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Ciara Brown
Mrs. Jobe
Marxist Essay
March 9, 2015
Marxist Essay over The Great Gatsby
The novel, The Great Gatsby, has a lot of recurring themes about economic class, and
how it relates to social status. Class differences are represented in this work, and that is the main
focus of this novel as a whole. Every character belongs to a certain social and economic class,
and they act the way they do because of this class. This novel also shows what happens to
characters who try to move classes, and also how money is corrupt.

Class differences are represented in The Great Gatsby by location. There are three
distinct classes represented in this novel. They are old money, new money, and the not
wealthy. Each of these classes live in certain locations based on their class. For instance, old
money resides in East Egg, new money lives in West Egg, and the not wealthy live in the
Valley of Ashes. When characters change location, they also try to change their class. One
prominent example of this is when Tom and Nick go to meet up with Myrtle in New York City.
They all go up there, and theyre walking in the city when Myrtle exclaims, I want to get one of
those dogs, she said earnestly. I want to get one for the apartment. Theyre nice to havea
dog. (Fitzgerald 30). So from this, we have Myrtle, a very poor woman from the valley of ashes,
but once she goes to New York, she completely becomes someone else. She recognizes the class
differences, and she tries to make the difference smaller, and she ultimately tries to become old
money. She knows that she isnt, however, but she still tries to be Daisy. This leads to Tom
hitting Myrtle, and putting her back in her place, so to speak. In this novel, the characters are

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very aware of the economic and social forces that affect their lives.Tom and Daisy know that
they can always get their way because they are old money. They can put on this front, but they
are actually very manipulative. This doesnt show as heavily, because they cannot be seen as that.
They have a reputation to uphold, and they cant damage it. You can see just how manipulative
they are when they get Gatsby to take the blame for killing Myrtle. In the book, it says, Daisy
and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken
between them and two bottles of ale. He was talking intently across the table at her and in his
earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own. Once in a while she looked up at him
and nodded in agreement. They werent happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or
the aleand yet they werent unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy
about the picture and anybody would have said that they were conspiring together. (Fitzgerald
155) Just from this little excerpt, you can see that Tom and Daisy have all the power. They make
the choices, but they only make choices based on what is convenient for them. They are
beneficial to each other, and even though they are not happy together, they need each other so
they can keep getting what they want out of life, and so they can walk away clean every single
time.

Economic conditions determine the characters lives and also how they act. Old money,
for example, acts classy, and fashionable, but they also have power over people. When Nick is
describing the East Eggers, he says, Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable
East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I
drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans. (Fitzgerald 8). At the beginning of the
novel, Nick establishes that Tom and Daisy live in East Egg. This puts forth the assumption that
this will have a big impact on how they act, and how they treat others. As Nick has dinner with

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them, he discerns the power that they hold. In this story, we learn that Tom and Daisy both have
power. Tom has power of Myrtle, and Daisy has power over Gatsby. Toms power of Myrtle is
established when theyre in New York with Nick. Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan
and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing in impassioned voices whether Mrs. Wilson had
any right to mention Daisys name. Daisy! Daisy! Daisy! shouted Mrs. Wilson. Ill say it
whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her
nose with his open hand (Fitzgerald 41). This example from the story, shows how economic
conditions determine not only Toms actions, but also Myrtles. Tom is exerting his power over
Myrtle and he is basically showing that Myrtle has no right to talk about Daisy or try to act like
her, because she has no money. On the flip side, because Myrtle has no money, she is acting far
more superior than she actually is. She wants to be Daisy, and she wants to have money, so she is
acting in whatever way is necessary. But, as we learn from the story, you cant become old
money, and you cant act like old money if you arent. Daisy also has a power over Gatsby. Even
though they are both wealthy, Daisy is old money, and Gatsby is new. This causes an economic
difference all in its own. When Daisy runs Myrtle over, she doesnt take the blame. After all, old
money is classy, and they would never do that. So Gatsby takes the fall for this crime. Was
Daisy driving? Yes, he said after a moment, but of course Ill say I was. (Fitzgerald 154).
With Gatsby taking the blame for Daisy, she is able to walk away clean. Gatsby, however, cant
and ends up dealing with the consequences of getting shot by George Wilson.

In this work, The Great Gatsby, there are ideological views that are explicit and implicit. The
implicit view is that the American Dream is corrupt. During the 1920s, people began to live on
credit. Organized crime was established, people began to live beyond their means, flappers came
out, the Roaring 20s happened, and America began to flourish. This appeared to be a prosperous

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time for all of America. This American Dream was established, but Fitzgerald saw it as
corrupt. He saw money as corrupt, in general. This was implied in the story. The explicit view is
essentially that you cant change your class, no matter what. The people who try to act like
someone theyre not, Gatsby and Myrtle, ultimately die. Myrtle isnt as successful as Gatsby in
trying to create this alternate persona. With the help of Dan Cody, Gatsby was able to gain wealth
and status. Even though Gatsby was more successful than Myrtle, they both still died. They died
because they were trying to be someone they werent. This work affirms the social order that it
describes. The people at the top of the social ladder, Tom and Daisy, have more power than those
at the bottom, George and Myrtle. It also affirms how corrupt money is, and also how you cant
change your social class and status.
In conclusion, the main theme in this book is that money is corrupt. Fitzgerald affirms
this by talking about how the characters act with money, and what happens when they have
money. He also gives examples with how class and economic differences are represented in The
Great Gatsby, and how the characters deal with this differences. Overall, the social order is
affirmed throughout the story.