If we could the replace Gatsby on the school required reading list...

[Don]

Not to mention a culture obsessed with style over substance, materialism, and insulating itself from reality. Add to that people running from the messes they've created or trying to cover it up with money and viewing the world on a purely surface level.
I agree, if The Great Gatsby isn't relevant to high school students and the 21st century, then nothing is. Teachers who find it too taxing to teach should just stick to Harry Potter. When did it become wrong or too "challenging" to require students to think?

[Katharina]

Any of John Steinbeck's books/stories are great: engrossing for all ages, and often with a moral compass.

[Don]

John Steinbeck's books are also relevant, particularly Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. Like The Great Gatsby, each book deals with the myth versus the reality of attaining the American Dream. Before I retired I liked to follow up Gatsby with one of Steinbeck's works to have students compare and contrast the idea of the American Dream as depicted by each author and in the context of the 20s and 30s.

[Amy]

Diane wrote: "Gatby is not age-relevant to today's high school students.

If we could the replace Gatsby on the school required reading list, with something that's both age relevant, and well written, then mayb..."

In place of Twilight, I would say The Prince Lestat series. However, in place of Gatsby (and possibly Romeo and Juliet) I would recommend
Lestat and Pirate latitudes. They are AMAZING.

[Cyrus]

We read the first Hunger Games book in middle school as part of the curriculum. Yes its still heavy YA, but in terms of themes I think its loads more relevant than Gatsby. While all the pov characters in Gatsby are wealthy, we the reader are somehow expected to read the text from an omniscient perspective, knowing how out of touch Gatsby and his peers are while simultaneously not having any "down to earth" perspectives within the text to ground the perspective from which the writer is telling the story. Here is where I think Collins does better, Katniss begins the story dirt poor and is able to see through the facade of the capitalist and materialist lifestyles she later encounters. Though the first book in the series doesn't dare make too many political statements, the world-building absolutely clues the reader in to the simmering political tension.

[Belle]

Normal People by Sally Rooney.. Would evoke discussion of they key themes of class and obsession covered by Gatsby. Is modern and exceptionally well written.

[Eileen]

Annemarie wrote: "42 Parallel
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Giovanni's Room
The Road

Something that deals with issues other than being bored rich and white."


I feel as though you've missed the fundamental fact that the book isn't remotely about being bored, rich, or white, but rather, hungry, ambitious, and lovelorn. And then, struck down by classism. A pretty universal message.