How Does Fitzgerald Present Women In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s takes place in the 1920’s which is portrayed as a time of fame, glamor, and excitement. Women in this time were recognized as a huge influence on the American culture as a whole. F scott Fitzgerald uses woman characters to build the American dream by showing womans beauty, personality, and status throughout the novel.

The roaring twenties was the period known for its exuberant, overwhelming and free pop culture of all time. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, represent the past historical modernization of a male subjugated social system. The Great Gatsby is a mysterious love tale, and a social interpretation towards the American Life. This story explores the journey for happiness and wealth through the American Dream, and shows how perfectionism, deteriorated relationships, and deceitfulness occur during the Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby, however, is not the story about a woman’s journey for happiness and improperly shows the representation of females during 1920. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby shows the historically male controlled social system through women being portrayed as shallow beings, which are dominated by men, and seen as flawed individuals.

In the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, set in 1920’s in the US where men were the dominant sex, the women are portrayed as shallow, insincere and fake. The women of the 1920s are portrayed through Daisy and Jordan who are presented as fake and shallow characters. As a novel written in the 1920’s, portrays the lifestyle of the roaring twenties and the values of people. The two main female characters, in the novel are different and have different attitudes towards life, however, Fitzgerald portrays all of them as shallow and immoral characters which is seen through many descriptions and actions.

The 1920s is a decade of many advancements. Women change the style of their hair and clothes as well as the way they act. Along with the personal changes, the 1920s has economic changes. Everyone buys houses and cars and spends their money on everything they want. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the values and goals of the characters give the theme that money is a powerful object that affects the personalities of people.

The great Gatsby gives us an accurate insight into the 1920s zeitgeist regarding the role of women in society. America was in a state of an economic boom and rapid change. Society had become less conservative after world war one. The role of women was revolutionary during this time and although women had a lot more freedom now; they were still confined to their sexist role within society; Men were still seen as the dominant gender. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the extremities of gender and social class, and the lack of independence this brought upon women. This essay will discuss the three major female characters and the ideas that Fitzgerald confronts of female stereotypes of the 1920s.

Jordan Baker: A famous golf player, Baker befriends Nick throughout the story and is a close friend of Daisy’s. She learns who Gatsby is, the man who loved Daisy before the war, and he asks her to arrange a meeting with Gatsby and Daisy. Throughout the story, Jordan becomes closer with Nick. But we learn of her dishonesty (she cheated in a golf tournament) and Nick pushes her away. Her personality is self centered and apathetic. She is the model image of women in the

Jordan faces men most of all being judgmental of her because of how awkward they feel about a woman making money by themselves. Tom Buchanan is extremely judgmental as he saw Jordan and stated to a crowd,”They oughtn’t to let her run around the country this way” (Fitzgerald 18). Woman during this time period were so focused on being codependent to men so it made Tom feel uncomfortable, seeing that a woman was getting success and wealth on her own. Women during the 1920s, working on their own was very rare and almost unheard of. Jordan became careless because she was not worried about a man doing things for her. Daisy on the other hand was careless about items that did not bring wealth to her. Daisy while talking to her cousin Nick exclaimed irrelevantly,”You ought to see the baby” (Fitzgerald 8). Daisy becoming wealthy from her husband is more discreetly careless than Jordan, because she can hide it in her voice so her actions did not seem bad. Daisy and Jordan both are careless about people, but everyone is more focused on Jordan just because she is not following the stereotype of women, when they should be more focused on Daisy not caring about her own child.Both Ms.Baker and Mrs.Buchanan are selfish people because of the society they are surrounded in , but they are not selfish in the horrible way

Fitzgerald drives this independant woman point further by giving Jordan a somewhat unisex name. Tom voices his opinion on Jordan early on, and it displays his view on a woman’s role in society “‘She’s a nice girl,’ said Tom after a moment. ‘They oughtn’t to let her run around the country this way,’” (Fitzgerald 18). Tom is displeased, as he often is, that a woman could be their own person, self-sufficient, and not reined in by the father figure of the household.

Her self-centredness is emphasised when she is reprimanded for being a reckless driver and she tries to excuse her actions by commenting that "it takes two to make an accident." Even Nick Caraway, her love interest, defines her as being an “incurably dishonest” woman. When using a hyperbole in the adverb “incurably”, Fitzgerald exaggerates how treacherous Jordan is. Jordan compulsively lies about un-meaningful things such as the way she parked her car during one of Gatsby’s parties and admits having cheated in one of her golf tournaments as if it was nothing. He describes her in a specific way so that the reader views her as an immoral figure. Fitzgerald’s description of Jordan is that she has a fraudulent personality and is self absorbed.

Daisy is a golden girl, Myrtle Wilson is a gold digger, and Jordan Baker is independent. They were each important to the story besides just giving the male characters someone to out shiny. The women of the story actual use the men as they are not fully aware of this. Daisy Buchanan is a woman who likes to play with men. Most men are fascinated by her.

“She wanted her life shaped now, immediately- and the decision must be made by some force- of love, money, of unquestionable practicality- that was close at hand. (Fitzgerald) The 1920s was the age that women changed their basic role as just a housewife. Yes, some still played the role, mostly the rich ones that do not need to work. But others that were single, or driven, or sick of the idea that all they’re worth is staying at home, took advantage of this age.

Fitzgerald uses women as a foundation of the American dream by showing their beauty, status, personality,and power, Beauty in the novel was an important component which was flaunted by women in the 1920’s which was being shown through Daisy, Jordan,and Myrtle. Daisy is a symbol of beauty and sophistication. She is described as a captivating young woman that leads on others with her personality. Daisy builds the American dream by showing the beauty and happiness that the dream is intended to have. Daisy is the male fantasy of woman, which shows why she was shown to act the way she does, she uses her beauty to her advantages, to get away with things and to live the glamorous life that she intends to live. “ her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes,bright passionate mouth” (Fitzgerald,14). This quote from the novel represents how Daisy is a part of the American dream as beauty,how she catches men’s attention with her attitude. She portrays, personality and Beauty. She portrays the American dream as a happy ending. For jordan her beauty is different from Daisy’s, Jordan beauty is her mysterious features that causes others to be intrigued by it, and her ability to fit in with her neutral attitude. She seems

Therefore, Fitzgerald’s characterisation of Jordan is created mostly by her actions/what she does. She drinks, smokes, parties and plays golf (a predominantly male sport). Thus, while she remains a member of the upper echelon, she fiercely juxtaposes Daisy’s open, feminine and ethereal character. Jordan symbolizes the decline in traditional, stereotypical female traits associated with the 1920s. She is blunt, careless and dismissive of her responsibilities “They’ll [other drivers] keep out of my way…It takes two to make an accident.” She is both wild and careless, reflecting both the allure of New York City (the extravagant parties and luxuries) and it’s dangerous lack of social balance (declining moral values). Nick feels conflicted about Jordan in the same way he is conflicted about New York. He realises that she is dishonest, selfish and cynical, but he is attracted to her vitality nonetheless. Her characterisation has been used by Fitzgerald to comment on the strange appeal of cities such as New York City and Chicago, even though they were morally crooked and corrupt, purely because they held the promise of wealth – the American

A further exhumation of how Gatsby has portrayed women in the novel has made one thing clear as day, the women of the story are used as adornments that hardly express any individuality and if they try, it ends poorly. The quote provides an effective contrast that really makes Fitzgerald’s authorial choices that much more apparent. The women were assigned less value in order for Fitzgerald to be able to poke fun at gender roles of the time period. Daisy’s beauty was described as glowing, but this more than likely was an effort to cover up her inept individuality that was kept under wraps because of her husband, in fact in her only attempt to not be inept in that regard ended with her killing Myrtle so that ended rather poorly. Jordan’s portrayal

In the Great Gatsby hedonism, consumerism and materialism plays a huge part in the portrayal of women. Alongside with this comes the American Dream. Before the 1920’s the American dream was based on equality, however a different dream was developed during the 1920’s that contradicted this idea of equality as instead they strived to be rich. Fitzgerald presents women to be victims of this dream and channels this through Myrtle. She is a key character as she shows who suffers from the American dream the most, as she is shallow and fixated with materialistic goods. The way she views her husband exhibits this ‘I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t the fit to lick my shoe’. Myrtle is in denial with the life that she has been given; this is symbolic of the fact that she is unable to attain her dream of having glamour, money and beauty. The different forms of the American dreams have an elusive force, which is constantly changing as human desires change. The materialistic craving, which consumes Myrtle as a character, is rooted in her crisis of identity, which is indicative of the woman within the 1920's society. Woman can only be defined when related to society in terms of material possessions. The more possessions a woman has the more she is accepted within society. Tom Buchanan gave Daisy pearls before their wedding ‘pulled out the string of pearls’. Yet as is demonstrated with Daisy, the material wealth only gives superficial acceptance. Therefore it may be