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Truth in the great gatsby
The shattering of illusions in the great gatsby
Truth in the great gatsby
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“Although she is often seen now as a mere fashion of the bygone Jazz Age, the flapper should be regarded as one of the great authentic characters in American history…” (Johnson, P. 88). Before the release of The Great Gatsby in 1925, women were characterized as stay-at-home mothers who cooked and cleaned during the day. When the roaring twenties arrived, the description of a typical woman completely changed as the term “flapper” was coined. Women began to take on the perceptible role of the flapper; a role characterized as being spoiled, self-centered, and rebellious. As a 30 year-old man, F. Scott Fitzgerald had his own thoughts and feelings about the new norm for women. He summarized his thoughts in The Great Gatsby by giving specific characteristics …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald was viewed as both a patron and a doubter of the sudden emergence of the Flapper. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows his disapproval through background information and descriptions of Jordan and Catherine, Myrtle Wilson’s sister. Jordan is a self-motivated, rebellious, unmarried golfer who, similar to Catherine, likes to party. Jordan once told Nick, “I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy” (Fitzgerald 49). Fitzgerald criticizes the idea of the flapper through Jordan by including a newspaper article that Nick recalls about her. The article said, “...she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round. The thing approached the proportions of a scandal” (Fitzgerald, 56). Similar to Jordan, Catherine exhibits characteristics of an untrustworthy and dishonest person. When Nick meets Catherine for the first time she tells him, “‘Myrtle really ought to get away from him’ resumed Catherine to me.’They’ve been living over that garage for eleven years. And Tom’s the first sweetie she ever had’” (Fitzgerald, 35). Catherine shows that she is rebellious as she tries to persuade Tom and Myrtle into leaving their spouses. Both Jordan and Catherine are rebellious and self-centered, which were common traits among …show more content…
When Tom, Jordan, and Nick are heading home from New York City, they learn that Myrtle was struck and killed by a car passing by. As rumors of the incident began to swirl, Tom learned that it had was Gatsby’s car that had committed the crime. Nick finds out from Gatsby that it was Daisy who was driving at the time, not Gatsby. This detail indicates that Fitzgerald was not fond of the traditional woman because they would not take credit for their actions. Gatsby explains what happened right after the accident, “I tried to make her stop, but she couldn’t so I pulled on the emergency brake” (Fitzgerald, 144). Fitzgerald shows flaws of both the traditional woman and Flappers by including scenes that create a negative
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.
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.
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
... 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).
Throughout the book, women take important roles and change the story, ultimately leading to Gatsby’s death. Myrtle, Jordan and Daisy are just the same as the men, each striving for what they want, whether it be love from another or material goods, only to be held back by sexism of the time. Her husband Wilson loves her, but turned out to be poorer than the man she thought she was marrying. Myrtle wants someone to love that loves her to go along with her wish of a life of luxury.
In the 1920s, a new woman was born. She smoked, drank, danced, and voted. She cut her hair, wore make-up, and went to petting parties. She was giddy and took risks. She was a flapper.
Throughout The Great Gatsby, the three main female characters, Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson, all embody this flapper of the 1920s. Fitzgerald accurately portrayed the flamboyancy of the 1920s in The Great Gatsby. Many aspects contributed to this flamboyance and indifference. The pursuit of the “American Dream” contributed to the actions of Americans and to the actions of Fitzgerald’s characters.
They are both born into impoverished families, but deny acceptance of their lower status. Myrtle and Gatsby also share similar aspirations, to gain money and higher status. They are attempting to rise above their social class. Fitzgerald’s interpretation of Gatsby however, is much different from his portrayal of Gatsby. Gatsby is a tragic hero. He has nothing but good intentions and aspires for love, while Myrtle is simply shown as a foolish woman who is so absorbed in greed that she sacrifices her morals and sanity, in exchange for money and higher status. Gatsby, unlike Myrtle, maintains redeemable qualities until his murder. Everything he does is for his love, Daisy, because he wants only the best for her even if his life turns to ruins as a result. In contrast, Myrtle who has the same aspirations as Gatsby, exhibits impure intentions. She wants to achieve her goals of becoming a wealthy, elite member of society, purely to feed her selfish, eager desires, at the cost of her husbands’ sanity. This is what removes any sympathy a person may have had for Myrtle. She is depicted as a silly imbecile who cheats her way out her marriage and into her
In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald analyzes three main characters, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Nick Carraway. The Great Gatsby is a story about finding out who people really are and how far they will go to protect their secrets from spilling to everyone. The Great Gatsby is like a story of our time, we have the rich and the poor towns, we have people who cheat on their spouses, and lastly, we have racism towards different cultures and races (Schreier). Many ironic events take place throughout the book. For example, Gatsby and Nick become friends, Tom and Myrtle being secret lovers, also, Daisy and Gatsby carrying on an affair, and lastly Daisy running over Myrtle in Gatsby’s car (Coleman). Fitzgerald purposely wrote the book to tell about lovers that were not supposed to be together and how they overcame that and fell in love with one another (Shain). He also wrote the book to relate to American society (Tolmatchoff).
Gatsby plays the god-like character in this book so his means are good but both him and Myrtle do bad things to get higher in a crowd that will never take them in. To make themselves appear better to the other crowd, they lose some of the moral fiber that was there to begin with. (Fitzgerald, -page 83) Loss of morals in the 1920' in America caused the American dream to vanish. The god-like character of the book was a good person but he did bad things like bootlegging and joining in organized crime. Affairs happened in the elite crowd between Tom and Myrtle.
During Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, it is apparent to be an absurd time for the wealthy. The shallowness of money, riches, and a place in a higher social class were probably the most important components in most lives at that period of time. This is expressed clearly by Fitzgerald, especially through his characters, which include Myrtle Wilson, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and of course, Jay Gatsby. This novel was obviously written to criticize and condemn the ethics of the rich.
“Lovely, expensive, and about nineteen,” (Jackie Hatton) is how F. Scott Fitzgerald described the ideal flapper. The 1920’s were a time of great change in America with the country coming out of World War I and enjoying a period of great prosperity. (Brian DiPaolo) A result of this change was the emergence of the flapper who was a new type of woman. The flapper movement of the 1920’s was caused by social and economic changes for women, and also had an impact on women’s dress, behavior and economic status.
Following a particularly emotionally strenuous encounter between he and Gatsby, Tom recommends that the whole group (Gatsby, himself, Nick Carraway, Daisy and Jordan Baker), head downtown, but insists that the two men swap cars. Daisy and Gatsby, who have unknowingly been suspected of their affair by Tom take off and, drunkenly, run over a woman who has run out into the street. Daisy’s hands were on the wheel. When the husband of the deceased woman inquires what really happened to Tom, as she was killed with his car. Tom blames Gatsby, and why should he not? As far as Tom knew, Gatsby was a frivolous, careless and untrustworthy man-- and all of this as a result of Gatsby’s own actions. Gatsby lives a gaudy and attention-seeking life solely for the recognition of one woman, he blatantly lies about his past and does not believe that he will be caught, and made passes at Tom’s wife right in front of him. A mix of retribution and mistaken identity take George Wilson, the woman’s wife, to Gatsby’s home, where he patiently awaits a phone call from Daisy-- presumably professing her love for him or something of the like-- that will never come. Gatsby is shot by Wilson, believing until the very end that his forbidden fruit was not lethal, and that he possessed the innate right to all of his greatest desires. It is remarked by Nick that Gatsby “paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” (Fitzgerald 163);
She is feeling low and wants to drive to get her mind off things, not surprisingly Gatsby let her charm him once again. On the way back to The Buchanan’s, a woman runs in the middle of the road and Daisy doesn’t slow down. Daisy hits her and kills her, but the most tragic part was that she didn’t stop. Tom sees all the commotion on the way back and stops by. Tom discovers it is his mistress who Daisy hit; he begins to talk to Mr. Wilson her grieving husband. Mr. Wilson describes the car and Tom tells him it was Gatsby. Gatsby let everyone believe that knows what happened, what Tom said is true, and Daisy’s selfish ways doesn’t stop him. A few days later, Mr. Wilson hunts down Gatsby and shoots him, and right after shoots himself. Daisy never spoke the truth, and her and Tom leaves town immediately. Daisy’s selfishness and pride make her directly responsible for Myrtle Wilson’s death; and indirectly responsible for George Wilson’s and Gatsby’s. Neither Daisy nor Tom goes to Gatsby’s funeral because ‘they were careless people who smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald calls attention to gender inequality of the 20th century. His descriptions of the differences between Jordan and Daisy portray Jordan as an embodiment of the new woman of the 1920s. Jordan epitomizes an unfettered woman and unlike Daisy, is entirely self-sufficient. Jordan’s independence and confidence spark disapproval from Tom and Nick because of her unwillingness to be restricted by their choices.