Examples Of Marxism In The Great Gatsby

The lower class citizens throughout the entirety of the world are hardworking and do what they can to survive; the same cannot be said for the wealthier classes. While reading The Great Gatsby, this type of social class inequality is found everywhere throughout the text, and is seen in most of the main characters, especially when looking through the perspective of a Marxist. From a Marxist lens, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals the insignificance of the proletariat through his unnamed servant-class characters in The Great Gatsby.

First, The Great Gatsby dehumanizes the servants by not even properly giving them an acknowledging glance and name. For example, the text begins by stating, “It was no use. Nobody came” (9.8), but then later says, “...and a little four or five servants and the postman from West Egg in Gatsby’s station wagon, all wet too the skin” (9.8). Nick Carraway and Henry Gatz came to the funeral, and Nick came to the conclusion that no else had attended. However, the lower class servants (the Proletariat), who knew and worked with Gatsby longer than Nick had gone, were failed to be recognized as actual people. Another example of lower class being presented as inferior was at the beginning of the book, it states, “...I had forgotten to tell my Finn to come back, so I drove into West Egg Village to search for her

Scott Fitzgerald portrays the nosy superiority of the bourgeoisie class. For example, the text states, “...she whispered enthusiastically. “It’s about the butler’s nose. Do you want to hear about the butler’s nose?” (1.8). Daisy is upper class and begins to disrespectfully chat about the butler’s life as if it was her own. She then continues, “...he wasn’t always a butler; he used to be the silver polisher [...] He had to polish it from morning till night, until finally it began to affect his nose” (1.8). The butler remains unnamed throughout the story, however, his life is seemingly unimportant and is the Buchanan’s ‘family