How Does Fitzgerald Present Capitalism In The Great Gatsby

This class division is painfully apparent throughout the novel.  In chapter five, some of the people at Gatsby's party are singing a popular tune of the 1920's, which includes the lyrics: "the rich are getting richer/and the poor are getting children/ain't we got fun?" (101).  The flippancy of the lyrics implies a general attitude of the upper classes toward the lower class.  Later in the novel, Gatsby describes a young Daisy, who appears "gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor" (157).  This sentence captures the main argument of Marx's The Communist Manifesto.  In the Manifesto, he describes the constant conflict between classes, but says that the real struggle is on the part of the lower class.  In this book, the upper class is portrayed as being extremely artificial and corrupt.  The reason that Gatsby works so hard to become a member of the upper class is to impress a girl who he places a market value on - and he becomes a member of that class through illegalities.  When Gatsby buys his house to impress Daisy, he is not simply purchasing property; he "thinks he is buying a dream." [ii]

George Santayana once stated, "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. James Gatz, or better known as Jay Gatsby has lived solely to persuade the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan, into loving him. He and Daisy had a past relationship, but he could not fully provide her with the satisfaction of marrying a wealthy man who could support her needs. Like many others, The Great War separated them from their love, Gatsby was called to action and Daisy took her own action by marrying a wealthy man named Tom Buchanan. Gatsby was heartbroken when he returned to find Daisy had left without him. He devoted his life to her from then on until his death and she knew he would do anything for her. When Gatsby had found Daisy again he was reintroduced to her by her cousin Nick Carraway. Nick and Gatsby grew closer together, not only because they neighbored each other, but because Gatsby was Nick 's goal. Nick wanted to create his own life and wealth much like Gatsby and his curiosity of how he became well off created room for what lead to Gatsby 's death. F. Scott Fitzgerald recorded the novel as a parallel of his life. His life would not have been the same if he had not endured the 1920 's. The state of despair the nation was in caused the generation that came to age, to be coined the "Lost Generation". The disillusionment of this generation caused Gatsby to believe that he could hold Daisy once more. F. Scott Fitzgerald proves that the past is

Nick continues to ponder over Gatsby’s life and considers that “he did not know that [his dream] was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city” (Fitzgerald 180). Nick recognizes his desire to reach his goal, but understands that Gatsby is ignorant of the fact that his dream is futile and “already behind him”. While Nick appreciates Gatsby’s determination and perseverance in his pursuit of Daisy, he realizes that Gatsby’s future with Daisy is hopeless and beyond his control. Fitzgerald informs the reader that Gatsby is narrow minded in his persistence to achieve his goals and consequently is unable to obtain his dreams since they are already behind him, in his dark past. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s life is one long series of disappointments after another, which makes him the perfect symbol of

F. Scott’s Fitzgerald thought that the American Dream would never go away in the past, present, and future. It has not even touch going in the negative today. A lot of rich people had the problem of morals, they did not like to follow rules. These rich people wanted to do what they want, they wanted freedom in all aspects. The main difference between the classes of ‘poor’ and ‘rich’ people are morals. F. Scott’s Fitzgerald’s book “The Great Gatsby” was separated in classes. The rich and wealthy, and the poor an dissatisfied. These classes had different morals, examples are Nick, and Daisy.

Whether someone is choosing a higher paying job, buying a more expensive house, or even marrying a richer man, wealth has the power to influence many different things. Since the  beginning of time, humans have wanted to have wealth because they knew that with wealth you were treated differently. Wealth is often used as a theme in novels because it is a very powerful concept that influences people’s thoughts and actions. Set in the 1920s, the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald uncovers the truth about how people’s reactions to historical events-- including the flapper era, the Women’s Rights Movement, and prohibition-- were influenced by the theme of wealth.

In the 1920s, American men and women were able to attain large amounts of money to become wealthy. Because of this, there was social movement. The 1920s was a time when the poor could become wealthy, but the traditional class was not appreciative about movement between classes because the fact the one cannot change class if they become wealthy. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the characters are Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy which they all reveal the conflicts about social class security. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the conflict between a traditional rigid class system and social mobility revealing the American Dream is unrealistic.

“People are a product of their environment.” Nowhere else in American literature does this saying seem to ring truer than in The Great Gatsby. Every character seems to represent an aspect of the classic “Jazz Age”, such how the desire for wealth can corrupt the American dream. Despite the decade’s glitzy title, the book’s portrayal of it is anything but flattering; Fitzgerald artfully reveals the hollowness of wealthy society and the fact that the American dream is not achievable for everyone. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the social norms of the 1920’s cause the protagonist, Jay Gatsby, to be obsessed with attaining wealth, leading him to pursue illegal means of earning money, and not being able to stop pursuing Daisy Buchanan despite the fact that he will obviously never obtain her.

“I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth…” (pg.1) The Great Gatsby is about a man named Gatsby who is chasing an unrealistic dream that will never come true because of materialism, class differences, and the blinding belief in the American Dream. “In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author wrote this story to comment on the satire of American ideals such as the American Dream and the carelessness of the rich.

Have you ever thought of how social and economic classes work into a capitalist system? Marxists believe that different social and economic classes should be equal. In the book the “Great Gatsby” written by F. Scott Fitzgerald these classes are very much defined and show the flaws and reality of how social and economic classes are viewed through Marxists. Viewing the classes through vulgar Marxists the characters attempting to climb social and economical ladders in the book are not accepted and rejected from upper class individuals. “The Great Gatsby” shows that people attempting to be something he or she is not does not mean they have achieved these social and economic goals and will be rejected by the very people they are attempting to

In today’s society, social classes are very prominent and some people look down on others if you are not considered “upper class”. This is usually based on someone’s income and their assets they have to determine their “class”. In Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we see the theme of the American Dream and how it begins to become less achievable to most but we see Gatsby as an exception. In the novel, we see class in terms of money, in terms of social status and having a high economic standing..

    Ex-President Jimmy Carter knows both the power and the limitations of money. He is also aware that the acquisition of money or material wealth is not a worthwhile goal. This was made clear in his speech to the American people when he stated:  "Our great cities and our mighty buildings will avail us not if we lack spiritual strength to subdue mere objects to the higher purposes of humanity" (Harnsberger 14). In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, the author clearly illustrates that Jay Gatsby does not understand the limitations of the power of money. Gatsby believes that money can recreate the past, buy him happiness, and allow him to climb the social ladder in the prominent East

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby reflects the 19th century ideals of political theorist Karl Marx and his predicted clashing of the wealthy poor. Using Marxist literary theory we see that Fitzgerald powerfully condemns this class-based oppression. Gyorgy Lukacs in Reification and The Consciousness of the Proletariat states “our intention here is to base ourselves on Marx’s economic analyses and to proceed from there to a discussion of the problems growing out of the fetish character of commodities, both as an objective form and also as a subjective stance corresponding to it. Only by understanding this can we obtain a clear insight into the ideological problems of capitalism and its downfall” (Marxists.org, 1967) this critique of capitalism and commodification is an idea that seeps throughout the novel.

He expected Daisy, a married woman with children, to leave her husband and fall back in love with him the second she found out that Gatsby was rich. His absent mind to the present instigated his immoral practices. Gatsby falls into a paradox where everything he does to get closer to Daisy ends up driving her away from him. He went into business with Wolfsheim and became a bootlegger to get the riches he needed to impress her. Consequently, due to his crimes, Daisy’s love for him was diminished. Gatsby’s loss sense of time is also prominently shown from Nick’s observance of him. He says “He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night… tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further… And one fine morning- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (171-172). Nick could see that Gatsby’s material success was a failure from the start. Gatsby hoped and planned for a future life with Daisy which was only possible in the past. His lost sense of time seemed to put his dreams within reach, but

Karl Marx wrote in his 1859 ‘Towards a Critique of Political Economy’ that “it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence but their social existence that determines their consciousness”. By stating this, Marx sheds light into the workings of ‘The Great Gatsby’ thus showing that the social circumstances in which the characters find themselves define them, and that these circumstances consist of core Marxist principles a Capitalistic society. These principles being ‘commodity fetishism’ and ‘reification’ are useful aids in interpreting and understanding the core themes that run throughout the text.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literary classic, The Great Gatsby, takes a critical look at the excess and social upheaval of the Jazz Age through the eyes of the narrator, Nick Carraway. Carraway witnesses how even though the idealistic Jay Gatsby achieves the highly sought after concept known as the American Dream, he is still dismissed by the ‘old money’ society that lives in the opulent East Egg. In contrast to the East Egg, Carraway also observes the struggles of the working class that reside in the Valley of Ashes: where East Egg resident, Tom Buchanan’s mistress lives with her husband that owns a garage. Fitzgerald starkly contrasts the living environments of America’s upper and lower social classes through the symbolism of greenery, the qualities of the colors in his imagery, and the scenes in which the characters of the two classes mingle in order to comment critically on how the working class is unable achieve the growth needed for upward mobility in order to accomplish the American dream.