The portrayal of women in The Great Gatsby

1057 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Role of women in the 19th century

The portrayal of women in The Great Gatsby

Since the concept of society exists, women have been classified

differently from men. Women have always been the "weak sex", which is

meant to obey and please men. This has changed and now there is a

relative equality between sexes, but surprisingly, the image of women

only started to change significantly in the last 100 years, and even

in this century discrimination still takes place. In the 1930's

society had still a very primitive view of women, even if they had

acquired rights such as the right to vote, this had just occurred in

the 1920's. Most men still had the thought that women should only stay

home and raise children, that they should not be involved in politics,

and their ideas were not valuable.

From the start of the book we can see that women in the book are

portrayed, as naïve, brainless and that they can be easily

manipulated. We first notice this with Daisy's description, and then

Myrtle's, Jordan is kind of an exception, but she doesn't have much of

a significant part in the story. Daisy is described as sensitive,

materialistic, and she believes in everything she hears. I think that

the fact that she is blonde is because of the popular saying that

"blondes are stupid". Throughout the book we can see that as a matter

of fact daisy is the image of what is supposed to be a high class

women, she is not too bright, aware of her prettiness, and style

"sophisticated god I'm sophisticated" daisy, pg 18 and thinks that the

world revolves around her, and she hardly does anything by herself,

Daisy isn't totally in control of her own life, as she hasn't got the

courage to change What she is unhappy with, in fear of the public

opinion, With Daisy the autho...

... middle of paper ...

... or emotions. By

giving such superficial information about them the reader gets the

idea that they are foolish, and not too bright. Neither of them has a

really important role in the plot, or is fundamental in crucial times

of the story. They don't participate with ideas. Daisy is Gatsby's

dream, for all he lives and she is portrayed as an "unreachable jewel"

almost as an object, something that does not exist, and will never be

reached. Definitely women have a secondary role in the book, the

narrator is a man, important phrases are said by a man, and It's men

who are described deeply, the whole story spins around them. In the

1930's it was a common idea to think women had a secondary l role in

life, maybe F. Scott Fitzgerald had this ideology, or he was trying to

reflect society as accurately as possible, and for this reason he put

women on a second plan.

Show More
Related

  • The Women in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Women's Suffrage Dbq Essay

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...n including those of physicians and attorneys remained close to women, and the men still accounted for more than 95% of all of the doctors in 1900’s.” Women always believed that they were more than just your average housewives. Single workingwomen also began to doubt their virtues in life, because of the stereotypes that they were given based on their past occupations.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in the Roaring 1920s: An Examination of the Women of The Great Gatsby

    1786 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Fitzgerald's Portrayal Of Women In The Great Gatsby

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    For the first time ever in America, during the 1920s, a shift in the gender norms occurred. The decade was marked by the breakdown of the traditions governing women by the ratification of the 19th amendment, causing the idea of the new woman to become widespread. Also, during this time, a fantastic novel, The Great Gatsby, recognizes the rapidly changing social dynamic. F. Scott Fitzgerald both criticizes and praises the struggle between the coexisting traditional and new woman image by the flawed and interesting female characters, and the relationships with others they have. By exposing a variety of taboo at the time, Fitzgerald accurately captures the disturbance of the traditional expectations of women. During this turbulent time, the novel demonstrates the issues circulating the American public has surrounding the shift in gender because The Great Gatsby deals with the consequences of female emancipation in a misogynistic society.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in The Great Gatsby

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Archetypes Of Women In The Great Gatsby

    1399 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the increasing popularity of female-oriented post-secondary education, the growing number of women working outside the home in professional occupations and the newly granted right to suffrage, women directly challenged the traditional notions of American Womanhood in the 1920’s. In just seventy one years since the Seneca Falls Convention, feminists in America accomplished sweeping changes for women politically, economically, and socially. Attempting to reconcile the changing concept of womanhood with more traditional female roles, male writers often included depictions of this “New Woman” in their novels. Frequently, the male writers of the Progressive Era saw the New Woman as challenging the very fabric of society and, subsequently, included

    Read More

  • Attitude Towards Women In The Great Gatsby

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tom Buchanan and George Wilson have plenty in common with their attitude pertaining towards women in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald throughout the entire novel gives the audience an insight on his thoughts about the nature of man. Fitzgerald portrays men often treating women harshly throughout his novel. For example, there are many violent acts towards women, a constant presence of dominance, and also ironically Tom and Georges over reactions to being cheated on.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Ignorance In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    For many years there has been an ignorance towards women and that is shown in the novel, a type of Ignorance that was occurring in the novel is gender

    Read More

  • Hester Prynne: An Outcast By Society

    143 Words  | 1 Pages

    For a book written in the time period it was, it was rare for a woman to be the protagonist. The way

    Read More

  • Emergence of Women in the Great Gatsby

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Sexism In The Great Gatsby

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout time women have been written as the lesser sex weaker, secondary characters. They are portrayed as dumb, stupid, and nothing more that their fading beauty. They are written as if they need to be saved or helped because they cannot help themselves. Women, such as Daisy Buchanan who believes all a women can be is a “beautiful little fool”, Mrs Mallard who quite died when she lost her freedom from her husband, Eliza Perkins who rights the main character a woman who is a mental health patient who happens to be a woman being locked up by her husband, and then Carlos Andres Gomez who recognizes the sexism problem and wants to change it. Women in The Great Gatsby, “The Story of an Hour,” “The Yellow Wall Paper” and the poem “When” are

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in The Great Gatsby

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender Roles: In some respects, Fitzgerald writes about gender roles in a quite conservative manner. In his novel, men work to earn money for the maintenance of the women. Men are dominant over women, especially in the case of Tom, who asserts his physical strength to subdue them. The only hint of a role reversal is in the pair of Nick and Jordan. Jordan's androgynous name and cool, collected style masculinize her more than any other female character. However, in the end, Nick does exert his dominance over her by ending the relationship. The women in the novel are an interesting group, because they do not divide into the traditional groups of Mary Magdalene and Madonna figures, instead, none of them are pure. Myrtle is the most obviously sensual, but the fact that Jordan and Daisy wear white dresses only highlights their corruption.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Women Essay

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women are seen from a biased point of view in pop culture as they are often criticized and portrayed in degrading ways. The Great Gatsby takes place in the early part of the 20th century which is also known as the Roaring 20's. In regards to feminism, the women in The Great Gatsby are mainly depicted as second class to men. The story gives readers an insight of the roles that gender played in past World War I America. In The Great Gatsby, the author Scott Fitzgerald shines a light on the submissiveness of females toward males during the Roaring Twenties by giving the women in the novel an unfair representation as they are often identified as passive or negative “objects”.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Great Gatsby And Things Fall Apart

    1736 Words  | 4 Pages

    ‘’I would be quite satisfied if my novels did no more than teach my readers that their past was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them’’. ( Morning yet) Chinua Achebe wrote stories so that people would get knowledge out of it. That being said him making Things Fall Apart was not for entertainment, but it showed us the gender-role of males in females at the time. Males are the focus of my research, there is two great protagonists that will be discussed in this paper Okonkwo and Jay Gatsby. How does the characterization of men and their role in society in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald compare to Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe in terms of success, failure and mindset.

    Read More

  • Women In The Great Gatsby By Hemingway

    1953 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the two novels, women are associated with domestic affairs and undermined by men. The readers’ first introduction of Maria is when she serves food to the men, holding a big iron cooking platter. This scene depicts the stereotypical roles of men and women in the novel. Hemingway deals with masculine and feminine identity, portraying that women are appealing when they cook and serve to the men. Robert Jordan believes “Spanish girls make wonderful wives” (164) and Maria wishes to be Jordan’s wife evident when she responds to Jordan’s loving remarks with “I love thee too, and I am thy wife” (262).

    Read More

More about The portrayal of women in The Great Gatsby

Open Document