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
The Great Gatsby talks a lot about society and class and about wealth inequality. The story takes place in the 1920's that was a time of great wealth and glamor for those that were in the upper class. The story takes place in places referred to as "West Egg" and East egg. The East Egg area is where the Aristocratic families live. These are the families that are wealthy and have been wealthy for generations.
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
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.
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
With Tom, Daisy had built an even more lavish lifestyle where she lived in a big house and they had a daughter together showing that she had built a life without Gatsby. When Gatsby came back from the War he went back to Lousiville where Daisy had lived, to only find out that she and Tom were away on their honeymoon. But throughout the years Gatsby never lost hope that he and Daisy would be back together someday, and he let this desire guide many of his actions. A great illustration of this is when Jordan Baker tells Nick, ”’ Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay”’
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
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”.
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.
In The Great Gatsby, social status is a significant element in the book as it separates the haves from the have nots. However more importantly, social status portrays the personalities of people belonging to different classes. In the end, you are stuck in the class you are born into, and attempting to change classes only leads to tragedy and heartbreak. In The Great Gatsby, there are three main social classes portrayed. These are old money, new money, and no money.
“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.
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.
The Great Gatsby illuminates that America is a society with a multitude of classes. Once you are born, you continue to grow and learn the values of the class that you were born into and since these ideologies are pushed onto you, it is very difficult to escape them. Once arriving in West Egg, Long Island, Nick Carraway was surprised by the lifestyle that he was immersed by and was caught off guard, since he had never seen anything like it. In the beginning, this extraordinary life style seemed like a dream to be apart of but, Nick Carraway quickly learned the truth about how everyone lived and his opinion was completely reversed. After living this outlandish and extravagant lifestyle, he realized that this lifestyle filled with corruption, dishonesty and lying was not something that he wanted to be apart of.
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.
“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.
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.