great Gatsby

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Since the beginning of time, humans have used their biases to judge people and situations that may be uncomfortable or otherwise unknown. With the small population and lack of modern technology, this instinct was justified, as it kept us safe. However, as time progresses, this instinct has fallen out of need. Yet still, humans tend to judge what is in front of them with unfair bias, with only what they see, or with memories that cannot reflect the current situation in a fair way. The same can be seen in The Great Gatsby. Albeit unfair, the main characters of the book often do this, placing their biases on those who look different or have a lower social class than them. Throughout The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Nick Carraway’s narration …show more content…

This shows us how Fitzgerald believes that image is important. Due to the state of the valley, Nick implies that he believes that the entire area is not a good place to be. We can place our modern values on the situation and suppress bias on this situation and state that the area is poor, but poor does not necessarily mean a place is bad to be, nor are the people awful. However, due to Nick’s bias, and even our own prevailing bias, we see that this isn’t true. The passage later states, “...of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air...the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud...” At this point in the book, Fitzgerald has established Nick as an unreliable narrator, due to his preference towards himself and Gatsby, while pointing out flaws in others or places he would not be so quick to point out if the situation would not benefit him. As Nick and Tom Buchanan sped through the lower class area of the city, Nick describes the entire area in a grotesque

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