In The Great Gatsby, there are a few female characters, Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan. Daisy is a rich female living in an elegant house, with her husband, Myrtle is poor and living in The Valley Of Ashes, with her husband as well, Jordan is an independent lady, with lots of money from her sport, tennis. The theme of women's rights in The Great Gatsby reflects our society’s current struggles with the equality of women, proving that Fitzgerald’s criticism is still relevant. One main criticism in The Great Gatsby is that women don't leave their husbands if needed to, and how they don't have much control, which is shown by Daisy. We read in the book that Tom started cheating on Daisy with Myrtle. When Daisy soon found out, she couldn't stop him and he just kept …show more content…
As we read farther into the book we see they still stay together the whole book, but both of them know what is going on. This information shows us that women's rights are shown in The Great Gatsby. Even though times have changed, the issue of women's rights is still important. For example, the equality of women shows that women can leave or stop their husbands, just like in Fitzgerald’s time, and continues to affect society. Many women nowadays feel like they can’t leave, that something bad is going to happen to them, or they just feel like they can’t. In the article Issues Faced, they stated that you will see a lack of effort. This relates to The Great Gatsby, we see how Tom slowly stops trying with Daisy, but with Myrtle we see he will buy her anything that she wants, and when Daisy realizes that she doesn't get the same lifestyle as other women, we feel stuck. Also in the same article they also stated that they will start living in denial, we see this in
Daisy's greed can best be seen in her choice of a husband, and in the circumstances
Set in the Roaring ‘20s, The Great Gatsby focuses mainly on the lives of men as Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. However, it also clearly outlines the lives of several women : Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker. On the surface, the lives of these women couldn’t be more different. Daisy, a rich debutante, is torn between her husband, Tom, or her first love, Jay Gatsby. Lower on the social ladder is Myrtle, who is having an affair with Tom, hoping to rise above her station in life. Jordan, on the other hand, is unmarried and a successful golfer, who travels the country participating in tournaments. While these women may have seemed independent, they’re still subject to the will of society which sees them as inferior and objects to be controlled by men.
... a symbol of feminism, a woman who is strong, and sovereign a complete parallel to Daisy and Myrtle who represent sexualised and submissive women, who are suppressed by societal expectations. Fitzgerald successfully conveys the ideas that society thought of women in the 20s, and criticises these beliefs through the stereotypical female characters and their position in The Great Gatsby. He captures both the revolutionary changes of women in post world war one society (Jordan) and the conventional roles of women from the ‘old world’ (Daisy and Myrtle).
The 1920s served as a significant period of time for women as it was then that they broke away from all the traditional social constrains.However, this leads to the issue of the negative representaion of women in the novel. It is noted that none of the main women in the Great Gatsby is portrayed in a good light. There is Daisy, who is beautiful, but also extremely shallow and materialistic- seeing that she only married Tom for his wealth.Next, readers meet Jordan, Daisy’s friend. Jordan is portrayed as extremely independent and self- sufficient. However she is also seen to be a little detached, this is highlighted when Nick’s first description of her was that she was ‘motionless, and with her chin raised a little, as if she were balaancing something on it which was quite likey to her’, and we can infer that Jordan has an air of aloofness that makes her seem rather unapproachable. There is also Myrtle, Tom’s mistress. Myrtle and Daisy are binary opposites in terms of appearance, however, Myrtle like Daisy, is extremely materialistic. Myrtle chooses to have an affair with Tom while fully knowing that he was married because he was able to provide her with material things she could never afford. Furthermore, she insults her loving husband, and claims that he is ‘not fit to lick [her] shoe’ simply because he was not rich. Here, readers can clearly see that Myrtle is a woman with loose morals who is completely
In the novel, The Great Gatsby, the two central women presented are Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. These two women, although different, have similar personalities. Throughout the novel, there are instances in which the reader feels bad for and dislikes both Daisy and Myrtle. These two women portray that wealth is better than everything else, and they both base their lives on it. Also the novel shows the hardships and difficulties they have in their marriages. They are never satisfied with what they have, and are always longing for more.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, women are used as trophies, forced, by society, to compete in a world dominated by men. Fitzgerald portrays these women as money hungry, willing to do anything to get ahead. Such as Daisy Buchannan, who marries her husband for the mere fact he has money, or Jordan Baker, who cheats on her golf tournaments to win, and last, Myrtle Wilson, who has an affair because she does not like her social status. This novel shows greatly how Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson compete with the superficial world that they live in and disregard their own happiness for the sake of status.
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.
Daisy Buchanan is the most significant female character in The Great Gatsby. F Scott Fitzgerald writes her as the most significant female because she is most like his wife, Zelda (Donaldson). Daisy is Gatsby’s motivation for wealth and why he wants to accomplish so much. He has longed for her because she has always been unattainable. Fitzgerald, like Gatsby was often rejected by women in a class higher than him (Donaldson). Zelda was Fitzgerald’s motivation for writing The Great Gatsby and many other works (Donaldson). It was a way for him to express his frustration and love for his wife. Zelda was the main female role in Fitzgerald’s life, much like Daisy is for Gatsby. Fitzgerald writes his relationship in order to cope with what is happening
It is shown through their inability to have a say in what they want. When one of Gatsby’s party comes to an end, arguments erupted between men and women. Fitzgerald writes, “The wives were sympathizing with each other in slightly raised voices” (51). Having no right in saying what they want, the wives resolves to each other for comfort. Their opinions are not taken into consideration by their husbands. The women can cause a scene or whatever they want, and their request would still not even be thought about. Some may argue that the women were rather looking for topics to talk about, but that would be incorrect. That is because the wives are upset with their husbands for not giving them what they want. After Tom reveals to Daisy the other side of Gatsby, she begins to fear him. Tom commands her to ride with Gatsby and she does not want to, but with one look, she obeys him. Daisy has no power compared to Tom. She is forced to ride with Gatsby even though she does not want to. This action just shows how inferior women are compared to men. One simple gesture has her complying into his command. She has no say in what happens to her. Her existence is to comply with what her husband says. These simple actions show the lack of authority women has over men. Being unable to have a say in what they want, Fitzgerald confirms his opinion as women being
Let me start by asking you a question: What is surprisingly untrustworthy, can cause numerous mental health issues, and is hated by scientists everywhere? Your memory! Very few people have stopped to think about memories, and almost no one knows the horrors that come along with memories. Throughout time, the concept of memories has been overlooked and never really questioned until recently. Scientists have discovered that the cause of many mental health issues is our own memories. Also, the high level of confidence that we have in our memories is very misleading. Our memory is so self-destructive and unreliable that scientists have started creating ways to erase memories.
During the 1920’s, the role women had under men was making a drastic change, and it is shown in The Great Gatsby by two of the main female characters: Daisy and Jordan. One was domesticated and immobile while the other was not. Both of them portray different and important characteristics of the normal woman growing up in the 1920’s. The image of the woman was changing along with morals. Females began to challenge the government and the society. Things like this upset people, especially the men. The men were upset because this showed that they were losing their long-term dominance over the female society.
At first glance, The Great Gatsby is merely a classic American tragedy, portraying the story of a man's obsession with a fantasy, and his resulting downfall. However, Fitzgerald seems to weave much more than that into the intricate web of emotional interactions he creates for the reader. One interesting element is the concepts of greatness each has. For Daisy, it lies in material wealth, and in the comfort and security associated with it. Daisy seems to be easily impressed by material success, as when she is touring Gatsby's mansion and seems deeply moved by his collection of fine, tailored shirts. It would seem that Tom's relative wealth, also, had at one time impressed her enough to win her in marriage. In contrast to that, Gatsby seems to not care a bit about money itself, but rather only about the possibility that it can win over Daisy. In fact, Gatsby's extreme generosity gives the reader the impression that Gatsby would otherwise have never even worked at attaining wealth had it not been for Daisy. For Gatsby, the only thing of real importance was his pursuit of Daisy. It would seem that these elements are combined, too in the character Myrtle.
When the leading female in the role, Daisy Buchanan, learns that the child she is giving birth to is a girl she says “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool . . . the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 21). This shows how Daisy has given up at this point in her life and realizes that women will never amount to anything and that they have no role in society other than becoming someone's wife and or mother. Daisy Buchanan is fully aware of the role that women play during this time. She, unlike most women, knows of her own marginalization and admits that females are powerless and unimportant as they are living in a male-dominated society. The author's presentation of women is essentially very unsympathetic and unflattering. Daisy is also a character who is struggling with being in love with a man other than her husband, but knows that she cannot go out and have an affair. A literary critic Lihua Zhang states how The Great Gatsby is a, “Disillusion of American Dream . . . the way of dealing with true love and lo...
During the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan about Daisy, she is talked about like she is a possession to be won over. During the argument Nick “glances at Daisy who was staring terrified between Gatsby and her husband” (Fitzgerald, page 143). Gatsby and Buchanan tell Daisy what to say instead of allowing her to tell her own truths, and if she does start to speak up for herself she is quickly quieted down. Daisy states at the beginning of the novel while talking about finding out the sex of her child that, “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, page 16). Daisy is the only female character in the novel who understands that no matter what a woman accomplishes, she will always be downcasted based on her gender. This outlook is what allows her to be controlled by Gatsby and Buchanan, because she doesn’t believe that anything she can do will make her more of a human to them. Myrtle on the other hand, while still a married woman, isn’t able to see her powerlessness. She feels powerful enough to stand up to Tom and chant Daisy’s name over and over again until he breaks her nose (Fitzgerald, page 37). This scene demonstrates the way that men handled women if they ever did feel confident enough to speak for themselves. One final scene from the novel that really
...be who they want to be. Tom is completely different around Myrtle and Daisy. He knows he can be more dominant around Myrtle since she is poor. He knows he cannot be that way towards Daisy since she comes from money herself. The idea of the American dream is totally destroyed in The Great Gatsby because of the way the characters interact in the story.