Marxist Approach to 'the Great Gatsby'

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Using a Marxist approach how does Fitzgerald convey the differences in social class in the novel ‘The Great Gatsby?’ The Marxist approach was established through the philosophy of Karl Marx, his idea being that the proletariat are exploited and domineered by the bourgeoisie –creating an illusion of false class consciousness; whereby the individual fails to recognise oppression and unintentionally conforms to the views and ideology of the bourgeoisie. In the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ there is a clear differentiation between social classes, which is dramatized through the use of setting. The novel holds two very contrasting settings in the form of the ‘Valley of Ashes’ (home to working class couple George and Myrtle Wilson) and ‘East/West Egg’ (home to the Buchanans, Nick, and Gatsby himself.) In the novel the ‘Valley of Ashes’ serves as a grotesque symbol, as it represents the harsh reality of life for the working class. This is exemplified through the quote: ‘The road and railway shrink away from their fantastic farm, where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills, and grotesque gardens.’ Fitzgerald’s description implies the failure of the American Dream, a prominent ideological mind set throughout 1920’s America that anybody can become somebody if they have the hope and will to succeed. By describing the way ‘ashes grow like wheat’ suggests that death and failure manifest in the ‘Valley of Ashes,’ the way in which wheat should grow and provide life. This stark juxtaposition between ‘wheat’ and ‘ashes’ indirectly reinforces the Marxist idea of class of origin = class of destination (the inability to move social class) thus reiterating the failure and meaningless sentiment to the American Dream. Another interpretation of the quote may find the repetition of the word ‘and’ (‘into the ridges and hills and grotesque gardens) further supports the Marxist idea of
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