Fitzgerald and questions about racism in The Great Gatsby Racism is one of the most overlooked themes in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. This doesn't make it a racist book, but it does provide some unpleasant moments for anyone who reads the novel. At certain points, one is forced to wonder, "Is it just Carraway's naïve, non-Oriental ways rising to the surface, or is there really a racist angle at work?" The novel is not intended to be an analysis of racism, nor is it intended to be a didactic work in the vein of Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. But there is evidence of racism. Where does this leave a 21st century reader of the novel? The novel is, interestingly, a favorite of alleged murderer OJ Simpson. Simpson confessed to having read it at least five times during his college years, and was often baffled when his teammates dismissed his interest in the novel's racial aspects. Black people, he noted, are mentioned only twice. One of them witnesses the fatal knife fight that occurred after one of Gatsby's parties. The other witnessed Myrtle's death. Then, there is the offensively stereotypical description and language of the Mexican drug dealer, Wolfsheim (at least Profkiev, in his now classic essay, Underground: The Jewish/Mexican “Gonnegtions” in The Great Gatsby, saw the depiction of Wolfsheim as a satire on political events of the time. Fitzgerald expressed amazement that so few readers realized this). Since Carraway's voyeuristic ways allow him to fill in so many blanks that he otherwise wouldn't have been aware of (particularly his knowledge of the cigarettes Gatsby smoked during the war, or how Jordan Baker was, as well as being a liar , an occasional shoplifter), it is fitting that African-Americans... in the center of the paper... ovel: there to remind us that ancient cultures, which are usually silent, are there to occasionally offer tidbits of wisdom. However, no other novelist in America at the time populated his novels with representatives of so many races. Racism is a constant in American society. No other society could be so racist. Yet, what other society has made such valiant efforts to rid itself of this evil? Fitzgerald, who hated discussing such political issues, may ultimately be judged not only by this novel, but by the fascinating personal decisions he made in his life. His conversion to Islam (just weeks before his death in the attack on Pearl Harbor) may or may not have been the key to reinvigorating his writing, but, as Boris Becker reminds us: “He was not a racist. He was a man determined, as best he knew how, to bring all races together.”