Jordan: A Woman of the 1920s

The traditional roles of women prior to the 1920s tended to be very passive and almost nonexistent. They cooked, cleaned, and centered their lives on children and the household. However, women experienced a diminutive amount of freedom during World War I when they were expected to obtain jobs in the absence of deployed men. This originated the emancipated role of women. This role is exemplified by Jordan Baker in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Jordan Baker represents the new generation of women who choose a lifestyle full of freedom, independence and overall carelessness.

Preceding the 1920s, most women spent their time as mothers and housewives. They were typically seen but not heard. Without voting rights or employment options, women were dependent almost entirely upon their spouses. “Prior to the 1920s, a woman’s place was held to be in the home or engaged in social work.”(Hanson 5). Hanson further explains this fact with the excerpt, “Before World War II many women either never worked outside the home or stopped working after they married.” Disregard, impulse, and spontaneity were just some of the things that began to drive most young women when the World War I concluded. Hanson demonstrates, “As a result of the changes occurring in business, technology and other areas the roles of women and youth in the modern world also evolved in new directions.”(1). This new revolution was thought to be somewhat detrimental not only to women, but also to the families and spouses involved. “They worked perhaps two hours a day, and the rest of the time they ate chocolates, went to the motion pictures, went window-shopping, went in gossiping twos and threes to card parties, read magazines, thought timorously of the lovers who never...

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...different. Although greatly frowned upon, these women broke free of their unseen, unheard lifestyle and unknowingly started a revolution that people would talk about for generations to come.

Works Cited

Wyly, Michael. Understanding Great Literature; The Great Gatsby. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002.

Johnson, Claudia. Class Conflict in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2008.

Shmoop Editorial Team. “Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby.” Shmoop.com. Shmoop University Inc., 11 Nov 2008. Web. 10 Jan 2011.

Hanson, Erica. A Cultural History of the United States; The 1920s. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1999.

Bloom, Harold. “Plot Summary of “The Great Gatsby...” Bloom’s Major Novelists: F. Scott Fitzgerald (2000):13-16. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 12 Jan. 2011.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1925.