None of the romantic relationships in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald were representative of true romance or love -- they were representative of capitalism. Through his portrayal of various relationships, Fitzgerald revealed how he felt the hyper-capitalistic atmosphere of cities in the 1920s had affected human connection.
The obsessive and emotionally abusive relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan that masqueraded as love was born from Gatsby 's desire to prove his worth to society. Growing up poor, Gatsby was looked down upon by the upper class. It was this class divide that initially kept him and Daisy from being together five years prior to the story. Once Gatsby had come into his fortune after the war, he decided …show more content…
He is later killed by Wilson, a symbol of the lower class. Not only does Gatsby not achieve the goal that would have signified his acceptance into the upper class, he is rejected by that upper class and brought down by the lower class which he was once a part of. Gatsby 's failure suggests that quests for wealth and status never truly allow the seeker to rise from the bottom to the top and ultimately end in disaster. This idea was proven to be true only a few years after the publication of The Great Gatsby when the economy crumbled and the country sank into the Great Depression.
The abundance of unhappy relationships in the Great Gatsby raises the question of why so many people ended up involved in them. These people got married for the same reason a person would buy obviously expensive products --a concept Thorstein Veblen named "conspicuous consumption." The purpose of conspicuous consumption is to publicly demonstrate one 's wealth. While it is generally done through luxury goods, in “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald reveals that relationships also have the potential to be a …show more content…
In the 1920s, sexism was far more prevalent than it is now, and gender roles were very rigid. Men were in a position of power over women. Tom 's affair was not about love, but about power. Having an affair as a wealthy man only showed that he was powerful and respected enough to have a mistress without repercussions. Tom’s affair with Myrtle also symbolized the struggle between the upper and lower classes, particularly the exploitation of the poor by the rich. In this situation, Tom is having affair with the wife of a poor man, showing that he has more power than Myrtle 's husband and can take whatever he wants from Mr. Wilson. During the time period in which Fitzgerald lived and the story took place, the economy was in the early stages of a shift from pure laissez-faire economics to an economy where the government had more involvement. Acts such as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 had begun to regulate business more, with the intent of putting a stop to the exploitation of the lower class by the upper class through monopolies, trusts, et cetera, which were believed to create an unfair business environment. While efforts were made to stop these things, in the 1920s, there was still a noticeable amount of this exploitation occurring. While the effects of the upper class’ sense of superiority and its exploitation of the lower
The obsessive and emotionally abusive relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan that masqueraded as love was born from Gatsby 's desire to prove his worth to society. Growing up poor, Gatsby was looked down upon by the upper class. It was this class divide that initially kept him and Daisy from being together five years prior to the story. Once Gatsby had come into his fortune after the war, he decided …show more content…
He is later killed by Wilson, a symbol of the lower class. Not only does Gatsby not achieve the goal that would have signified his acceptance into the upper class, he is rejected by that upper class and brought down by the lower class which he was once a part of. Gatsby 's failure suggests that quests for wealth and status never truly allow the seeker to rise from the bottom to the top and ultimately end in disaster. This idea was proven to be true only a few years after the publication of The Great Gatsby when the economy crumbled and the country sank into the Great Depression.
The abundance of unhappy relationships in the Great Gatsby raises the question of why so many people ended up involved in them. These people got married for the same reason a person would buy obviously expensive products --a concept Thorstein Veblen named "conspicuous consumption." The purpose of conspicuous consumption is to publicly demonstrate one 's wealth. While it is generally done through luxury goods, in “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald reveals that relationships also have the potential to be a …show more content…
In the 1920s, sexism was far more prevalent than it is now, and gender roles were very rigid. Men were in a position of power over women. Tom 's affair was not about love, but about power. Having an affair as a wealthy man only showed that he was powerful and respected enough to have a mistress without repercussions. Tom’s affair with Myrtle also symbolized the struggle between the upper and lower classes, particularly the exploitation of the poor by the rich. In this situation, Tom is having affair with the wife of a poor man, showing that he has more power than Myrtle 's husband and can take whatever he wants from Mr. Wilson. During the time period in which Fitzgerald lived and the story took place, the economy was in the early stages of a shift from pure laissez-faire economics to an economy where the government had more involvement. Acts such as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 had begun to regulate business more, with the intent of putting a stop to the exploitation of the lower class by the upper class through monopolies, trusts, et cetera, which were believed to create an unfair business environment. While efforts were made to stop these things, in the 1920s, there was still a noticeable amount of this exploitation occurring. While the effects of the upper class’ sense of superiority and its exploitation of the lower