Criticism of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald Essay

Criticism of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates an artificial world where money is the object of everyones desire. The characters, the placeting, and the plot are very deeply submerged in a Capitalism that ends up destroying many an(prenominal) of them. Fitzgeralds criticism of Capitalism can be seen as a move to subtly promote Socialism, an ideology in which value is placed on the built-in value of an object rather than its market value. In a late collection of notes, Fitzgerald himself proclaims that he is essentially Marxist. i Marxism is a specific branch of Socialist theory. Fitzgerald makes Gatsby a novel that is not inherently Marxist or even Socialist, but one that is imbued with Marxist theory. He does this by denouncing nonhumanitarianism, reification, and market value. Fitzgerald implies that the Capitalist system does not hold because at the end of the novel, all of the characters that represent typical A merican Capitalism end up either dead or completely unhappy. Fitzgeralds criticisms work to warn 1920s Americans of their behavior and how destructive it can be. Marxists believe very firmly in humanitarianism they believe that as humans, we should look out for each other and care for each other, because we are all essentially on the same level. All of the characters in Gatsby nullify this idea, because they all use each other. For instance, Gatsby uses Nick to set up a meeting between he and Daisy. The characters also place very little value on individual human beings or on humanity as a whole. Each character is too wrapped up in him/herself that he/she does not take the time to care for others. flesh levels are pr... ...Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York Simon and Schuster, 1996. Lewis, Roger. Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby. New Essays on The Great Gatsby. Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. New York Cambridge University Press, 1985. 41-57. Pos nock, Ross. A New World, Without Being Real Fitzgeralds reappraisal of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby. Critical Essays on Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby. Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston GK Hall and Co., 1984. 201-213. Notes i Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Crack Up. ii Lewis, Roger. Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby. P. 51 iii Posnack, Ross. A New World, Material without Being Real Fitzgeralds Critique of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby. P. 202. iv Ibid., p. 203. v Ibid., p. 206. vi Ibid., p. 208.