Comparison

A Raisin in the Sun vs The Great Gatsby

How A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgeraldcompare on reading level, grade placement, curriculum overlap, and shared themes — derived from primary-source citations on each book’s ReadingList page.

A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine Hansberry

Grades
912
Published
1959
Pages
151
Genre
Drama

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Lexile
1070L
Grades
1012
Published
1925
Pages
180
Genre
Literary Fiction

At a glance

Grade-range overlap
Grades 1012
Year-of-publication gap
34 years (1959 vs 1925)
Page-count gap
29 pages (151 vs 180)
Shared curricula
6 of 5
Shared themes
1 of 11

Curriculum overlap

Both books appear in 6 shared curriculum frameworks:

Themes

Shared

  • American Dream

Only A Raisin in the Sun

  • Black family life
  • housing segregation
  • gender and work
  • assimilation vs heritage
  • generational conflict

Only The Great Gatsby

  • wealth and class
  • obsession
  • illusion and reality
  • Jazz Age
  • unrequited love

Related on ReadingList

Comparison data computed from each book’s curriculum citations, Lexile measures (MetaMetrics), grade-range references (state ELA frameworks + AP/IB syllabi), and ban records (PEN America 2022-2024 index + ALA). Last reviewed: 2026-05-16.