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Mateus Pianowski
Mr. Owain Phillips
10 B English
28 May 2014
The Corrupt Gatsby
Jay Gatsby is not a knight in shining armor. The overly glorified protagonist, from the
classic The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, can be analysed as a Marxist metaphor who is
corrupted by the ideals established by capitalism. In the novel, the social inequality and the
ambition generated by capitalist ideals are responsible for the destruction of Gatsbys human
values.
Marxist criticism expresses the view that capitalism replaces human values, such as
companionship and respect for the sole desire of money and power (Lois Tyson 57). According
to Karl Marx, co-author of the Communist Manifesto, this is generated by the attempt of
benefiting only the self, using any methods to acquire money, being them illegal or methods that
harm the competition (Karl Marx 52). According to Marx, the social segregation present between
the bourgeoisie, wealthy upper class, and the proletariat, poor working force, is responsible for
spreading ambition towards material needs in the latter. This ambition is centered into reaching
the same monetary standards as the wealthiest class by the use of immoral actions, which then
leads to the corruption of the proletariat.
A similar division is portrayed in the novel by the residents of East and West Egg. The
citizens of East egg are members of the upper class that received their fortune from inheritance,
while the West Egg people are workers from poor backgrounds who worked for their money
(Marxist Interpretations). Gatsby is a member of West Egg as he came from a poor family of
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farmers and his will to rise in the capitalist society is shown to have awakened in his youth, when
he developed his own schedule in order to improve (Scott Fitzgerald 185). His ambitions quickly
arose, when he became seventeen years old as he proclaimed himself the son of god, thus
believing he was fated for glory and reaching the highest social class (Fitzgerald 105). Gatsbys
vision is positioned by the capitalist division of society, portraying that the only path in which a
proletariat could achieve pleasure was to ascend to the highest class (Karl Marx 25). However,
his dreams were soon shattered as he was forced to work as a janitor in order to pay for his
Oxford studies, which led him to leave since it countered his belief of self-greatness (F. Scott
Fitzgerald 106). This can be seen as the marxist idea of the struggle of the working class as
Gatsby that, disillusioned by his own ambition, was not successful into joining the ranks of the
bourgeoisie (Karl Marx 76).
Even though Gatsby failed to rise socially by following the workers path, his ambition
persisted as he started the illegal method of bootlegging to benefit himself (F. Scott Fitzgerald
114). Since Gatsby could not cope with being a janitor, he chose a method in which he would
quickly be recognized, gain power and money. By acquiring these three factors, Gatsby could
finally attempt to blend into the lifestyle and social level of East egg, which can be interpreted by
his parties. In these events, anyone could participate, meaning that the residents of both eggs
would make contact (Fitzgerald 49). Also, Gatsby would never reveal himself while attending to
his parties, basically no one knew who he was and what he had done, which could ease his social
rise. Instead, Gatsby would strive to create a perfect image of himself so the bourgeoisie would
accept him.
The omission of his past is the first sign of the corruption of the protagonists moral
values. This can be proved as he erased almost all knowledge that could connect him to his poor
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parents and to the stratum in which he originated. This can be interpreted as dehumanization as
Gatsby denies his own family in order to maintain appearances. Another moment reporting
immoral actions is Gatsbys business in the crime world. Instead of struggling through the path
as a worker, he chooses to bootleg in order to quickly acquire selfish needs such as money and a
fake recognition. The most significant piece of information that proves his corruption is how it
affected his vision of Daisy Buchanan, the love of his life. Daisy is the wife of Tom Buchanan
and she was also in love with Gatsby five years before the events of the main plot . Although
they were in love, Gatsby had to leave to go to the war, while Daisy waited until he could come
back, but he never did as he believed that he was not rich enough to afford their lives together
(25). This exemplifies that even though Gatsby loved Daisy, he believed he could only become
complete if he had first obtained the greatness from his dreams at the age of seventeen. Due to
this decision, Daisy moved on and married Tom Buchanan, resident of East egg. After five years,
Gatsby and Daisy meet again as lovers, but it was different because to him it seemed as her
voice was full of money (128). This is quote clearly displays how Daisy is objectified by
Gatsby as she lost her values a as human and turned into another object that he perceived
necessary to obtain, which is the same view he had for wealth (Suzanne Ross). Thus affirming
how capitalism and its new social ideals diminished the protagonists belief in morality.
It is possible to confirm the corruption of human values derived from capitalism by
analyzing how the division between the bourgeoisie and proletariat influenced Gatsby into the
exchange of his morality for wealth. Even though that is true, the focus should not be only on
Gatsby, a single member of the working force, but on how to avoid such mischief to impact all
workers and the values that should keep society united.


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Works Cited
"Daisy & The Great Gatsby: Was It Truly Love?" The Raven Foundation RSS. Web. 27 May
2014. <http://www.ravenfoundation.org/blogs/politics-pop-culture/rethinking-the-great-
gatsby/>.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Margaret Tarner. The Great Gastby. Oxford: Heinemann, 1992.
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Print.
Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-friendly Guide. New York: Garland Pub.,
1999. Print.
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and E. J. Hobsbawm. The Communist Manifesto: A Modern
Edition. London: Verso, 1998. Print.
"Crossref-it.info - AS/A2 English Literature Study Guides - Texts in Context."Marxist
Interpretations of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby from Crossref-it.info. N.p., n.d.
Web. 08 June 2014.