More handpicked essays just for you.
Gender in us literature 20th century
Feminism in The Great Gatsby
Reading great gatsby through feminist lens
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Great Gatsby Through Feminism In the Great Gatsby, there are multiple leading female roles. The women in the novel are all portrayed in similar ways and follow the same common themes. The novel discusses the issues of infidelity and love. While exploring these things, the women in the novel tend to be shown as materialistic and inferior. Throughout the novel, patriarchal attitudes, stereotypical gender roles put on women, and stereotyping women as materialistic liars, all are common.In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, he portrays the characters Daisy and Myrtle as inferior and materialistic, showing/revealing that Fitzgerald supports patriarchal attitudes. The patriarchal attitudes are possibly the most prevalent sexist …show more content…
Daisy is married to Tom who is sexist and treats her quite poorly. Although it seems like Gatsby truly loved Daisy and would treat her like a goddess unlike Tom, that’s not exactly true. Both Tom and Gatsby don’t treat Daisy with the respect she deserves. Gatsby uses his money to try to buy Daisy’s love. Daisy briefly has an affair with Gatsby, but once Tom found out she began to distance herself. Once again Tom’s sexist hypocrisy shows up when he becomes enraged over Daisy’s affair, despite having one of his own. Both of those men treated Daisy as if she was naive and inferior. As for Myrtle, she doesn’t get treated much better. Men in the novel, especially Tom Buchanan, continually feel the need to assert their dominance over everyone. An example of this is when Tom assaulted Myrtle. "'Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!' shouted Mrs. Wilson. 'I'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai ---' Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand". Tom broke Myrtle’s nose just for saying Daisy’s name. This shows that Tom is offended when somebody speaks negatively about his wife but not so much his mistress. This proves that Tom thinks having another woman in your life is okay, but there is a huge difference between a wife and
Daisy is aware of Tom’s mistress, but she chooses to ignore it and to avoid showing her emotions. This shows that she wants others to see her marriage as perfect. It is fairly evident that she is bothered by the affair; when Tom goes to answer the phone with Myrtle on the line, Daisy suddenly throws her napkin on the table and follows him inside. She tries to hide the fact that she knows about the affair in order to keep her husband pleased. Also, her timidness around Tom may suggest she does not fully trust him and may be abused by him, whether it be verbally or physically. On the contrary, Myrtle is open with her relationship with Tom. Myrtle has even introduced Tom to her husband, George. Both Daisy and George know their spouses are cheating. Acquaintances and friends have seen Tom and his mistress in public, in the city, and at parties. Tom is attracted to both women, but the love with Daisy has been flickering out, and she seems to be more of a trophy wife now rather than his loving spouse. Tom may be attracted to Myrtle for the attention she gives him, or the fact that she loves to party and have fun. However, readers often speculate that Tom would never divorce his wife to marry someone of a lower class, despite having a stronger love and connection with Myrtle than Daisy.
Her identity was pure, innocent, young and beautiful. At first, she just wanted to have a pure feeling with Gatsby, but when Gatsby went to the front, she could not stand the loneliness and the family persuasion, and she chose to marry Tom. When she chose to marry Tom and abandon Gatsby, her new identity increased material and selfishness. Her identity as a wealthy lady remains, but her purity is long gone. However, Gatsby was not aware of it. Another identity of daisy is a vain woman. In a society badly affected by consumerism, she chose to drift with the tide. She loves all luxuries, but all of this is entirely dependent on Tom. So although Tom had all kinds of romantic affairs,
In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy struggles between her desire to be with someone she truly loves and her rational to be with someone who will give her social and financial stability. Ultimately, Daisy chooses Tom over Gatsby as he is the safer option once Gatsby is revealed to be untruthful, showing that she is predominately interested in a steady life.
Myrtle eventually had similar goals as Gatsby, but her life did not begin the same way. She was of the lower class of society and married a simple man. The two pursued a poor life, but Myrtle’s husband George was a decent man. Nevertheless, Myrtle became unsatisfied, and when the opportunity arose to better the quality of her life, she took it. Daisy’s husband Tom, an unfaithful, rough man not very committed to his marriage, began an affair with Myrtle.
The Great Gatsby is often referred to as the great American novel; a timeless commentary on the American Dream. A dream that defines success, power, love, social status, and recreation for the American public. It should be mentioned that this novel was published in 1925, which is a time when the American public had recently experienced some significant changes, including women’s suffrage, which had only taken place 6 years prior to the publication of this novel May of 1919. The women of this era had recently acquired a voice in politics, however, the social world does not always take the same pace as the political world. F. Scott Fitzgerald developed female characters that represented both women in their typical gender roles and their modern counterparts. I will be analyzing gender roles within the context of this novel, comparing and contrasting Myrtle Wilson, Jordan Baker, and Daisy Buchanan alongside one another, as well as comparing and contrasting their interactions with the men in the novel.
Wanting to be with her true love again, she sneaks visits with him without Tom knowing. Just like Myrtle had, Daisy torn into her own marriage. She loved both men, but as soon as it was found out, the men began fighting for her. “I glanced at Daisy who was staring terrified between Gatsby and her husband…” (Fitzgerald 143). This isn’t what Daisy wanted at all. At some point Daisy loved Tom, and it’s very likely that she still does, regardless of all of his cheating. Living a life of riches for so long has affected her with affluenza, blinding her morals as it did to Tom. When someone already has everything they could ever ask for, they’re still going to want more. Something to work for, or else life becomes boring as Daisy points out many times in the novel. When both men she loves are threatening each other and fighting for her fondness she’s realized what she’s done wrong. She’s fallen into the same trap as Myrtle, being stuck between two men, but she still has feelings for Tom.“I saw them in Santa Barbara when they came back and I thought I’d never seen a girl so mad about her husband. If he left the room for a minute she’d look around uneasily and say ‘Where’s Tom gone?’” (Fitzgerald 83). Gatsby tries to convince Daisy that she loves him and only him, yet Daisy actually loves them both. After Daisy was married she could think about anything except Tom, while Gatsby has spent the five
In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Buchanan is unthinking and self-centered. Daisy is unthinking because when she meets Nick for the first time after the war; the first thing she says is “I’m p-paralyzed with happiness” (8) which is really unbecoming for a social butterfly like her. Moreover, she stutters while saying the word “paralyzed” which could imply that she says this without really thinking, because this is not the typical greeting one would say to their cousin, even after a long time. Also, since Daisy is pretty high on the social ladder, she expects people to laugh at her terrible jokes because she laughs after saying she is “paralyzed with happiness” even though Nick does not, illustrating her inconsiderate
The exploring Fitzgerald's use of gender roles in the novel requires a certain amount of scholarly research. Including text searches throughout the book, reading scholarly criticisms about the novel and reading articles that present new ideas about Fitzgerald's work. Gender definition and patriarchal values is the main topic of Bethany Klassen's article entitled, "Under Control: Patriarchal Gender construction in the Great Gatsby." The quotes and ideas in this article are profound and bring on a whole new meaning to events, conversations and actions that take place in the book. For example she notes, " To place Daisy and Myrtle in the passive position necessary to Tom's ego, Fitzgerald employs imagery that denies them their humanity and transforms them into objects defined by their purpose to display Tom's wealth and power"( Klassen ). This passage in the article refers to the way in which Tom puts value on women not by personality or his love but as a material trapping. Not showing emotion towards his wife adds to Tom's persona. The article also includes opinions about the female roles in the novel. Daisy and Myrtle personify the typical female who is basically living to fulfill her husband's needs instead of getting a degree and making a living. The article continues to explain how during that time period, there was even a consequence for not fitting into gender roles. Referring to the tragic car accident, Klassen writes, " Because Daisy's affair with Gatsby places her in the car with him that night and because Myrtle's rebellion against her husband leads her to run into the road, both incidences of female empowerment structurally precipitates the disaster" ( Klassen ). This quote is extremely interesting because it claims that when women try to overcome being trapped by feminine stereo-types, it ends in disaster. This article is obviously beneficial to any person who is exploring gender roles in the novel.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald conveys how Jay Gatsby’s ambition is the root of his success and death. When Gatsby, a man of humble beginnings, meets Daisy, her wealth and high status allures him. They fall in love, but due to Gatsby’s low financial and social position, Daisy feels insecure and leaves him. Gatsby’s optimism and obsession to win Daisy prompts the ambition that ultimately drives him to his noble yet tragic ending.
They are both born into impoverished families, but deny acceptance of their lower status. Myrtle and Gatsby also share similar aspirations, to gain money and higher status. They are attempting to rise above their social class. Fitzgerald’s interpretation of Gatsby however, is much different from his portrayal of Gatsby. Gatsby is a tragic hero. He has nothing but good intentions and aspires for love, while Myrtle is simply shown as a foolish woman who is so absorbed in greed that she sacrifices her morals and sanity, in exchange for money and higher status. Gatsby, unlike Myrtle, maintains redeemable qualities until his murder. Everything he does is for his love, Daisy, because he wants only the best for her even if his life turns to ruins as a result. In contrast, Myrtle who has the same aspirations as Gatsby, exhibits impure intentions. She wants to achieve her goals of becoming a wealthy, elite member of society, purely to feed her selfish, eager desires, at the cost of her husbands’ sanity. This is what removes any sympathy a person may have had for Myrtle. She is depicted as a silly imbecile who cheats her way out her marriage and into her
Daisy knows very well that tom is cheating on her, but doesn’t care because it's more convenient to stay in her unhappy marriage. Even though she wants to be with Gatsby, she wants to keep her social status and being with Tom makes this all the easier. Now, this is quite the opposite of Myrtle. She has a loving husband who would do anything for her, but her social status is all she cares about. Myrtle is willing to hurt George and ruin their marriage in order to climb up the social ladder. Neither of these women have respect for themselves. Both Daisy and Myrtle allow Tom to treat them
Tom views Daisy as his trophy wife, a woman he can have to make things look good at home and while he’s out on business while he secretly travels to New York to have an affair with Myrtle, thus making her a victim of Tom’s infidelities. The way Tom dehumanizes her is by making her seem small, almost fairy-like and by not allowing her to express herself. Though, he’s not physically putting his hands on Daisy, he still has a violent side and is doing a violent act of not allowing Daisy to be herself. Daisy accuses Tom for her bruised finger and later in the novel, Tom “strikes Myrtle’s nose” (). In a way Daisy’s just Tom’s “beautiful little fool” (), because she continues to put up with his cheating because she is scared to leave his possession of security and stability because that’s something Gatsby can’t offer
Looking at F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby through a feminist perspective, it seems apparent that the text supports and challenges the assumptions of a patriarchal society. Interrogating this text with a critical feminist viewpoint reveals that the men and women appear to be victims of social and cultural norms of the 1920s that was almost impossible to change. Although, some of the character’s attempt to redefine society and culture, more so the women in the text in order to renegotiate the gender norms. Jordan resists social pressure to conform to feminine expectations and, despite Daisy and Myrtle being more traditional in the way they live, they are both willing to have affairs. The female characters’ approach feminism in a multitude
Myrtle is, as Daisy, impressed with Tom's wealth and appearance, but, like Jay Gatsby, is stuck in a fantastic, idealized perception of her object of affection. Even when abused and trampled over by Tom, Myrtle continues to adore him, just as Gatsby continues to dote upon Daisy after being obviously rejected by her. As far as ethical considerations, Gatsby tends to prove himself a sincere and caring person, while Daisy and Tom just destroy the lives of two people and then leave town to escape the consequences of their actions.
Scott Fitzgerald portrays men as superior in The Great Gatsby. Throughout the course of the entire novel, “woman” is a term used to describe only the lower class females. For example, the Finnish maid and Myrtle, two lower class females, are referred to by “woman”, whereas the higher class females like Daisy and the ones at Gatsby’s parties are referred to as “girls”. This shows sexism because the more childish word to describe females is used for the higher class females, the better ones. This shows that at their best, women are really just “girls” who never grew up.