Gender Inequality In The Great Gatsby

Because Gatsby is standing alone, searching for the elusive Daisy, he is shown to not be content. He finds no joy in having all these people here if he cannot find his Daisy. He views Daisy as the person that will bring him to an even higher social class, because even though he is rich, he still remembers the social value Daisy encompasses because of her abundance of lovers. Ultimately he wants to swell his ego, to tame the wild beast, because Daisy wasn’t settled down before with any one man. Even though she is now married, he still views her with the same awe of when he first laid eyes on her at camp, even remarking that “‘Her voice is full of money’”(127) in reference to his percieved value of her when they first met. Quintessentially, Gatsby has narcissism flowing through his veins because he is attempting to recreate a past to soothe his remorse from when he initially left Daisy to fight in the war.

Society won’t let Gatsby and Daisy be together when they fall in love because Daisy comes from a family of old wealth, while Gatsby is the son of peasants. “For over a year,” as a young man, “he

Society’s expectations of women now and in the past cause a huge controversy and conflict amongst women. The main three female characters of the novel The Great Gatsby have many conflicts with society and what is expected of them as a female in the 1920s. They are expected to be the server of man and to not be their own person, but this was a conflict with them. Although Myrtle, Daisy, and Jordan show case their conflict with society, they negotiate that conflict with their personality and their mannerisms.

In the 1920’s, society underwent changes as the result of women's rights, prohibition, organized crime, and the infamous stock market crash of 1928. As women gained independant rights, men were furious about this despite the fact they had always been superior to women. In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby exemplify the treatment men had towards women in the 1920’s. Tom Buchanan, a prominent man who inherits his family’s wealth, is married to Daisy Buchanan, Tom takes advantage of his wife, by publicly taking other women out and treating them to his lavish lifestyle. Tom Buchanan will do anything to suppress his lovers to further the superiority he has over women. Fitzgerald’s use of Tom Buchanan

The novel’s key female character, Daisy Buchannan, represents the role of Tom’s shallow trophy wife who is idolized as the “ideal” individual within the consciousness of Jay Gatsby. Subsequently it was never Daisy’s knowledge or character type that attracted Gatsby; it was more based upon her wealth, “That was it. I 'd never understood before. It was full of money—that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, [and] the cymbals ' song of it” (Fitzgerald, 99). Although Daisy is far from being flawless, Gatsby interprets

During the 1920’s, women were objectified in society, yet began to show signs of independence by striving for equality between genders. In this time known as the Roaring Twenties, women began to use their voice desiring to live their lives how they chose. F. Scott Fitzgerald, a renowned author, displayed his perception of women attempting to prove their worth through his new book. One of the protagonists in the novel, Daisy Buchanan, challenges the gender barriers and threatens to paint a new image for women by choosing love over wealth. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the modern women’s inability to obtain independence as they were perceived as incapable of making their own decisions and relied on traditional gender

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

Daisy Buchanan’s in the Great Gatsby is Jay Gatsby’s one true love. He throws huge parties in hopes of gaining her attention and winning her over. Her role throughout the Great Gatsby was that her beauty drew the attention of everyone. She is the definition of the American Dream and Gatsby seen her as part of his American Dream. “He knew that Daisy was extraordinary, but he didn’t realize just how extraordinary a “nice” girl could be” (Fitzgerald,149). This quote shows how Gatsby knew that Daisy was right for him. In spite of this women's roles were still not equal to men. For example, it was okay for Tom to cheat on Daisy, but it was absurd for her to cheat on Tom with Gatsby. In the 1920 the ideal woman was supposed to find a husband to take care of them.Marriage was almost a necessity as a means of support or protection. There often was pressure to produce children. (Women’s Rights, 4)

This class structure affects him strongly as he has to lie to Daisy “under false pretenses” so that he could make love to her as he lets her believe that he is of the same “stratum“ as her. This demonstrates that he is becoming corrupt as he might “[despise]” himself for deceiving her, just because he does not believe he is worthy of her. Furthermore, he gives her a sense of “security” by reassuring her with his wealth, But if Daisy really did love him then she would not care about his social status. If Gatsby really wanted to be with Daisy, he would have fought and challenged the class structure without the

Although it is the repercussions of their deceptive fantasies that Gatsby and Lester fall victim to, it was their continued search for love that leads them to these. Love is the principal value in The Great Gatsby and is illustrated best by the contrast of Gatsby’s idealized romantic love for Daisy with Daisy’s “love” for wealth and status, a love which is common to the majority of their irresponsible society. F Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes Gatsby’s “romantic readiness” through this contrast as well as Gatsby’s fall from grace that results in him becoming lost in “the colossal vitality of his illusions” (pg. 92). Daisy characterizes the power of a love of money in the Great Gatsby and is used by Fitzgerald in condemning Gatsby’s hedonistic society as well as his own. However it is the absence of love –rather than the presence- that is most prominent in American

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.

Tom takes advantage of this situation and manipulates Daisy to completely depend on him. Daisy has spent her whole life being used to someone telling her what to do, and her relationship with Tom is no different. Even right after they got married, “If he left the room for a minute she’d look around uneasily and say: ‘‘Where’s Tom gone?’ and wear the most abstract expression until she saw him coming in the door” (77). Daisy relies solely on Tom and is “uneasy” without him around. Her dependence on Tom reflects not only his hyper masculinity, but how little he cares about Daisy. Despite this, he knows Daisy will never leave him, and pushes their marriage to the brink by having multiple affairs.

Societal ‘norms’ surrounding gender have continuously remained prominent internationally. Although these standards and expectations continue to shift, women still face oppression today. The novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, demonstrates the expectations of women and their relationships to men in 1920’s New York City through one of the main characters, Daisy Buchanan. A vast majority of Daisy’s actions are to entice and cater to the superior men of the novel. Through this, I was able to reflect upon the evolution of society’s stereotypes surrounding women from the 1920’s. Initially, from reading the novel, I learned about the period of the roaring twenties and how the aspect of class affects the

Daisy’s impact on Gatsby is immediate and cathartic. As “the golden girl” she represents the ultimate prize, “the best part of a world […] of heightened, refined delight, the realization not only of [Gatsby’s] desires but of generalized desire as well” (Fitzgerald 127, Lathbury 60). Inevitably, in the limitless capacity of Gatsby’s imagination, Daisy is elevated to the ideal, becoming the embodiment of “the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves”

Feminism is a topic that has been widely debated over the last two centuries and is still discussed today in schools, works of literature, and in the general public. The Great Gatsby, written by Scott K. Fitzgerald, was published in the midst of the Roaring Twenties, a time of great social change in the country. Fitzgerald reflects upon the time period’s view of women in his novel, criticizing feminism by presenting the relationships that female characters have with the other gender. Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson are the main female characters within the novel, yet all are shown to have their unique set of muliebrities, influenced by wealth and connections. With this in mind, this essay will explore these differences and see how Fitzgerald’s female characters fit into the socio-historical context of