Social conformity is a key theme for American writers

Point 1

Both writers craft the theme through their texts as the necessary path needed in order to achieve the dreams so deeply desired by many characters.

Point 1 - Gatsby

AO1 - Gatsby reinvents himself to fit into society & the stereotypical view of the provider & family figure for Daisy as it is viewed as necessary in order to ‘win’ her

AO2 - ‘you can’t repeat the past’ ‘you make me feel uncivilised Daisy’ ‘he hurried the phrase ‘educated at Oxford’ or swallowed it, or choked on it’

AO3 - his efforts symbolise the AD 7 therefore the main symbol of social conformity at the time - his experience shows hope for many Americans of being able to achieve through same methods

AO5 - Gray - ‘the green light is both the necessity and impossibility of idealism’ ‘Gatsby’s dream is, in it’s effect, the American Dream’

Point 1 - Passing

AO1 - Irene is forced to adhere to social conformity through her family & the image she creates in order to maintain her dream of staying within the black community & taking advantage of the little freedom she has

AO2 - ‘she wanted only to be tranquil’ ‘really Rene I’m not safe’ ‘to her, security was the most important and desired thing in life’

AO3 - context of Larsen & how she used her marriage to achieve her own dreams of being successful & integrated into the black community to escape her mixed heritage

AO5 - Askew - ‘Irene is troubled most as…through her racial masquerade she (Clare) has achieved a status higher than her own’ Bernstein - ‘Irene acknowledges that her greatest concern is for security’

Point 2

While social conformity remains a key theme, it can be argued that both writers present it as an almost repressive force that forces the erasure of the lives truly desired by many of the characters at that time'

Point 2 - Gatsby

AO1 - Nick is pushed into social conformity through the repression of his suggested sexuality & his relationship with Jordan and it can be argued his true desires towards Gatsby were never fully able to come to fruition - however it his feelings are still shown throughout, perhaps suggesting that Jordan’s nature of not conforming rubs off on him

AO2 - ‘his tanned skin was drawn attractively across his face’ ‘his gorgeous pink rag of a suit’ ‘she wore her evening dress…like sports clothes’ ‘gorgeousness’

AO3 - reflects the restrictive nature of the American Dream & society, not just in terms of sexuality but so many other aspects as well

AO5 - Nick = in love with Gatsby but he hides it & is coerced into conformity shown by his relationship with Jordan - turns 30 without a serious relationship or marriage reflecting many of the soldiers who came back from war & discovered sexualities - views Jordan in a masculine way & could be argued however he still has more freedom in sexuality than Irene - cause he’s a man? sexually ambiguous descriptions of G & J reflect a projection of Nick’s repressed desires

Point 2 - Passing

AO1 - Irene clearly represses her feelings for Clare & the true life she desires throughout in order to maintain her image of social conformity

AO2 - ‘an inexplicable onrush of affectionate feeling’ ‘what was it about Clare’s voice that was so appealing and seductive’ ‘under the appeal, the caress, of her eyes, Irene had the desire, the hope, that this parting wouldn’t be the last’

AO3 - as a black woman, Irene is forced to disown & push down her desires as she wouldn’t have been able to afford risking her security & stability for a few feelings

AO5 - Butler - ‘Clare embodies a kind of sexual daring that Irene defends herself against…Irene is drawn into both wanting to be her and be with her.’ McDowell - awakening of Irene’s erotic feelings for Clare coincides with her imagination of Clare & Brian’s affair - she is projecting her own disowned developing desire for Clare onto Brian. Clare = both the embodiment and object of the sexual feelings Irene desires but the radical implications of that plot are put away by the disposal of Clare - she is able to keep her desires repressed. S

Point 3

Both writers sculpt a feminist view that social conformity exists as a damaging social expectation that reinforces reliance on men and reproduces the patriarchy

Point 3 - Gatsby

AO1 - Myrtle craves social conformity among the upper classes & she becomes reliant on a man to do that as she believes it = the only to achieve social mobility. Daisy also = reliant on a man to maintain her image of social conformity & status - forced to portray classic domestic role

AO2 - ‘I thought he was a gentleman…but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe’ ‘‘It’s just a crazy old thing…I just slip it on sometimes when I don’t care what I look like’ ‘She wanted her life shaped now - immediately - and the decision must be made by some force - of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality’ ‘a beautiful little fool’

AO3 - contradictions of new woman & feminist movements in the 1920s - many women still forced to remain in domestic roles / low paid work as it was still very much seen as social norm

AO5 - feminist interpretations - both of them = trapped & forced to rely on men for social conformity in order to grasp a sense of freedom & individualism in society - depiction of Daisy’s conformity = enhanced by her daughter - neither = real women as society doesn’t allow them to be - Churchwell -
‘Daisy is playing at love - she offers gestures, not emotions.’

Point 3 - Passing

AO1 - Irene forced to rely on her marriage to a successful man to maintain her conformity & Clare uses her marriage to reiterate an image of social conformity while actually contradicting it - she desires too much as a woman & that is her downfall

AO2 - “I think,” she said at last, “that being a mother is the cruellest thing in the world.” “The trouble with Clare was, not only that she wanted to have her cake and eat it too, but that she wanted to nibble at the cakes of other folk as well.” ‘she was to him only the mother of his sons & that was all’

AO3 - experiences of black women - left with no choice but to rely on men to at least find a somewhat sense of survival within society - most marginalised groups

AO5 - black feminism - both = restricted by constraining gender & race norms & Clare = the embodiment of the consequences of a black women aiming to be free & break out of these norms, Greenidge - ‘In her whiteness, Clare is not free; she has taken on an existence that assures her emotional and spiritual captivity.’