The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby from the Marxist and Feminist Perspectives: A Critical Paper

Jeong Jayeon On Marxism Karl Marx believed that history was made or conceived because of the conflict between the classes particularly between the bourgeoisie or the capitalists and the proletariat or the working class. This conflict had caused inequalities in terms of the determination of ideologies, that is to say, only those in high positions have the authority to set the rules and those in the lower classes have no choice but to follow them and, oppression of the working class. The capitalists have full control of the commodities and the working class remains in poor living conditions and receive little pay. The novels, !The "carlet #etter$ by %athaniel &awthorne and !The 'reat 'atsby$ by (. "cott (it)gerald, were written in two different eras in *merican literature but both can be seen in different perspectives using the Marxist approach. The Scarlet Letter shows how &ester +rynne as a working class woman is oppressed. "he resists the norms of her society which reflects the bourgeois culture and its ideologies. &ere, religion is repeatedly used as a tool by the religious and governmental leaders against &ester that is why she is oppressed and was shamed by being forced to wear a scarlet letter ,*-. .n the other hand, The Great Gatsby shows a different side of the capitalist culture. The story is set in the Ja)) age wherein people believe in the promise of the *merican dream that capitalism is the only way to experience fulfillment. This ideology tries to ruin personal values reflected in the characters of the novel especially in the lives of 'atsby, Tom and /aisy. 0oth stories do not explicitly show the struggles between the two classes but somehow shows the effects of the capitalist culture to the values of the people other than their living conditions. The Scarlet Letter1 .ppression and +uritan #egalism &ester +rynne is a poor young married woman from 0ritain who settles in *merica in a +uritan town in 0oston to leave the oppression in her homeland but she faces another. "he falls in love with the priest who belongs to another class and because of the affair, she gives birth to +earl. "he is found guilty of adultery and because of the strong +uritan legalism in the town she was forced to wear a scarlet ,*- on her dress. "he suffers humiliation, imprisonment and difficulty from the authorities and from the common people. "he courageously challenges the values of the bourgeoisie 2in this case, the religious and government leaders3. "he refuses to tell the identity of her lover. *ccording to the Marxist theory religion is !the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering$ so it is where the proletariat runs to when they

feel oppressed. 4t is something that gives them hope. 0ut in the story, religion was used against the working class to fulfill the bourgeoisie-s interests. 0ecause of their ideology that if one person commits a sin, she must then be punished according to the gravity of the sin she has committed. "o &ester, accused as adulterous was forced to wear the scarlet letter which marks her as an untouchable in the +uritan society. The Great Gatsby1 5ommodification 5ommodification is one of the capitalist society traits and this is seen throughout the novel. The story itself critici)es the capitalist culture by showing the effects of the capitalist ideology even to those who control the distribution and production of goods. This is reflected in the character of Tom 0uchanan who is the wealthiest man in the novel. &e relates to the world only through his money and all things are commodities to him. &e buys an expensive 6ewelry for /aisy to prove that he is rich and powerful. &e also uses his money over Myrtle 7ilson and other working8class women only to get what he wants and to preserve his image. 5apitalism believes in the idea that !you are what you own$ so Tom takes pleasure in all his expensive possessions to prove his status. &e manipulates the people around him for his own benefit and this is one of the characteristics of people having a commodified view of life. *t first Jay 'atsby seems to be an example of the *merican dream and the promises and the hopes that capitalism offers to everyone but it only proves that corruption is the only way to achieve this success because 'atsby only achieves through criminal activities. &is relationship also with /aisy is also his pride because this makes him feel that he belongs in the upper8class 6ust the same as her. This is the ultimate commodity marker for 'atsby. The capitalist culture of the Ja)) *ge changes the values of those who want to experience the *merican dream. The *merican dream as seen through the lives of each of the characters is only a dream in itself that will hardly come true. 4t is only achieved through corruption and happiness is only outward and it only leads to selfishness and pretentiousness. On Feminism 7omen have often been seen as weak individuals and are stereotyped in their roles in society especially in a culture where the interests of men are put first. 7omen are often inferior to men especially in the family. &usbands are in charge of the finances and make all the decisions. 7omen 6ust follow and do household chores, be good wives and take good care of the children while the husbands are required to work and protect the family. 7omen in literature are often oppressed and abused by the men who are seen to have higher authority and status. 0ut in both of the novels, women start to change their roles in society. They start to have freedom as unique individuals and break themselves from how they are seen traditionally in the society.

The Scarlet Letter1 7omen9s #iberation The +uritan ideology sets the standard on how women should act and they determine what is moral and immoral and the consequences of going against their standards so when &ester falls in love with a priest, this resulted in &ester giving birth to a child. "he is found guilty and is forced to put herself in shame. 0ut because of her liberation and the pride she holds for herself she refuses to tell who the father is and this caused her to experience hardships in life. *fter being imprisoned, she shows that she is still capable of regaining the control over herself she lives in a cottage with her daughter and tries to earn a living with her needlework. &ester takes the responsibility of both a husband and a wife. The scarlet letter is a punishment that reflects the males- intention to bring &ester back within the standards of the society but she challengingly controls her life outside the controls of the standards of the society. To her, the +uritan life only 6ails her from experiencing true freedom and she felt the need to release herself from it and !the world-s law was no law for her mind.$ "he re6ects the role of women in the +uritan life by failing to meet its standards through the sin that she has committed and benefiting from the punishment itself by showing that she is strong. This is a new kind of woman that evolved in her because of the oppression she received from the society. The Great Gatsby1 The %ew 7oman The Ja)) *ge was a period where there was a big change in the role of women. *fter the war, women started to wear shorter skirts, laced corsets started to disappear, and there was a different fashion in how hair was worn. 7omen started to be seen smoking and drinking and they often go to parties without male chaperones. They start to en6oy the nightlife as seen with the women in 'atsby-s parties. 7omen started to re6ect their traditional roles that often lead to the destruction of the family and the moral decline of the society. This became the common ideology in that age and the author represent this role in the characters of /aisy 0uchanan, Jordan 0aker and Myrtle 7ilson. *s described in 'atsby-s parties we see women who meet without even knowing their names, they are often drunk and hysterical in such a way. They laugh uncontrollably and dance alone while drunk. :ven though the women in the novel belong to different socioeconomic classes, occupation, appearance, personality and occupation, they have similarities. They are the versions of the %ew 7oman. They are the new women in appearance and social freedom. They wear modern clothing and they don-t avoid drinking hard liquor, smoking cigarettes and dancing in parties. *nd even though /aisy is a mother, her role does not center on her role as a mother. Jordan has experienced having sex before marriage and /aisy and Myrtle have experienced extramarital affairs. The Ja)) *ge as described by the author is an age where women have freedom and some of that freedom is even unacceptable to the society-s standards.