Women In The Great Gatsby

After World War One, nothing was ever going to be the same again, especially American women. They were not aware, but American women were starting a whole new mindset for generations of women to come. With women working more in professional jobs and not just staying at home, they were making breakthroughs in society that were unheard of. The 1920’s was a time for women reinvent themselves, and this was portrayed by the female characters in the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

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 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.

The Jazz age or the Roaring 20’s was a vital time for women in America. One reason this was a vital time was because on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. This was also a vital time because America was changing from a more conservative country to a liberal one. The female characters in Fitz Gerald’s’ The Great Gatsby embodies the way women were back in the 1920s. Women before the 1920s were only seen as caregivers. In this story, the women were the total opposite of that. They changed from things such as clothing, smoking, and dancing. Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle were all portrayed as the “New Woman”. There was Daisy who married into money but had a secret lover. There was Jordan who was this independent woman

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.

Myrtle also adds to this stigma. She longs for a life that is fun and glamorous, but reality is she is the wife of a pump mechanic, meaning she will never have access to mobility in class or status. She is a lower class woman, which led her to engage in an affair with Tom Buchanan; it is the closest she will come to feeling higher up socially. Myrtle will do just about anything to be a part of the upper class despite the consequences. There was even a point in time when Tom physically hits her, breaking her nose and yet she still stayed with him just to continue lavishing in this fantasy she so eagerly wanted to become real (Fitzgerald, pg 37). That scene and the dynamic of her and Tom represent the subordination of the lower class and the mistreatment of women within the lower class.

The characters from the novel The Great Gatsby by Scott F. Fitzgerald are used to portray the roles of men and women that lived in the time period of the 1920’s. Fitzgerald uses the fictional characters from to the novel to criticize this time period because he believed that the majority of the people that existed in the 1920’s were naïve and unworthy. The American society from the 1920’s lacked of freedom, moral value, and sincere happiness.

Fitzgerald depicts women as self-absorbed, selfish and/or dishonest through the three characters of Daisy, Myrtle and Jordan. They have other qualities as well but those are the three traits that have the biggest role in the way this story takes place. Daisy is so obsessed with herself she can’t afford to think about anything else. Myrtle is so obsessed with having more she becomes blinded to the things she does have. Jordan is so obsessed with making herself be seen as perfect she no longer knows how to do it without cheating. These flaws that each of these women have represent every other women in America during the 1920’s whether they had the same traits or not. Fitzgerald simply captures what life was like during an era in history where

It is evident that women’s main role in their lives was to take care of their children and husbands before 1920s. But Fitzgerald’s portrait the ‘Jazz Age’ women care more about themselves and their position in the society and become unfaithful toward their families. One instance is Myrtle cheats on Wilson with Tom. “Tom’s got some women in New York” (Fitzgerald 13). When George Wilson knows about their affair, he locks Myrtle in her room.

A woman’s looks or beauty was of high value in the 1920s culture, and this can be seen best through the characters of Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan.

"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,17). This quote shows that in Daisy mind the best way for her daughter to succeed in life is to be beautiful to draw the attention of men. “(I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) This quote explains that Daisy has found a way to draw people closer because she speaks very quietly. Daisy has many interactions with men throughout the novel that shows just how much influence she has over them.

Fitzgerald makes many humiliating comments such as “ she laughed again, as if she said something witty” (Fitzgerald 13) Simple comments like this throughout the novel show how unimportant he perceives women. Fitzgerald often portrays women as simple as well as simple minded. He uses many different colors to symbolise women. He associates the color grey with Jordan, showing how basic and boring she is.

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

During the Jazz Era, almost every women was depended on men for their money. Wealth should not considered as important as respect and respect is something everyone deserves, not only men. The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald about rich people that lived in New York during the Jazz Era. The Great Gatsby is about a rich man named Jay Gatsby who tries to win his love back from someone through his power and wealth. The role of women in The Great Gatsby is important because it talks about the amount of freedom and power they have compared to men. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, women are given no respect, controlled by men, and are treated like trophies to win over.

Furthermore, women in The Great Gatsby are marginalized by the social patterns of the Jazz Age resulting in a deprivation of their own identity. Despite their recent liberation, women are replicas of each other; nothing more than impersonal, faceless objects. In August, 1920, the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, gave way to the emancipated women. Women or flappers, as they are referred to, with their short hair and shiny dresses are identical in appearance, with little or no individuality. While reflecting on the attendees at Gatsby’s parties, Nick infers, “Benny McClenahan arrived always with four girls. They were never quite the same ones in physical person, but they were so identical one with another that it inevitably seemed they had been there before” (Fitzgerald 62). As Nick observes, due to their similarity it makes it difficult to determine if it is a woman’s first time at one of Gatsby’s parties. This exemplifies women’s conformity to an unwritten social code and their morphism into undistinguishable beings, simply an object of men’s desires. Additionally, Nick’s nightmare after Gatsby’s death illustrates another example of women’s marginalization as a result of their adherence to the social standards of the times. He dreams about a drunken woman in a white evening dress being carried home by four men. “Gravely the men turn in at a house – the wrong house. But no one