Power And Powerless In The Great Gatsby

“Then wear that gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry “Lover, gold-hatted, high bouncing lover, I must have you” (title page). Throughout the novel, the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents Tom Buchanan as a very controlling person who believes he is entitled to many things because of his wealth. Similar to the quote, Tom’s constant need for wealth and power leads to a need and want for everything in sight. If a reader were to read this book through the Marxist lens, they would see an obvious struggle between the powerful and powerless and how that directly coincides with how much money the person with power has. The main character with power and wealth in the novel is Tom Buchanan, and he uses his control to gain power over others. He displays this control when he manipulates those of the lower class, and he tries to dominate his relationships. The struggle between the power and powerless in the novel develops into a battle between the upper and lower classes. The main powerful and wealthy character, Tom Buchanan, uses his power to hurt other people, and he does not care who it is. For example, Tom Buchanan has a very powerful status, which attracts Myrtle because she strives to be in the upper class. Tom Buchanan takes advantage of the fact that George is an oblivious, poor man when he says “He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive” (Fitzgerald 26). Because Tom views George at a lesser value than himself, it makes it easy