A Look at Feminism in The Great Gatsby. Throughout the history of humanity, women have always been seen in a lesser light than men. This prejudice appears in many types of media, including books. The book, The Great Gatsby, is no exception to this with Fitzgerald’s female characters Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle. Each woman is different in terms of character, and Fitzgerald uses that to view the undertones of feminism in the story. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows feminism by contrasting the characters Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle through their desires. In the story, Daisy is a lovely, beautiful woman married to the very wealthy Tom Buchanan. When it comes to her desires, all she wants is to stay rich. When Jordan explains Daisy’s backstory, …show more content…
When reflecting on why she married Mr. Wilson, Myrtle confesses, “‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman.I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never even told me about it.then I lay down and cried to beat the band all afternoon.’” (Fitzgerald 34-5). When Myrtle realizes that Mr. Wilson is not wealthy, she believes that she made a mistake marrying him. Myrtle wants to indulge in the luxuries that women of higher social status enjoy daily. A gentleman, according to her, is a man that is rich and willing to share his money with his wife for her expenses. Her point of view leads her to believe that she must cheat on Mr. Wilson in order to become rich and obtain the social status she obsesses over. This desire portrays feminism, because a woman wanting to marry a wealthy man for money, rather than love, is a common stereotype. The reason for the stereotype traces back to the fact that, in the past, women couldn’t get jobs, or at least ones that paid well. For that reason, Myrtle embodies the hard truth of feminism, while still being a realistic character. Overall, the female characters in The Great
From early civilizations to modern day social systems, economic status has always been a determining factor of power. Kings, queens, dukes, princes, and princesses possessed the greatest amount of wealth and thus the greatest amount of power over others. By having large amounts of wealth, royalty could control the actions of others below their economic status. This fact even applies the functions of modern American society. For instance, regardless of the specific circumstance, wealthy individuals have power over the actions of those below them. They control others by buying their loyalty or simply through others’ envy of them. Such principles can be applied to both men and women of wealth. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald,
A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting — before he could move from his door the business was over. The “death car,” as the newspapers called it, didn’t stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment, and then disappeared around the next bend. Michaelis wasn’t even sure of its color — he told the first policeman that it was light green. The other car, the one going toward New York, came to rest a hundred yards beyond, and its driver hurried back to where Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust. Michaelis and this man reached her first, but when they had torn open her shirtwaist, still damp with perspiration, they saw that her left breast was swinging loose like a flap,
Whilst lounging among her ‘friends’ and colleagues, Fitzgerald is able to show how Myrte is submissive to anyone who poses as a threat to her. During the time period in which the novel is taking place,the roaring twenties, the male in any relationship was dominant over the woman. The word “broke” also shows a strong development in words. Fitzgerald did not give Myrtle's character a fractured nose, but instead, gave her a more painful alternative,a nose that was “broke.” Fitzgerald is also able to show how Myrtle can be stricken and will not say a word about it due to the cause of her own fear. Since Tom Buchanan was angry , he physically hurt her in a
In the book Great Gatsby there are many examples of society and social class, many are shown to us as the book progresses. Some are shown to us very up front while, others are hidden in the text. Society and social class play a critical part in this book such as how people interact with the lower classes, to how the rich live their lives. When we look deeper into on how the Great Gatsby handles sociality and social class, which puts the characters in the positions they are in.
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.
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.
... 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
“Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men” (Joseph Conrad). In the Novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the wife of George Wilson, Myrtle, has been cheating with the married man Tom Buchanan. From time to time they escape to an apartment Tom owns, behind each of their spouses backs. As time goes on Daisy, Tom’s wife, obtains the knowledge from Jordan that her previous lover is just across the bay and waiting to see her again. Daisy begins going behind Tom’s back with Jay Gatsby, tangling the characters in a mess of relationships. Throughout the book, women take important roles and change the story, even ultimately leading to Gatsby’s death.
Many of the occurrences in The Great Gatsby produced far-reaching effects for several of the characters. Of these occurrences, one of the most influential and important incidents was the death of Myrtle Wilson. While her life and death greatly affected the lives of all of the main and supporting characters, her death had a very significant effect on the lives of Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby.
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.
Perhaps one of the greatest ways Fitzgerald establishes the horrific times of the 1920s occurs when he evokes sympathy for Gatsby regarding his tragic death and the after affects. One night, after being in New York City for the day, Daisy and Gatsby are driving back to Daisy’s home. Daisy’s husband, Tom, has not remained faithful to her since their wedding day and he is in an affair with a woman named Myrtle Wilson. The road from New York City back to Daisy’s home travels past the home of Myrtle Wilson. As Daisy and Gatsby are driving by, Myrtle sees the car and recognizes that Tom was driving it earlier. Thinking that Tom is currently driving the car, Myrtle thinks that Tom has come to get her and take her with him. Myrtle then runs out to the car, but the car does not stop because Daisy is driving it, and ends up accidentally hitting and killing Myrtle. However, when George Wilson finds out that his wife has been killed, he is wrongly told that Gatsby was the one driving the vehicle. George Wilson becomes so upset by this that he goes to Gatsby house and shoots him. This event creates sympathy for Gatsby because he gets killed for an crime that he did not commit. Gatsby’s tell also signifies his love for Daisy and how he was willing to take the blame for the murder, so that Daisy would not suffer any
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.
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...
“Money can’t buy happiness” is a common saying almost everyone has heard. However, that doesn’t stop people from trying to do so. In a capitalist society, there is an emphasis on success, though it may feel wrong emotionally. Breaking from that mold can be difficult; it takes strength to go against the world around you. This connects to The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which, despite having been written a century ago, grapples with these same ideas.