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Feminine Power In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

1488 Words6 Pages

Have you ever read The Great Gatsby, and if you have, have you ever analyzed it? Personally, I have specifically analyzed the female characters in The Great Gatsby, and the author's message to the readers about feminine power. Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan are the three main characters in The Great Gatsby and they make up the majority of the story. Fitzgerald’s, the author of The Great Gatsby, message to the readers about feminine power is that women are better off without a man. This is his point of view because he believes that a man will drag a woman down, and she won't be able to reach her full potential. Daisy and Myrtle have a similar take on their life but grew up different. While Daisy and Jordan are alike because of their social …show more content…

The way they grew up is similar as well as their social classes, however they have a different take on life. Daisy and Jordan both grew up within the upper class, they both had exceptional opportunities and experience that many of the lower class people didn’t. The differences that they have consist of their take on life, Daisy depends on Tom and doesn't work, while Jordan works and depends on herself. Back then this was very frowned upon. “She’s a nice girl,” said Tom after a moment. “They oughtn’t to let her run around the country this way.” “Who oughtn’t to?” inquired Daisy coldly. “Her family.” (Fitzgerald 17). Tom’s statement backs up the claim that Jordan is dependent, since Tom is cocky and is used to the idea that men should do everything, he can’t grasp the fact that a woman can do the same job as a man. This supports Fitzgerald's claim that men drag down women, back then it was very frowned upon if a woman was seen out working and doing a “man’s job’’ but Jordan didn't believe in any of that ridiculous nonsense.“‘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 16). Daisy’s statement that a girl can only be a beautiful fool shows what kind of take Daisy had on society and life in general. Daisy wasn’t raised and or surrounded by the people that would think or act outside the box, she's more of an it is …show more content…

That is why they are the third charters that will be used as an example. Jordan grew up in the upper class with a financially stable family, while Myrtle was the complete opposite. On the other hand they both have the same morals, Jordan and Myrtle both cheat and lie about it. Jordan cheats in her golf matches, while Myrtle cheats on her husband. “It made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply — I was casually sorry, and then I forgot.” (Fitzgerald 47). Nick's statement about women never being blamed for their dishonestly, backs up Fitzgerald's statement that women were generally held to a lower standard than men. Nick is basically stating that Jordan is never blamed for her lies, and gets away with things easily because men view her as less important, in a way they look down on her. “Well, I married him,” said Myrtle, ambiguously. “And that’s the difference between your case and mine.” “Why did you, Myrtle?”(Fitzgerald 29). Myrtle is talking about how she did wrong in marrying Wilson, this whole dialogue just showcases her selfishness and how terrible of a person she is. Myrtle is unhappy with her relationship because she can not constantly be getting what she wants, so she cheated on him with Tom who can provide her with what she wants.Jordan and Myrtle Are the last example that showcase Fitzgerald's message about feminine

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In Bad Driving: Jordan's Tantalizing Story in "The Great Gatsby", Veronica Makowksy made a strong point that Fitzgerald has made Jordan a limited character and needs to be a more relevant character in The Great Gatsby. I disagree with these points as Jordan is a problematic character and Fitzgerald portrayed her to the audience specifically in this way and made many points that show this. Makowsky tries to state that the reason Jordan is like this is because of the discrimination against women, and if she were more prominent in the book, she would not be as much of a judged character. Veronica Makowsky, explains how Jordan, the self-centered, dishonest rebel, should have a bigger role in the great gatsby, as she is just like Gatsby because

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Fitzgerald’s use of this incident shows that because Jordan was raised in a high social class, she did not value the things that

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Jordan Baker was an excellent golfer, as seen in the fact that she made it to the finals at a professional level. This shows the difference between her and daisy. Jordan is breaking limits, while on the other hand Daisy is stuck within the gender roles. There were times when Jordan was the best of these three characters, but there were also times when Gatsby was the

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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.

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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

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It also demonstrates her lack of accountability of her own decisions and deeds. She places the blame for her unhappiness on her husband rather than owning up to her actions. Myrtle says, “I married him because I thought he was a gentleman.. I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe.” This shows Myrtle's dissatisfaction with her present social status and her desire to move on to better.

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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.

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Jordan’s physical appearance shows her as a “blonde and very athletic, physical, tan, and angular” (Best Character Analysis). In contrast, Daisy is described as a more fragile figure with dark hair and she is married, unlike Jordan. In the book, Daisy is perceived as one of the most socially acceptable woman of the time. During the 1920’s, women were expected to marry, especially wealthy women. Staying home with the children was the main job of women during this time.

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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

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, is full of themes of wealth, love, and tragedy, as well as a subtle but powerful representation of gender. During the time this book was written, women’s suffrage had begun, so women were taking their first steps towards equality with men. The three main women characters in the novel - Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker- all have things in common but can be vastly different; they reflect both man and society’s view of women in the early 20th century. The Great Gatsby portrays the characters Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan as stereotypes of women during the 1920s, which is shown through their behavior, beliefs, and ultimate fates and their personalities display both powerful and potentially harmful stereotypes of women at this time.

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660 Words | 3 Pages

And I hope she’ll be a fool, that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool" (Fitzgerald 22). Daisy is basically explaining that there are limited possibilities for women. The baby has to be beautiful in order to be successful and have happiness. Back in the 1920’s, women only married solely for the money, not necessarily for the love. Daisy thought she married Tom out of love, but realized it was all about the wealth.

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Myrtle is accustomed to living an underprivileged life where feminine power engulfs her, but Tom is too egotistical to allow Myrtle to speak with such authority to him. Similarly, Gatsby’s need for assurance from Daisy pressures her into revealing to Tom that she never loved him (Fitzgerald 132). Deep down, Daisy knows that she truly did love Tom once, but Gatsby’s assertiveness and persistence drives her over the edge to telling Tom that what the two of them shared meant nothing to her. Daisy’s attribute of being a pushover is revealed immensely because she refuses to stand up for herself. Daisy is used to enabling Tom to constantly control all aspects of her life, and that leaves her powerless in society.

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If society were more accepting towards independent women, there would have been a possibility for deeper characterization in Fitzgerald’s novel, with more enriched complexities rooted in the plot without the shackles of patriarchal

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659 Words | 3 Pages

• Even Nick Carraway is no sympathic towards her . However, Nick’s ideals of womanhood seem to differ from Tom’s only in the matter of degree. • He rejects Jordan Baker on the grounds of her moral inadequacy and indifference, but his descriptions suggest a concealed source of antagonism: she is ‘unfeminine’, androgynous, more of a boy than a ‘lady’. There is a covert theme in the novel which is never openly raised by Nick as a narrator or Fitzgerald as an author, and that concerns the status and identity of women. • He(Nick) is referring to Jordan Baker when he slips in this comment, deliberately making the reader an accessory to his way of thinking by the use of the pronoun ‘you’:

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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).

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