Examples Of Marxism In The Great Gatsby

Most critics agree that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to contain a scathing review of the American Dream – the notion that every American man has the opportunity to rise in class through work of his own merit and effort. A Marxist theorist would most likely point to Gatsby, who is only able to achieve his wealth through crime and who seeks fortune for the social status it implies, as a constant reminder throughout the novel of the failure of Dream ideals; however, this failed character and his demise also encourages new questions. Who is the hero in The Great Gatsby – is there a character who would meet the approval of a Marxist theorist? The answer may be no; however, George Wilson – the dirty, borderline insane mechanic who …show more content…
Capitalism, to Marx, is a stage on the timeline just as the previous stages (such as feudalism) were, and the final and perfected stage will be communism in its true, Marxist form. To reach this final stage, Marx believed that the proletariat – those who work for a wage, such as Wilson in The Great Gatsby – would have to overthrow the bourgeoisie – those who absorb the profits from the proletariat’s employment, such as Jay Gatsby or Tom …show more content…
In Critical Theory Today, Lois Tyson mentions these characteristics of Wilson, as well as his wife, when she writes, “Perhaps The Great Gatsby’s most obvious flaw, from a Marxist perspective, is its unsympathetic rendering of George and Myrtle Wilson, the novel’s representatives of the lower class” (72). Tyson goes on to describe the valley of ashes couple as accurately representing the struggle of those in capitalism, but also as being attributed with such negative traits that the reader is drawn from focus on their struggle and is instead focused on how dislikeable the pair is (73). These negative traits are evident several times throughout Fitzgerald’s novel, such as in Myrtle’s adultery with Buchanan (37) or Wilson’s emotional breakdown at the loss of his wife (123). However, the reader’s opinion of Wilson is could be said to be dirtied most when Wilson actually commits to murdering Gatsby – the point that, from a Marxist perspective, should be his redeeming moment. The first error in Fitzgerald’s writing of the murder timeline is when Wilson turns to God, through the eyes of the optometrist advertisement, and says “God sees everything” (138). One of the purposes of Marxist theory is to demystify, to pull apart ideologies and represent only the truth of the material world –

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