Fitzgerald's Portrayal Of Women In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is one of the few and best American novels that critique the American Dream. While on the surface it may appear as a classical tragic romance, it holds a much deeper meaning. Fitzgerald uses the novel to show the drastic changes which happened during the 1920s. At that time there was a social divide between the “old money” and the “new money”; despite both have immense amounts of wealth, the latter was looked down upon by former. One of the most iconic social changes of the 1920s was that of women. Women started going to parties, wearing short dresses and cutting their hair short. These women were known as flappers who flouted all social norms.

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald constantly criticizes the idea of the American

Gatsby was part of the “new rich” who made their money on their own, while Daisy and Tom were part of the “old rich” who inherited their money. The difference between the old rich and the new rich is made obvious at beginning of the story when Nick reads the list of guests of Gatsby’s party. The old rich were people with well-known wealthy families, while the new rich were mostly gamblers and people with less-known families. The new rich were perceived by the old rich as people with lower social status than them. Daisy refused Gatsby because of the difference in social status between. Despite all the wealth that Gatsby amassed, Daisy wanted be with someone with a high social status. She didn’t want to be with someone who was rumored to be a bootlegger, and no amount of money would change that fact. It is that social divide that prevented Gatsby from achieving his American Dream. It that social divide which Fitzgerald criticizes; it is not only a major hypocrisy within the American Identity but also the reason why the American Dream is only a dream and not a