Heathcliff's American Cousin: A Comparative Analysis of Heathcliff and Gatsby from a Marxist Perspective

Abstract

This study aims to compare Heathcliff and Jay Gatsby from Wuthering Heights and The Great Gatsby from a Marxist perspective. This examination includes the British Victorian class system and the early 20th century's American capitalist-consumerist society. Heathcliff and Gatsby, being from humble backgrounds, try to acquire wealth to win over their love interests—Catherine Earnshaw and Daisy Buchanan, who belong to a privileged class. Mysteriously, Heathcliff and Gatsby, overnight, get rich, although the sources of their newly acquired wealth are unknown. Through attentive reading the targeted queries in this analysis are supplemented with textual evidences that answer how and why these protagonists try to employ economy as a ladder to change their respective positions in society. Literary analogies like this will provide a considerable insight to literary readers to facilitate comprehension of the interlinked British and American societies.