Marxism Ruins Everything (Leslie)

As with all critical lenses, the Marxist lens takes a classic love story and turns it into a story where everyone is out for socioeconomic domination, and will do anything to get to that point. What really stuck with me the most from this essay was the Marxist perception of Daisy. The first time reading through "The Great Gatsby", she was perceived, at least in my opinion, as a flighty, innocent, dimwitted girl that is quick to make decisions and choices, but she doesn't know how to stick to them. For example, she is quick to jump back into Gatsby's arms, but on the spot, when she is forced to make a decision between Tom and Gatsby, and she doesn't know who to go to because she has told both that they are her final choice. After reading this essay, it made me sad because it took an innocent character who wasn't out for money or to get other people (besides her accidental murder) and turned her into a money grabbing, conniving, out-for-herself character just like every other character. According to Tyson, "...Daisy is not merely an innocent victim of her husband's commodification." (Pg. 71). Therefore, looking at Daisy through a Marxist lens makes her seem not nearly as innocent and taken advantage of as she did before, when reading "The Great Gatsby" unbiased. This essay also points out that the fanciful, sought-after affair between Daisy and Gatsby is also a lie. "...and when she learns the truth during the confrontation scene in the hotel suite, her interest in him quickly fades." (Pg. 72). And the quote that had the biggest effect on me because it proved once and for all that Daisy isn't the sweet, turn-the-other-cheek girl that Fitzgerald made her out to be; she is more like Tom. "The apparently ease with hich she lets Gatsby take the blame for Myrtle's death, while she beats a hasty retreat wth Tom, indicates that her commodification of people, like that of her husband, facilitates the cold-blooded sacrifice of others to her convenience." (Pg. 72). If this is the case, then why is she perceived as an innocent, non-threatening girl? Why does the Marxist lens make Daisy seem more and more like her cold-blooded husband?