Power In The Great Gatsby

Men Crave Power: A Feminist Analysis of The Great Gatsby

The male characters of The Great Gastby are portrayed as weak men who crave the attention and power that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s female characters do not supply. Tom Buchanan, a married man, committed adultery and made love to a woman other than his wife; his actions were the product of lack of attention. Jay Gatsby hopelessly chased after Daisy Buchanan in hopes of finding and rekindling their ancient love; Gatsby’s whole adulthood was dictated by the actions of his lost lover. Nick Carraway compared his love for a woman to Gatsby’s love and Tom’s love; his competition was a battle for masculinity. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote into The Great Gatsby, men who longed for power only provided

by the women they knew.

Tom Buchanan did not feel emotionally satisfied by his wife Daisy Buchanan.

He indicated this when he responded to a “derogatory” phrase his wife had said, “‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding’” (Fitzgerald 12). It can be inferred that Tom is displeased with his wife’s joking, allowing the audience to believe he is not emotionally contented by her. To Maia Samkanashvili, Daisy featured “ some [Flapper] values of irresponsibility and detachment” (47). Before Daisy’s time, it was common for the woman of the household to carry several responsibilities. Because Daisy failed to uphold her “duties” as a wife, Tom may have experienced his sense of power fleeing him. Tom had not only Daisy to love, but a mistress as well. This simple fact exemplifies his yearning for control; he could not contain one woman, so he sought another one. At one crucial point in the novel, Tom lost his grasp on both women; “his wife and his mistress...were slipping precipitately from his control” (Fitzgerald 125). Fitzgerald’s use of the world “control” makes the hunger for power of Tom

evident.

Jay Gatsby’s attitude and personality was swayed by the decisions and actions of his beloved Daisy.

After Gatsby had confronted Tom about Daisy’s love for the two men, he became flustered when Daisy had not any words for him; “but with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up” (Fitzgerald 134). Strong men, in such a culture as the 1920s, did not merely “give up,” as it is a sign of weakness. Clearly, Gatsby abandoned the male stereotype of independence and power and allowed a female to control his actions. Gatsby allowed his hunger for dominance to overpower him. He began to compete with Tom to win Daisy’s heart; “Gatsby can oppress Daisy to love him and compete with Tom in wealth” (Bao-feng 5). The battle between the two men began with a love for the lady, but spread further due to male egotism. Gatsby created a future for him and Daisy without her consent; he envisioned a lavish and extraordinary life for the two of them. “He talked a lot about the past, and i gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy” (Fitzgerald 110). He never imagined a life lived without her. A woman he had met five years prior was controlling his vision of the rest of his life. He craved a life of riches and wealth so Daisy would choose him over any

man.

Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald’s protagonist of The Great Gatsby, saw flourishing love amongst the people surrounding him. To make himself feel more of a man, more like the other men experiencing this love, he forced himself into a “relationship” with Daisy’s friend Jordan. “Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs, and so I drew up the girl beside me, tightening my arms. Her wan, scornful mouth smiled, and so I drew her up again closer, this time to my face” (Fitzgerald 80). Nick recognized the lack of a female’s presence in his life at that very moment, but Gatsby and Tom had women on their arms. The fact that he did not use Jordan’s name when kissing her shows that she was but an object for him to overpower at that moment.
Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby exemplified the extents to which men will reach in order to gain power.