Daisy's Treatment Of Women In The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgeralds’ The Great Gatsby depicts narrator Nick Carraway’s time living next to the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby in the West Egg. Jay is in love with Daisy Buchanan, Nick’s cousin and wife of Tom Buchanan. Tom is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the valley of ashes with her husband, George. Nick is also romantically involved with Jordan Baker, Daisy’s friend and a professional golfer. With Daisy’s naivety, Myrtle’s promiscuity, and Jordan’s confidence, all three women have vastly different personalities often associated with women in the 1920’s. In both Fitzgerald’s book and Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby the three women’s beauty, social status, and personalities embody the American dream.
Daisy’s

The first thing Daisy says in the novel is that she is “...p-paralyzed with happiness.” to see Nick (page 8). The stutter before “paralyzed” is Daisy’s hesitation to say “happiness”. Daisy’s paralysis is a result of her society and loveless marriage. She is stuck with no way out, until her affair with Gatsby shows her that she could have had love and money. While talking to Nick about the birth of her daughter, Daisy mentions that she hopes her daughter will “...be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” (Fitzgerald 17). In Daisy’s eyes, a woman has no place in this world except to be dumb and pretty. Not only does this show her cynicism towards a female's place in the world, it also gives reason to why she stayed with Tom instead of leaving him for Gatsby. Her wealthy society and abusive husband have made her miserable and she feels as if she is incapable of doing anything because her only job is to be a trophy

In the book, Myrtle is a curvy woman in her mid-thirties with a face that “...contained no facet of gleam or beauty.” (Fitzgerald 25).Though Myrtle is not in her prime, her seductive nature is directed toward men seeking pleasure, which is why Tom justifies treating her like she is a sex object, rather than a human being. In the movie, Isla Fisher plays Myrtle. Fisher contains no resemblance towards Fitzgerald’s description. She is a young, pretty redhead. Luhrmann could have cast Fisher to illuminate how vibrant Myrtle is compared to her lifeless husband and the dismal valley of