In society, certain groups of people are thought of as less than others, and in The Great Gatsby the inferior races are discriminated against. Tom, who claims to be apart of the dominant, white race states: “It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, …show more content…
For instance, women are considered the lesser of the two genders, which causes a lack of hope for mothers after giving birth to a daughter, so when Daisy gives birth to a girl, she states: “And I hope she’ll be a fool--that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (17). To explain, women are believed to have less worth than men, so the broken society thinks that beauty is the only worth of a woman.
Finally, society struggles to keep up with commitment. For example, in The Great Gatsby, Tom and Myrtle are both cheating on each other, breaking their marriage vow: “His hand took hold of hers…” (96). Since these characters only care about what's best for themselves, they have no problem breaking this vow. Although they have broken this gigantic commitment, society does not care to try and stop it, because the broken society believes in the importance of only caring for oneself, so breaking such a commitment has no consequences.
In conclusion, Fitzgerald believes society is broken. The world is full of discrimination and selfishness, but once people learn to accept others and care for one another, then the “perfect life” will be