Gender In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a novel that illustrates the behavior of women in the superficial world of New York during the 1920s. By looking through the eyes of the main character, Nick Carraway, the behavior of the women and the actions they take are extraordinary as they are consistently controlled by men. Fitzgerald includes the fact that women were treated as trophies because men would wander around finding other women. However, Fitzgerald does not solely focus on the women; instead, he includes the actions that the men took to obtain their position 1920s New York. Additionally, Fitzgerald ties a connection between the two genders and brings up the idea of why the women behaved in such a way to fit in the superficial world of New York. Furthermore,

During the 1920s, New York presented itself as an illusion which appeared to be a world containing successful and romantically dedicated people. Furthermore, the illusion displayed an idea that the people of New York were wealthy as they had earned their money. Additionally, it would consist of what would seem like a compassion for love; however, that idea would soon become a disappointment. Henceforth, under the illusion is the reality of the two ideas as the illusion fades into the disheartening truth. Fitzgerald uses multiple characters to demonstrate how the people of New York didn’t necessarily earn their money. He uses people like Tom, to bring the reader out of the misapprehension, and reveal the truth of the individual. For example, when Nick first visits Tom and Daisy, he explains that, “his family were enormously wealthy——even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach——but now he’d left Chicago and come east in a fashion that

The root would be how the men behave to fit in the world of 1920s New York which ultimately leads to why the woman behave in a certain manner that allows them to fit in the same world. For example, A character named George Wilson had done whatever he could to marry the girl he loves, Myrtle Wilson. However, Myrtle finds out that George had done something forgivable as, “he borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in and never even told me [Myrtle] about it.” (39) The fact that George had, “borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in,” displays a superficial characteristic of men. Additionally, Myrtle had expected to marry a wealthy man, but soon finds out that he isn’t rich as he had to borrow a suit to get married in. Another character Fitzgerald uses to expose the superficiality of men is Gatsby. During a conversation between Nick and Gatsby, Gatsby proclaims that he is, “the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west——all dead now… It is a family tradition.” (69) However, the statement made by Gatsby becomes troublesome to Nick because, “with this doubt his whole statement fell to pieces and I [Nick] wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him after all.” (69) Nick becomes suspicious of what Gatsby is explaining to him because the idea that Gatsby is, “the son of some wealthy people” causes him to doubt what Gatsby is