Examples Of Antifeminism In The Great Gatsby

Anti-feminism in The Great Gatsby

In The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920’s, the female characters are mostly portrayed shallowly. The 1920’s era, a period known in America as the Roaring Twenties is portrayed as decaying social and moral values by drawing attention to such societal misconducts. It is shown that Men are very dominant over women. During this time between the world wars, progressive women walked the streets of New York with no job just wearing short dresses and being housewives. Life in New York and Long Island was a presentation of how society constructs false consciousness in which men are positioned in higher authority than women, especially in the case of Daisy and Tom Bucanan. A antifeminist approach

Daisy Buchanan was striving to achieve this dream one way or another. Daisy stated that,” ”I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (22). Daisy is implying that the world has no place for women, the best she can do is hope to survive and the best way to do that is through her physical beauty that men will fall for rather than brains. Daisy is presenting that she would rather have a boy because he will have a higher chance of being successful, as the opportunities for women are very limited. Another quote adding on to the “American Dream” is,” Her voice is full of money” (75). This represents Gatsby's desire to obtain Daisy's love. Wealth is proposed as a significant attraction for all characters of the novel, regarding to a big importance of the “American Dream”. Gatsby suggests that Daisy’s intentions are connected to her wealth. Gatsby believes Daisy's wealth will draw him in to her, showing that he suspects materialism is a powerful factor of a relationship. Daisy is known for only wanting money, and you can’t get past her if you can’t provide the

Fitzgerald represents gender roles in his novel in a traditional manner. In the book, the men are perceived as making the money to provide for their wives and support all their needs, making them more dominant over females. The female characters are seen as lesser than, causing the male characters to look down upon them. It’s stated that,”There was Jordan beside me, who, unlike Daisy, was too wise ever to carry well-forgotten dreams from age to age” (135). Nick makes this comparison between Jordan and Daisy that he is sitting next to Jordan, a wise individual woman. Nick is comparing Jordan to Daisy living in a dream and implying that she has no real goals; she is just trying to live this fantasy life belittling her morals. Compared to Jordan he feels like she is living in reality and he speaks highly of her. Another example is,” Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke Myrtle's nose with his open hand” (131).This is insinuating Tom’s respect he has for Myrtle is extremely low and that he is willing to do anything including being violent to women in the moment. Myrtle refused to obey him and he did not like the fact that she stood up for herself so, he physically abused her. Tom had no issue doing that to a woman, if it wasn’t a woman he would have more respect. This connects to the point that Myrtle, being a female character in the book, is exceedingly looked