Examples Of Marxism In The Great Gatsby

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Recommended: Marxism theory and the great gatsby

Dillon Wilbert
Mrs. Rehm 3B
AP English 11
17 April 2014
The Great Gatsby:
Karl Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto, theorized that people think and behave based on economic factors. Marx contemplated that people with large amounts of wealth and in the upper social class influenced and controlled those of the lower classes. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, these Marxist issues are very prevalent, as the book is focused on this greed and hierarchy of the upper class. Even though Fitzgerald may not have meant for it to be, The Great Gatsby is a commentary and warning of excess and the dangerous influence of the upper class.
Jay Gatsby is living the American Dream. Gatsby started from nothing, and he made it up to the upper class. As stated by Nick Caraway, “Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry” (93). But did Jay Gatsby come across his wealth ethically? As Gatsby’s friend and business associate, the man with the human tooth cuff links, Meyer Wolfshiem is met by Nick Caraway in an underground speakeasy in New...

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