Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The great gatsby gender analysis
The great gatsby gender analysis
Character of Daisy in the Great Gatsby
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The great gatsby gender analysis
In the Great Gatsby there were 3 main female characters. There’s the successful woman that everyone admires, the independent one, then there’s the one who only cares for money. Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson, and they formed a major part in the story line.
Daisy Buchanan is a wealthy woman from Louisville, Kentucky. She was popular, and was known as a beautiful individual. She was attracted by officers in World War I. She then met Jay Gatsby, and fell in love with him, he was also one of the officers. While Gatsby was at war, Daisy’s parents pressured her into marrying Tom Buchanan. Shortly, after they are married he begins to cheat on her. Daisy is treated poorly by Tom Buchanan, he doesn’t care about Daisy’s feelings, as
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.
Daisy Buchanan, this woman is crazy, uncaring, and many would argue cold hearted. She is married to Tom and yet, has an affair with Gatsby. Tom is her husband, a very well-off man that goes off and has affairs, and never attempts to hide the fact. Then there is Gatsby. Ah, Gatsby. The young man she was so in love with as a teenage girl. Tom and Gatsby have many similarities; from the fact that both Tom and Gatsby want Daisy all to themselves to the fact that they both love her. While they share many similarities they have far more numerable differences between them. The differences range from how they treat her to how rich they and what social class they are in, to the simple fact that Tom lives in “East Egg” and Gatsby in “West Egg.” Both the similarities and differences between these two men are what ultimately cause Daisy to believe that she is in love with Tom more than she is with Gatsby.
Daisy Buchanan illustrates the downfall of the stereotypical upper class women of the 1920s; she is “high in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl”, the girl who men idolize and dominate. Society has moulded her to be subservient and powerless. She is completely controlled by her husband Tom Buchanan, who is the archetypal character of the patriarchal social system of the 1920s. She is materialistic and s...
Throughout the book, women take important roles and change the story, ultimately leading to Gatsby’s death. Myrtle, Jordan and Daisy are just the same as the men, each striving for what they want, whether it be love from another or material goods, only to be held back by sexism of the time. Her husband Wilson loves her, but turned out to be poorer than the man she thought she was marrying. Myrtle wants someone to love that loves her to go along with her wish of a life of luxury.
Daisy Buchanan is married to Tom Buchanan and cousin to Nick Carraway. During World War I, many soldiers stationed by her in Louisville, were in love with her. The man who caught her eye the most was Jay Gatsby. When he was called into war, she promised him that she would wait for him. Also that upon his return they will be married. Daisy, lonely because Gatsby was at war, met Tom Buchanan. He was smart and part of a wealthy family. When he asked her to marry him, she didn't hesitate at once, and took his offering. Here, the reader first encounters how shallow Daisy is, making her a dislikeable character. Another event that Daisy is a dislikeable character is when she did not show up to Gatsby's funeral. When Daisy and Gatsby reunite, their love for each other rekindle. She often visited Gatsby at his mansion, and they were inseparable. This led Gatsby on because he dedicated his whole life into getting Daisy back, and she had no gratitude towards it. At the hotel suite scene, Daisy reveals to all that she loves Gatsby, but then also says that she loves Tom as well. This leaves the reader at awe, because after...
Daisy Buchanan is a beautiful, charming young woman who plays a major role in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. She is the woman Jay Gatsby, devotes and risk his life for since he met her five years ago. Daisy has many different personalities and is very indecisive throughout the novel. She puts wealth and pride before everything, even if it means getting someone killed.
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.
With the increasing popularity of female-oriented post-secondary education, the growing number of women working outside the home in professional occupations and the newly granted right to suffrage, women directly challenged the traditional notions of American Womanhood in the 1920’s. In just seventy one years since the Seneca Falls Convention, feminists in America accomplished sweeping changes for women politically, economically, and socially. Attempting to reconcile the changing concept of womanhood with more traditional female roles, male writers often included depictions of this “New Woman” in their novels. Frequently, the male writers of the Progressive Era saw the New Woman as challenging the very fabric of society and, subsequently, included
Tom Buchanan and George Wilson have plenty in common with their attitude pertaining towards women in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald throughout the entire novel gives the audience an insight on his thoughts about the nature of man. Fitzgerald portrays men often treating women harshly throughout his novel. For example, there are many violent acts towards women, a constant presence of dominance, and also ironically Tom and Georges over reactions to being cheated on.
Throughout The Great Gatsby, the three main female characters, Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson, all embody this flapper of the 1920s. Fitzgerald accurately portrayed the flamboyancy of the 1920s in The Great Gatsby. Many aspects contributed to this flamboyance and indifference. The pursuit of the “American Dream” contributed to the actions of Americans and to the actions of Fitzgerald’s characters.
Daisy Buchanan, in reality, is unable to live up the illusory Daisy that Gatsby has invented in his fantasy. After Daisy and Tom Buchanan leave another one of Gatsby’s splendid parties, Fitzgerald gives the reader a glimpse into what Gatsby’s expectations are. Fitzgerald claims that “he wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you.’” (109). Here it is revealed that Gatsby’s one main desire is for Daisy to go willingly...
Daisy Buchanan is shallow and vain character who lives in an illusory world. Daisy marries Tom only because of his money. Daisy is in love with material objects. She uses her money to escape from reality, and when she needs to she hides behind her money stated by Jonathan Yardley, who favored t...
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.
Gender Roles: In some respects, Fitzgerald writes about gender roles in a quite conservative manner. In his novel, men work to earn money for the maintenance of the women. Men are dominant over women, especially in the case of Tom, who asserts his physical strength to subdue them. The only hint of a role reversal is in the pair of Nick and Jordan. Jordan's androgynous name and cool, collected style masculinize her more than any other female character. However, in the end, Nick does exert his dominance over her by ending the relationship. The women in the novel are an interesting group, because they do not divide into the traditional groups of Mary Magdalene and Madonna figures, instead, none of them are pure. Myrtle is the most obviously sensual, but the fact that Jordan and Daisy wear white dresses only highlights their corruption.
From the start of the book we can see that women in the book are