Race and Class in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Larsen’s Passing

Introduction

This essay aims to compare two novels that are significant to American culture: Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Nella Larsen’s Passing. In many ways, these novels share a similar story and a common range of social issues. First, these novels describe the events during the so-called “Roaring Twenties”. It was a time of great faith in progress through the free market and, at the same time, the rise of racism and nativism.

This period foreshadowed the Great Depression, an economic and social crisis that forced the American public to rethink its worldview. As for the mentioned literary works, the protagonists of these novels, Jay Gatsby and Clare, were the warriors against the entrenched American realities of racism, nativism, and superficiality.

Larsen’s Passing – Representation of Race and Passing

Nella Larsen’s novel explores the discriminatory nature of American society and the spiritual losses that black people face in the transition into this society. The main character in Passing, who expresses a racist worldview, is John Bellew. He expresses hatred towards black people in his conversation with Clare, his wife, and insults her because of her changing skin color. As John explained, “I declare she’s gettin’ darker and darker. I tell her if she doesn’t look out, she’ll wake up one of these days and find she’s turned into a nigger” (Larsen 67).

Therefore, it creates a performative need for Clare and Irene to be constantly “passing” as Whites, even though they are biracial women. The literal representation of passing here is a figurative trope that makes the audience read beyond the literal depiction of race (Lewis 74). It shows that the notion of race in 1920s America is associated with a continuous life of deceit to ‘pass’ to the values of whiteness, regardless of personal needs for peace and acceptance.

Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby – Representation of the “Other” and Class Passing

The striking difference between Fitzgerald’s novel and Passing is that it focuses not on racial passing but class relations and wealth distribution. The main theme in The Great Gatsby is the opposition between new money and old money. Jay Gatsby, the novel’s protagonist, is a wealthy young man who organizes lavish parties in his mansion every Saturday. However, Jay Gatsby is a representation of the “other” because he achieved success through hard work and determination, and it was hard for him to overcome his status as an outsider.

In addition, it seems that class passing is described through the perspective of antagonism between superficiality and truth. For example, Mary Balkun notes, “Gatsby’s experience with Daisy initiates him into the world of the remarkable, and he can never again be satisfied with less than this” (134). Gatsby’s search for satisfaction in his inner self happens against the background of Tom Buchanan’s racism and the soul emptiness of American society (Moynihan 42). This misunderstanding of two parts of American society is similar to the idea of Larsen’s racial passing.

Disillusionment of the American Dream and Symbol of Self-Creation

This part of the essay summarizes the similar narratives and themes in Passing and The Great Gatsby. The integral plot line in these novels is the discussion of what constitutes the true American identity. The main problem is that the meaning of the American dream, described in the novels, is deception as the dominant mode of existence (Balkun 13). Clare in Passing and Gatsby in The Great Gatsby strives to challenge the prevailing ideological system based on the archaic definition of American identity.

Jay Gatsby and Clare want to achieve their desired way of living by any means. As Clare told Irene: “Can’t you realize that I’m not like you a bit? Why, to get the things I want badly enough, I’d do anything, hurt anybody, throw anything away” (Larsen 149). In other words, Clare does not see barriers to her striving for happiness that are distinct from established routines. Similarly, although his efforts fail, Gatsby starts the illegal bootlegging business to impress Daisy.

Claire and Gatsby die tragically in the finale, burying their expectations and prospects. Throughout their lives, both characters have been collecting memories and things. Clare collected photographs of African Americans and clothing of white elites to find harmony between her two identities. Gatsby bought everything expensive to impress Daisy and emphasize his status and wealth. Nevertheless, as Balkun notes, “collecting is a way to deny the passage of time and the changes it brings” (135). With only the ability to collect things from their past, Gatsby and Clare secure their disastrous future.

Conclusion

To conclude, reading The Great Gatsby and Passing was a great journey to discourse the problems of American society during the so-called Roaring Twenties. Of great interest in these novels are the life stories of Jay Gatsby and Clare. These characters tried to fight the established white supremacy, nativism, and strict inheritance of status. Their struggle showed readers that chasing the American dream of the 1920s meant emptiness and frustration.

Works Cited

Balkun, Mary McAleer. The American Counterfeit: Authenticity and Identity in American Literature and Culture. University of Alabama Press, 2006.

Larsen, Nella. Passing. Alfred A Knopf, 1929.

Lewis, Charles. “Babbled Slander Where the Paler Shades Dwell: Reading Race in The Great Gatsby and Passing.” Literature Interpretation Theory, vol. 18, no. 2, 2007, pp. 173-191. Web.

Moynihan, Sinéad. “Beautiful White Girlhood?: Daisy Buchanan in Nella Larsen’s” Passing”.” African American Review, vol. 47, no. 1, 2014, pp. 37-49. Web.

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StudyCorgi. "Race and Class in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Larsen’s Passing." October 30, 2024. https://studycorgi.com/race-and-class-in-fitzgeralds-the-great-gatsby-and-larsens-passing/.

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StudyCorgi. 2024. "Race and Class in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Larsen’s Passing." October 30, 2024. https://studycorgi.com/race-and-class-in-fitzgeralds-the-great-gatsby-and-larsens-passing/.

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