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How Does Fitzgerald Present Gender In The Great Gatsby

Decent Essays

Throughout Pages 7 and 8 of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, many key elements that are prevalent throughout the novel are established. Through his diction, irony and the underlying content of the two pages, Fitzgerald demonstrates the gender characterizations seen throughout the novel, Nick’s overall nature as a narrator and creates a theme of deception.
Fitzgerald’s diction helps portray a gender identity that men are primarily only motivated for their own self interests. With diction describing men such as “wild” and “unknown men” and describing men’s behaviour (in comparison to one another) as “plagiaristic” it is clear Fitzgerald is trying to paint a narrative that men are all similar in their “wild” behaviour. This “wild behaviour” is illustrated later in the novel with some of the actions of Tom and Gatsby. For …show more content…

Nick references how his father says, “’Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’” However, Nick later in the passage criticizes Gatsby by saying “represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn,” but also admits he admires Gatsby’s “extraordinary gift for hope.” Given how Nick in the passage has also stated how he is a good listener, the overall nature of Nick’s as a narrator is established. Nick is supposed to represent the everyday common man, providing us a view into the lives of the social elite and this view is unbiased. Nick rarely ever interjects his opinion or thoughts in his narration of the events that later ensue. For example, he somewhat cheekily references that it’s his 30th birthday. What would normally be a milestone in one’s life, he passes off as insignificant and though small, it attests to how little of Nick’s opinions we see throughout the novel, despite him being quite obviously

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