What Is Marxism In The Great Gatsby

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Recommended: Marxist literary criticism of the great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby With his 1920’s classic, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald dazzles readers with the illusive story of Jay Gatsby. Many consider the novel as one of the greatest American piece of literature ever because it demonstrates the hardship that many people go through in order to achieve a lavish lifestyle that many characters in the novel achieve. The Great Gatsby can be viewed as a novel with many different literary theories, but only some are significant and so therefore it is sensible to compare and rank, Marxism, Feminism, Archetypal theory, and Deconstruction with their respective critics. In the first chapter, Nick Carraway narrates the visual representation of West Egg and describes the area as the ‘less fashionable’ area …show more content…

The choices that Daisy faces in the last few chapters are what really decide the fate of the novel. When Jay and Tom face off, Daisy is the central figure of focus. Being males, both Tom and Jay aggressively fight over who should live with Daisy. Daisy finally breaks and says, ‘Please, Tom! I can’t stand this anymore.’ (Fitzgerald 135). Daisy loses her temper because she can not decide on what to do. During the roaring twenties, women start to get more and more privileges that men already have, this includes the choice of leaving your current husband. Boykin uses the feminist theory by saying, ‘Daisy’s confusion over her relationships with the two principal men in her life reflects the gender confusion that was rampant during Fitzgerald’s era’ (Boykin 22). This example by Boykin directly explains the importance of women in the novel. If in the end, Daisy choses Jay over Tom, the outcome of the story would be completely different, Jay would not have died because Daisy would have never left the hotel in haste, therefore preventing Myrtle’s death. The importance of he feminist theory shown most predominant in the novel because of the ideas that women

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