Gender Roles In The Great Gatsby

Connor Haley

Ms. Shannon Welch

English 3 Honors

14 February 2018

Social Class and Gender Roles in The Great Gatsby

In the Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays a surreal representation of life in the 1920’s by creating his setting to show the dark truth of social classes and gender roles by portraying the deprived people who work for the rich. We see this when the valley of ashes is introduced showing the lives of the poor then comparing it to the wealth showing Nick in Toms mansion. Scott Fitzgerald also shows the gender difference portraying females as only wanting to marry the rich by showing Myrtle be desperate for Nick and Daisy refusing to marry Gatsby because of his lack of wealth, this is shown though the characters differences

in perspective along with tone that created a vivid and extradentary detailed direction of gender roles and social classes. The 1920’s is commonly known for its economic boom and the luxurious lifestyles everyone lived. When in reality the poor were living in ruins while the rich used their money extravagantly. Gender roles in the 1920’s reflected the standard that men were the breadwinners of the family’s and were the ones providing for the families while females were stay at home wives who would clean the house and take care of the kids. Females are also shown as wanting to reach the next level of social class by any means necessary.
There is a major divide between each class in the Great Gatsby.

The social classes are between the rich and the poor. The rich are commonly born into their wealth like tom was. Tom was also an example of old money which is the divide between people who were born into their wealth. New money refers to the ones who worked for their money and built their wealth in their generation like how Jay Gatsby work for his fortune. There two classes created a physical boarder between East Egg and West Egg. Old money is against new money because they believe that it was earned in a suspicious way. “About Gatsby! No, I haven't. I said I'd been making a small investigation of his past.’ ‘And you found he was an Oxford man,’ said Jordan helpfully. ‘An Oxford mans!’ He was incredulous. ‘Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit." (Fitzgerald 130). This quote shows the divide between both classes. Tom is saying that Jay Gatsby never went to Oxford because of the pink suit he wears which isn’t taught at Oxford because they teach you to act and dress like everyone in your class. The divide between the rich and the poor is even bigger then old money and new money. In the Great Gatsby money is typically born into and if you don’t have money you are destined to be poor and there is nothing you can do about it. “And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before.” (Fitzgerald 43). This symbolizes how the poor are servants for the rich and how the rich are superior. “I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth.” (Fitzgerald 3). In this quote nick implying that you are born into your class along with your emotions and personality. He is stating that you are born into your class and it assigns you a specific

personality.

In the Great Gatsby, gender roles played a major part as to who each character was and how they viewed the world. Females acted as flappers who relied on a man to support them throughout their life. “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 20). Here we see Daisy stating she that she hopes that her daughter will grow up dumb to prevent her from know how dreadful her life will be. Daisy is a very selfish person throughout the Great Gatsby she uses her charm to marry someone based on how wealthy they are and not if she loves him. We see this when see this when she marries Tom over Gatsby because Gatsby was not wealth at the time. She married Tom anyway even though she loved Gatsby and not Tom. Women acted as puppets to men to ensure they have no responsibility and was cared for in every aspect of their life. “Well, first Daisy turned away from the woman toward the other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back. The second my hand reached the wheel I felt the shock – it must have killed her instantly.” (Fitzgerald 154). When Daisy accidently kills Myrtle she stays in shock and relies on Gatsby take the blame for Daisy’s actions showing that females have almost on responsibility for anything they do and she should rely on a man to solve her problems.