Social competition is a very important central theme in the short story, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”. F. Scott Fitzgerald does an excellent job portraying social competition when it comes to females and competition between popularity and acceptance. Girls can be quite viscous and its quite evident in this short story; one example, in particular, is the competition between Bernice and Marjorie. Bernice and Marjorie engage in competition with each other over many things including; Fitting into society, the values of a woman, boys, and each other’s reputation. F Scott Fitzgerald’s short story becomes a ruthless competition of a “new woman” between two main characters. Who will win? You’ll just have to keep on reading…
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Marjorie’s value of a woman is modernized, it fits the description of what a flapper was in the 1920s. This can connect to another one of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald does an excellent job portraying the values of women in the 1920’s. In the book, The Great Gatsby, when Daisy gave birth to her child, she hoped that her newly born daughter would grow up and hold the values that Marjorie portrays. “I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool – that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”. This is a perfect example that connects to Marjorie’s view of womanhood, according to these two characters, women should be dainty, have charm and have perfect appearance.
One of the biggest conflicts between Bernice and Marjorie is one over a boy named Warren. Warren grew up across the street from Marjorie, he was “crazy about her” since the beginning; however, the feelings were not reciprocated on Marjorie’s behalf. As the story progresses, Marjorie takes on the task to transform Bernice into a new woman. Bernice’s new appeal is soon taken into consideration when Warren gains an interest in the new Bernice. Even though Marjorie didn’t have feelings for Warren, she still became jealous. Marjorie’s new goal was to destroy the relationship between Bernice and Warren. Marjorie becomes successful in accomplishing her goals by putting Bernice’s reputation at risk.
Another example of social competition
The novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about societal difference between men and women the 1920s. Throughout the novel this theme is played through our main characters: Tom, Myrtle, and Daisy. Fitzgerald uses the possessive relationships between these characters to enlighten the reader about women’s social ranking. He demonstrates how men were able to control women by making them feel inferior. The author describes the importance of social class for women in the 1920’s through the possessive and ultimately destructive relationship of Tom and Myrtle.
During the 1920’s, women were objectified in society, yet began to show signs of independence by striving for equality between genders. In this time known as the Roaring Twenties, women began to use their voice desiring to live their lives how they chose. F. Scott Fitzgerald, a renowned author, displayed his perception of women attempting to prove their worth through his new book. One of the protagonists in the novel, Daisy Buchanan, challenges the gender barriers and threatens to paint a new image for women by choosing love over wealth. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the modern women’s inability to obtain independence as they were perceived as incapable of making their own decisions and relied on traditional gender
. Bernice’s cousin, Marjorie, is the socialite of her town. The Queen Bee. All the girls want to be her; all the guys want to be with her. She has Warren, her unofficial boyfriend, wrapped around her finger. But everyone cannot see the real Marjorie, Her true insecure side. They don’t understand that she puts them down to make her feel better about herself, trying to make herself feel superior. Marjorie is putting on a front to give the idea that she is happy and perfect. Underneath, she is a cold and jealous person. She is the one pressuring Bernice, not knowing that it is the way she copes with her own insecurities. Marjorie, although more confident than Bernice, also shows
Women have been consistently marginalized and devalued throughout history. In The Great Gatsby, the characterization of women is limited to how the men in their life utilise them- a trophy wife, prize, and paramour. These women are not allowed to develop independently; their importance is dictated by the men in their life. F. Scott Fitzgerald is not bringing awareness to the inequality of women in the Roaring Twenties, but perpetuating it through the lack of characterization the women undergo.
Women were not equal to men during the era of the 1920’s. In “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald represents a negative, misogynistic, stereotypical view of the various types of women during the era of the 1920’s. During the that time, women were not portrayed in a positive light., By writing a book centered around that time period, it causes one to wonder the message Fitzgerald was trying to illustrate about women and what he was saying about society as a whole. Fitzgerald represents the view of women within the 20’s by depicting each character as a representation of the many stereotypes occurring within that era. The main characters Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan each display pertinent roles within the story representing how women’s roles were
The roaring twenties was the period known for its exuberant, overwhelming and free pop culture of all time. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, represent the past historical modernization of a male subjugated social system. The Great Gatsby is a mysterious love tale, and a social interpretation towards the American Life. This story explores the journey for happiness and wealth through the American Dream, and shows how perfectionism, deteriorated relationships, and deceitfulness occur during the Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby, however, is not the story about a woman’s journey for happiness and improperly shows the representation of females during 1920. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby shows the historically male controlled social system through women being portrayed as shallow beings, which are dominated by men, and seen as flawed individuals.
The Jazz age or the Roaring 20’s was a vital time for women in America. One reason this was a vital time was because on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. This was also a vital time because America was changing from a more conservative country to a liberal one. The female characters in Fitz Gerald’s’ The Great Gatsby embodies the way women were back in the 1920s. Women before the 1920s were only seen as caregivers. In this story, the women were the total opposite of that. They changed from things such as clothing, smoking, and dancing. Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle were all portrayed as the “New Woman”. There was Daisy who married into money but had a secret lover. There was Jordan who was this independent woman
In his 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, chronicles a story of complicated relationships between a group of men and women as they go about their lives in New York during the “roaring 20s”. Narrated by character Nick Carraway, the story exposes and endorses gender based stereotypes as the characters attempt to achieve their American dream. In 1920, women were granted the right the vote, which was a substantial step forward in the equal rights movement for women. Yet, even during the twenties, women still struggled to find an equal place in society and were often blocked from having the same chances of achieving the American dream as men. In the novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald not only exposes sexist values of the time, but
During the 1920’s there had been a profound number of cultural and social changes, especially surrounding the “social taboos” of women. Women had more sexual liberation, the right to vote, and more power in society; Flappers were the women that exemplified those changes. Fitzgerald wrote Judy Jones as the ideal woman, forever beautiful and youthful. golden, and opulent; a woman who’d make the perfect trophy wife. Judy’s entire existence is built upon this idea of her being a beautiful rich girl that seeks admiration and status by running around with different men. Even though Judy Jones is technically a Flapper, she’s is not as “free” as one would expect. Judy has money and doesn’t have to worry about survival or her family, so in turn she doesn’t have a job or a purpose. She’s able to go out every night and do as she pleases, but as many people know, the partying lifestyle tends to burn a person out. Judy is treated more as an object rather than a person and this kind of life isn’t very fulfilling. She’s quoted as saying, ”I’m more beautiful than anybody else, why can’t I be happy?”. As previously stated, Judy has the capital to do anything she pleases and she’s beautiful, yet she isn’t happy. To put it differently, no man or amount of money truly made Judy
Looking at F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby through a feminist perspective, it’s apparent the text supports and challenges the assumptions of a patriarchal society. Interrogating this text with a critical feminist viewpoint reveals the men and women appear to be victims of social and cultural norms of the 1920s, which were firmly entrenched. However, some of the characters attempt to redefine these, especially the women in order to renegotiate the gender norms. Jordan resists social pressure to conform to feminine expectations and, despite Daisy and Myrtle living more traditionally, they are both willing to have affairs. The female characters approach feminism in a multitude of ways, representing different layers of narrative voices through a time of a feminist movement.
Furthermore, women in The Great Gatsby are marginalized by the social patterns of the Jazz Age resulting in a deprivation of their own identity. Despite their recent liberation, women are replicas of each other; nothing more than impersonal, faceless objects. In August, 1920, the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, gave way to the emancipated women. Women or flappers, as they are referred to, with their short hair and shiny dresses are identical in appearance, with little or no individuality. While reflecting on the attendees at Gatsby’s parties, Nick infers, “Benny McClenahan arrived always with four girls. They were never quite the same ones in physical person, but they were so identical one with another that it inevitably seemed they had been there before” (Fitzgerald 62). As Nick observes, due to their similarity it makes it difficult to determine if it is a woman’s first time at one of Gatsby’s parties. This exemplifies women’s conformity to an unwritten social code and their morphism into undistinguishable beings, simply an object of men’s desires. Additionally, Nick’s nightmare after Gatsby’s death illustrates another example of women’s marginalization as a result of their adherence to the social standards of the times. He dreams about a drunken woman in a white evening dress being carried home by four men. “Gravely the men turn in at a house – the wrong house. But no one
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men are set in two close time periods, but give a different feel to the setting in each book. In both books, women have a status lower than men. Daisy, Jordan, Myrtle and Curley’s wife are seen as inferior, most likely due to society’s view of women during the time periods. In The Great Gatsby and in Of Mice and Men, the American Dream is often put aside, seen through the actions of women characters.
The great Gatsby gives us an accurate insight into the 1920s zeitgeist regarding the role of women in society. America was in a state of an economic boom and rapid change. Society had become less conservative after world war one. The role of women was revolutionary during this time and although women had a lot more freedom now; they were still confined to their sexist role within society; Men were still seen as the dominant gender. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the extremities of gender and social class, and the lack of independence this brought upon women. This essay will discuss the three major female characters and the ideas that Fitzgerald confronts of female stereotypes of the 1920s.
The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, brings to thought many issues regarding the 20’s. The 20’s were a booming time for stocks, businesses, and the wealthy. Fitzgerald was a man of his time and in The Great Gatsby we notice the differences in the way men and women were treated and the different ways of acting and reacting. Jay Gatsby, our main protagonist is a wealthy bootlegger in the city of West Egg, living across the harbour from the girl he believes to be the love of his life, Daisy. Daisy is a dreamer. She married a man she does not love, but has an abundance of money, and dreams about what she could have been and could have had. Now, how does gender affect the viability of the american dream? The answer is that gender
In Mary Morrissy’s novel, The Rising of Bella Casey, written in 2013 centers around Bella Casey, a promising young school teacher. Throughout the novel, it is marked more than once that she prides herself in her appearance, placing how people perceive her in higher regard than her own health and safety. However, the necessity for Bella to maintain the social standard that her family and she has set out for her is what initially ruins her. The women within Ireland in the 1910s and later on had to maintain a pristine and flawless beacon in which they had to establish themselves within society one way or another. Bella’s independence as a self-sustaining school teacher collided with the patriarchal preassure leaving her unable to voice her discomfort with Leeper. It was not her own shortcomings, but the shortsightedness of society that initially sends her into ruin. The gender roles allotted to men and women is established through their actions and clothing. Through these channels, Bella is cursed with conformity and unable to dig her way out of the mess that she has fallen into.