Desire and The Great Gatsby
Reading The Great Gatsby through the lens of Marx and Eagleton
Welcome! On this site, you will find analysis of The Great Gatsby using ideas from Karl Marx and Terry Eagleton. For Karl Marx, we will focus on commodification of objects and people. With Eagleton, we will use the idea of affective ideology to explain how the ideology of love relates to the novel. We hope this may be useful to future readers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel! -EB&TC
By Tanner Cooper
Why to read with Marx in mind
It is important to study Marx in talking about The Great Gatsby because of the concerns with social class that are seen throughout the novel and the ways in which power and wealth are attained and retained by the characters. Marx believed that the class system and the large gap between the rich and poor would be bridged by the removal of capitalism, and returning the means of production to the lower and middle class people. Marxism in literature relates to class differences; economic and otherwise, as well as the implications and complications of the capitalist system. It attempts to reveal the ways in which our socioeconomic system is the ultimate source of our experience. The novel doesn’t celebrate the vibrant capitalist culture it portrays, but reveals the darker side of society at the time. It highlights how the pursuit of money decays personal values, as happened with Gatsby, when he lost everything because of his life’s goal to reach the top of the ‘heap’. The richest characters, like Tom and Daisy, as well as the people who attend Gatsby’s parties are really the most unpleasant and shallow ones, making a mockery of the ‘American Dream’ which was the height of American ambition in the ‘Roaring 20’s ("The Great Gatsby Through a Marxist Literary Criticism Lens.").
By Erika Brown
Why to read with Eagleton in mind
In most classic novels, there is commentary on the ideologies of the time. Sometimes a book simply points out that they are there. In books like The Great Gatsby, the ideologies of the time are shown in multiple lights. The ideology of love, in particular, is critiqued and, in most of the book's relationships, shown to be quite shallow.
Book Citations
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scibner, 1925.
Gallo, Rose Adrienne. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1978.
Eagleton, Terry. Ideology. Verso, 1991.
Marx, K., Engels, F., & Tucker, R. C. (1972). The Marx-Engels reader. New York: Norton.
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Online Article Citations
Adams, Tim. "The Armchair Revolutionary." The Guardian, Guardian News and Media Limited. 16 December 2007. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/dec/16/martinamis Accessed 25 April 2017.
Greentea2177. "The Great Gatsby Through a Marxist Literary Criticism Lens." WordPress.com. https://greentea2177.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/the-great-gatsby-through-a-marxist-literary-criticism-lens/ Accessed 26 April 2017.
McLellan, David T. and Lewis S. Feuer. "Karl Marx." Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Karl-Marx Accessed 26 April 2017.
"Professor Terry Eagleton." English and Creative Writing. Lancaster U. http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/english-and-creative-writing/about-us/people/terry-eagleton Accessed 25 April 2017.
Image Citations
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