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How Does Fitzgerald Present Power In The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel set during the Roaring 20’s. Throughout his writing, Fitzgerald is able to uncover recurring themes of both love and power to a great extent. Love is deep feeling of affection and power is simply the ability to possess control over others. It is evident that a person that is overcome by immense feelings of love becomes a puppet held by strings that is easily controlled and manipulated. Due to this, love is simultaneously transformed into power, of course that is concentrated into one individual, leaving another powerless. The downsides of love are portrayed through the inclusion of many unhealthy relationships that all work together to take a toll on each character. First, Tom and Daisy are …show more content…

The more money you had, the more power you had. Toms character is one that is introduced with the knowledge that he will not be well liked by an audience. Despite Toms racist and arrogant demeanor, he is still treated with immense respect simply because of his East Egg origins. Through Toms character, a stereotype of a typical rich person is revealed. He uncovers his condescending attitude by saying “This fellow has worked out the whole thing. It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things” (Fitzgerald 13). He feels that the dominant race are those with money and everyone else is inferior. His wealth allows people to look past all of his character flaws and still view him as man deserving of high respect. George Wilson represents someone that is lacking in power being that he is not rich and doesn't live in West or East Egg. His wife, Myrtle has an affair with Tom who is a very wealthy man. This represents Toms power over George because some of Myrtles desire for Tom comes from his money. In addition, when Gatsby hosts extravagant parties, people are not attending because they are his friends, or even acquaintances. People go to his gatherings simply because they are a place where the wealthy can mingle amongst one another. This reveals a vast gap between the rich and the poor during this time period. The rich socialized with the rich and the poor socialized with the poor. This results in those that are poor staying poor and those that are rich getting

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