The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

Literature and music are essential tools for influencing society as a whole. Songs inspire listeners to band together and improve the world. In the Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one song really captures the theme of the book. The “Ain’t We Got Fun” song shows the way of life between the rich and the poor (Fitzgerald 95). The rich continue to build their wealth whereas the poor descend deeper into poverty. Constant, ongoing social class struggle caused by power imbalance is demonstrated through conflicts between characters in an attempt to motivate readers to fix inherent problems in capitalism.
Gatsby, a hardworking man attempting to achieve the American Dream, has his dreams brutally crushed by a member of the bourgeoisie,

At first, she is lured in with promises of gifts and riches a relationship with Tom could provide her with (Fitzgerald 28). An incentive is offered in the form of gifts in order to encourage lower class people. Although the gifts appear to be only beneficial to low-class people, that is a deceptive view. Over time Myrtle becomes used to living a certain lifestyle that she is unable to maintain without help from Tom. Gifts are used to manipulate poor people into agreeing to enter deals with upper-class people so that she can continue to live a luxurious life. These deals take advantage of the poor, low-class people while benefiting the upper class, rich people. Some benefits Tom receives from his relationship with Myrtle is when “Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” she did not report him to the police (Fitzgerald 37). Through payments in the form of gifts, Tom has bought the right to abuse Myrtle without consequences. Utilizing his influence as a rich, affluent man he becomes untouchable. He is able to freely act on his emotions similar to the way a child would. The rich are able to fulfill any desires they wish to because of the power imbalance between the poor and the rich. In the process, they destroy the poor person as shown when Myrtle’s “life is violently extinguished” (Fitzgerald 137). Rich people become used to being invulnerable and they forget that others do not have that luxury. Their actions can have consequences for other people. Either carelessness or ignorance causes the rich to endanger lower class people. Trying to keep up with the lifestyle of the rich life is destructive to the poor. Myrtle is killed as a result of Tom’s power game. The social class struggle is a result of an imbalance of power that is represented in the book by Myrtle, the lower class, and Tom, the upper