Assess Fitzgerald’s Negative Portrayal of the Female Characters in the Great Gatsby

Myrtle is described to be more on the thicker side “She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can.” (25) She married George Wilson, an abusive man, because she thought he was a gentleman and was wealthy “I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,” she said finally. “I thought he knew something about breeding. But he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.” (Fitzgerald 34). In her eyes George is not worthy enough for her because he doesn’t have a lot of money and she’s very conceded with herself. She learned very fast she made a mistake with marrying him. “The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never even told me about it…” (35) George just is not the man she wants, she wants a man with money, someone that can buy her luxurious items, like Tom “I want to get one of those dogs,” she said earnestly. (27) Tom will buy her the things she wants, but when she pushes her limits with him he’ll put her in her place “Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!” shouted Mrs. Wilson. “I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai-” Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.

Even though the 1920s is the era of women’s rights, women are still treated poorly. Even woman in the middle class are looked at with expectations. In the article it stated, “she concludes that although there were changes in women’s lives, their achievements were, limited, with ‘progress in some spheres… matched by disappointment and defeat in others’” (Hannam 64). This relates to Myrtles situation because even though she is not in the eyes of society she is expected to obey her husband and do as she is told. Myrtle does not always do as she is told around her husband, George Wilson. She is not the perfect female with him. She actually acts a little more masculine and aggressive to show she is not weak, but around her lover, Tom Buchanan, she becomes a more weak and obedient female. That would be approved by society if they were actually married. She changes how she conforms to the expectations of society depending on who she is around. She really does not control her own life like Jordan, but she also is not forced by society to do something she does not want to do like

One of the main characters in the Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan was a charming woman who was visually pleasing to men. She was married to Tom, a rich and powerful man, for his money. Tom and Gatsby are at Tom's house, when they both express a certain feeling that her voice brings upon them.

Myrtle is Tom's mistress, which allows her play the role of a well educated wealthy woman. Myrtle is deceptive and untrustworthy because she is married, and is having a secret affair with Tom buchanan. The very first time we meet her in the book “she smiled slowly and, walking through her husband as if he were a ghost, shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye”(26). By having an affair with Tom she is betraying her husband, and she seems to have no remorse about it. Myrtle is described as being “ faintly stout, but she carries her surplus flesh sensuously as some woman can. Her face, [...] contained no facet or glean of beauty”(25). From her physical description the reader can infer that she is not very nice and standoffish. She treats

Myrtle Wilson is obsessed with leaving her poor life behind her by being with Tom but unlike Gatsby, her attempts are fruitless. She attempts to make herself seem an upper class person like when she changed her dress before the party in chapter two. She believes her husband is beneath her and talks of all low statuses as if she isn’t one of them. "I told that boy about the ice." Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. "These people! You have to keep after them all the time." (42)

Women in the 20th century, while changing, were still unequal and below those of men. In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, he explores this and many other themes by telling the story of Jay Gatsby and his quest to rekindle past love with Daisy Buchanan, despite her being married with a child. Women throughout the novel are treated as lesser equals who contain no personal ideas or thoughts. Their purpose is to please the men in their lives. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows how women are less than men by being treated as possessions looking through the Feminist literary lens. This is shown through Daisy being a trophy and Myrtle as being mistreated.

Myrtle, who represents the low and ignorant class of America, tried to break the social barriers and thus pursues wealth by any means necessary. Using her sexuality and crude appearance, she becomes false for abandoning and dismissing her own social foundation, and like Nick, we as readers are disgusted by her monstrous approach to entering the rich class. At one point, and quite humorously to the knowing onlooker, Myrtle complains about a service done for her that was so expensive. Obviously misusing her wording, it is comical only because she is trying so hard to fit into the stuck-up upper class personality, and failing miserably.

Myrtle Wilson is the second major character in The Great Gatsby. She is about 30 years old and is “faintly stout but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some woman can” (The Great Gatsby: Character). Myrtle is married to George Wilson, also a mistress to Tom Buchanan. She is not happy with her marriage nor her lifestyle. Myrtle is part of the lower class of society making her poor. With them being poor they end up living in their car garage. George seemed like a gentleman and that is why Myrtle married him, but turns out that he wasn’t. Tom is part the upper class of society which attracts Myrtle to him. They spend a lot of time in the city together. She has an excuse to tell George that she is visiting her sister. George is getting a suspicion that Myrtle is up to no good, and locks her up in a closet. Myrtle being upset, notices a yellow car thinking it was Tom because she noticed him driving it earlier, she runs to the car to get away from George

Myrtle Wilson is the other partner in Tom Buchannan’s affair. She is of a simpler lifestyle living on the “edge of the wasteland…contiguous to absolutely nothing.”(Gatsby 24). Nick describes her “a thick woman” “in [her] middle thirties” (Gatsby 25), the average woman in that time. Once she and Tom get off the train, she immediately buys a dog, and then makes a point to buy a rather expensive dog as well. When she arrives to her sister’s house, where a party is taking place, Nick says that she “changed her costume” (Gatsby 30). Because a costume is also the attire performers wear, Nick is giving us the impression that all of this is a play, a facade to act wealthy when in fact she is not. Nick also says “with the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur” (Gatsby 30), again another indicator of her “performance” of a wealthy woman. Soon, she and Tom “discuss in impassioned voices” whether she had any “right to mention Daisy’s name” (Gatsby 37). Tom punches her after this, but still left the party with her. Myrtle is now a woman with no self-respect, due to her allowing a man, though he may be rich, to physically assault her, instead of having a man who truly cares for her not being well off.

Myrtle represents the contrasting women of the lower class. She is an opportunist; she is obsessed with wealth and material possessions. She will do anything to be of a higher social class. She is sexualised and objectified by the dominant wealthy man.

Myrtle also adds to this stigma. She longs for a life that is fun and glamorous, but reality is she is the wife of a pump mechanic, meaning she will never have access to mobility in class or status. She is a lower class woman, which led her to engage in an affair with Tom Buchanan; it is the closest she will come to feeling higher up socially. Myrtle will do just about anything to be a part of the upper class despite the consequences. There was even a point in time when Tom physically hits her, breaking her nose and yet she still stayed with him just to continue lavishing in this fantasy she so eagerly wanted to become real (Fitzgerald, pg 37). That scene and the dynamic of her and Tom represent the subordination of the lower class and the mistreatment of women within the lower class.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, illustrates most women in his novels in a incredibly negative light. He portrays them as dependent upon men, selfish, and completely amoral. Jay Gatsby is in love with the wealthy Mrs. Daisy Buchannan and tries to win her love by proving that he is wealthy. However, no matter how wealthy he becomes, or how many gigantic parties he throws, he is still never good enough for Daisy. The story ends in tragedy as Gatsby is killed and dies utterly alone. Fitzgerald's characterization of Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan in The Great Gatsby demonstrates women who are objectified by men and treated as their trophies, while also

The Great Gatsby, and it gives us an insight into the gender roles of past WW1 America. Throughout the novel, women are portrayed in a very negative light. The author’s presentation of women is unflattering and unsympathetic. The women are not described with depth. When given their description, Fitzgerald appeals to their voice, “ she had a voice full of money”, their looks “her face was lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes, and a bright passionate mouth”, and the way in which they behave, “ ’They’re such beautiful shirts’ she sobbed”, rather than their feelings or emotions, for example, Daisy is incapable of genuine affection, however she is aimlessly flirtatious.

In The Great Gatsby, Myrtle is given no respect and is being treated like an object. This happened in the chapter 2 when Tom takes Nick and Myrtle to party in a hotel in New York with others. Later in the party Myrtle and Tom comes out of a room arguing about Daisy.“Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy's name. I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! And Da-” Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.” This quote explains how women like myrtle are being abused by Tom and he is treating her like an object despite not having a healthy relationship. This paragraph is important because it talks about how in F. Scott’s novel The Great Gatsby Myrtle is given no respect and is being treated like an object despite being a women.

Myrtle Wilson is one of the characters who chases empty dreams. She has a strong desire to escape what she feels to be a lower class lifestyle and enter the ranks of the upper class. Furthermore, she is obsessed by appearances and unaware of realities, as is shown in her excessive concern of clothing. She attempts to impress the upper society while looking down upon the members of her class. "Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the stiflessness of the lower orders, “These people! You have to keep after them." (Fitzgerald 36)