The Great Gatsby Essay Example for Free

The Great Gatsby EssayWhile reading the lineic invention The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the reader sewer clearly see how this story can be viewed through the Marxist Lens. Through tales of trial and desperation, the story reveals what can happen when money and social class come into play. The author clearly portrays how the American dream can ca engage people to lose sight of the important things in life, and how people al elbow rooms necessitate to make it to the top, no matter who they have to step on during the way up. Living in post-war America, the characters visions are quickly clouded by avaritia and their egocentric desires, and tragedy strikes when lust and passion mix with sinful desires. Marxist literary criticism is the critical lens used to differentiate between social classes in literature. The Marxist lens pays close to attention to the literary works forms, styles and meanings, in a way that the reader can comprehend them and curb them to a partic ular history. In this specific situation, The Great Gatsby effectively displays the difference between social classes, and how these people act as individuals, and as a self-coloured social group.On the very low gear page of the book, there is a quote from the narrators father that says Whenever you feel wish criticizing anyone, just take to be that all the people in this world havent had the advantages that youve had. This quote charming much sums up the whole Marxist theory. Though people whitethorn belong to various different social classes, every single someone on this planet has had different experiences and opportunities, and everyone is different in their own way. One of the first characters the reader is introduced to is Tom Buchanan.Tom is a sturdy, straw-haired universe of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining, arrogant eye had established dominance over his face, and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward yo u could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder joint moved under his thin coat. It was a body sure-footed of enormous leveragea cruel body. (Pg. 7) By the sounds of things, it seems like Nick (the narrator) doesnt oddly like Tom, but Nick is also fascinated with him.Tom is a fascinating kind of guy. Like Daisy, hes got something hat everyone else wants hes got power. Toms family is replete. Not just well-off like Nicks family, and not inexplicably rich like Gatsby, but noticeably moneyed, with a long family history of money. And he does extravagant, crazy things with it, like bringing a string of polo ponies for Lake Forest. That whitethorn not seem like much, but in todays society, that would be like buying a private jet its a pretty flashy move, and its only ever done to prove that they can do it. In a sense, Tom is just as flashy as Gatsby. Tom, on the other hand, has something you cant buy.You might call it arrogance an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions. So essentially, thanks to the money and family that he came from, Tom was born to live a certain lifestyle, one where he would live a certain way and marry a certain type of woman Toms wife, Daisy, is a beautiful young woman from Louisville, Kentucky. She is Nicks cousin and Gatsbys long lost love. As a young lady in Louisville, Daisy was extremely well known among the military officers and soldiers stationed near her home, including Jay Gatsby.Gatsby lied about his punctuate to Daisy, claiming to be from a wealthy family in rules of order to convince her that he was worthy of her. Eventually, Gatsby won Daisys heart, and they made love before Gatsby left to iron in the war. Daisy promised to wait for Gatsby, but in 1919 she chose to marry Tom Buchanan, a young man from a solid, aristocratic family who could promise her a wealthy lifestyle. afterward(prenominal) this happened, Gatsby was determined to win Daisy ba ck. He made her the priority over everything in his life, and she was his main motivation behind the earning of his spectacular wealth through criminal activity.To Gatsby, Daisy is perfection she has charm, wealth, shes sophisticated and graceful. In reality, Daisy falls short of Gatsbys standards. She is beautiful and charming, but also shallow and bored. Nick profiles her as a careless person who messes things up and then hides behind her money. Daisy proves her real ways when she chooses Tom over Gatsby in Chapter 7, then allows Gatsby to take the blame for killing myrtle Wilson even though she herself was driving the car. Finally, rather than attend Gatsbys funeral, Daisy and Tom move away, leaving no forwarding address.Daisy is in love with money, and lives a very materialistic lifestyle. She is capable of affection, but not of sustained loyalty or care. All-in-all, Daisy fights the differing values of the aristocratic East Egg. The infamous and great Jay Gatsby is the main ch aracter of The Great Gatsby. He is a young man, about thirty years old, who came from a poor childhood in rural North Dakota, and eventually overcame his setbacks to become incredibly wealthy. However, he achieved this staggering feat by participating in organized crime, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities.Even before his adult years, Gatsby despised poverty and dreamt of wealth and living the upper-class lifestyle. He dropped out of St. Olafs College after only two weeks because he couldnt stand the janitorial job he was doing in order to pay for his tuition. Though Gatsby has always wanted to be rich, his main motivation in acquiring his fortune was his love for Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy back after she married Tom, and his way of doing this was making millions of dollars, purchasing a huge mansion on West Egg, and throwing dazzling parties every week.Fitzgerald withholds most of this information until later on in the novel. The author does this to reinforce the theatrical quality of Gatsbys life, which is an important part of his personality. Gatsby has literally created his own character, even changing his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby to represent his reinvention of himself. As the reader gets further in the novel, Fitzgerald reveals Gatsbys self-image. Gatsby proves himself to be an innocent, hopeful young man who makes everything dependent on his dreams, not knowing that his dreams are far-fetched and unrealistic.Myrtle Wilson is the character who ties the whole story together in The Great Gatsby. Every character in the novel is connected to her in a significant way. She is on the Q.T. with Tom who is with Daisy who is Myrtles partner in crime and is also secretly with Gatsby. But out of all these characters, Myrtle is the most important. She is the insecure one, the steamy one and the fake one. Myrtle is always looking for affection. Her insecurity is clear through the decisions that she makes. Her husband, George Wilson, isnt very useful for anything so she turns to Tom for attention.Although Tom is married, he is wealthy and enjoys the company of other women. Myrtle takes advantage of this and keeps Tom under her control. When she leaves the New York train station, she sees an old man selling dogs and she immediately asks him for a police dog. The man tells her that he only has an Airedale and that the coat is water-proof, but she still wants to purchase it. She disregards her reasons for wanting the police dog and only something to cuddle with. Her quick decision-making and easily altered cogitate reflects her insecurity and how she lives her daily life.On another day, Myrtle mistakes Jordan Baker for Toms wife. The more she sees Mrs. Baker the more jealous she becomes. Jordan makes Myrtle realize that there are legion(predicate) women who are prettier than her. As a result, Myrtle believes there is someone else other than Daisy that she has to compet e with in order to continue controlling Tom. Myrtle doesnt use logic to make decisions, due to her opinion being so easily changed on every matter. When she marries Wilson, she knows that she is better than him, but she marries him anyway.Marrying Wilson is a mistake since he is otiose to provide for her expensive needs/desires that only Tom can afford. She always regrets marrying Wilson so she runs off with Tom whenever she can. Although marrying Wilson is a serious mistake, she isnt able to pick out from this. One night when she is on her way to her sisters, she meets a handsome stranger and falls in love with him at first sight. The stranger is Tom and she only loves him because of his wealth and how far up he is on societys ladder. Myrtles behavior reflects her decision making abilities and how she is vulnerable to manipulation.Although Tom is brutal and violent, his wealth keeps her content. George authentically gets the short end of the stick in this novel. Considering hes one of the few characters with redeemable values, he doesnt even deserve it. From what the reader can tell, Wilson is hard-working and not cheating on his spouse. Hes in a marriage with a woman who doesnt love or respect him, who walks all over him like a staircase and all the eon he just does what she says Oh, sure, agreed Wilson hurriedly (Pg. 26) After Myrtles death, Wilson is in serious emotional pain.He cries out Oh, my God over and over for one of deuce-ace reasons because his wife is dead, because he just found out that she was having an affair, or because he feels guilty for making her run out into the street. The other thing that the reader should invoice about Wilson is that hes the only character who talks about God. He tells Myrtle that she cant fool God, that God sees everything (Pg. 160). By him saying this, the reader is reminded that unlike the rich careless classes, the lower classes cant just run away and hide in their money they need more to believe in.Wilson a nd the social class that he is a part of actually have to take responsibility for their actions, and cant rely on money to get them out of every situation. In conclusion, it is evident to the reader that living in America after the war, times are rough, and the characters visions are quickly clouded by greed and their egocentric desires, and tragedy strikes when lust and passion collide with sinful desires. Whether theyre killed or affected by the death of a loved one, everyone in this novel is affected by someone elses selfish actions by what happens when someone acts with disregard to everyone elses feelings.