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Emancipated Women In The Great Gatsby

1276 Words6 Pages

“There are emancipated women abound in The Great Gatsby, especially at the parties. However, although many of them appear to be emancipated, they depend on men.” The Great Gatsby is placed in the midst of the 1920s, a time where new social and sexual freedoms were more acceptable than prior times. The women in this novel seem to be emancipated. Fitzgerald shows this through the lives of three of the leading characters: Daisy, Jordan, Myrtle; and through the women that attended Gatsby’s parties. However, Fitzgerald also shows how they still depend on men, no matter how emancipated they seem to be. Therefore, the question whether or not women were truly dependent on men, is raised. In many opportunities Fitzgerald shows the reader women were independent. One can easily see this in the parties at Gatsby’s place. During the parties there was a “great number of single girls dancing individualistically”. This proves that it was now acceptable for women to be on their own during social events, without being held back by men who would order them around. Girls at the parties are said to be dancing “individualistically”suggesting that they are now enjoying their new freedoms. Women were now independent and not restricted to be at social events without being accompanied by their husbands, unlike years prior. A lot of women in this era take …show more content…

However the power fundamentally lies on the men of the book. Women were kept ‘under control’ by men who used violence were authoritative. It is rather safe to say that one must not be quick to assume that women in this book had very little freedom. This idea of women having social and sexual freedom was something brand new for the era when the books was written (90 years ago), which makes the ideas introduce extremely

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