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The Power of Money in FS. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby



Author(s)

Hasnul Insani Djohar

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DOI:10.17265/2160-6579/2015.03.006

University of Exeter, Exeter, The United Kingdom; Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta, Indonesia

The topic of this paper is the pursuit of cultural studies focusing on cultural hegemony, introduces the notion of the dominant groups’ power to control society. It will also raise the issue of how hegemonic classes live in 1920s. The objective is to analyze, using cultural studies, Antonio Gramsci’s Hegemony, Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby in order to come to some conclusions about depictions of aristocratic classes and powers in order to dominate powerless groups. Specifically, the research focuses on Jay Gatsby’s struggles to face the hegemony of aristocratic groups, whose affluent supremacy. In the story, the new moneyed group, represented by Jay Gatsby, lives in West Egg while the aristocratic group, represented by Tom Buchanan, lives in East Egg. Tom is always the winner because he comes from the aristocratic groups, whose prestigious family. Therefore, Gatsby always loses compete against Tom no matter how hard Gatsby tries. By learning Gatsby’s struggle in this novel, we gain a better understanding of how other powerless groups, not only in American society, but also other society in the world, who also struggle to compete with the aristocratic groups.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Hegemony, class, aristocratic group