The Great Gatsby Marxist Analysis Essay

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A MARXIST ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT GATSBY Baz Luhrmann has given life to the novel The Great Gatsby written by Scott Fitzgerald through his 2013 film. The author of the original work set this story during post World War I, economic boom of the 1920’s. However, it doesn’t celebrate the vibrant capitalist culture it portrays, but reveals the darker side of society at the time. It highlights how the pursuit of money decays personal values, as happened with Gatsby, when he lost everything because of his life’s goal to reach the top. The richest characters, like Tom and Daisy, as well as the people who attend Gatsby’s parties are really the most unpleasant and shallow ones, making a mockery of the American Dream which was the height of American ambition in the Roaring 20’s. When analysing The Great Gatsby from Marxist perspective, the elements such as capitalism, American Dream perception, the socio-economic class should be considered. …show more content…

The Great Gatsby 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. The plot’s most obvious flaw, from a Marxist perspective, is its unsympathetic rendering of George and Myrtle Wilson, the story’s representatives of the lower class. George and Myrtle try to improve their lot the only way they know how. They are victim of capitalism because the only way to succeed in a capitalist economy is to succeed in a market. Their characterizations are so negative that it is easy to overlook the socioeconomic realities that control their

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