ALEKSANDR MOISIU UNIVERSITY, DURRS, ALBANIA

FACULTY OF EDUCATION
FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

TITLE: AN AMERICAN OR AN ALBANIAN DREAM?

(Teaching The Great Gatsby through the Marxist theory)

WORKED BY:
BY
Dorina Murati (Konomi)

Gokaj

ACCEPTED

Dr. Rregjina

Entis Kadiu

Can money buy you everything? Is our life a long and hampered run towards getting rich or
dying trying? Are we losing ourselves in the pursuit of the American Dream that has also
become an Albanian Dream? The reason that we choose to analyze the Great Gatsby from the
Marxist point of view is to show that although it was written in 1922 and is set in America, this
masterpiece is still contemporaneous in the Albania of 2015. This essay will include a short
analysis of this novel and will also give a case study of The Great Gatsby being taught in class.
The Great Gatsby provides a critical social history of America during the Roaring Twenties
within its narrative. That era, known for unprecedented economic prosperity, the evolution of
jazz music, flapper culture, and bootlegging and other economy struggle that was the result of
the materialism and capitalism damaging on social behavior, led to the widespread social
distress. One of the most effective ways of analyzing the capitalist culture in GREAT GATSBY
is by showing the debilitating effect of capitalist ideology even on those who are its most
successful product, and so it does so thorough its representation of commodification.
The Great Gatsbys most obvious flaw, from a Marxist perspective, is its unsympathetic
rendering of George and Myrtle Wilson, the novels representatives of the lower class. George
and Myrtle try to improve their lot the only way they know how. They are victim of capitalism
because the only way to succeed in a capitalist economy is to succeed in a market. Their
characterizations are so negative that it is easy to overlook the socioeconomic realities that
control their lives. George and Myrtle are negative stereotypes of a lower class couple. The novel
is also flawed, from a Marxist perspective, by Nicks romanticization of Gatsby. Nick may like to
think he disapproves of Jay Gatsby- because he knows he should disapprove of him for the same
reason he disapproves of the Buchanans. The appeal to readers to belong to the magical world of
the wealthy is also a memorial to the power of the commodity. Gatsby may not make the best use
of his mansion, his hydroplane, his swimming pool, and his library, but many of us feel that we
certainly would. Thus another flaw in the novel, form Marxist perspective, is the way in which
the commoditys appeal is powerfully reinforced for the reader by the lush language used to
describe this world of leisure and luxury.

One of the characters that can reflect the capitalism symbol is Nick Caraway. He grew up
in family of "prominent, well-to-do people" in Chicago, and his family has a fun little tradition of
calling themselves the descendants of the "Dukes of Buccleuch," even though they actually made
their money two generations ago in the "wholesale hardware business" (Fitzgerald, 15). He went
to Yale; he likes literature and considers himself one of those "limited" specialists known as a
"well-rounded man"; he fought in World War I, which he found kind of exciting; and now he's
moved East to work in the bond business (that is, finance) in New York City. Hes connected to
wealthy (as opposed to simply well-to-do) and important people like his cousin Daisy and Tom, a
college acquaintance, but he isn't one of them: his house is a "small eyesore," even though it
offers him the "consoling proximity of millionaires.
Another character that reflects the perspective of Capitalist is Tom Buchanan. Tom's
family is really rich. Not well-to-do like Nick's family, and not nouveau riche like Gatsby, but
staggeringly wealthy, with money going way back. (Or as far back as any money in America
goes, anyway.) And he does extravagant, crazy things with it, like bringing "a string of polo
ponies for Lake Forest". As his physical appearance shows him as the bourgeoisie who owns a
lot of money, Tom has as well a physic that all of his necessity wouldnt lack.
Tom was sturdy, straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious
manner. Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face, and gave him the
appearance of always leaning aggressively forward you could see a great pack of muscle
shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous
leveragea cruel body. 1
Nowhere The Great Gatsby is commodification so clearly embodied as in the character of
Tom Buchanan. The wealthiest man in the novel, Tom relates to the world only through his
money: for him, all things and all people are commodities. His marriage to Daisy was certainly
an exchange of Daisys youth, beauty and social standing for Toms money and power and the
image of strength and stability they imparted to him. The symbol of this purchase was the
$350,000 string of pearls Tom gave his bride-to-be. Similarly, Tom uses his money and social
rank to purchase Myrtle Wilson and the numerous other working-class women with whom he
1

The Great Gatsby Chapter 1, p.7

has affairs. Toms regular choice of lower-class women can also be understood in terms of his
commodified view of human interaction. Toms works of commodification are not limited to his
relationships with women. Because capitalist promotes the belief that you are what you ownthat our value as human beings is only as great as the value of our possessions- much of Toms
pleasure in his expensive possessions is a product of their sign-exchange value, of the social
status their ownership confers on him.
A result of Toms commodification of people is his ability to manipulate them very coldbloodedly to get what he wants, for commodification is the treatment of objects and people as
commodities. In order to get Myrtle Wilsons sexual favors, he lets her think that he may marry
her somebody that his hesitation is due to Daisys alleged Catholicism rather that to his own lack
of desire. While a character such as Tom Buchanan is likely to make us sympathize with anyone
who is dependent upon him, Daisy is not merely an innocent victim of her husbands
comodification. In the first place, Daisys acceptance of the pearls is an act of commodification.
Daisys extramarital affair with Gatsby, like her earlier romance with him, is based on a
commodified view of life. The Buchanans commodification of their world and the enormous
wealth that makes it possible for them to smash up things and creatures and then retreat back
into their money are rendered especially objectionable by the socioeconomic contrast provided
by the valley of ashes near which George and Myrtle Wilson live. The valley of ashes is a
powerfully chilling image of the life led by those who do not have the socioeconomic resources
of the Buchanans.

CASE STUDY
This novel was taught in a class of English learners aging between 15-16. The novel has been
previously assigned and the class was divided in groups and to each of them was asked to
analyse different components of the novel. The main purpose of this case is to study The great
Gatsby through the Marxist theory but also to relate it to the Albanian society of today.

1ST Group: Characters

A. Who are the main characters of this novel?
B. Find one quotation that best describes them?
C. Who do you like best? Why?

D. Who dont you like? Why?

E. Have you encounter this typology of people in your everyday life? Explain.

2nd Group Themes

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

How is the theme of class and society depicted in this novel?

Whats the American Dream?
Can money buy happiness?
Did any of the characters achieve this dream? Why or why not?
Is there an Albanian dream? How is similar to the American dream of 1925?

3rd Group: Symbols

A. How do you understand the owl-eyed man saying all the books on the shelves
are real? Has he really read any? Has he really studied in Oxford?
B. How can you relate it to Albanian education system?
C. How do the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg make you feel? Can they see everywhere?
Even at the darkest part of the soul?
D. What is the green light that Gatsby sees? What does it symbolizes?
E. What about those fancy parties what do people really do in them (have fun or
show off) ? Can you relate it to the Albanian lifestyle?

Conclusion
After the students took their time to answer their questions in the form of a journal, their
answers were carefully analysed. Of course that their answers varied depending on their
background but what struck us the most was the association that they could do with the
society that we live in. Although the term of commodification was new to them it was not
difficult for them to see it applied in their everyday life. So as a conclusion The Great
Gatsby has kept its originality and authenticity even almost a hundred years later. The
American or Albanian dream is still a green distant light that many of us crave to follow.

References
- A Marxist Reading of Great Gatsby.
http://banote.blogspot.com/2010/12/marxist-reading-of-great-gatsby.html
- Shmoop Editorial Team.
http://www.shmoop.com/great-gatsby
-The Great Gatsby Penguin Classics Published 26 Jan. 2006