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The great gatsby female characterization
Representation Of Women In Literature
Representation Of Women In Literature
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WOMEN CHARACTERS ANALYSIS AND MYSOGYNYSM IN F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S THE GREAT GATSBY “‘Allright’ i said. ‘I’m glad it is 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”(9). -Daisy Fay Buchanan F.Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby which released in 1925 is a tragic love story and criticism of American society. The times the novel released women were in a definite position in society. Although the roles started changing, majority of the women were in traditional role of housewife. Notwithstanding, Fitzgerald’s approach is beyond this situation. We can see his prejudiced and unfair side in Nick Carraway’s, the narrator’s eyes. In this paper, we will criticise Fitzgerald’s …show more content…
Nick thinks that he should stay away from cunning and clever women. Nick’s thoughts reveal her fear about women. On the other hand, Jordan thinks same way as Nick but for men. Also, she think it for a different reason. She like manipulating fool men for living how she wants, Nick explain this situation with this sentence: "Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever shrewd men and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible"(63). After this sentence, Nick says “Jordan is incurably dishonest"(64). The one thing make Jordan dishonest and cunning is her associating with a golf cheating scandal. The other thing is her wanting to gossip about everyone, even her friend Daisy. For example, when Tom Buchanan take a phone and argue with Daisy, she said to Nick that it was the mistress of Tom(23). In Gatsby’s party, she gossips with party-goers about Gatsby. In Nature and Optics in the Great Gatsby, J. S. Westbrook said that: “ The"golden arms" of Jordan Baker are not simply those of a healthy girl who spends her afternoons on fairways, but of a girl whose wealth is linked with dishonesty”(80). When we look all features of Jordan, it is surprising that there is almost no positive thing about her, too. Beside showing era’s spirit, it reveals Fitzgerald’s sexist perspective very …show more content…
She is subjected to violence by Tom: “Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.” She is in an abusive position. She does not leave Tom although she is subjected to violence. Nevertheless, while Myrtle stays with Tom her own wish, Daisy stays with Tom because she is coward for leaving her traditional wife role and she loves wealth. Unlike Daisy, Myrtle gets beyond the limits. Unfortunately, her getting beyond the limits results in her death. It is like a punishment for her because she has an extramarital affair. Also, it is like a warning that when women push their limits, what will happen to them. All in all, the depiction of Myrtle is very
Unlike Daisy, who comes from old money, Myrtle is from the lower middle class. Myrtle hopes to climb the social ladder by cheating on her husband with Tom Buchanan.
The quote evokes an image of selfishness, severe dishonesty, and overall carelessness which perfectly describes the rather shallow character, Jordan. While it may seem logical for her to keep her wrongdoings concealed, it is still immoral and shows that she has been corrupted by the desire for fame and wealth. Similar to Tom, Jordan lives life in a selfish manner, lacking concern for others. She is able to ignore her issues in order to keep her reputation, but it ultimately leaves Nick with a tainted impression of Jordan. This displays Jordan’s lack of foresight that is fostered by her nonchalant perspective on life. Then, immediately after Nick mentions how dishonest Jordan truly was, he narrates:
She had even convinced Wilson to move away from the horrible life they shared, but this backfired and he ended up keeping her locked inside until they were ready to leave the next day. “Myrtle Wilson’s body wrapped in a blanket and then in another blanket as though she suffered from a chill in the hot night lay on a work table by the wall and Tom, with his back to us, was bending over it, motionless” (Fitzgerald 148). Her desire to get away from her trapped life was enough to ultimately kill her. Just like Myrtle had, Daisy was torn into her own marriage. She loved both men, but as soon as it was found out, the men began fighting for her.
Mizener, Arthur, ed. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963.
Jordan baker is a famous golfer. Nick likes Jordan Baker’s figure, high spirits, and her high classiness. Though he hates how she is dishonest. In the beginning of the story, he mainly explains things. The following quote is an example of one of her lies and also tells the reader how Nick feels about her:
Scott Fitzgerald, in his critically acclaimed The Great Gatsby, examined the role of women in society and the transgressions of the New Women against a patriarchal society. Additionally, Herstory and Daisy Buchanan by Leland S. Person Jr., Bad Driving: Jordan 's Tantalizing Story in "The Great Gatsby" by Veronica Makowsky, and Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson critique Fitzgerald’s novel through a feminist lens. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle represent the three archetypes of women, and their fates and characterizations demonstrate the sexist, patriarchal message of the novel. As the most traditional woman of the novel, Fitzgerald not only depicts Daisy Buchanan as the simple trophy wife of her husband, but also chastises her for rebellious refusal to accept her position in life. Modeled after the historical Gibson Girl, Jordan Baker defies all gender stereotypes and is therefore unfavorably portrayed as androgynous and
Tom and George both show their treachery towards women on multiple occasions. Tom’s first physical violent act is towards Myrtle when she constantly says, “Daisy! Daisy! Daisy! I’ll say it whenever I want to!” Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke
During the 1920’s, the role women had under men was making a drastic change, and it is shown in The Great Gatsby by two of the main female characters: Daisy and Jordan. One was domesticated and immobile while the other was not. Both of them portray different and important characteristics of the normal woman growing up in the 1920’s. The image of the woman was changing along with morals. Females began to challenge the government and the society. Things like this upset people, especially the men. The men were upset because this showed that they were losing their long-term dominance over the female society.
In the novel The Great Gatsby by American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jordan Baker portrays a professional golfer who is both Daisy Buchanan’s friend and a woman with whom Nick Carraway, the narrator, becomes romantically involved. She is poised, blonde, very athletic, and physically appealing. Throughout the story, Baker represents a typical privileged upper class woman of the 1920’s Jazz Age with her cynical, glamorous, and self-centered nature. Despite the fact that she is not the main character, Jordan Baker plays an important role in portraying one of Fitzgerald's themes, the decay of morality, in the novel. When the audience is first introduced to Jordan Baker, it is during a warm evening when Nick Carraway drives to the East Egg to visit with his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom.
F Scott Fitgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is centred upon 1920’s America. In the text, characters such as Myrtle Wilson, Jordan Baker and Daisy Buchanan are all carefully constructed to reveal various attitudes held by America in the early 20th century. Overall, the construction of female characters in The Great Gatsby showcases an accurate representation of women in the time period the text was composed in.
In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald is criticizing American society of the 1920s. He uses the characters to demonstrate the power than men had over women during these times, as well as their mindless, self-indulgent actions, where consequence was only an afterthought. The attitude towards and the role of women is shown throughout the novel. Fitzgerald also shows how many people in America during this time were delusional and had meaningless existences.
During the 1920’s women were fervently depicted as inferior to men and incapable of the success. In the novel The Great Gatsby female characters are subject to gender based stereotypes and blindly follow culturally accepted norms which dictate their place and position within society. The expectations placed upon the female characters to comply with the norms of society limit their potential to become successful in comparison to the male characters, who are successful in the 1920’s. Within The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates the female characters as socially and economically limited and dependant, due to the strong implementation of patriarchal roles of men in society. Women are confined
Even if they disagree about other issues, all feminists believe patriarchal ideology works to keep men and women confined to traditional gender roles so male dominance may be maintained. Utilizing the precepts of Feminist criticism, it could be argued “The Great Gatsby” promotes a thinly veiled patriarchal agenda. Through Fitzgerald’s treatment of the three women in “Gatsby”, as well as masking the possible homosexuality of a central character, the novel seems to promote only the traditional gender roles, swaying uncomfortably from any possible variance.
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...
During the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan about Daisy, she is talked about like she is a possession to be won over. During the argument Nick “glances at Daisy who was staring terrified between Gatsby and her husband” (Fitzgerald, page 143). Gatsby and Buchanan tell Daisy what to say instead of allowing her to tell her own truths, and if she does start to speak up for herself she is quickly quieted down. Daisy states at the beginning of the novel while talking about finding out the sex of her child that, “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, page 16). Daisy is the only female character in the novel who understands that no matter what a woman accomplishes, she will always be downcasted based on her gender. This outlook is what allows her to be controlled by Gatsby and Buchanan, because she doesn’t believe that anything she can do will make her more of a human to them. Myrtle on the other hand, while still a married woman, isn’t able to see her powerlessness. She feels powerful enough to stand up to Tom and chant Daisy’s name over and over again until he breaks her nose (Fitzgerald, page 37). This scene demonstrates the way that men handled women if they ever did feel confident enough to speak for themselves. One final scene from the novel that really