Native Son x The Great Gatsby

Key Themes

American Dream vs reality

Power, oppression and social control

Identity, self-hood, and construction of self

Violence and responsibility

Race, class and social division

Isolation ,allination and loneliness

Morality, guilt and judgement

Freedom vs confinement

Clive Bloom

Argues that the novel critiques materialism and the illusionary nature of the American Dream

David Copeland

Suggests that the novel explores identify formation in a society obsessed with appearance

Sarah Churchwell

Empahsises the novels reflection of 1920s consumerism, moral decay and post war disillusionment

So

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past

Pyramid

Pyramid of pulpless halves

A beautiful

A beautiful little fool

Gatsby believed

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgasitc future that year by year recedes us

The holocaust

The holocaust was complete

I’m inclined

I’m inclined to reserve all judgement

Andrew Warnes

A nation divided by a colour curtain

James Baldwin

When a .. face appears a tension is created

Anna Gee

Violence is integral to Biggers character

R.W. Connell

Discuss how urban poverty traps African Americans in cycles of violence and marginalisation

They don’t

They don’t let us do nothing

Felt

Felt conscious in his black skin

Having accepted

Having accepted the moral guilt and responsibility for the murder because it had made him feel free for the first time in his life

What i

What I killed for, I am

He knew

He knew that he was Black and that meant that he was shut out

They live

They live here.. we live there.