The Role Of Women In The Great Gatsby

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.

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.

One of the first women we meet in The Great Gatsby is Daisy Buchanan. Daisy grew up in Louisville, Kentucky in a wealthy family. Young and beautiful, she was very popular with the military men stationed near her home. Daisy and Gatsby fell in love, and despite Daisy's promise to wait for Gatsby until the end of the war, in 1919 she chose instead to marry Tom Buchanan. Tom Buchanan was from an aristocratic family, a symbol of social status and a wealthy lifestyle. Though she loved Gatsby, Daisy picked the fastest way possible to luxury with Tom. Written to choose money over love, Fitzgerald turns Daisy into a representation of Capitalism. Daisy in also written in a very materialistic way, weeping over Gatsby's "beautiful shirts," (Fitzgerald

Although Fitzgerald prominently believed that women were unable to provide for themselves, he does recognize their attempts at becoming more independent. As Daisy desires importance in her mundane life, she begins to challenge the societal views of gender by having an affair with Gatsby. Daisy takes a small step forward when her friends come over and she orders Tom to “make [them] a cold drink” and as he left the room “she got up and went over to Gatsby and pulled his face down, kissing him on the mouth”(Fitzgerald 116). Fitzgerald’s recurring use of alcohol foreshadows the coming prohibition where only those of a high status were able to obtain the substance. Although Daisy was of a high status, alcohol was generally prohibited to women, and by using it, Fitzgerald portrays how she transitions from housewife to a woman who is not afraid to assert her dominance by doing what she desires. Breaking gender norms, Daisy takes control by pulling Gatsby down to her level to kiss him, which promotes her dominance as she uses her power

“World War I, which ended in 1918, dramatically altered the Western World and the countries that participated in it” (Johnson and Johnson 282). The United States saw these effects through changes in the role of women as the image of a flapper became prevalent and women gained suffrage. In the novel The Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan was portrayed like a flapper, and both she and Myrtle Wilson looked to gain more independence from their husbands. Unlike Daisy and Myrtle, Jordan Baker was not seen as a typical woman for the time, because she was unmarried and an athlete. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to reflect the changing role of women in the 1920s.

New values and vanishing morals can influence the nature of changing relationships. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ¬(FSF) 1925 novel, ¬¬¬The Great Gatsby (Gatsby) and Elizabeth Barret-Browning’s (EBB) 1850’s sonnets, Sonnets from the Portugese (Sonnets) explore the growth or breakdown of relationships over time and through circumstances of hardship. With the traditional, but subverted sonnets and the modernised novel that questions the changing morals of society, both texts provide insight into the times of the authors and the contrasting views of their current time. Both texts develop change through the idea of religion being at the core. The value of spirituality in a society depicts how individuals interact, shaped through values such as purity

In Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby he portrays the characters Daisy and Myrtle as foolish and in subjection to men showing that women were dominated by men and played inferior roles during this time period. With this interpretation Fitzgerald was striving to bring out the two main points of, the society being mainly dominated by men as well as women using their cleverness to get whatever they wanted to benefit themselves in society. Daisy and Myrtle are two good examples that show Fitzgerald’s interpretations through the way both of them are characterized. There is plenty of evidence to show why Fitzgerald characterized Daisy and Myrtle in the way he did to prove the interpretation mentioned above.

Do you have a dream or goal in life? A dream that never leaves your mind and you try everything to achieve that dream. Maybe you are like Jay Gatsby. A guy who kept chasing after this one girl and that was all he wanted. The book The Great Gatsby was written in the 1920’s after world war I.

Women empowerment is one of the biggest standing issues in society today. Women being mistreated or viewed differently from men has been a problem for as long as anyone can remember. In both The Great Gatsby and My Antonia the women were viewed differently in both social classes. Being rich and poor both had its advantages and its disadvantages. Due to women's social classes, different actions were viewed differently, and the outcomes were exceedingly different. Women in social classes were both viewed, treated and ended up dissimilar from each other. Both Antonia and Daisy faced different challenges throughout the book, clearly seeing the contrasting outcomes.

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

Daisy Buchanan does everything that a woman during the twenties would not be doing. Women were who wanted prohibition of alcohol to exist. Daisy was part of the crowd who was drinking and smoking and would smoke in public, not caring that it was not normal behavior of a woman during that time. Women also wore clothing that did not expose their skin that much. Daisy wore clothing that did not fit the criteria. “A beautiful fool”, is a reference made by Daisy on page 17 in The Great Gatsby. Daisy wants her daughter to be a “fool” like herself. She wants her to live a life as she has, which there were women during the twenties who lived in this way. It can be determined in the book that Fitzgerald is describing his wife, Zelda, through Daisy Buchanan. Zelda had a problem with drinking and smoking while she was married to Fitzgerald. Even though Fitzgerald did not specifically mention to his audience that his wife was being portrayed through Daisy, true fans of his work could determine that she is. Since his wife is a major part of his life, her being displayed through a character can go back to determining that she influenced his writing. Fitzgerald describes the twenties as he experienced it and all throughout his book, the audience can get a sense of what he lived through during that time period and just how much he knew about the

The narrator, Nick is grouping together the women of the party and describing their persona all in the same way. The men of the party are comforting them, as they are providing protection and masculinity to the “swooning” and “puppyish” women. The women are following the social norm/stereotype that men must be their protectors because they are such frail beings and must be accompanied by a man. These societal standards were represented through the specific character, Daisy Buchanan and her actions throughout the novel. Daisy has intentional ignorance of her husband, Tom’s multiple affairs showing her lack of empowerment and fear of disrupting the gender roles. The woman was meant to be the housewife, caring for the children, and staying home. Daisy believes women should not be intelligent and applies these expectations to her own daughter: "I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. 'All right, ' I said, 'I 'm glad it 's a girl. And I hope she 'll be a fool—that 's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 116-118). It is evident that Daisy was disappointed by the gender of her baby, and thinks little of what a woman can be in

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)

pg 35 just for the thought that she will be better seen by others if

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