The Great Gatsby And Invisible Man Analysis

Change in social structure scares those with power within the group because of the potential threat to them. There is always a status quo that people follow and once somebody breaks it, tension occurs. Powerful individuals do not support change because they fear that once any change occurs, the process will continue. Therefore, those who work to try to attain power, tend to face adversity. As a result, power derives from connections and luck rather than hard work because those in power fear change within social structure.
In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Dewey Dell has power fall in her lap and Willy Loman never has an opportunity to attain any. Dewey Dell wants short-term power to get rid of her

Dewey Dell succeeds because she has luck in Vardaman’s information and does not threaten the Bundren social structure. Anse does not challenge her because Darl challenges the structure by trying to interfere with their journey to Jackson. Anse also lets her actions slide because he wants to be relieved of responsibility for Gillespie’s burned barn meaning he would not have to pay for the damages. The Invisible Man and Gatsby because they were outliers in the social structure. Jay Gatsby presence is a threat to the system because of his sudden ascension in society, while the narrator in Invisible Man challenges the system through his words. Gatsby takes “just three years to earn the money” through his illegal behavior, and his rise is enough to scare Tom (Fitzgerald 90). The Invisible Man increases his power through the Brotherhood, but the Brothers challenge his power once they see the black community too aroused. The Brotherhood uses their power to control and manipulate African Americans’ minds, but the narrator uses his power to arouse their emotions. Once the narrator misuses his power, he becomes a threat to the Brotherhood and they effectively get rid of him. As they call his arousing of emotions “incorrect” and the “antithesis of the scientific approach” (Ellison 349-250). Dewey Dell is not challenged due to her staying within the white lines of her family structure, while Gatsby and the narrator from Invisible Man are challenged because they could potentially sprout change. Tom and the Brotherhood fear their challengers will start others to threaten the existing power