Ye Yuxian, Class 7, Senior 2, Shenzhen Foreign Languages School Instructed by Yang Suning The book “The Great Gatsby” has always been considered a critical classic in American literature. In the book the author “offered some of the severest and closest criticism of the American dream that our literature affords,” whose criticism can be categorized into several parts: racism, gender inequality, illegal business, class differentiation, and authenticity of the American Dream. The first conflict in this book is gender inequality, the most apparent concern. It was presented in chapter 1 through the depiction of Daisy’s perfect marriage. She exclaimed hysterically: “You see I think everything is terrible now. I’m sophisticated!” The illusive happiness runs throughout the book as well as do potential crises and rivalries revolving around women. As the story develops, another woman appears. Myrtle, standing for lower-middle class women, expresses her despair and remorse of her marriage. Their marriages typically feature a certain age, when women like Daisy was partly free but hampered by their family while Myrtle was deceived to marry a poor guy. Women like Daisy, rich but strained, have the right to communicate, dance, even date men, but their marriages were arranged. Women like Myrtle, on the other hand, have the right to decide whom they marry because they don’t have the oppression of family. Consequently, this spells many young men who dream to climb to the upper class by marriage. Every means has been tried to have their lovers form an illusion of a fairy bride. After achieving their goal, women won’t have any say in the new family because they fall into the old way. In the book, both Daisy and Myrtle were criticized fiercely for their banes. In comparison, Jordan Baker, who lives an entirely independent and rich life, is a standard modern woman in America of that time. Without any constraints, she was as prudent as a man (such as Nick). This can be considered as either the power of society or a way to protect herself through isolation, reflecting the severe circumstances women were faced with at that time. In addition, Nick himself criticizes women frequently. He criticizes Daisy for her little cheat and Mrs. Mckee for her superficiality. The author obviously tries to reveal the stern criteria for women of that time. The second conflict in this book is racism. As a fanatic supporter of ethnic affiliation and white supremacy, Tom puts forth a visible tension when he comes to the stage. His sense of ascendancy was such that he even used it as a displacement of physical strength in the face of white people: “Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next thing they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between Black and white.” He uses this kind of words to show his contempt and victory over Gatsby on ethnic origin. Aside from that, Daisy also holds the same opinion as Tom’s, “‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, winking ferociously towards the fervent sun.” Both of them were born into families of aristocrats, so it’s without question for them to think like colonists. But Nick disapproves of Tom’s indulgences in blatant prejudice. He takes them as stale ideas and considers Tom’s harangue as gibberish. To this part Nick seems to converse about white supremacy. However, noticeably, Nick hardly mentions any Black people or colored people in his narrator’s view, nor did he ignore his race and social status. The only glimpse is in the Valley of Ash, “a gray, scrawny Italian child” who is “half a Black man himself.” This is a very important suggestion. If we connect this kind of narration feature with another famous book “Gone With the Wind” and Tom’s view and the revision of the KKK in those years, we can find they have a lot in common in racism, in that one merely expresses it by the heroine while the other is expressed by subsidiary characters and unwritten words. Both gender inequality and inveterate stereotypes of race never stop haunting all over the world. It incessantly reminds us of those nasty ghosts from the past. This is where its value lies. The next conflict is about smuggling, the mafia, and other illegal business. This problem grew in intensity in the 1920s and 30s due to two major reasons: the immature law dispense mechanism and the wretched adventurous spirit. The “actual” Gatsby can sit at a restaurant and talk freely about their criminal backgrounds. These show the dominance of the mafia and criminals over the law and justice at that time. If we look into their bold businesses, it should be connected with this line: “The yacht represented all the glamour and beauty in the world.” On Dan Cody`s boat he sailed around the continent three times, from which an adventurous mind of his can be found. Nowadays fewer people tend to put themselves in danger, yet the pursuit of law and justice is endless. The class differentiation is one of the most serious problems even today. In this book we can see the huge gap between the Valley of Ash and the Eggs. But Nick focuses more on the rich because he himself is in the upper class. There were always parties, cocktails, mansions, and only a skimming of the poor’s lives in chapter 2. Considering the story takes place back in the 1920s, the Noisy Era in America, it is understandable. In my view, it intends to show us how luxurious the rich can be and to remind us why we should eliminate class differentiation. From all these aspects, we find out how abnormal the American society is, in which gaudiness and superficial wealth are based on racism, gender discrimination, crimes, and class differentiation. We come to ask: “Is the American Dream a real promise or just lip-service?” Unfortunately, it is inapproachable; Americans haven’t got to the promise today. Nevertheless, America needs the Dream, which is the principle and faith of the country, even it has been criticized so sharply, however unfeasible or distant it is. | 