Emmy Horner Mrs. Frantzen English 11 Honors 25 March 2024 The Great Gatsby Through a Feminist Lens In the story The Great Gatsby there are three main female characters. There is Daisy, the narrator Nick's cousin, wife to Tom Buchanan, and longtime love to Jay Gatsby. Then there is Myrtle, Daisy's husband, Tom's mistress. And finally, Jordan, Daisy's close friend who is a professional golfer. While each of these characters' lives are intertwined, they each live very different lifestyles. A feminist view of The Great Gatsby shows how the female characters Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan make decisions based upon their financial status. Daisy lives a very picturesque life, but it is not as perfect as it may appear. Daisy's life highlights many of the …show more content…
She deals with her husband cheating on her right in front of her face and just sucks it up so she does not have to lose her lavish life. She leaves her first love, Jay Gatsby, because he didn't have enough money to support the lifestyle she wanted to live. Daisy does not shy away from the fact that she makes these choices to sacrifice herself for this lifestyle. She even says this when she talks about her daughter and says, "I hope she'll be a fool," because, "that's the best thing a girl can be in this world." a beautiful little fool" (Fitzgerald 17). Daisy believes that if her daughter is a beautiful fool, then she will be able to live the "perfect" life she is able to live without having to face the reality of what goes on behind her back in order to maintain this lifestyle. In Daisy's defense, it would not be easy for a woman like herself to be able to obtain a life like the one she currently has. When the reader meets Myrtle, they recognize a vastly different way of life for a woman in this period. Myrtle wants the "perfect" life Daisy has, but is not quite able to achieve it. She marries her husband "because [she] thought he was a gentleman" (Fitzgerald, …show more content…
She talks about how she hates "careless people," (Fitzgerald, 58). By careless people she means people who do not have their own independent thoughts and just follow the trends and what everyone else is doing. It is really interesting for a reader to observe how Jordan is able to live in such a different way than most other women. She gets to go on her own trips and even better her trips are not to get away from the public because they have found out about her husband's affair. She gets to travel for fun and for work. Another substantial factor to look at when observing Jordan's life is the fact that not only is she a great golfer, but also, "everyone only knew her name," (Fitzgerald 57). Jordan is known for herself and the name she has made for herself, not the name others have given her. When looking at Daisy and Myrtle, they are often referred to as Tom Buchanan's wife or mistress. Jordan has no man attached to her and thus, is known for herself and the name she has made for herself. This was a very unusual thing for a woman at the time. It is very impressive how she is able to earn herself such a respectable
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.
The characters “Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, Dan Cody, and Meyer Wolfsheim are examples of people who have been corrupted by their money.” (Smith) Daisy doesn’t care about anybody but herself and we can see that when she hits Myrtle and keeps on going. Gatsby covers up for her but he tells Nick the truth when Nick asks, “Was Daisy driving?” and Gatsby responds, “Yes.”
The 1920s served as a significant period of time for women as it was then that they broke away from all the traditional social constrains.However, this leads to the issue of the negative representaion of women in the novel. It is noted that none of the main women in the Great Gatsby is portrayed in a good light. There is Daisy, who is beautiful, but also extremely shallow and materialistic- seeing that she only married Tom for his wealth.Next, readers meet Jordan, Daisy’s friend. Jordan is portrayed as extremely independent and self- sufficient. However she is also seen to be a little detached, this is highlighted when Nick’s first description of her was that she was ‘motionless, and with her chin raised a little, as if she were balaancing something on it which was quite likey to her’, and we can infer that Jordan has an air of aloofness that makes her seem rather unapproachable. There is also Myrtle, Tom’s mistress. Myrtle and Daisy are binary opposites in terms of appearance, however, Myrtle like Daisy, is extremely materialistic. Myrtle chooses to have an affair with Tom while fully knowing that he was married because he was able to provide her with material things she could never afford. Furthermore, she insults her loving husband, and claims that he is ‘not fit to lick [her] shoe’ simply because he was not rich. Here, readers can clearly see that Myrtle is a woman with loose morals who is completely
Also, another impactful and important character in the novel, Daisy Buchanan. The novel's golden girl who is married to Tom Buchanan, and who has had an affair with Gatsby for the last five years, shows herself as a snotty, selfish, white, desirable woman. None of this, nor Gatsby’s love and affection for Daisy makes any sense though because no where in the novel does she seem worthy of Gatsby’s unlimited devotion to her. As the novel goes on, more of Daisy’s real self is unveiled to the readers. Because of this, along with many of her other actions she becomes less appealing to everyone, not only in the book, but outside of the book as well. After closer examination, Daisy’s character reveals that her American Dream can be considered classless, and
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, women are used as trophies, forced, by society, to compete in a world dominated by men. Fitzgerald portrays these women as money hungry, willing to do anything to get ahead. Such as Daisy Buchannan, who marries her husband for the mere fact he has money, or Jordan Baker, who cheats on her golf tournaments to win, and last, Myrtle Wilson, who has an affair because she does not like her social status. This novel shows greatly how Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson compete with the superficial world that they live in and disregard their own happiness for the sake of status.
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.
The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald F.S, 1925) is a novel which focuses on narrator Nick Carraway after he moves to New York in 1922. Nick is drawn into the world of wealthy and mysterious neighbour Jay Gatsby, and his quest to rekindle his love with Nick’s cousin Daisy Buchanan. This does not quite go to plan, and an unraveling chain of events leads to a fatal hit-and-run with Gatsby’s own death following shortly after. This essay will however be focusing on the women of the novel: Daisy Buchanan; Jordan Baker; and Myrtle Wilson. These three women are all radically different from one another upon first glance, but all are subject to the sexism of the time period. Fitzgerald portrays love as a battle, a “struggle for power in an
Watch out – a large group of feminists is approaching – hide The Great Gatsby! In 1987 The Great Gatsby – written by F. Scott Fitzgerald – was challenged for its misogynistic views. Since then, the book has always been controversial. Many critics argue that Fitzgerald’s palpable anti-feminist stand in the novel is disturbing for most women, yet many high schools include this book on their reading lists because of its commentary on social issues. This novel mirrors not only the decline of American dreams but also an aristocratic society. Even though the use of sexism in The Great Gatsby, implied through Daisy’s remarks, is offensive, students should read this masterpiece as it portrays the darkness and hollowness of the American upper class.
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.
Daisy's life is full of excitement and wealth, she gets practically everything she desires and feels like she has it all. As a person of high society she treats those below her with disdain, even her cousin. “What shall we do with ourselves this afternoon...and the day after that, and the next thirty years?” (Fitzgerald 118). The Jazz age had changed Daisy and influenced her to become careless as she seeks empty love, money and pleasure. It is only when Gatsby comes along she realizes that she has been missing something. Gatsby had been her first love, but she
From the start of the book we can see that women in the book are
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”.
The gender issues in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby adhere to the traditional gender roles of a male-dominant society where women are sexually objectified and made inferior, while men are portrayed as the dominant gender. The narrator’s relationship with the female characters of the novel and their character traits reveal not only the established patriarchal society in the novel, but the chauvinistic attitude of the author as well. While feminine conformity to the ideal standards of women in a male-dominant society is reflected through characters such as Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson, male characters such as Tom Buchanan and George Wilson appear to represent the traditional man, thus satisfying the ideal gender roles of a male-dominant society. Though it appears that Nick Carraway’s admiration for masculinity allows him to suffer from his potential anxieties about his own masculinity, Carraway’s male chauvinistic mentality is certain because of his enforcement of traditional gender roles that exerts dominance over women in the novel. Carraway’s attraction to Jordan Baker’s masculine traits and his fascination of the socioeconomic status of men, such as of Jay Gatsby’s and of Tom Buchanan’s, display his conformity to the ideal, traditional standards of gender roles in a male-dominant society that explain his admiration for masculinity.
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
Kayla Sullivan Mrs. Frantzen 11 Honors English 25 March 2024 Misogyny Before the Sun Before the sun's rising, the darkness of night must come, but only through the progression of time can this change in the world occur. The Great Gatsby, written by Scott Fitzgerald, provides a very limited view into the lives of New York's upper class in the 1920s, a dark time for women before the rising dawn of feminism. Historically, women were not treated equally or given the same opportunities as men. A feminist lens highlights how Fitzgerald portrays women as inadequate to men through Myrtle's values, Jordan's status, and Daisy's dependence. In a story written by a man, the female characters are given very stereotypical desires.