Consumerism Lit

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The Great Gatsby and Fight Club

Consumerism is the materialistic attachment to possession. It's the desire of every

individual to gain wealth and to live a happy life nevertheless with consumerism and materialism

an individual can’t achieve happiness. Therefore this paper will focus on two novels written in

the 20

century with each trying to express the issue of consumerism in the society. Those

novels are the Great Gatsby and Fight Club. Despite the fact that two books are written by two

different scholars, in two different societies and generations, where Great Gatsby is written

seventy years earlier than Fight Club, they both expose Americans' grievances through the

experiences of different characters. This paper aims to express how each novel portrays

consumerism and how the concepts of decadence, symbolism and that of modernism are

expressed in the novels. From facts in the two novels, it's clear that with consumerism an

individual cannot achieve happiness in life because one end up believing that self-worth, the

state of being complete and happiness is based on material things.

The pursuit of happiness is what leads some characters in The Great Gatsby into the state

of materialism and consumerism nevertheless the state of capitalism, Marxism or one’s suffering

is what forces characters in the novel Fight Club into searching material things. The Great

Gatsby was written in 1920 with the aim of portraying the American dream while the novel Fight

Club was written in 1996. The two novels contain the issue of consumerism, but the novel Fight

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Club has achieved to portray a more modern version of consumerism than the novel The Great

Gatsby. For instance, in The Great Gatsby characters possess the notion that with hard work one

will be able to acquire massive wealth and to achieve one’s goal in life and that’s why characters

like Gatsby strives hard to gain such material things. “He had waited for five years and bought a

mansion where he dispensed starlight” (Fitzgerald 8). Nevertheless, the novel the Fight Club

achieves to portray both consumerism and modernism differently through the reliance of

Marxism and capitalism and that why the author relies on Marxism to describe characters

experiences and actions. Therefore Marxism is a modern version of consumerism where

individuals are forced to be materialistic due to the situation in the society, and this is the reason

why young individuals in the Fight Club are forming gangs so that they can be able to earn a

good life.

It’s undeniable that the narrative “The Great Gatsby” has achieved to portray

consumerism in the society. Also, it’s clear that it has met to describe how the pursuance of

wealth eventually ends up misleading an individual into believing property can bring joy a fact

that ultimately hinders character like Gatsby from attaining happiness. Therefore this section will

analyze how different characters in the novel ends up in a devastating situation due to being

materialistic. One of the characters is Gatsby, it saddening that his desire to be accepted by Daisy

prompts him to seek wealth something that changes his life because he is no longer himself

because all he sees is gaining more wealth to be at a higher level (Fitzgerald 50). From this

argument, it's clear that by being consumerist one stands a chance of doing unusual things that up

wasting one's valuable time and energy. Also what was real in his life becomes unreal and

despite the fact that he achieves to gain massive wealth his life becomes blurred and he ends up

dying without attaining happiness. Also, it's saddening to see how people fail to attend Gatsby

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burial because all they were interested in was his money. In this narrative, Daisy is symbolically

used as a prize or a valuable item that one can do anything to achieve it. This statement is

arguable that Gatsby ruined his life pursuing to gain Daisy’s love yet he is well aware that Daisy

is married. Therefore this instance also brings about decadence in the society where marriage is

no longer respected as an outcome of being materialistic.

In the novel Fight Club, the author achieves to portray the aspect of consumerism but

differ in how the author of the Great Gatsby described. Nevertheless, the author succeeds to

express how an individual materialistic nature denies him or her joy in life. In this novel, for one

to attend fight club the person pays his/her presence in the club with flesh and blood. Therefore a

character like Tyler tend to concentrate on the fights with the aim of achieving what his father

had fulfilled and a desire to be complete. Despite the factor that Tyler at times expresses acts of

anti-consumerist for instance by burning the apartment he ends up exercising consumerism

because he has to achieve completeness in the fight club a factor that leads to his death.

In looking at how the theme of consumerism is depicted in The Great Gatsby, it’s clear

that it’s viewed as an evil that kills American's dreams where it is described as an evil, malice

and a culture where an individual doesn't care about the consequences of his actions on others.

Individuals with this character are portrayed in the book as people who commit activities which

are otherwise against their cultural and societal morals. In other words, they abuse their moral

values, act in contempt of their personalities and compromise their values. In The Great, Gatsby

consumerism is seen from the beginning when Fitzgerald compare Gatsby’s mansion to a raw

ivy, above forty acres of garden and a swimming pool (Fitzgerald 3). Gatsby’ mansion is a clear

sign of wealth and a tool towards acquiring where it is clearly described as a forty acre garden

(Fitzgerald 1). Though he wins the heart of Daisy with this, something still misses in his life or

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this love to operate, and that aspect is wealth and that the reason Gatsby makes his mind that he

will never go back to that dreadful life again. Therefore wealth, in this case, is symbolic in the

statement and resembles flashy life that materialistic individuals strain to acquire.

The narrator in the book Fighting Club uses the term ‘Condos’ and ‘ikea’ to represent

valuable commodities that Tylor wishes to acquire. (Palahniuk 20). The narrator goes ahead to

depict consumerism as corrosive that sweeps away public resources, and with such statement, he

achieves to show the suffering and disappointments being faced by American people. The

fighting club further uses one hero (unconventional), Tyler Durden who appears to be anti-

consumerist but at other times he is materialistic (Palahniuk 6). The hero is viewed as a rebel and

a revolutionist who stands up against the greedy leaders to speak and lead others against

corruption. The hero ends up shot to death due to this. It is therefore essential to note at this point

that according to the novel consumerists can do anything they can just as to satisfy their needs,

even if it means eliminating any obstacle between them and their future. Also, it portrays that

one is expected to be consumerist in the current society and if one isn't consumerist probably,

he/she won’t survive.

The invention of the car is used in The Great Gatsby to portray the theme of

technological inventions and by extent modernization where a character like Gatsby is striving

hard to own one. This is depicted as technological revolutions in the society backed up by

brilliant inventions and innovations in the novel. The novel The Great Gatsby exposes both the

advantages and disadvantages that come with this modernization. For instance, The Great

Gatsby novel talks about the newly invented car. Typically cars are created for eases our

transport sector and improve the way humankind moves from point to point. Though in this case,

we see an unlikely situation when the newly invented and created stuff of the time goes against

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our expectations and hit Myrtle, an event that leads to Jay Gatsby’s death (Fitzgerald 18). With

this example, it's clear that the outcome of being a materialist is the decline of morality whereby

one goes to the extent of killing to gain what he/she wants. Therefore the novel achieves to show

the consumerist culture of the society where people invent and adopt technologies/new

commodities to satisfy their needs without necessarily looking into their implications on others.

The novel Fight Club weapons such as gun are used, and soap is being processed to

make explosives. The idea portrayed by this notion is fundamentally how technology and

inventions lead to represent violent and brutal society. This is purely an apparent show of how

technology begins thoroughly with soap and later turns into a more dangerous and a destructive

item which is only relevant during wars and in a violent society. Also, it can symbolize how the

community develops things only to satisfy its needs. It also portrays a healthy community where

creativity is encouraged and inventions viewed as the heart of modernization. But this doesn't

become the case when they turn out as weapons of eliminating humankind, and all these are used

to depict how modernization leads to consumerist culture.

Fitzgerald in his novel “The Great Gatsby” expresses the relationship between Tom and

Myrtle as a moral decadence in the community that is propelled by materialism. In the first

chapter of the novel Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom are caught in the same love triangle. Both Gatsby

and Tom are hooked to the same lady called Daisy. The relationship in The Great Gatsby, clearly

indicates how morally upset the society is. Also the fact that Myrtle and Tom are in another

relationship signify infidelity in the community (Fitzgerald 9). On the other hand, the novel fight

club has achieved to portray the issue of consumerism and decadence but different in that

individuals aim at losing traits that make them human. Moreover, a character like Bob becomes

materialistic in that instance where he takes steroids to be masculine and to fit well in the society

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thus he degrades his morality by aiming to be someone else a factor that ends up making him

broke and divorced.

In the Fight Club the Hero says “every night I died, every night I was reborn:

resurrected” (Palahniuk 7). This statement from Tyler shows how self-destruction is of

importance when it comes to identifying or building ones profile in the society. He also shows us

that it is mandatory for any human being to restructure himself, regarding character, deeds, says,

wealth and political power to enjoy all the goodies and praises of the society. With this, I can

authoritatively argue that people always redesign their attitudes and characters not only fit in the

community but also for personal gain. The author of this novel aims at portraying the notion that

instead of people changing their personalities for the benefit of others, they do so for their good

thus the aim of becoming materialistic leads to decadence.

In conclusion, the novel The Great Gatsby and the novel the Fight Club has achieved to

portray the issue of consumerism to portray modernism and decadence in the society

nevertheless each book has made to express this issue of consumerism differently. In the novel

The Great Gatsby the characters' will, ambition and dream are what propels character like

Gatsby to pursue wealth and other materials things, but in the end, he dies without achieving

happiness. Nevertheless, in the book Fight Club, the issue of capitalism or the devastating

situation one finds himself in is what compels one to be materialistic and that the reason

character like Tyler ends up in the Fight Club where he fights so that he can become complete

but ends up dying. Also, it's Bob's needs to be accepted in the society that leads him to take

steroids a factor that not only makes him broke but divorced. From the two novels, it's clear that

pursuance of material things leads to consumerism an issue that deprives one the ability to be

happy because one ends up searching for wealth instead of joy, and also one ends up becoming

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immoral thus leading to havoc in the society. Therefore in life, one needs to avoid becoming

materialistic.

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Work cited

Fitzgerald, Scot. The Great Gatsby and Fight club. 2 May 2018. Electronic.

Palahnuik, Chuck. Fight Club. 2 May 2018. Electronic.

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