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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is set during the economic boom of the roaring 20s. It was a decade of wealth, opulence, new innovations and mass consumerism. Fitzgerald portrays the vibrant capitalist culture of the era, while also revealing the underbelly of society at the time. He highlights how the obsession and pursuit of money decays personal values and leads to corruption among the higher social classes. Fitzgerald’s criticism of the capitalist culture aligns with concepts from Marxist theory, which is “concerned with how the socioeconomic system in which we live shapes our personal identity” (Tyson 111). Fitzgerald demonstrates this concept through Jay Gatsby’s distorted chase of the American Dream, the character’s constant commodification …show more content…
of people and things in order to possess more things, and through the reckless abandonment in which the higher class live their lives. The American Dream is centered around the belief that everyone is afforded the same opportunities to succeed, it suggests that anyone who has the determination to work hard enough and persist long enough can rise from ‘rags to riches’ (Tyson 115). Marxist theory challenges this concept by arguing that “a vast number of people do not have equal opportunities in education, employment or housing due to such factors as, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic class” (Tyson 115). Yet the American Dream labels those who don’t succeed as worthless, dishonest and lazy. Fitzgerald seems to present the quintessential ‘rags to riches’ story through Jay Gatsby’s ascension through the social classes. However, his rise is marred by his dishonesty, obsession with wealth and illicit activities. Jay Gatsby always knew he wanted to be rich and even changed his name from James Gatz to separate himself from his poor family. Fitzgerald states: “I supposed he’d had the name ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people--his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all” (98). When he left his job as a janitor, he met Dan Cody who ultimately helped him shape his new persona and introduced him to the world of money. Gatsby worked hard as a steward, mate, skipper, secretary and jailor for Dan Cody. However, after Dan Cody’s death and meeting Daisy, his pursuit for the American Dream became distorted. He became fascinated by material things, and sought wealth to gain love from a woman who’s voice “was full of money”. Gatsby earned an abstentious amount of money in as little as three years through shady and illegal dealing, his rise to the American Dream was not achieved by pulling himself by his bootstraps. It can be argued that the American Dream and the accumulation of wealth is not achievable without “unethical practices, the exploitation of cheap labor, and the production and sale of dubious commodities such as alcohol and drugs” (Tyson 113). Jay Gatsby’s chase of the American Dream lead to his commodified view on love. The capitalist theory of commodification is defined as “the act of relating to persons or items in terms of how much money it’s worth or in terms of the social status its ownership bestows” (Tyson 114). It allows people to place monetary worth on anything and anyone and labeling it a commodity. Marxist theory views commodification as a damaging ideology and its concept is prevalent throughout The Great Gatsby, as the characters commodify each other in hopes to reach a greater social status. Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and others are all guilty of commodifying people to get ahead or to simply acquire more things. Although, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby are both wealthy they both view Daisy as the essential commodity. Tom marries Daisy in exchange for her beauty and her family’s prominence, while Daisy marries Tom for his immense wealth and future stability. Gatsby spends his lifetime acquiring material things in exchange for the image their ownership confers on him. He buys an opulent mansion, expensive cars, fancy imported clothes and hosts extravagant parties in exchange for the image of the generous millionaire, as well as, in the hopes of acquiring Daisy. He commodified Daisy from the moment he saw her for: “It excited him that many men had already loved Daisy- it increased her value in his eyes” (Fitzgerald 149). Possessing Daisy would legitimatize his wealth and catapult his social status among the wealthy elite, essentially turning his new money into old money. Daisy’s relationship with Gatsby is also based on a commodified view of life. She never would’ve given him a chance, if she had known that he was not a part of her social class: “he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her” (Fitzgerald 149). When she realizes that he obtained his wealth through such dubious means as bootlegging, her financial illusion of him is shattered and her interest quickly fades. In Daisy’s commodified world, her financial security and social class trumps the affection she has for Gatsby. Classism is the belief that a person’s value is directly related to the social class to which they are born into: the higher the social class, the higher their natural superiority (Tyson 112).
“Classists believe that those in the highest class should assume leadership roles, for they are, by birth, more intelligent, honorable, energetic and dependable than those beneath them in the social scale” (Tyson 112). However, Fitzgerald combats this classist concept through the characterization of many of the members of the higher class as reckless and irresponsible people. Jordan is guilty of being dishonest towards others and careless with her possessions. Fitzgerald describes her as ‘incurably dishonest’: “She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage, and giving this unwillingness I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young” (58). She is known for cheating in her profession and she lied about destroying a borrowed car by leaving it in the rain with the top down. Her reckless driving shows her lack of concern for other people’s safety. Nick calls her a ‘rotten driver’ and suggests that she should be more careful or not drive at all. Her response: “other people are [careful], they’ll keep out of my way” (Fitzgerald 58) is a prime example of her careless, indulgent and irresponsible …show more content…
lifestyle. Nevertheless, Tom and Daisy Buchanan display the greatest disregard for other people’s lives and repercussions.
Fitzgerald describes them as: “careless people, they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money, or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (179). Tom’s mindset of innate superiority allows him to overtly cheat on his wife on multiple occasions. He also thinks nothing of breaking Myrtle’s nose and destroying her marriage with George Wilson. Equally, Daisy has a careless affair with Gatsby and doesn’t think about the damage she might cause to her marriage and daughter. The deaths of Myrtle, George and Gatsby lay at the feet of Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Daisy runs over Myrtle killing her instantly, while Tom misleads George and gives him the address to Gatsby’s house, knowing that George has a gun. Then they simply pack up their stuff and leave other people to deal with the aftermath. Their response to the situation and refusal to accept responsibility for their actions demonstrate the moral depravity of their social
class. The Great Gatsby is a cautionary ‘rags to riches’ tale that questions our ingrained capitalistic ideologies. Fitzgerald helps to reveal society’s preoccupation with money. Through a Marxist view, we can see that the characters much like people in our society are never content with what they have, they must possess more things, even when they seem to have everything. Even the achievement of the American Dream is flawed, once a person climbs the socioeconomic ladder and reaches the top of the heap their morality is compromised. The accumulation of great wealth produces the same questionable attributes as inherited wealth.
Chapter 1: Chapter one introduces the reader to the narrator Nick Halloway and most of the other other characters of the story. Including his cousin daisy, her husband tom and their friend jordan - the golfer. Nick comes from a wealthy family; however, doesn’t believe in inheriting their wealth. Instead he wishes to earn his own wealth by selling bonds in the stock market. Chapter one also talks about the separation of the rich. Where the east egg represents the inherently rich whereas west egg represents the newly rich. The people in the east also seem to lack social connections and aristocratic pedigree. Whereas the people in west egg possess all those qualities usually lacked by people in the east.With nick living
The dawn of the 20th century was met with an unprecedented catastrophe: an international technological war. Such a horrible conflict perhaps threatened the roots of the American Dream! Yet, most do not realize how pivotal the following years were. Post war prosperity caused a fabulous age for America: the “roaring twenties”. But it also was an era where materialism took the nation by storm, rooting itself into daily life. Wealth became a measure of success and a facade for social status. This “Marxist materialism” threatened the traditional American Dream of self-reliance and individuality far even more than the war a decade before. As it morphed into materialistic visions (owning a beautiful house and car), victims of the change blindly chased the new aspiration; one such victim was Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. As his self-earned luxury and riches clashed with love, crippling consequences and disasters occur. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby delves into an era of materialism, exploring how capitalism can become the face of social life and ultimately cloud the American Dream.
The emerging inequitable class systems and antagonisms of the nineteen twenties saw the traditional order and moral values challenged, as well as the creation of great wealth for few and poverty for many. The Great Gatsby, written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, explores the causes and effects of the unbalanced class structures. Fitzgerald outlines the idea that the desire to accumulate wealth and status is a common ambition amongst the lower classes; when that desire is reached, the traditional upper class is challenged by the emerging newly wealthy, which finally leads to destructive consequences. By creating rigid class structures, traditional upper class, new wealth, and the poor in The Great Gatsby, it is shown that the desire to further or maintain socio-economic status leads to immoral behaviour such as criminal activity, adultery, and murder.
Through the use of symbolism and critique, F. Scott Fitzgerald is able to elucidate the lifestyles and dreams of variously natured people of the 1920s in his novel, The Great Gatsby. He uses specific characters to signify diverse groups of people, each with their own version of the “American Dream.” Mostly all of the poor dream of transforming from “rags to riches”, while some members of the upper class use other people as their motivators. In any case, no matter how obsessed someone may be about their “American Dream”, Fitzgerald reasons that they are all implausible to attain.
Social classes have been around since the beginning of time. Most people are lead to believe that rich people live in beautiful and extravagant homes, throw luxurious parties and do not give a damn about keeping it a secret. The poor people are happy to have a roof over their heads and have food on the table and will work their asses off to make a penny. The higher the class that someone is in, the better that person’s life is perceived to be and vice-versa. There is old money versus new money, which determines which side of town one lives on. Everyone knows the difference in social classes and is able to see where most people fit in. In the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, the reader is exposed to many things that show a difference in social class that sadly, still exist in today. Most people have a dream of being in a certain class; whether they ever get to experience it or not, the dream is there. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, shows how social class plays a theme in the story.
“The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the vast social difference between the old aristocrats, the new self-made rich and the poor. He vividly interprets the social stratification during the roaring twenties as each group has their own problems to deal with. Old Money, who have fortunes dating from the 19th century, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. The New Money made their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have no social connections and tend to overcompensate for this lack with lavish displays of wealth. As usual, the No Money gets overlooked by the struggle at the top, leaving them forgotten or ignored. Such is exemplified by Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson and Tom Buchanan. Their ambitions distinctly represent their class in which Fitzgerald implies strongly about.
Since its publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has indisputably been one of the most influential and insightful pieces on the corruption and idealism of the American Dream. The American Dream, defined as ‘The belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone,’ was a dominant ideal in American society, stemming from an opportunist pioneer mentality. In his book ‘The American Tradition in Literature’, Bradley Sculley praised The Great Gatsby for being ‘perhaps the most striking fictional analysis of the age of gang barons and the social conditions that produced them.’ Over the years, greed and selfishness changed the basic essence of the American Dream, forming firmly integrated social classes and the uncontainable thirst for money and status. The ‘Roaring Twenties’ was a time of ‘sustained increase in national wealth’ , which consequently led to an increase in materialism and a decrease in morality. Moreover, the
In ‘The Great Gatsby’ Fitzgerald criticises the increase of consumerism in the 1920s and the abandonment of the original American Dream , highlighting that the increased focus on wealth and the social class associated with it has negative effects on relationships and the poorest sections of society. The concept of wealth being used as a measure of success and worth is also explored by Plath in ‘The Bell Jar’. Similarly, she draws attention to the superficial nature of this material American Dream which has extended into the 1960s, but highlights that gender determines people’s worth in society as well as class. Fitzgerald uses setting to criticise society’s loss of morality and the growth of consumerism after the Great War. The rise of the stock market in the 1920s enabled business to prosper in America.
There are many things that affect how people see each other. Judging others on their looks, personalities, and lifestyles is as natural as sleeping. A common subject of judgement has always been social class; each class has judged one another for centuries. Looking at another class is like looking into the window of another world that is shrouded in mystery; especially the upper class. The idea of being wealthy is surrounded by a stereotype that life is easy and everything is perfect. F. Scott Fitzgerald teaches in The Great Gatsby that this is not true through three different social classes in the 1920s: old money, new money, and no money. Although status makes life easier it can negatively affect the personalities of people with old money, new money, and no money.
Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, there is a constant theme present: social class. Fitzgerald makes a connection between the theme of social class, and the settings in the novel for example The Valley of Ashes which is described as a “desolate area of land” (p.21) and a “solemn dumping ground” (p.21) which is where the poor people live. The Valley of Ashes is situated between West Egg and New York, West Egg being the place where the aspiring classes are situated, which is the “less fashionable of the two” (p.8), this is where Gatsby lives. West Egg is the place of ‘new money’, Fitzgerald shows this by the idea of the main character Jay Gatsby, rumoured to be selling illegal alcohol (prohibition) which means he is quickly making vast amounts of money.” Who is this Gatsby anyhow? Some big bootlegger?”(p.86) Gatsby shows off the amount of wealth he has by his fabulous parties and oversized mansion. “There was music from my neighbour's house through those summer nights. In his enchanted gardens, men and girls came and went like moths, among the whispering and the champagne and the stars.”(p.33) Fitzgerald uses the word ‘enchanted’ to paint a visual picture of what the house and the scene looks like, a magical and enchanted castle, with elegant furniture. This is in comparison to East Egg where Tom and Daisy Buchanan live, in a house where “The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside” (p.10). East Egg being the place of ‘old money’ which is made from the inheritance of their past generations, the people who live it East Egg are mainly well educated, historically wealthy and live quite elegantly, but they are also quite ‘snobbish’. Gatsby’s background does not fit into the social standards of East Egg...
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates an artificial world where money is the object of everyone's desire. The characters, the setting, and the plot are very deeply submerged in a Capitalism that ends up destroying many of them. Fitzgerald's criticism of Capitalism can be seen as a move to subtly promote Socialism, an ideology in which value is placed on the inherent value of an object rather than its market value. In a late collection of notes, Fitzgerald himself proclaims that he is "essentially Marxist." [i] Marxism is a specific branch of Socialist theory. Fitzgerald makes Gatsby a novel that is not inherently Marxist or even Socialist, but one that is imbued with Marxist theory. He does this by denouncing nonhumanitarianism, reification, and market value. Fitzgerald implies that the Capitalist system does not work because at the end of the novel, all of the characters that represent typical American Capitalism end up either dead or completely unhappy. Fitzgerald's criticisms work to warn 1920's Americans of their behavior and how destructive it can be.
In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald explores the idea of the American Dream as well as the portrayal of social classes. Fitzgerald carefully sets up his novel into distinct social groups but, in the end, each group has its own problems to contend with, leaving a powerful reminder of what a precarious place the world really is. By creating two distinct social classes ‘old money’ and ‘new money’, Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the elitism underlying and moral corruption society. The idea of the American dream is the ideal that opportunity is available to any American, allowing their highest aspirations and goals to be achieved. In the case of The Great Gatsby it centres on the attainment of wealth and status to reach certain positions in life,
They do not feel guilty for their reckless behaviour and they believe money gives them to act this way. This emphasises Tom and Daisy never faced there consequences of their own actions. According to Mr. Carraway, "they smashed up things and creatures" this includes Gatsby and Myrtle(). When Daisy met Gatsby he was a no one and many years past and he became a rich man. She only went back to him because she saw all the money he had and he could take care of her now. When Gatsby passes away Daisy does not attend his funeral or even send flowers. She leaves town with Tom. When Myrtle passes away Tom does not seem to care, instead he finds a way of getting rid of Gatsby. Tom never cared about Myrtle and only used her for his own sexual pleasure. The Buchanan couple "[retreats] back their money" and moves on with their lives(). They have a broken relationship with people and only care about themselves. They let "other people clean up the mess they had made"() They did not care who got affected by what they did as long as they had ease to their life. They made others pay for the mistakes they made. Daisy made Gatsby pay for the death of Myrtle and Tom made Gatsby pay for a mistake he had made, which was having a affair with Myrtle. The Buchanan couple do not ask forgiveness and ignore their
The "American Dream" supposedly allows everyone to climb the "social/economic ladder," if they wish to do so. Anyone that works hard is supposed to be able to move to a higher class. However, society often prevents social mobility. Social classes dictate who moves to a higher class and who does not. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this issue was especially prevalent. The rigidity of classes was often an underlying theme in many novels during this time period. For example, The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby both feature the exclusive nature of social classes as a motif. In both The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby, the rigidity of social classes and the desire for social mobility leads to the downfall of several
The Great Gatsby takes place during the Roaring Twenties, a time of great wealth and prosperity for many Americans. During this time period, the upper class develops distinct differences created from their past and how they attained their wealth. Although they remain one class, they act as if they’re too good for one another or as if another class should be created for those who inherited their money instead of worked hard to gain their wealth. Throughout this novel, Fitzgerald illustrates the differences that arise in the upper class, specifically, the shallowness of the families with inherited wealth.