The Great Gatsby And The Bluest Eye Analysis

Books are very powerful carriers of important messages or lessons that authors want to convey to their audience. In the two books, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, a very similar message about society develops throughout the lives of the characters. Both of the main characters in these books, struggle with self perception and identity because of societal standards. Gatsby and Pecola differ vastly in terms of social status, but they both face obstacles with their self perception and desire for acceptance that makes them similar in many ways. The Great Gatsby and The Bluest Eye portray how society pushes people to create fake identities in order to feel accepted and loved. Society 's perception …show more content…
Gatsby longs to be perceived as a successful “old money” type of man because that is what Daisy is attracted to. He not only throws elaborate parties to attract Daisy, but he buys many lavish clothes and objects to appear wealthy and desirable. To just show off his wealth and allow others to admire it “He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, shirts of sheet linen and thick silk and fine flannel… while we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher…” (Fitzgerald 92). Gatsby molds his identity into a rich and luxurious man to attract the woman he loves because society set the standard that men are attractive and desirable when they are rich and powerful. Society seems to have set a standard then and somewhat now, for women especially, that in order to love a someone and marry them, they must be rich and …show more content…
A party goer at one of Gatsby’s extravagant parties marvels over the dress that Gatsby sent her because she tore her dress mostly because of its price and status it would give her in society. The dress was “gas blue with lavender beads [costing] two hundred and sixty five dollars” she exclaimed to other party attenders. These type of expectations puts the people of society in a position where in order to be with the one’s they love, they must change themselves to be perceived as wealthy, otherwise, no one will love them. Even though in a way, women are pushing these standards upon men, society is still the one to blame because they have placed the standards on women about finding potential partners. The cycle of standards for women to be attracted to a man and the created expectations for men to follow forces people to change their identities in order to feel as if they fit in. In this type of society, people will just continue to create false identities and develop a sense of “crippling self hatred” that Taylor mentions in his argument about recognition. Gatsby feels the need to be perceived as desirable by society’s standards in order to find love, but Pecola does as well. In her case she tries to change herself to find love in terms of acceptance in her community and