Examples of Racism in “The Great Gatsby”
In “The Great Gatsby,” Tom Buchanan’s character embodies the racism and white supremacy prevalent in 1920s America. His disdain for racial equality, opposition to interracial marriages, and fear of losing white dominance reflect societal attitudes of the time. Through Tom, Fitzgerald critiques these discriminatory views, exposing the entrenched racism within the elite class.
References
Francis Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby. Wordsworth Editions, 1993.
John Whitson Cell. The Highest Stage of White Supremacy: The Origins of Segregation in South Africa and the American South. Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Pablo Mitchell. Coyote Nation: Sexuality, Race, and Conquest in Modernizing New Mexico, 1880-1920. University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Eric Arnesen. Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-class History. CRC Press, 2006.
Werner Sollors. Interracialism: Black-white Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law. Oxford University Press US, 2000.
Reference
StudyCorgi. (2025, January 14). Examples of Racism in “The Great Gatsby”. https://studycorgi.video/examples-of-racism-in-the-great-gatsby/