The Great Gatsby Marxist Analysis

Marxist View of The Great Gatsby
Marxism is the theory developed on the ideas of the philosopher Karl Marx. It’s a system of economic, social, and political philosophy based on the ideas that view social change in terms of economic factors. Marxism is what is known as a conflict theory because it states that society is in conflict with each other. This theory claims that this conflict is among the wealthy and the poor. But how can Marxism be applied to the novel of “The Great Gatsby”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald?
Marxism can be applied to “The Great Gatsby” because it claims that there is a conflict between the different social classes in society. Fitzgerald’s book, “The Great Gatsby” is a depiction of the social and economic excesses of
Those that lived in East Egg were mainly people with inherited riches, and those who have always had money for generations. The Buchanans were sophisticated and lived in substantial homes. Tom and Daisy represent the corruption and materialism of the East. Those that lived in West Egg were more of the newly rich people who were starting to acquire money. Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway were unsophisticated and innocent. Gatsby lived in an extravagant mansion, while Nick lived in a small cottage. Those that lived in the Valley of Ashes were people who were hopeless and impoverished. George and Myrtle Wilson lived above the automobile repair shop, which was Mr. Wilson’s profession.
“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald could be interpreted as being all based around money. I realized that the characters were all stereotypes from the three different classes. Knowing the author’s own social class was helpful in understanding his view of society. After having applied the Marxist theory to the text of the novel I was able to understand how the different social classes affected everything so profoundly. The text from the novel worked together to show Marxism and how everything relates back to wealth and