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Gender Roles In The Great Gatsby

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1920-- the year that changed the American society for woman, the year that gave them the right to vote. For many, this was a huge step in recognizing women’s role and importance in society. Women's rights have been contemplated and defined as many things in the past couple of hundred years; but even today do they still think that they are looked down upon at times. “Feminism” wasn’t always a word that was spoken spitefully, but a word that does mean that “men and women should have equal rights and opportunities”. Today, feminism is usually looked at as girls over-exaggerating about their rights. But truly, it’s really about men and woman having equal rights. This can include getting equal wages, having high-positioned jobs, and many more. The question is: have gender roles changed over …show more content…

Through the sources, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Our Deportment, of the Manners, Conduct, and Dress of Refined Society” by John H. Young, and the speech by Emma Watson, “HeForShe: Gender Equality is Your Issue, Too”, it is revealed that gender roles have changed, except in the area of social equality. Far back in history as many could remember, a woman was never seen as an important figure in a home, marriage, and jobs. It was usually heard of wives staying home while the husband worked, and they took care of the children and the house. In 1881, that was not the case. “Home is the woman’s kingdom, and there she reigns supreme”. (Young, 1). Who ever thought that back a couple hundred years ago, a woman in the house was basically considered royalty? It is shocking. Women, a hundred years back, were known to have trouble being socially, economically, and politically recognized. “It is the husband's duty to join his wife in all her endeavors to instruct her children, to defer all matters

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In chapter one of The Great Gatsby, it is already apparent how women and men have incredibly different gender roles. Women play a very consistent role of being an airhead and being loyal and submissive to men; at this point, being in the early 1920s, this makes much sense. Ideally, women would be dumb and gorgeous. This would a) make their life easier and b) make it much easier to find a husband. That is Daisy's one wish to her daughter that she will be "a fool–that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool" (Fitzgerald 17).

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Does the male domination today compare to the extensive sexism of women throughout history? Today, sexist views are subconsciously prominent in various beliefs and expectations, such as biased women stereotypes and the pay gap. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Great Gatsby, by Scott Fitzgerald, both coherently portray women in American history as submissive to male authority. The Scarlet Letter is a novel based in the 17th century where Hester Prynne, an adulteress, is stripped of her identity through public humiliation, but defies the societal views of her town and bravely accepts her faults. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan is portrayed as a perfect and high-class woman whom men fall in love with the idea of her.

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In society today, not only are gender roles demonstrated in people’s daily lives, but are also demonstrated in tragedies. Tragedies tend to consist gender roles throughout their story line by showing how people in society must act on their behalf. Tragedies also provide an example of what modern day society looked like based on the time period it was written in. Social constructs also change over time, making tragedies something important that marks what society looked like at the time. With this in mind, tragedies such as “Oedipus Cycle” by Sophocles and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald enforce gender roles by showing gender inequality and enforcing certain emotions and actions amongst men and women.

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Gender impacts the identity Americans tend to believe that identity must be impacted by tons of things, especially the rigid social hierarchy, however, identity could also be impacted by one aspect, gender, it is obviously demonstrated in both The Great Gatsby and Little Women. Between 100 years since 1830s-1940s in Little Women and The Great Gatsby, though the society changed a lot by Industrial Revolution in US, the bias of gender did not change, in particular the females. Although both daisy and jo faced unfair treatments because of their gender in the US and changed their identity because of the dissatisfy of their marriage or self-achievements, Daisy wished to change her identity depending on Gatsby, she hoped him could help her to regain the passion of love and life, nevertheless, Jo changed herself by moving to the NY city to practice her writing skills and also met her husband, Mr. Bhaer, later. Both Daisy and Jo could reflect the issue faced by US female.

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During the 1920's the population was divided into groups dependent on race, gender and wealth. This can be seen in The Great Gatsby where society is segregated into the upper, middle and lower classes. Additionally, females and people of colour were disadvantaged compared to white males. Society was wholly structured around classes with the lower class having minimal education and working menial jobs. This class status is represented in The Great Gatsby by Myrtle and her husband.

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Tashi Hope Nicolay ElA III 20 March 2018 The Great Gatsby Essay The women in Fitzgerald's book are described as careless ,selfish , and fierce .They show that they can do anything they want without responsibility, Daisy breaks Gatsby’s heart, Scott Fitzgerald he made it seem that women in the 1920’s were careless and boyish because of the way they acted at parties and anywhere else that Fitzgerald shows that with Daisy, she manipulated Gatsby, Daisy is one of those types of people that likes attention but not too much. She takes the bad vibe in the room and turns it to her like when Gatsby and Tom were fighting “ His hand, trembling with effort at self-control, bore to his lips the last of his glass of al,Daisy’s voice got us to our feet and out onto the blazing gravel drive,Are we just going to go?she said... oh lets have fun she begged him. It's too hot to fuss”( Daisy pg.119), Jordan is laid back Myrtle is reckless.

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Gender roles are built off of the assumptions and exaggerations of society, and both of which change over time. Events such as the first ever women’s baseball league or the start of a women’s right to vote are what fueled the outcome of women’s rights we know and utilize

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In the midst of the nineteenth century, the period of which the American class of women were basically tied through marriage to a male superior. Women were to be thought of as an asset, property, and a valuable ideal figure of a household. The domain of a woman’s way of life was based on the ideology of the prescribed roles of being a wife and a mother. The male figures of the household on the other hand, were in the hands of politics, economics, and business in the idea that the male superior of the household was to provide all the essentials and possible needs of his family. During this time period, women did not have the opportunity of choice.

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So many people and historical events have had an incredible impact on society and how people of today’s world view stereotypes, women’s rights, and equality. They are why we have the opportunities and rights we do today. Though we are still fighting for equality of everyone, whether it be race, gender, or religion, we have so much to be grateful for. Contrary to what many people think, feminism is not the idea that women are better than men.

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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.

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This new way of life was celebrated, and the new division of duties left women “imprisoned in the home by the new ideology of feminine domesticity.” (Kimmel, 2013, pg. 147) This was a time of decline in women’s status. The Twentieth century came with many changes for the family.

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American Literature often addressed problems that were occurring within the United States. Some American authors tackled grievances regarding gender inequality and racism, while others wrote about the American Dream and wealth. In today’s society, a lot of these ideas still exist but some are more prevalent than others. The idea of the American Dream has long been a vision for Americans as well as people moving into the country: They have the thought that hard work grants success or wealth. However, this idea is slowly meeting its demise, as the gap between the rich and poor continues to increase.

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In the 19th century the roles of women were very different than they are today. Women had few rights and their only purpose was to maintain the household while men worked all day. Men of this generation made family decisions and their wife’s own personal decisions. We have seen textual evidence of the life of women in the nineteenth century, thanks to Charlotte Gilman and Susan Glaspell. Only a century later have women received more equality and less responsibility.

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Civil or political rights for the female was strictly limited, as they were considered susceptible and fragile which were not capable of making their own decisions. The conduct book Woman in her Social and Domestic Character (1831) representing the traditional ideas about Victorian women, the author believes the domestic home life is the primary sources of a woman’s influence, while they should take the subordinate position to men . Therefore, we can see women at that time were expected to marry and live up to an image of “ideal wife”– submissive, demure and perform domestic duties–rather than receive the formal

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During the 1890’s until today, the roles of women and their rights have severely changed. They have been inferior, submissive, and trapped by their marriage. Women have slowly evolved into individuals that have rights and can represent “feminine individuality”. The fact that they be intended to be house-caring women has changed.

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