The piece focuses on the 3rd world island of Antigua, where a few enormous mansions owned by the corrupt and criminals are surrounded by abject poverty. Tourists are heavily criticized, as they pointedly ignore the poverty stricken countries they visit and vacation while others suffer

This novel follows a black family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 50's who receives $10,000 of insurance money after Walter Lee dies. This causes clashing dreams within the family to cause hardships, and the loss of most of the money, with important lessons learnt along the way

A dull, naive and nice doctor Charles Bovary marries the quaint farm girl Emma. She expects adventure but is instead met with the banality of home life, and escapes reality through romance novels and having affairs. Even having a baby doesn't interest her. She eventually ends up breaking other hearts or vice versa, and accumulates a large debt, and eats arsenic to kill herself. Charles, oblivious to her scandals, tries to pay off her debt until he learns the truth, and dies shortly after. The daughter ends up working at a cotton mill

Nick Carraway comes to New York seeking the American Dream, ends up living next door to Jay Gatsby, and across the water from his cousin Daisy, whom Gatsby is in love with. Multiple affairs and greed end with Gatsby dead, and Nick moves back to the Midwest, thuroughly disgusted with the so-called American Dream

Changez, a Pakistani boy from Lahore, attends Princeton in search of the American dream. He interns at the prestigious consulting firm Underwood Samson, but after seeing the effects of American world dominance and 9/11 happening, he goes back to home country and is sought out by an American agent to retell his tale.

A man named Shevek is from the alien moon Anarres, where the government has been replaced by an anarchist system and the concept of ownership has been abolished. Shevek is sent as a scientific ambassador to Urras, the planet of intense socioeconomic divide and capitalism. When there Shevek is amazed by the technological innovations that Urras has, but soon finds the abundant flaws of the governmental/ economic system.

A scathing documentary covers how the IMF and other 1st world countries have decimated the Jamaican economy and left it in shambles. These powerful countries control the IMF, and use developing nations such as Jamaica as sweatshops to crank out products for with cheap production costs.

The two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polyneices, go to war with each other and both die. The king Creon wishes to punish Polyneices for fighting against their country, and prevents him from having a proper burial. His sister, Creon's niece, Antigone, attempts to bury her brother properly only to get caught and eventually sent to prison. She is set to marry Haemon, Creon's son, and when she dies, Haemon also kills himself. Eurydice, Creon's wife, then also kills herself, leaving Creon alone.

The Kim family, a lower class family in modern day South Korea, gets involved in a scam with the rich, upper class Park family. The Kims find out about the previous worker's husband living in the basement, and end up killing the wife to keep their secret. The husband escapes, and kills the Kim daughter and gravely injures the son. The Kim father kills the Park father, and hides out in the same basement, waiting for the day the son will buy the house to free him.

Parasite criticizes education by having Ki-Woo use forged documents and getting away with it, saying that University education is not even necessary and is really just a certificate, and with Ki-Jung being told she should get a major in forgery if there was one.

Despite technically being of the same origin, the Annarians and Urrasti are starkly different societies, and have a cultural separation that is embedded in their existence.

Anarres has an interesting outlook on family, considering that they don't believe in ownership and therefore kids can't "have" mothers or fathers, and parents can't really "have" kids. This brings up questions, like is the allegiance to one's parents only a thing because they are YOUR parents?

The Annarians view the hoarding of wealth as abborrous and greedy, considering they have the slur "profiteer", showing the disdain they have for Urrasti greed. The Urrasti on the other hand, have a society that operates on wealth and the desire for it, putting money at the center of the debate between the societies.

The class divide seen on Urras is a shock to Shevek, as a computer arbitrarily decides whether someone works a dirty, low level job on Anarres, whereas on Urras the job itself determines one's status or class. Since there is no competition for better jobs and money, there is no class, as placing certain people above others implies they're not equal.

Despite the major differences in the Urrasti and Anarrian societies, both seem to agree that education is foundational and a crucial aspect for life. The fact that Shevek is a physicist and becomes a professor as the first ambassador emphasizes this. The novel does bring up interesting questions about the ownership of knowledge and ideas, and how when being educated, the knowledge is technically being "given" to you.

The story revolves around the strength of familial bonds, as Antigone is willing to die to make sure that her brother is properly buried. It also shows how family betrayal can make people cruel and callous, as seen with Creon and his punishment of Polynieces, Antigone, and even Haemon.

Antigone's love for her brother overrides her fear of death as she risks her life for his proper burial. Love is shown to also break family ties when Haemon goes against his father when he decrees that Antigone must die

Changez attends Princeton, and overall, the novel glorifies higher education and emphasizes the survival of the fittest nature of American
higher education

Parasite is intrinsically class related, with the main conflicts occurring due to the huge class divide existing in Korea. The purely monetary divide is made abundantly clear, but the monetary cultural divide is more subtle, seen when Ki-Woo asks Da-Hye whether he "fits in" with the rich families

The Kim family are very close, and operate like a team when infiltrating the Park household. The Park family, on the other hand, seems divided, as Mr.Park hints at not loving his wife multiple times. It could be said that poverty brings a family together more, because when you own little to nothing, family is all you have, and you cherish it.

This film could definitely be categorized as a tragedy, considering how well and hopeful the Kim family seems to be before it all goes downhill, with Ki-Jung dead, Ki-Woo almost dead, and the father in hiding

Ki-Woo has a forbidden desire for Da-Hye, as he promised his college friend that he would watch over her, and not only that, she is a part of the upper class Park family, and his infatuation with her serves to show the Kim family's infatuation with wealth.

The ugliness of capitalism is made clear through the narrator's commentary on the naiveness of tourists, and how they harm the native population with their lack of thinking

The Younger family stands as a symbol of how family comes first, and that they prioritize each other before all else. Walter Lee Younger does show the conflict that occurs when the strong desire for a dream causes him to put his sisters education in jeopardy

Considering how Gatsby ends up getting shot and Nick sees the underlying horror of the greed and corruption of the capitalist and urban society, this novel could definitely be categorized as a tragedy

The idea of a family and what it means to have one are seen, as Emma has a husband and a child but seems to lack any kind of emotional attachment to them, and instead has a kid of despise for them

Changez has a deep, forbidden love for Erica, taboo in that she is still in love with her dead boyfriend and he takes advantage of this by telling her to pretend he is her. Represents his desire of integration with the American way, but shows that he can't truly belong

This novel has a clear sense of tragedy to it, with Emma killing herself, Charles dying shortly thereafter, and their child working in a cotton mill

The Younger family seeks the American dream, especially Walter Lee Younger, as he dreams of owning his own liquor store and essentially "making it" in America

Beneatha is seeking to become a doctor and go to medical school, but struggles to find her own identity as a well-educated black woman, and essentially the only well educated person in the Younger family

As a black family living in the 50s, the Younger's deal with racism bluntly, especially when they move into their new house and are confronted by Mr.Lindner, who forces them to leave the white neighborhood.

Capitalism and consequently a desire for money causes the Younger family to fight amongst themselves and cause more trouble than existed before

The concept of capitalism is supposed to be that everyone has an equal shot, but this documentary shows how it ends up really being the rich getting richer and taking advantage of the poor

The greed of the wives for more money and extravagance leads to the tragedy that ends up occurring. The idea that Gatsby's origin can't replace the fact that he has money also showed that even money can't truly change who we are

The wealth gap seen between the rich, corrupt mansion owners and tourists compared to the abject poverty of those on the streets serves as a cruel juxtaposition on how unfair the world can be

Gatsby literally defines the American dream by coming from nothing and displaying a true rags to riches story. Also shows how cursed the dream is, as he ends up dead and the woman he loves remains married to another man

As a Pakistani trying to make it in America, Changez reminded of how his diversity sticks out, especially in the primarily white Princeton. 9/11 occurring also led him to leave the country due to how he looks

Both involve disillusioned wives seeking relationships with other men seeking thrill and more wealth and class

Both involve those with little becoming enraptured with desire for money and end in them learning that money isn't everything, and also forbidden love

Very big theme, as Emma is constantly searching to replicate her romance novels in real life only to be cut off at every corner and met with a tragic end. Interesting too is her LACK for love for Charles and her daughter

Shevek finds love on Urras, and manages to even have children, all of whom he loves. The idea of love is also big on Anarres, as when the people don't own much, the love for others is something that is easily shared

Rich foriegn nations do nothing but harm small, impoverished nations and just suck them dry

The rich and powerful foreign nations just take from the smaller, impoverished one while not helping them advance, as it allows them to make more profit that way

Changez is an example of the American dream, as he came to America with nothing, and ends up making it big and joining Underwood Samson. Ends with his disillusionment with American system of greed and exploitation though

Both involve a rags to riches story, failed love, and a disillusionment with American greed and capitalism with a return home to the simple life

Many of the texts show how the American dream is a lose lose, as people either never make it out of poverty, or in gaining riches, they see how vain and disgusting greed and riches make people

Emma views her American dream as having a rich husband and enjoying herself, and yet can't b contented, showing how the dream itself may not even be achievable

The texts seem to show that having a loving family is a crucial part of the dream, as those with a family and no money want money, and those with money but are lonely want a family, and having both and being happy seems to just not be possible

The clear connections made in many novels that education points towards gaining wealth, and wealth means climbing up the "class" ladder

literally built on the idea of those who are "better" earn more and vice versa, almost encourages disparity for sake of competition

not only is higher education equated with more money, the higher educations are institutions that used to be solely for educating and now serve to make money as more of a priority than educating

It seems that love in almost all of the novels we examined ended in some kind of tragedy or sadness

The working class, African-American Younger family not only stands out in their new neighborhood because it's all white, but also because they are lower class in an upper-middle area, and can feel the difference

Key:

• Major themes have their own colors and lines to match the colors, tend to be on outer edge
• comments touch the line they correspond to
• novels are in gray and have summaries beneath them
• pink labels and lines are the general ones that were categories on their own but not related enough to overarching ones
• gray lines are connections between novels