Great Gatsby And Death Of A Salesman English Literature Essay

gigantic Gatsby And Death Of A Salesman English lit EssayMarxism is an ideology that was theo advanced by Karl Marx that is based on the social and sparing processes of contour formation in a capitalist society. According to Marx there atomic number 18 ii classes namely the bourgeoisie and labor movement. The bourgeoisie or persuasion class take and control the way of life of production. They monopolise the political precedent and put laws in place in order to protect and nevertheless their interests. In this way the beliefs and values will reflect and legitimate their rule. Whereas, the proletariat or running(a) class are dispossessed from making their own livelihood, but are forced to sell their labour for survival. If the sovereign classs advocate is accepted as legitimate by the work class, this is known as false consciousness (Longurst, Smith, Bagnall, Crawford Ogborn, 2008). This ideology became the basis of analysing literature, known as red criticism. Marxi st critics approach to literature is based on sociological influences, which means that the texts are the result of whichever historical, economic as well as heathen circumstances they were created in. Texts from whichever epoch reveal the dominate classs ideology, thus making them subjective. (Potter, 2010)The Great Gatsby is a in the raw(a) scripted by Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. The novel chargees on the lives of the dominant class of a horse opera capitalistic society and how they are shaped by this lifestyle. On the new(prenominal) hand, Death of a Salesman was written by Arthur Miller in 1949. The novel focuses on the life of a family of proletariats and how they are impacted by the bourgeoisies in society.The Great Gatsby does not focus on both economic classes. Instead it focuses on different groups of the dominant class, namely old property and the nouveau riche and as a result this novel reflects the dominant ideology. Although the working class is mentioned, they are ignored for the most part. hoar silver is represented by East Egg, westmost Egg represents the nouveau riche and the working class is represented by the Valley of Ashes.The protagonist, Jay Gatsby, is part of the nouveau riche who lives in West Egg. Jay Gatsby moves from being the son of shiftless and unsuccessful farm bulk (1994 p.105) to comely the owner of a huge West Egg mansion with a marble swimming pool and over forty acres of lawn and tend (1994 p.11), this shows the possibilities offered by the American dream. Gatsby earns his money through illegal means, which places him in the new money category, and as a result he flaunts by thro net profitg unrestrained parties and buying expensive cars. Another reason Gatsby flaunts is to get the attention and win the affection of Daisy, thus treating her as a commodity (Tyson, 2006). Old money, on the other hand, has had money for generations, so they do not flaunt. Old money, people like Tom and Daisy, look down on the nouvea u riche, because they got rich diligent and, because they are threatening the status quo.myrtle and George Wilson are working class characters but they have aspirations to move to the upper class. George wants to achieve this through his business. Whereas, Myrtle has an affair with Tom in the hopes that he will eventually marrying her. some(prenominal) the Wilsons are commodified by the bourgeoisie and disillusioned by the American dream. Myrtles put to death is a perfect example of how the bourgeoisie do not yearn the consequences of their actions, because they have money, they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness and let other people cull up the mess they made (1994 p.186). One person attends Gatsbys funeral, demonstrating that his attainment of the American dream was only an illusion.Death of a Salesman is to a fault a text that reflects the dominant ideology, but in this case the play is written from the leg of view of the working class. Although the dominant class has an effect on the primary(prenominal) characters they are largely ignored in the play. Willy Loman, the protagonist, is a worn emerge travelling salesman on the point of a breakdown. But Willy still believes in the capitalist values and has passed on the hopes of success onto his son Biff. Disillusioned by the dominant ideology, Willy is blind to its destructiveness and is fixated with his plans for Biff. Biff, however, has no intentions in following the plans his father has round out for him and intends to pursue a different path, one that Miller associates with collective society. His lack of drive to follow conventional success is teaching him, not that he is useless, and but that the business world might not be for him and that he is better off without it. He is trying to perceive himself and severalize his true identity. In the beginning of the play, he was not sure of himself and as a result returned home in an a ttempt to fulfil his fathers dream. Happy, Willy other son, has a good job and would like to go further. He also has uncertainties about his career but has no way to replace it. (Swets Zeitlinger, 1994)The scenery in which Howard, Willys young boss, fires Willy is a perfect example of the logic of the capitalist economic instrument. Willy, in an attempt to avoid failure, appeals to Howards conscience, reminding him the he has been a allegiant and long term worker for the company, but to no avail. Although Howard is Willys friend and neighbour, he is a business man and abides by the law of profit making first, business is business (2000 p.63), which is absolute in the capitalist business world. Willy refuses a job offer by Charley because he feels its charity and would destroy his view of himself as a self-reliant individual. Willy failure and Biff similar dowery makes Willy reject his son. This shows how capitalist value can distort and destroy a meaningful relationship between father and son. (Swets Zeitlinger, 1994)Willy decides to commit suicide in the hopes that his life insurance payment will enable Biff to rise in the world. But, Biff becomes the only one in the play to understand the destructive nature of capitalist values and pities his father, exclaiming I monger bear to look at his face (2000 p.115)Both texts show how in a capitalist society money gives power and those who have money control the power of society. As well as in western capitalist society the upper will inevitably oppress the working class and that the American dream is both an illusion and elusive.This essay has discussed how the two texts differ socioeconomically, using a Marxist criticism approach. Specific file name extension has been made to Marxism and how it relates to Marxist criticism, the context of both texts by focusing on the time periods as well as how the characters lived. This essay has also looked at the socioeconomic context of The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman.