Examples Of Marxism In The Great Gatsby

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.

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