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Why Is The Great Gatsby Banned

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Why Is The Great Gatsby Banned
The American Dream: The reason behind the banned novel
The Great Gatsby has become one of the most famous and celebrated literary classics in the nation. Its vivid and symbolic story of Jay Gatsby and his pursuit of Daisy has become a phenomenal story that has undoubtedly become one of the most well known novels in the history of American literature. Fitzgerald’s work demonstrates the social history of the Jazz Age and presents themes such as the American Dream, class, and the past and future; although it is now one of the most beloved novels in America, The Great Gatsby was banned for its profanity and sexual content.
The Great Gatsby is a famous novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald (F. Scott… 2).
Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896
…show more content…
Scott… 2). On December 21, 1940,
Fitzgerald died due to a heart attack (A brief… 2). He died believing that he was a failure,

Zheng 2 however, years after his death, he became known as one of the most famous American authors due to the success of The Great Gatsby (A brief… 2).
In the novel, the main themes include the American Dream, class, and the past and future
(The Great… 3-6). The American Dream is about how hard work can lead a person from rags to riches (The Great… 3) In the novel, Gatsby thinks that wealth is the solution to all his problems, to the point where gets involved in schemes to obtain wealth and disconnects himself from his past (The Great… 3). He symbolizes the corrupted American Dream; Gatsby allowed materialism and corruption to come before what the American Dream is truly about: hard work and honesty (The Great… 3). Another theme is class, where Gatsby represents new money and
Tom represents old money (The Great… 5). The old money class has fortune from before the
19th century, the new money class made their fortune in the 1920s boom, the no money class has little to no wealth (The Great… 5). In the novel, the rivalry between classes is shown in
…show more content…
The novel contains a few “hells,” “damns,” and
“son-a –a-bitch (Banned… 2).” Some examples of profanity in the novel include, “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together,” and “The poor son-of-a-bitch (Fitzgerald 154) (Fitzgerald
175).” And some sexual references in the novel include, “ I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife…” and “… He took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously-eventually he took Daisy one still October night, took her because he had no real right to tough her hand (Fitzgerald 130) (Fitzgerald 149).”
In conclusion, The Great Gatsby is one of the most beloved novels in the history of
American literature. The novel is credited as Fitzgerald’s greatest work and it presents themes such as the American Dream, class, and the past and future. The novel was challenged and banned for its profanity and sexual references. Despite these challenges, The Great Gatsby has stood strong for nearly a century and has become one of the most celebrated and well known novels in the nation.

Zheng

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