Marxist Criticism Of The Great Gatsby

The ideal American Dream can be portrayed in many different ways, though generally based upon the idea of opportunity for upward mobility within society. While people move to the top of society, they accumulate the perceived good things in life: the perfect partner, high social status and respect in the workplace to go along with the unlimited wealth and power. This idea is dated all the way back to the beginning of American literature. In the past, Americans started with the basic needs and only the things they needed to get by in life. Now families are transforming into a life view filled with the perfect life, nice car, large house, and the ideal family. In The Great Gatsby the main character Jay Gatsby was born into a family with no

     Throughout “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald characterizes the citizens of East Egg as careless in some form. This relates to the prominent class issue seen all through “Gatsby.” It seems as though Daisy and Tom almost look down upon others. At one point in the book, Nick says “in a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged.” It is because of their belief of superiority that they deem themselves better than other and allows them to live so carelessly.

The American Dream is a worldwide known idiom and it emphasizes an ideal of a successful and happy lifestyle which is oftentimes symbolized by the phrase “from rags-to-riches”. It originated out of the ideal of equality, freedom and opportunity that is held to every American. In the last couple of decades the main idea of the American Dream has shifted to becoming a dream in which materialistic values are of a higher importance and status. The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 during the “Jazz Age”. Jay Gatsby is a parvenu who worked himself his way up. He is the main character and he has a quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan and he has a need for

Jay Gatsby grew up with big aspirations. The definition of the American Dream is the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative, but his vision of the American Dream was beyond what he could have expected. Although things did not play out as he expected. Throughout the book, Jay Gatsby found himself unhappy, not being able to satisfy his large American Dream aspirations. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the protagonist has a strong devotion to attaining the American Dream, but it becomes unattainable for him because of his overpowering desire to always need something, or someone more.

The main qualities of the American Dream presented in The Great Gatsby are perseverance and hope. Another famous characteristic of the American dream is the idea of success against all odds. This is shown through the life of James Gatz, who focused all his attention to living the dream and becoming an American hero. Ever since he was young, Gatz worked hard on becoming a great man. This is documented in Gatz 's copy of the adventures of Hopalong Cassidy, who was another romantic American figure. While showing this journal to Nick, Mr. Gatz professed, "Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he 's got about improving his mind? He was always great for that." (Pg. 175) James Gatz

The American dream can mean many different things and can be interpreted in different ways. To some people, the American dream is the belief that if a person works hard enough, he or she can be successful in America no matter what race, gender, or nationality. In the 1920’s, the concept of the American dream was very much the same, that an individual can achieve success in life regardless of family history or social status if he or she works hard enough. By having money, a car, a big house, expensive clothes, and a loving family symbolizes the American dream. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the 1920’s is a time period in which the American dream becomes corrupt and dangerous. For Jay Gatsby, a main character in the novel, his American dream is about gaining wealth and material possessions in order to find happiness. Through his decision to symbolize wealth, superficiality, irresponsibility, and foreshadowing, Fitzgerald conveys the the theme that the American dream is a perfect concept and is something that can never be accomplished, but can always be reached for.

The American Dream, is an idea that all Americans are familiar with, no matter what age they are. It is the dream that everyone has an equal opportunity, to use hard work and integrity to achieve success. The American Dream is an integral aspect of Jay Gatsby’s life in the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel follows Jay Gatsby, as told by Nick Carraway, through the trials and tribulations that correspond with newfound wealth and the quest to find true happiness in a cynical and testing environment. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream has the power to corrupt individuals, through his depictions of wealth, materialism, and the consequences they inflict in the character’s lives.

The American Dream was a very important aspect in the 1920s. To the immigrants and the citizens, it meant that they had an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity with hardwork and dedication, despite their upbringing. In the Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby represented the American Dream of self-made wealth and happiness. Jay Gatsby was legally named James Gatz and he “changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career” (Fitzgerald 98). He invented the name Jay Gatsby and a new life of glory and riches. His parents were “shiftless and unsuccessful” farmers who could not afford anything from his imagination. He imagined an elegant life with a big house, throwing big parties with the woman of his dreams. This was the American Dream and he wasn’t going to stop working until his goal was achieved. From a young age, Gatsby was eager to

Ahhh The American Dream, the one entity that most people are reaching out trying to grasp. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the life of America in the 1920s, “The Roaring Twenties”. The twenties were a time of prosperity for America. The Great Gatsby lived in a time of new cars, expensive parties and as some in the roaring twenties might say it was “spiffy!” The American Dream seems unattainable to some but to others, it is right around the corner. Jay Gatsby had the rags-to-riches story that hits all of us so dear. The Great Gatsby had The American Dream by working hard to get where he was. Everyone has the inner desire to do something great and achieve The American Dream. There are many routes people take in order to get there such as; inheritance, deceit, or working hard for it. It is the ideal that everyone should have the opportunity by working hard to achieve success.

“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position,”(Adams OL). The American Dream is a dream where a person lives a better, richer, and a fuller life, the American Dreams is not a dream where a person is after material prosperity, such as wealth, fancier cars, lavish homes. There is much more to the American Dream than property, wealth, and a perfect spouse and Jay Gatsby, a character in Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald novel, The Great Gatsby learns about the American Dream the hard way. Jay Gatsby of West Egg, New York was notoriously known for being extremely wealthy. Mr. Gatsby was also recognized by his extravagant parties with more than hundreds of guests. Jay Gatsby was not always known as Jay Gatsby, he was previously known for being James Gatz. Mr. Gatz was not a wealthy person and Gatz left his parents because they were poor and unsuccessful farmers to pursue a dream. James Gatz changed his name

     In perspective, The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald also has many examples of the American Dream. The main character, Gatsby, shows by far the most want for something better in his life. Gatsby often shows this yearning. For example, when he said “You should live in California,” he was inferring that a better life awaits in California.(Fitzgerald,18) Growing up, Gatsby had all that he needed, but from an early age he showed signs of wanting more in life. As he expressed this hi s father would remind him that he was very fortunate by saying “Just remember that all of the

Living the American Dream can be very risky and can cause you to lose everything around you. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, we see from Nick’s eyes a horrific tragedy of Jay Gatsby achieving The American Dream then having it all fall down on him by his choices in life. Jay Gatsby comes to New York in search of his lost love, Daisy. Gatsby becomes wealthy to get Daisy’s love, but trying to create the past doesn’t always work. Gatsby lost his life trying to find something that wasn’t there. The Great Gatsby showed how the American Dream can be corrupted by the power of being wealthy, the power of society, and the power of love.

The novel The Great Gatsby was written in a time and place in which the separation between classes based on money was a great factor. The two rich classes were the old money and the new money. The two classes were also physically separated. East Egg is for the great “old money” and West Egg is for the “new money”. This segregation based on class is a problem discussed by the Marxists. They understood the huge differences and were the people who believed that there should be no class separation. The Marxist idea of class separation is well depicted in the character Jay Gatsby and his passionate fighting against the class system, in Tom Buchanan’s arrogance and power, typical for the rich people, and in the way George Wilson’s life is negatively influenced by his interactions with the higher class.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel of The Great Gatsby, he creates an artificial world where each character’s sole purpose in life is money, and the essence of desire is wealth. It is clear within the text that the characters feel as if they are totally limited by the amount of money they make, therefore, their view of being satisfied and achieving in life is depicted against their financial status. Poverty limits decision and action. The novel is set in the 1920’s when the newly founded ‘American Dream’ was being strived for, the idea that if one worked hard, they would ‘reap’ the rewards, no matter their

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.