Although I had seen the 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby prior to reading the book for the course, I never realized the flirtatious undertones between the book’s main character and narrator. While I understand the cultural implications of men’s close relationships in 1920, I also found myself thinking about (what I believe to be) the crush Carraway had on Gatsby. Although trying to be subtle, it was blatant that Nick was infatuated with the idea of Gatsby, and the feeling from Gatsby was mutual. While this is just a theory that I had, along with much of the internet, I find that a queer understanding of one of the most popular books in American literature is apart of the evolving American Dream. In 2021, it would be irresponsible to erase the queerness of a certain text to fit the mold of what it has always been perceived.
The American Dream represented in Media