ipl-logo

Corruption Of Women In The Great Gatsby

572 Words3 Pages

As shown in The Great Gatsby, wealth and luxury has shown to result in ethical or moral corruption of one’s self. An example would be Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby: being the two richest men in the novel, they are shown to be corrupted in ways that are not what people expect. While Tom was born into the wealthy life in East Egg, Gatsby was originally a poor man named James Gatz and had to work his way into becoming a wealthy man in West Egg. Tom had strong power and importance in the book and that drew Myrtle out of the Valley of Ashes and she tried to obtain Tom in order to become wealthy. Both men have no regards for the other as displayed in chapter 7. “I suppose you’ve got to make your house into a pigsty in order to have friends in the …show more content…

Specifically: Nick, Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan. As confirmed while reading the book, Daisy and Myrtle are shown to be dependent on the men around them. Myrtle was dependent on Tom for his money because she and her husband George were poor and lived in the Valley of Ashes. Myrtle following Tom while married to George for around fifteen years ended up sealing her fate in chapter 7 when Daisy unknowingly killed her in a car accident. Both Daisy and Nick are wallflowers and were pawns in the story. Nick was the man who helped out Gatsby arrange him to reunite with Daisy in chapter 5 and had to deal with all of the drama throughout Tom and Gatsby during his summer in East Egg and West Egg. Daisy is shown to be dependent on love. During the course of the novel, she went from Gatsby, to tom, back to Gatsby, and back to Tom. “I did love him once-but I loved you too.” (Fitzgerald 132) Contrary to what others may believe, Jordan is the exact opposite of the typical 1920’s woman. She is shown to be an epitome of confidence and a real surprise to Nick when she first encounters him all the way in chapter 1. “Almost any exhibition of self-efficiency draws a stunned tribute from me.” (Fitzgerald 9) The historical beliefs of women is shifted when comparing Jordan to both Daisy and Myrtle. When seeing Jordan as a sporty, confident, young golfer, Daisy and Myrtle are

Show More
Related
488 Words | 2 Pages

Although Nick was in love with Gatsby, he stayed with Jordan. Gatsby would use Nick to get through to Daisy since Nick was her cousin.

Read More
636 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the novel “ The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald it becomes more and more evident that Daisy is the biggest user and manipulator than the rest of the characters. Daisy is the type of character who seems and feigns innocence but this is to derail and confuse people of who she really is as a person. Not only does she use and string Gatsby along but she does the same with Tom. Daisy seems to be in control in situations when it may seem very unlikely that she is.

Read More
871 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays women in an extremely negative light. The idea Fitzgerald gives off is that women are only good for their looks and their bodies and that they should just be a sex symbol rather than actually use their heads. He treats women like objects and the male characters in the novel use women, abuse women, and throw them aside. I believe that Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle are prime examples of women in The Great Gatsby being treated poorly.

Read More
1421 Words | 6 Pages

Daisy shows her struggles with the social status of women through her daughter and relationship with Tom. Jordan proves that being a “new” women of the 1920s comes with a price of judgment and accusations of dishonesty. Myrtle seeks to become a member of the

Read More
854 Words | 4 Pages

The Negative Influence of Wealth Wealth and prosperity are the core of living a lavish lifestyle and having a successful life. However, money can influence people into debauchery. In the book, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald introduces to us to some of the dangers of being rich. Most people in the Great Gatsby were very privileged, and they lived a lavish lifestyle.

Read More
1169 Words | 5 Pages

In today’s duplicitous society, men often pursue the “perfect woman”. This woman is construed to be; fit, provocative and ravishing. However, in greatly distinguished American novel, The Great Gatsby, the men have strayed from stalking women for their looks. Instead, Gatsby chases Daisy to achieve her as a prize of his bounty and any affection Gatsby demonstrates toward her, is simply to appease to her sense of status and wealth. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald, exhibits Gatsby’s these feelings for Daisy through the clever usage of connotation, symbolism and metaphors.

Read More
1261 Words | 6 Pages

The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic 20th century story -that period was also known as the “roaring twenties”- which critiques the vision of the American Dream people in general have. At that time, the idea of a free market, and industrial revolution provided the opportunity for many to seize the market and people were starting to see that they could become rich without having any type of restriction. New York city was the centre of this wealth-creating society. After the war, this movement generated new opportunities and ambitions for people wanting to start a wealthy upper class life. That period of time was all about alcohol, partying, gambling, fashion, and money.

Read More
680 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the entirety of the novel, Fitzgerald portrays many similarities and differences between both Daisy and Jordan. They both value materialism before anything else in their lives. They are both shallow and self-centered when it comes to their relationships. Daisy cheats on her husband

Read More
2439 Words | 10 Pages

He refers to her as “this woman” when he describes how she “rushed out at [them];” his attitude towards this person he just ran over was less than of her being a human being and more like she was some stray animal destined to be roadkill. Between these three characters, they are all part of a web that was the vision of women in the 1920s. In a particularly powerful interaction between Daisy, the typical, submissive, beautiful woman; and Jordan, the accomplished, defiant and trouble seeking woman; we see these two personas mingle on an extremely hot summer day. Daisy is whining and crying about how she sees no future in the unbelievable heat, showing her strong tendency for overreaction and her inability to see beyond now. Jordan, however, replies to her, saying to Daisy to not be “morbid” and that “life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall”, showing her progressive

Read More
1557 Words | 7 Pages

Jordan, Daisy, and Myrtle behave in a certain manner to avoid feeling hurt and suffering. The most obvious example is that of Daisy as she consistently fakes her innocence throughout the story. This can be observed when she admits to Nick that she believes “everything’s terrible” and that she has “been everywhere and seen everything and done everything”(17). This implies that she is not the pure and innocent being that she portrays herself as to others, contradicting her seemingly unknowing behavior. She most likely depicts herself as unaware and lesser-minded in hopes of remaining the picture perfect “golden girl” that she is often described as as well as to avoid conflict and confrontation.

Read More
1909 Words | 8 Pages

Then, we will see Daisy Buchanan’s moral corruption due to her wealthy upbringing. Lastly, Nick Carraway’s conversation with Tom will show how wealth has corrupted Tom’s morals in such a way that it leads him to rationalize his decisions and actions, believing that what he did was right. Wealth is the source of moral corruption within the characters in The Great Gatsby, wealth is the source of their actions and decisions, it is the reason for their warped sense of what is right and wrong. The first example of wealth

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

Finally, these women proved to be fairly similar in their particular role in life to achieve happiness. Myrtle desired to live the same life that Daisy did: she wanted a life full of money. Myrtle lived her dreams in the small apartment that Tom kept for them in New York. When Myrtle changed her dresses, at the same time she was also changing her ‘fake’ characters. In some way, she achieved her goal, she ‘reached her dream’ for an afternoon, a better lifestyle, a life like Daisy 's. There was a big difference between Daisy and Myrtle but one thing was common, their unhappiness.

Read More
1659 Words | 7 Pages

Characters throughout The Great Gatsby present themselves with mysterious and questionable morals. Affairs, dishonest morals, criminal professions, weak boundaries and hypocritical views are all examples of immorality portrayed in The Great Gatsby. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, lies and mischief fill the lives of many and significantly damage numerous relationships. First, Jay Gatsby's whole life is consumed into a massive lie. His personality traits set him apart from others and the attention he accumulates motivates him to falsely portray his life.

Read More
1399 Words | 6 Pages

Conversely, Jordan presents her feminine power during Gatsby’s party when she tells Nick that the group they were associating with was too polite for her and that she wants to go find the host (Fitzgerald 45). Typically, in the higher class, the women do whatever the men deem appropriate or interesting to them, but Jordan, being the independent woman she is, chooses her own paths in life. Jordan is not attracted to the conversation at hand; therefore, she is going to present her feminine power and walk away from the cult of upperclassmen to pursue anything that she wants to, and no one is going to stop her.

Read More
430 Words | 2 Pages

Fitzgerald depicts the women of the novel as deceitful, sexual beings that are naturally subordinate to men through Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle. Daisy exemplifies the naturally inferior role of women relying on the wealth of men in their lives to take care of them. When Daisy talks about her daughter she claims, “a fool–that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”(21) establishing women’s subordinate role in which they are ignorant to the affairs of their husbands and expected to rely on their beauty to carry them through life. When Daisy is accused of infidelity with Gatsby in the hotel, Gatsby claims that Daisy is attracted to men of wealth and, “only married [Tom] because [Gatsby] was poor and she was tired of waiting for [him]”(137).

Read More

More about Corruption Of Women In The Great Gatsby

Related Topics

Open Document