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Examples Of Marxism In The Great Gatsby

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The divide between society has been apparent for many, many years. It was prominent in the 1920s and even though slightly less apparent, it is still part of our world today. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story, The Great Gatsby, the settings created by Fitzgerald are symbolic of the Marxist theory through his use of differing social classes and their living conditions. These distinctions are clearly shown to the reader through the story’s East and West Eggs and the Valley of Ashes, which lies trapped in soot, dirt, and grime between the two Eggs and New York City. During the 1920s, industrialization, prohibition, old money, new money, and lavish parties aided in constructing major gaps between The Great Gatsby’s characters like Gatsby, Daisy, Myrtle. …show more content…

It is no secret that kids dream of fairy tales with blue skies, green grass, and a pretty breeze, but those things are very real and vibrant in the East Egg. The East Egg is made of old money and those who live there love to make that fact known. After breaking off the engagement with his fiance, Nick moves out west to New York City and reconnects with his cousin Daisy, a delicate woman married to an old college friend of Nick’s. When Nick comes to visit Daisy and Tom’s house on the East Egg he is most surprised by their unimaginable wealth, “Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red -and- white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens – finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold and wide open to the warm windy afternoon,” (Fitzgerald 6). To Nick, this being Daisy’s home is only

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The Great Gatsby is a timeless novel that examines the decadence and moral corruption of the wealthy class during the Roaring Twenties. Set in the lavish lifestyle of the elite class of Long Island, the book follows the tragic story of Jay Gatsby and his hopeless love for the charming Daisy Buchanan. The novel displays harsh criticism of the wealthy's excesses and their inclination to act immorally to achieve their goals. Through the characters and their actions, Fitzgerald depicts a society in which the characters are immoral to reach a goal. In Fitzgerald’s

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In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author uses many differnt retorical devices to add a personal flare to his work. He uses diction, symbolism, and irony to adress many different themes. These themes include Materialism, The American Dream, and includes a sharp and biting ridicule on American society in the 1920’s. The main point of Fitzgerald, arguement is one where he sharply criticizes the Society of the time.

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The 1920’s, America booming with newly found individuality, independence, and freedom that bared from the fallout of World War 1, a time where practically penniless men turned into billionaires overnight, and back again within the next, where women could dress, do, and go wherever they desired, but above all, what began to determined the world of some, that determined the world of many. “The Great Gatsby”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a perfect example of this truth. This literary piece exemplifies a almost satire like critique of American life in the 1920’s. Each character of “The Great Gatsby” display a certain quality of a particular persona of the middle to high white social classes that were common at the time. All of which are observed by the self righteous judgemental eyes of Nick Carraway, through him we observe immoral, ill content, and irrational actions that enact all in the name of the pursuance of love and happiness.

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For America, the 1920s is known as a roaring era when economic prosperity and social dynamism splendidly blossomed; It is also an era in which people’s wealth and backgrounds are directly employed in defining their identities. By making subtle changes to the original plot, the movie The Great Gatsby puts a stronger emphasis on social stratification not only between the apparent rich and the poor, but also between the old money and new money. The movie depicts the uncrossible barriers among different classes in an explicit manner, illustrating each class’s struggle in the hierarchy and allowing the individuals’ characters develop to the fullest. The movie uses physical setting as a social barrier to distinguish people by their classes and to reveal people’s desperate desire of climbing up the social ladder.

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Throughout history, power has always been unequally distributed among people. From kings having a majority of power to slaves having none, the society of 1920s America mirrored the ways of the past. However, instead of kings and slaves, the differing classes would be the upper class and lower class. Viewing the different classes and the power each class holds is the foundation of the Marxist lens. A Marxist lens shows how rich people in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby are able to avoid the unwanted effects of their actions unlike their less wealthy counterparts, as contrasted by the actions of Daisy and Tom versus Myrtle.

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A Marxist lens allows the reader to view how Fitzgerald presents settings that symbolize the social status of their residents, such as East Egg, West Egg, and Valley of Ashes. Starting with the East egg. The east egg is home to old money passed down from generation to generation. The residents reside in beautiful old colonial houses. “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water” (Fitzgerald pg7)

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Criticism of Technology in “The Martian Chronicles” Ray Bradbury, an author from the Cold War time period, wrote when technology was rapidly advancing because of threats made back and forth by America and Russia . As a result of this paranoia, technology was advanced out of fear rather than a will for innovation, causing man to create weapons with destructive power that, if used, could destroy the world many times over. Bradbury warns of the dangers that come with creating technology ignorantly and out of fear. Using the anthology “The Martian Chronicles”, Bradbury criticizes man’s ignorance and inability to adapt through their rapid advances in technology, which are used as a response to cover up flaws and nullify the need for change.

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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.

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How often do people judge the contents of a book based off of the cover? Seriously though, people often judge the contents of a book based off it’s cover. Many people think that by looking at the cover of a book, that it instantly determines the story of the book, whether the story is good or bad. Oftentimes, these judgments are misleading and don’t actually give people a good understanding of someone.

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Social stratification is permanent in society and has been represented in numerous literary texts where the most vulnerable dream to become higher class with wealth, and status. This desire to escape the low-class life, flows down into a path of blatant lies, leading to tragic failure and demise. Nicolah Burns, 27th April 2023 The prosperous ‘Jazz Aged’ parties of Long Island in the 1920s, sparked the mind of F. Scott Fitzgerald to write the classic novel, The Great Gatsby (1925). Fitzgerald represents a class system in the novel featuring the locations of the Eggs and The Valley of Ashes, where success, wealth, and popularity, became a desired lifestyle for those of the higher class, yet a lifetime goal for those of the lower class.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby describes the life of Jay Gatsby in the 1920’s. The novel shares his love story and his loneliness. A major question the author raises is how does wealth impact class structure and society? Fitzgerald answers this question through the distinction between “New rich” and “Old rich” and the significance of East and West Egg.

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”

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In “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald presents editorial on an assortment of topics, — equity, control, insatiability, treachery, the American dream. Of the considerable number of subjects, maybe none is more all around created than that of social stratification. The Great Gatsby is viewed as a splendid bit of social discourse, offering a clear look into American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald deliberately sets up his novel into particular gatherings in any case, at last, each gathering has its own issues to battle with, leaving an effective indication of what a problematic place the world truly is. By making unmistakable social classes — old cash, new cash, and no cash — Fitzgerald sends solid messages about the elitism running all through each stratum of society.

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Society’s evolution has abolished many social issues, but not all. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrays several themes that were applicable to the 1920s, and are still apparent today. Fitzgerald refers to issues from before the publication of the book, as they are universal problems and will relate to generations to come. In conclusion, although published in 1925, The Great Gatsby does make profound comments concerning the basic problems of the 21st

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby shows little, if any attention to political issues at the time. In the 1920s, also known as the “Jazz Age” the lifestyle is mostly driven by the wants and desire of individuals. Fitzgerald raises the lack of political concern at the time derived from the characters of the novel. The main political conflict is the fissure between the rich and the poor.

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