Gender Stereotypes In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Feminism and gender stereotyping in everyday life further feeds inequality, preventing society from moving forward. Individuals often see women as the caregivers in families while husbands are the providers and someone who needs to keep the family afloat. F. Scott Fitzgerald expresses these concerns about society through his female characters in his novel, “The Great Gatsby.” He allows his female characters to undergo conflicts that women encountered during the 1920s. Two female characters in the book, Jordan and Daisy, handle their hardships differently but still stand up for women and against the stereotypes surrounding women. Women constantly navigate the barriers that present themselves throughout their lifetimes.

Each female character

Jordan Baker is a professional golfer who, although moving to the east coast from somewhere in the Midwest, quickly rose among the social ranks to become a famous golfer—a sport played mainly among the wealthy. Yet Jordans rise to social prominence is established on lies. Not only did she cheat to win her first major golf tournament, but she is also incurably dishonest. Nick Carraway, the story’s narrator, describes Jordan as someone who “instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and (...) felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible.” (57-58 Fitzgerald). Nick offers his take on Jordan’s psychology. Specifically, he describes her superiority complex and the way she keeps away from “clever, shrewd men” so that she can remain in a superior position. Nick posits that Jordan constantly tells lies to maintain an advantage over others. Whatever advantage Jordan has is linked to her beauty and fame, and Nick indicates that she uses this advantage both to satisfy her desires and soothe her insecurities. Jordan’s cynical and self-centered nature marks her as one of the “new women” of the Roaring Twenties. Such new women were called “flappers.” Flappers were young women known for their “energetic freedom, embracing a lifestyle viewed by many at the time as outrageous, immoral or downright dangerous.” (History.com Editors). Flappers set the

However, some critics argue that “The Great Gatsby” only held the feminist movement back. Individuals state that the book portrays women in a bad light due to the cheating and other controversial topics that take place in the book. However, there is more to the story than what Fitzgerald wrote. Fitzgerald illustrates how women are negatively portrayed and are often objectified by men. During a fight between Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson, Tom “making a short deft movement, broke her nose with his open hand.'' This event in the book shows how men saw and perceived women. Tom got aggravated when Myrtle did not listen to his command and resorted to violence to get his way. Women were not seen as people, but more as something that men could use when they needed something, and if they were not needed, then they should sit quietly in the corner. The story also used all different types of living situations to show how badly women were treated, and “by reflecting opposing principles of society's model through very different female characters. ” (Hyun). It allows the reader to witness that all women were being treated and viewed not as popular but as an object. Though some people believe that “The Great Gatsby” did not help the feminist movement, it did because it allowed readers to see how the environment around them was not a healthy one for women of all