Women In The Great Gatsby

Additionally, Daisy and Jordan use their opposing beauties to their advantages, Daisy takes her exceptional looks to live a life of wealth, choosing riches over love, expressed the night before her wedding “‘Here dearest’ . ‘She groped around in the waste-basket she had with her on the bed and pulled out the string of pearls. “Take’em downstairs and give’em back to whoever they belong to . Tel’s all Daisy’s change’ her mine’ …She wouldn’t let go of the letter…Next day she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver…”(P.80-81). Jordan, Jordan uses her fair looks to be anything but fair, such as “At her first big golf tournament there was a row that nearly reached the newspapers — a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round. The thing approached the proportions of a scandal — then died away. A caddy retracted his statement, and the only other witness admitted that he might have been mistaken.”(P.61-62). Similarly, Myrtle Wilson used her looks as a gate way into getting what she pleases. Although, she is on the opposite side of the spectrum; where Daisy and Jordan are upper class, elegant beauties, Myrtle falls between the lines of lower and middle classes. Class status does nothing to deter Myrtle’s gift in the looks department.Upon introduction to Myrtle, we are instantly aware of the many differences between her and the two girls, such as “

Even though the 1920s is the era of women’s rights, women are still treated poorly. Even woman in the middle class are looked at with expectations. In the article it stated, “she concludes that although there were changes in women’s lives, their achievements were, limited, with ‘progress in some spheres… matched by disappointment and defeat in others’” (Hannam 64). This relates to Myrtles situation because even though she is not in the eyes of society she is expected to obey her husband and do as she is told. Myrtle does not always do as she is told around her husband, George Wilson. She is not the perfect female with him. She actually acts a little more masculine and aggressive to show she is not weak, but around her lover, Tom Buchanan, she becomes a more weak and obedient female. That would be approved by society if they were actually married. She changes how she conforms to the expectations of society depending on who she is around. She really does not control her own life like Jordan, but she also is not forced by society to do something she does not want to do like

In "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he shows women, treated and presented as worse than men, and are rather disregarded and neglected by the male characters. Even Fitzgerald describes and creates the traits of the women in the book in a negative manner.

Throughout literature women are often displayed as idealized characters. Women in the eyes of society are plagued with the stereotype of being kind, nurturing, and tender individuals while men are established as ambitious, assertive, and tough. However, when the time comes for women to possess the qualities of men and men of women, a turnaround of events can occur. Women were the individuals that then shape the males into their ending personna. Shakespeare's Macbeth, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby demonstrated the reversal of gender roles through portraying women as the instigator of the male character’s ultimate demise.

Myrtle yearns to be with Tom and live in his wealth but is prevented from doing so by Tom and Daisy. For instance, when Daisy tries to leave Tom for Gatsby, Tom does not exactly dismiss Myrtle, “…but there is no question that she would eventually be discarded” (Donaldson). Myrtle is so infatuated with Tom, she forgot that he can just as well choose Daisy over her. He has the upper hand, as a rich man with control over women especially when it comes to his relationships. While to Tom, Myrtle’s gender has made her just one of his possessions, to Myrtle, Tom’s rich and high status as a man has made him her only path to a higher class. Due to her infatuation with Tom, she often becomes jealous and possessive when she finds a threat to their relationship. Myrtle is so overcome with desire for Tom that she cannot stand the thought of him with another women. Even when she sees Tom in the car with Jordan Baker, Myrtle’s, “… eyes, wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she too to be his wife” (Fitzgerald 125). Myrtle is so convinced that Tom is hers, when in reality, she is really Tom’s. Myrtle has almost forgotten the fact that as an inferior women, she has little control over the situation. The reality is that Tom was in control of the relationship and used Myrtle for his lustrous desires. Tom’s rejection of Myrtle causes her to become overrun with jealousy. In

Jordan’s cold nature is instantly drawn attention to when she is introduced with the use of the colour “grey” to describe her eyes, as if she sees everything as “grey” and dull. This image is exaggerated at the end of chapter 3 however Nick clearly finds her attractive nonetheless as he brought her “scornful mouth” up closer to him. As Nick is such a moral character who prides himself on being “one of the few honest men” he has ever known, it can be argued that Jordan cannot be such a terrible person to be accepted by someone so meticulously honest. Nick describes Jordan as “incurably dishonest” and this suggests that she is immoral as she her whole personality seems to be consumed by this dishonesty, therefore creating an overpowering immoral image of her.

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.

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 narrator, Nick is grouping together the women of the party and describing their persona all in the same way. The men of the party are comforting them, as they are providing protection and masculinity to the “swooning” and “puppyish” women. The women are following the social norm/stereotype that men must be their protectors because they are such frail beings and must be accompanied by a man. These societal standards were represented through the specific character, Daisy Buchanan and her actions throughout the novel. Daisy has intentional ignorance of her husband, Tom’s multiple affairs showing her lack of empowerment and fear of disrupting the gender roles. The woman was meant to be the housewife, caring for the children, and staying home. Daisy believes women should not be intelligent and applies these expectations to her own daughter: "I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. 'All right, ' I said, '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” (Fitzgerald 116-118). It is evident that Daisy was disappointed by the gender of her baby, and thinks little of what a woman can be in

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

The Great Gatsby was written in 1925 to depict the American Dream. During this time, there was an ideal lifestyle for men and women. Ideally, women were meant to be housewives and men were meant to be the providers. Characters such as Daisy, Myrtle , and Jordan all represent different lifestyles and ways of obtaining the American dream. Daisy Buchanan, who uses her beauty to get what she wants. Myrtle Wilson is the mistress of Tom Buchanan, who is at rich man and she is poor ,but she was still able to use his money. Jordan Baker represents the “new woman” who does not live dependent upon a man and begins to dress in a different style.

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.

daughter and says" I'm glad she's a girl, and I hope she'll be a fool,

For example, Tom in regards to Nick and Jordan believes Nick should “look after her… and [that] the home influence will be very good for her" (Fitzgerald 19). It’s easily assumed that many men during this time would believe Jordan to be a very undesirable woman as she’s incredibly dishonest and independent. Tom thinks that if she were to find a nice, honest man like Nick and were to settle down she’d be bred into a proper woman and housewife. Tom thinks women should be domesticated and bound to the home, and doesn’t like anyone who fits out of the norm. Jordan is a “new” type of woman, and her close relationship to Daisy is meant to show the sharp contrast in the attitudes towards both women. For the most part, Fitzgerald writes Daisy as if she’s on a pedestal, the perfect woman, while Jordan is often called out for her flaws and criticized for her behavior. Fitzgerald’s favoritism towards Daisy over Jordan, and the way other characters perceive the two is a representation of the perception of what women should be during the time opposed to what they actually are. In addition, when Daisy had her child and it was born a girl, she was happy and hope she would grow to be “a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 17). Daisy wanted her daughter to be an oblivious woman because she herself had realized how cruel and unfair the world she lived in was, especially to women. Daisy had every

During the Jazz Era, almost every women was depended on men for their money. Wealth should not considered as important as respect and respect is something everyone deserves, not only men. The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald about rich people that lived in New York during the Jazz Era. The Great Gatsby is about a rich man named Jay Gatsby who tries to win his love back from someone through his power and wealth. The role of women in The Great Gatsby is important because it talks about the amount of freedom and power they have compared to men. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, women are given no respect, controlled by men, and are treated like trophies to win over.