John Divelbiss Mr Au Honors English 10 9 March 2023 The Great Gatsby through a Marxist Lens In The Great Gatsby, social tension reaches a high and culminates in a revolt against the upper class by the lower class as penance for the crimes the rich have done against them. The Great Gatsby is set in post-WWI America in New York (Long Island area specifically) on two islands called East Egg and West Egg (old money and new money respectively) and follows Nick Carraway as he becomes friends with a man named Gatsby, a newly made member of the upper crust who flaunts his money in an attempt to get Nick’s cousin Daisy to fall back in love with him, ultimately ending in tragedy. From the differing methods that are used to describe the different classes …show more content…
The Great Gatsby promotes and at the same time criticizes capitalism, shows both the conflict and contrast between the different classes, as well as how capitalism can lead directly to the end of its benefactors. In The Great Gatsby, the differing social classes of 1920s New York are shown in far different lights, with the rich being shown as beautiful and without need for anything, and the poor being shown as dirty, expendable workers. An example of this is how the upper class are shown to be lavish and powerful, able to break prohibition and the law multiple times over and get away with it, as well as living in a veritable paradise on the Eggs, and wanting nothing to do with the poor. The poor on the other hand, are shown as dirty, expendable, and live in the ashes of New York City, wanting nothing to do with the rich. As Tom Buchanan tells Daisy and Gatsby, “Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.” Daisy responds “You’re revolting… “Do you know why we left Chicago? I’m surprised that they didn’t treat you to the story of that little …show more content…
If someone from the lower class were to do something similar to what Tom does here, they would probably be arrested by the police and charged for the crimes they commit, whereas Tom is able to pack up shop and leave without many repercussions. A way that the difference between the different classes is shown is when “Someone with a positive manner, perhaps a detective, used the expression “madman” as he bent over Wilson’s body that afternoon, and the adventitious authority of his voice set the key for the newspaper reports next morning.” (Fitzgerald 163) The insinuation from this quote is how the lower classes are depicted in a crime: whether or not they are justified, they are shown as mindless madmen who want to take down the rich, when they should just accept that they will never be able to get to the level of the rich, so they should stick to their own lanes. This shows how severely different the different social classes are depicted when one of them commits a