# data[].attributes.body
Representing a single, white female with privilege, this text addresses many pieces I need to reflect on and consider: themes of gender norms, patriarchal relationships, marriage, and issues of power, control, racism, and urgency within white supremacy.

# data[].attributes.body
Having a strong sense and history of family, I reflect on difficult moments that my parents had in their marriage when arguments begin to boil between Tom and Daisy. What is expected of women in a relationship and the overly masculine portrayal of Tom in the "Great Gatsby"

# data[].attributes.body
Making inferences about the characters from the text caters to my euro-centric understanding of WASP characteristics. My existing knowledge and shared experience with the author as a white person creates a kinship with the inferred conflict between Daisy and Tom

# data[].attributes.body
My own experiences as a white male and the privileges inherit to that history. In this case, the blatant calling of your love affair without regard to your wife or guests. The history of being an emotionally and physically absent father to their child. How a white male can navigate the world with less obligations

# data[].attributes.body
In an obvious sense the story of the BIPOC community when a table of affluent white people have dinner together in the 1920s, with all the dramatics of an intimate meal afforded. This could be related to the story of the butler or "the help" who is spoken of but does not speak upon their own behalf.

# data[].attributes.body
I think it is important to note that this story if very, very white and does not much (if any?) diversity. This story also plays into very heteronormative relationship troupes and gender stereotypes. The story being told is that of two wealthy, white people in the '20s, and the perspective of those who are not economically privileged or are white is excluded. Lastly, I think evaluating the author is also important when evaluating a text. The author was a white, upperclass man who experienced privilege throughout his life.

# data[].attributes.body
This excerpt addresses many issues all through the rich, white, straight POV of Tom, Daisy, Nick, and Jordan. We see Jordan challenging gender norms, Tom being super racist, Daisy feeling the challenges of being a woman in a patriarchal society, a story eluding to a Jewish person... However, you have to bring in background knowledge and personal experience to truly understand the complexity of these issues because the story doesn't outright tell us.

# data[].attributes.body
With canonical texts like Gatsby, I never really feel like there's much navigating that needs to be done considering this is a book aimed at reaching the white middle class, which I've always been a part of. That being said, I do think that reading this when published would force me to think about my place as a woman in the house and society, but it's more challenging to do now given how much more I've learned about the inequalities presented by the first wave of feminism and how different experiences for women of color were then and are now.

# data[].attributes.body
The text brings up questions about my beliefs on femininity, adultery, marriage, and what it means to be a "strong" woman.

# data[].attributes.body
The part of my identity that would be challenged would be being white, identifying as a woman, and coming from a middle-class family. I especially think this will come up with Myrtle's character who goes against the norms set for women. I think this could lead to evaluating my own internalized misogyny or views on class.

# data[].attributes.body
Gatsby is a text deeply rooted in white identity and privilege.

# data[].attributes.body
My gender identity as a strong, independent woman and feministic beliefs were immediately triggered by this text. Respecting women and affording them the same opportunities not only in careers but in having a strong voice and opportunities for better partnerships is still challenged today.

# data[].attributes.body
Growing up as a woman in a privileged, affluent society, the patriarchal, primarily Christian gender and social expectations are still very much present a century later: Subservience, acquiescence, beauty and sexuality/sensuality, expectations of motherhood and family, etc.

# data[].attributes.headline
-The wannabe “academic” part of my identity is activated as I read this text - I have read it on 6 separate occasions in different classes. Re-reading it always makes me think of my college studies. I have become less interested in the main characters than the minor, almost offhand details - such as Tom’s racist literature (presumably eugenics-based) and the patronizing way they discuss the butler.

# data[].attributes.subject
-The wannabe “academic” part of my identity is activated as I read this text - I have read it on 6 separate occasions in different classes. Re-reading it always makes me think of my college studies. I have become less interested in the main characters than the minor, almost offhand details - such as Tom’s racist literature (presumably eugenics-based) and the patronizing way they discuss the butler.

# data[].attributes.body
We are only hearing the story of the white and wealthy elite in New York. We are given the white, patriarchal perspective on all matters of social justice, meaning we aren't seeing or hearing the actual consequences of men like Tom reading racist books. Instead, we read that Daisy gives him a hard time for it and the story goes on. If a person of color was present during this conversation it would be drastically different. It reminds me of our reading and how the discussions on race were only theoretical and not based on actual experience.

# data[].attributes.body
Socioeconomic status- I grew up middle class and tend to avoid recognizing similarities between middle and upper class and how this has informed my perspectives, despite not wanting to be associated with those levels of classes
.

# data[].attributes.body
I definitely identify with the expectations put on Daisy and Jordan as white women in a white male dominated space. They do experience marginalization - they're expected to be polite and subservient. However, their marginalization is mitigated by their whiteness and upper class status - for example their physical needs are looked after, they have plenty of leisure time - but they still suffer from the misogynism of both Tom and Nick.

# data[].attributes.headline
I am confronted with the wealthiness of the Buchanan’s and their careless attitude toward the butler and again with Tom’s racist literature. This challenges my middle class sensibility and general antipathy towards ignorant wealth. Even though Fitzgerald is condemning the Buchanans (and Tom more directly), underneath there is also a trivializing of other and in my opinion, more serious problems.

# data[].attributes.subject
I am confronted with the wealthiness of the Buchanan’s and their careless attitude toward the butler and again with Tom’s racist literature. This challenges my middle class sensibility and general antipathy towards ignorant wealth. Even though Fitzgerald is condemning the Buchanans (and Tom more directly), underneath there is also a trivializing of other and in my opinion, more serious problems.

# data[].attributes.body
The text is limited to Nick's perspective and knowledge so we are missing a lot of the female/feminist perspective even though a lot of the story is about the obedience of women to men.

# data[].attributes.body
The privilege the people at the table have as white, upper class people means that their struggles are solely interpersonal, not material. We are not presented with the hard choices that folks experience poverty have to make, for example, in regards to providing for their children. There is also no queer perspective here - heterosexuality is 100% normalized and expected, and the lives of women revolve almost entirely around their relationships with men.

# data[].attributes.body
As this entire novel deals with privilege in affluent, white society of the 1920's, it speaks from an entirely biased perspective. Not only are voices of color completely unrepresented, but the female characters are (in my opinion), flatly categorized: Jordan is unattainable and disinterested, whereas Myrtle is the homewrecking floozy. Even Daisy, who is arguably intended to be dimensional, has her story told for her.

# data[].attributes.headline
It’s Nick’s story, but he is more interested in the Buchanan’s drama than having much a story himself. There are other facets being explored in the background i.e. classism, racism, domestic abuse, the patriarchy, but really on its face the focus is an early “real Housewives” type of drama ensuing.

# data[].attributes.subject
It’s Nick’s story, but he is more interested in the Buchanan’s drama than having much a story himself. There are other facets being explored in the background i.e. classism, racism, domestic abuse, the patriarchy, but really on its face the focus is an early “real Housewives” type of drama ensuing.

# data[].attributes.headline
As a white woman who grew up in a privileged society, I read this text and empathize with Daisy. She is written as alluring. She quickly changes topics in conversations, she puts on a bubbly, carefree, persona. This is what is expected of women, and I too have done all of these things to comply with what is expected of me. Daisy is deeply unhappy. She is constantly silenced, and when she tries to share her truth she is shut down. This hits home with me as it is how I have been socialized. 

# data[].attributes.subject
As a white woman who grew up in a privileged society, I read this text and empathize with Daisy. She is written as alluring. She quickly changes topics in conversations, she puts on a bubbly, carefree, persona. This is what is expected of women, and I too have done all of these things to comply with what is expected of me. Daisy is deeply unhappy. She is constantly silenced, and when she tries to share her truth she is shut down. This hits home with me as it is how I have been socialized. 

# data[].attributes.body
I feel for Daisy - she's in an unhappy relationship and I've been there. But her and I are both white women who live comfortable lives - neither of us have to worry about meeting our basic subsistence needs, and that privilege is easy to ignore but important not to.

# data[].attributes.body
When I first taught this novel, I was amazed at how many of my students condemned Daisy's affair with Gatsby much more loudly than they'd protested Tom's infidelity. The message that they'd received was clear- Married men can be unfaithful, but a woman stuck in a miserable marriage should either leave or be resgined.

# data[].attributes.body
My Eurocentrlc ancestry and culture frames my reading of The Great Gatsby, but often ways that challenge my Eurocentric perspective. I can't ignore, for example, that the novel is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, wherein the very human men (like Tom) are revealed to be beasts and the women are never so innocent, kind, and moral as the hero of the fairy tale. The fact is not, as Fitzegerald pointed out, a fairy tale. The Great Gatsby is a mirror of reality, wherein racism and sexism endemically influence our thoughts, emotions, behavior, and choices. Happy endings are therefore excluded from a society governed by racism, sexism, and white (male) privilege.

# data[].attributes.body
As I enter into this text, I am taken back to my high school, then college days studying this book. I didn't much connect with it then, but as I become more interesting in dismantiling patriarchal ideas, I am looking at the book through a feminist lens.

# data[].attributes.body
Stepping into this text I represent several demographics: White, non-binary but biologically female, Jewish, and Queer. Occupying these spaces while reading this book means I am actively engaging with discourse surrounding gender norms and identify, anti-Semitism, and racism.

# data[].attributes.body
While reading this as a Jew I am very overtly confronted with anti-sematism and the feelings that come up for me while engaging with those ideas. This also connects to my whitness and I am challenged to confront the racism in the book and how this book shows some of the roots of white privlage and supremacy as well as consider how this book impacts my students of color in similar and different ways to how it affects me.

# data[].attributes.body
The bystander roles that Jordan plays in this scene, and the bystander role Nick plays throughout the story is highlighted. I can understand why Jordan doesn't say anything, but she is already breaking gender norms as she is a success in an otherwise male-driven sport. She is also characterized with strong feminist qualities, which makes me think if she wanted to, she would say something to Tom. I think she stays complicit because she is Daisy's friends, and it is clear that Daisy does not want to "make it a big deal"