Examples Of Discrimination In The Great Gatsby

America is often admired because its people can live the “American Dream”, or the ability of people to achieve success and a better life. Compared to many of the poor and autocratic countries this is true. But, people often forget that there are still issues with racism and predigest ideas. For example minorities, along with gay and transgender people of America, do not get the same opportunities as white, straight people. Minorities, gays, and transgender people are still looked at and treated differently, this interferes with the opportunities they deserve but do not receive due to their “differences”. In the America of “The Great Gatsby” they are not even spoken of or apart of the picture; every main character in the novel is white and straight
However, racism and discrimination cause more obstacles to achieving the “American Dream”. A man recently said, “I wasn't smart enough to go to college, so I wanted to get a steady job with decent pay. With my overtime I was able to buy a house, take trips to Europe and visit relatives there. I don't think a young person — woman or man — coming out of high school now could ever achieve that” (Shapiro, 2012). This shows that times have changed and people struggle more with having enough money to live comfortably and achieve the “American Dream”. Even though people do struggle financially and this affects their opportunities and where they go in life, people can make their way out of poverty with hard work and a little luck. But, you cannot work your way out of being African American or gay, this is a permanent disadvantage in the eyes of Americans. For example, gays just earned the right to get married last year; marriage combines two incomes, which can allow people to live comfortably. Another example is the criminal justice system is clearly biased against people of color. More African Americans get pulled over and have to pay more fines, due to racists police officers. People of color also get sentenced longer when they commit similar crimes to whites. Some white people don’t want to see African Americans and gays become successful because they truly think they don’t
During the 1920’s, the Gilded Age, the time period “The Great Gatsby” is based in racism and homophobia was much more overt and violent; however, today in our world racism is more covert and economic. For example our newly elected president, Donald Trump, is racist. This alone proves people are still hypercritical and racists if they support someone like Trump to run the country. Trump has spoken negatively about African Americans and has portrayed racism in his presidential speeches. He once said, "You're living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed — what the hell do you have to lose?" (Rubin, 2016). This quote was meant to reflect the lives of African Americans; Trump is suggesting that African Americans are poor, uneducated, unproductive, and violent. These are common insults of African Americans. Just like other people apart of the human race there are poor, uneducated, unproductive, and violent people. These characteristics should not be used to describe African Americans. People must forget that African Americans have been fighting a racial fight they whole life and just imagine how horrible it is to live like that. It is almost certain that if it was reverse white people would fight back and retaliate. Violence is not the answer and will only make racism worse but