ipl-logo

Examples Of Marxism In The Great Gatsby

1629 Words7 Pages

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

Show More
Related
1170 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, centers around New York aristocracy in the 1920’s through the eyes of the narrator, Nick Carraway. It focuses on extremely wealthy characters who own enormous mansions, attend lavish parties, and revel in their achievement of the American dream. However, a Marxist examination of the novel reveals the consequences of this wealth, shown through two of the only characters outside of the bubble of fortune— the Wilsons. George and Myrtle Wilson, the tragic couple effectively destroyed by the end of the novel, represent the complications of capitalism and how they affect the lower and under class. This is demonstrated by their hopeless residence in the valley of ashes, Tom’s ability to manipulate

Read More
986 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby reveals the truths of the 1920s about corruption, class, society and wealth. Fitzgerald shows the greed of the characters for money and power, especially the character of Daisy Buchanan, a woman who chose money over her love. The protagonist Jay Gatsby rises from poverty to opulence to win his love Daisy back. Nick Carraway, a man who witnesses the life of the pathetic man, Jay Gatsby. Through the characterization of Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald reveals that wealth can pull one in the trap of corruption, dishonesty and one’s loss of self.

Read More
1632 Words | 7 Pages

The great Gatsby signifies the power-hungry, the weak, and the imbalances between the two. One of the main modernist views within the great Gatsby is the working class vs wealthy. The working class and

Read More
1177 Words | 5 Pages

Tucker Evans Frantzen 11 Honors Block 3A 25 March 2024 A Marxist lens through the Great Gatsby The wealth of each citizen has an impact on their societal views and experiences. Does earning your money versus having it handed to you truly affect the person you become and the experiences you have? In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the reader notices that the generational money holders are cold, stagnant characters who hold a mysterious and far away persona almost untouchable.

Read More
622 Words | 3 Pages

On the western side of Long Island, a charming young man captures the attention of East Egg with his new money in the 20’s. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, follows Nick Carraway’s retelling of the tragic story of the great Jay Gatsby. His friend Nick Carraway admits Gatsby represents everything everyone should hate, but he insists that Gatsby was a great man. Despite this, Gatsby’s blindness from his restless dreams, materialistic values, and dishonesty contradicts his “greatness”.

Read More
1238 Words | 5 Pages

In “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan represents a man who is unfaithful, selfish, and arrogant. Throughout this essay, the character Tom Buchanan will be analyzed and will explain his purpose in this story as well as the many flaws he possesses which make him an unlikable person. Tom is considered to be the antagonist in this novel, but his main purpose in this story is to be the barrier between Daisy and Gatsby. Unbeknownst to Tom, Daisy eventually gets back with Gatsby but has a massive fit once he finds out they’re together.

Read More
1469 Words | 6 Pages

The Great Gatsby demonstrates the human nature of dissatisfaction through Gatsby’s struggle to become his ideal man, the frequent changing location of characters, and through Tom and Daisy’s broken marriage. The Great Gatsby is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway, a man from a rich, well-established family, searching for purpose and excitement in life through the bond business in New York City. There, he met his extravagantly rich and mysterious neighbor Jay Gatsby, who

Read More
1223 Words | 5 Pages

“And what's more, I love Daisy too. 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” (Fitzgerald 138). These words, spoken by Tom Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby, exemplify the personality traits that are omnipresent throughout the novel. Tom is Daisy Buchanan’s husband whom she marries after her first love, Jay Gatsby, leaves for the war.

Read More
178 Words | 1 Pages

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald the novel focuses on Jay Gatsby, a guy whose existence revolves around his desire to reunite with Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years ago. As Gatsby's ideal of adoring Daisy is shattered by the disparity in their social standings, his resorting to crime to impress her, and the unrestrained materialism that characterizes her existence. Gatsby's journey takes him from poverty to fortune, into the arms of his beloved, and ultimately to death. The narrative is not a Marxist book, but it contains a few elements of the Marxist perspective and criticism of capitalism. “Marxism is a social, political, and economic philosophy named after the 19th-century German philosopher and economist Karl Marx.

Read More
924 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby GEOGRAPHY Throughout the novel, places and settings symbolize the various aspects of the 1920s American society that Fitzgerald depicts. East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social decay of America, and New York City the dissolute, amoral quest for money and pleasure. Additionally, the East is connected to the moral decay and social cynicism of New York, while the West is connected to more traditional social values and ideals. Themes: The American Dream "Whereas the American Dream was once equated with certain principles of freedom, it is now equated with things.

Read More
1532 Words | 7 Pages

Arguably one of the most complex works of American Literature, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays a satirical United States taking place in the early twenties in New York. The roaring twenties often portrayed a happy time immediately following World War 1 however, it gave off a false feeling of joy and many people were truly unhappy. Even though Nick Carraway shows a realistic image of himself, The Great Gatsby encompasses an illusion created in this time period and portrays this image through the atmosphere surrounding the actions of its characters; it ultimately shows a conflict against reality, identical to that to the early 20th century. The Great Gatsby shows the upper class and their habits, which involved: carelessness,

Read More
537 Words | 3 Pages

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 179). This quote captures the advantages the upper class has because of their money. Tom and Daisy’s actions left three people dead, yet they received no punishments .They put all their baggage on the lower class, and left them to pick up the pieces.     In The Great Gatsby, the theme of social class is very significant in the book. Scott F. Fitzgerald used the theme of social class to show the reader that it plays a much bigger role in life.

Read More
619 Words | 3 Pages

Also even the partygoers that had attended Gatsby's parties that had earned their money aren't necessarily much better. They attend his parties, drink his liquor, and eat his food, and had never once took the time to even meet Gatsby or even have a bother to get to know him. An Example of care in social class of wealth was shown when Tom stated “It`s up to us the Nordics who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things” (Fitzgerald 17). This quote shows proof of change in values of the 1920`s, and the destruction among society that it was causing.

Read More
619 Words | 3 Pages

The website wordpress made an article about the social classes in the Great Gatsby, talking about the differences and similarities that both social classes in the book have with each other, from the good things, to all their flaws. “All the characters do not suffer due to lack of funds in life, but from key dimensions within themselves”(wordpress, Poverty in Great Gatsby). All of the characters in the Great Gatsby have some form of funds in their life, but each of them are devoid of certain key aspects of their personality. One of them could have a lack of social wealth, such as Jay Gatsby. Everyone is wealthy and poor, and when this was brought out to the public when this novel was published, this redefined poverty, and wealth as a whole.

Read More
752 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel, Daisy is a critical character that acts as a symbol to Gatsby’s broken American Dream. A prime example of this is when Gatsby continuously attempts to impress Daisy, in hopes to get back together and re kindle the short relationship they once had before he was sent off to war. This leaves Gatsby feeling rejected, from being unsuccessful at capturing Daisy’s love again, ultimately supporting the false promise the American Dream offers. A long time ago when Gatsby was in love with Daisy, her parents never approved or liked Daisy dating Gatsby, because he didn’t have any, “pomp and circumstance” (75) like the man Tom Buchanan who Daisy ends up marrying.

Read More

More about Examples Of Marxism In The Great Gatsby

Related Topics

Open Document