Reputation Of Women In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Myrtle yearns to be with Tom and live in his wealth but is prevented from doing so by Tom and Daisy. For instance, when Daisy tries to leave Tom for Gatsby, Tom does not exactly dismiss Myrtle, “…but there is no question that she would eventually be discarded” (Donaldson). Myrtle is so infatuated with Tom, she forgot that he can just as well choose Daisy over her. He has the upper hand, as a rich man with control over women especially when it comes to his relationships. While to Tom, Myrtle’s gender has made her just one of his possessions, to Myrtle, Tom’s rich and high status as a man has made him her only path to a higher class. Due to her infatuation with Tom, she often becomes jealous and possessive when she finds a threat to their relationship. Myrtle is so overcome with desire for Tom that she cannot stand the thought of him with another women. Even when she sees Tom in the car with Jordan Baker, Myrtle’s, “… eyes, wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she too to be his wife” (Fitzgerald 125). Myrtle is so convinced that Tom is hers, when in reality, she is really Tom’s. Myrtle has almost forgotten the fact that as an inferior women, she has little control over the situation. The reality is that Tom was in control of the relationship and used Myrtle for his lustrous desires. Tom’s rejection of Myrtle causes her to become overrun with jealousy. In

Society’s expectations of gender roles in the 1920s impacts men and women’s lives, but the expectations have a much larger impact on women. These gender roles are especially important in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story focuses more on the men which is a direct reflection of the patriarchal society that the characters live in. Daisy, an important female character, is a victim of society’s discrimination against women. Society’s perception of Daisy overlooks her true value. In Daisy’s time, the men, like Tom and Gatsby, have looser morals but are still superior to her. This leads to the creation of stereotypes causing her to be objectified by the men throughout the book. Once readers see the societal norms from the 1920s, they will begin to understand why Daisy is treated unfairly. The patriarchy that drives Daisy’s community creates the social norm of women being subordinate to men making it seem as though she is a possession rather than a loving companion.

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 Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he shows women, treated and presented as worse than men, and are rather disregarded and neglected by the male characters. Even Fitzgerald describes and creates the traits of the women in the book in a negative manner.

Through the feminist lens, you can see that the women in these novels are very alike in the sense that they all feel held back by their role as a female. Alexandra in O Pioneers definitely makes exceptions to the societal role of females compared to other girls in the novel. In The Great Gatsby, some of the women oppose the typical gender roles and some of the women don’t. The oppression of women by men is still evident in the novel. The role of women in the early 1900’s, in which O Pioneers and The Great Gatsby took place, was greatly affected by the oppression and misogyny of the time period. This is evident because the female characters in both novels feel restrained by societal norms that were put upon them and feel they can’t achieve certain goals do to the fact that they are female.

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.

Women today have many opportunities the women of the 1920’s did not have; although many still mary, they tend to not marry for the sole reason of having someone to support them. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, he writes about several female characters who are clearly displayed to us. Although the story revolves around a man chasing a dream, the female characters stand out. Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson and Jordan Baker. They all have different wants and needs in their lives and the restrictions of the times affect them all differently.

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.

Women were not equal to men during the era of the 1920’s. In “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald represents a negative, misogynistic, stereotypical view of the various types of women during the era of the 1920’s. During the that time, women were not portrayed in a positive light., By writing a book centered around that time period, it causes one to wonder the message Fitzgerald was trying to illustrate about women and what he was saying about society as a whole. Fitzgerald represents the view of women within the 20’s by depicting each character as a representation of the many stereotypes occurring within that era. The main characters Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan each display pertinent roles within the story representing how women’s roles were

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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.

The pervasive male bias in American literature leads the reader to equate the experience of being American with the experience of being male. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the background for the experience of disillusionment and betrayal revealed in the novel is the discovery of America. Daisy's failure of Gatsby is symbolic of the failure of America to live up to the expectations in the imagination of the men who "discovered" it. America is female; to be American is male; and the quintessential American experience is betrayal by woman. Fetterley believes that power is the issue in the politics of literature. Powerlessness characterizes woman's experience of reading not only because

Fitzgerald reflects on societies opposing principles through very different women, Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle, in order to display various aspects of the feminist philosophy. Each represents feminism in contrasting ways. They challenge the roles of pre-WW1 traditional housewives. Before the war, women had limited freedom and were socially compelled to live by male ideals. However, in the 1920s, they demanded more freedom with drinking and smoking like men, which was demonstrated by these female characters. Jordan is direct in her feminism - she is more masculine and is dominant when she is expected to be compliant. Although Jordan is restricted by the social standards women were forced to live in, she

A social group is a group of people, who share common characteristics and can be grouped together by a common theme. Marginalization is the treatment of a person, group or concept as insignificant. Social groups, such as women, are often marginalized from the rest of society due to unequal views on women. Gender marginalization stems from the concept that men and women are not created equal leading to disparate conduct and views of a gender. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, gender roles are clearly recognized and the female being is presented as the less powerful, unimportant sex. Through the examination of their own marginalization, the loss of identity of the emancipated women of the Jazz Age and the unbalanced standards to

Of all the time periods in America’s history, the 1920s were especially unique. Also known as the Roaring Twenties, this period in history is known for its lack of morals, its prohibition, and its Flappers. Most notably of these are the Flappers, which is the name given to the women during the 1920s who changed the social norm for women forever. Before this time, women were expected to keep the house and children. Contrastingly, the women in the 20s wished to break free of their restraints and live independently. For instance, women during the 1920s cut their long hair into short bobs, smoked and drank alcohol in public, and wore shorter dresses. With this in mind, the story of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes on another meaning. One of the characters in this story is Jordan Baker, a relatively unimportant person in regard to the main characters. However, by observing her more closely, one discovers that she is the embodiment of the women during the 1920s. During this time in history, the women were rebellious, indifferent, and careless; but they were also independent, and they fought for equal rights. In like manner, Jordan embodies these women by being independent, moralless, and careless.