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How Does Jordan Baker Present The Decay In The Great Gatsby

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Jordan Baker’s Resemblance to the Roaring Twenties The 1920s were entitled the ‘Roaring Twenties’ for a reason. Known as the “God is dead” era, the morality of Americans decayed into cheap, meretricious ideas of fun. F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby, tells the story of lost love and the long-sought-after American Dream. The characters reflect their settings, but especially the character of Jordan Baker. The Great Gatsby’s Jordan Baker reflects the moral decay of the Roaring Twenties by moving on too fast, party mentality, self-aware carelessness, and dishonesty.
Jordan Baker lives a fast-paced life, with a party mentality. When Daisy begins to feel morbid and philosophical about the summer and how she does not know how …show more content…

However, unlike many of the other characters in the novel, Jordan is self-aware of this. Jordan was very cold, and never very welcoming. When she did express herself, it was never quite warm. For example, Jordan “held [Nick’s] hand impersonally”(p42). She keeps herself at. Nick acknowledges her carelessness and warns Jordan, “Either you ought to be more careful or you oughtn’t to drive at all”(p58). To this, Jordan replies, “It takes two to make an accident”(p58). Jordan does not take on the blame for almost hitting a man with her car, she simply makes a quip and changes the subject. She does not truly care for the safety of anyone else. Though Jordan is careless, Nick states she was “too wise ever to carry well-forgotten dreams from age to age”, unlike Daisy (p135). Jordan is clearly wise enough to understand that she has lost any sense of care. It's her intention to close herself off emotionally and express no real empathy to others, even for issues that she caused. Carelessness goes hand-in-hand with the party mentality of the 1920s. All anyone wanted to do was have fun, no matter the cost. Also, hope was on the horizon, and thousands of people wished to chase the infamous ‘American Dream’. Chasing this dream often required stealing, cheating, or overall treating people unfairly in an attempt to reach the goal. This can be seen in Gatsby’s approach to amassing a large wealth. Essentially, most people in the

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Even though the 1920s were a time that women had no rights or freedom, Jordan is a dishonest person in general and that is pointed out many times by Nick and Fitz

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In the novel Jordan says, “Let’s get out, this is much too polite for me” (Fitzgerald, 45). In this quote it shows Jordan Baker is very head strong, she knows what she wants and is very open about telling people how she feels even if

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Jordan views herself as a liar and a fraud; she just hopes that no one else sees what she

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This shows the divide even between the top tier of the social hierarchy and conveys Jordan as a strong, isolated character who has earned her spot in society and is not willing to accept anything less. Jordan also only cares about herself and her own affairs. Because she has old money, she was always well off and never had to worry about anyone else. She keeps that idea alive in her character throughout the novel’s entirety. Jordan’s entire life she has been getting accustomed to yes answers

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Jordan embodies the idea of a more practical and independent woman, who doesn’t need help from a man. Jordan Baker might not be your typical idea of how a woman should behave, but she sure does embody what a lot of women strive

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In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s through his setting and characters, especially all the parties Gatsby throws, Fitzgerald creates a vivid image of the 1920s and that's what really shapes the whole book, this time period is known as the roaring twenties for its economic and social changes, One aspect we see that Fitzeralgald includes in his story is Jordan baker she is the definition of independent and she represents the new woman in this period of time since by this time woman were looking for changes on wanting to become more independent, “I hate careless people, that's why I like you”, Nick also describes her as “incurably dishonest”, This portrays the changes in the woman society and how women were starting to change what

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The Roaring Twenties, known as the decade of the 1920s in the Western World, consists of dramatic changes in social values. The cultural differences between the 1920s and the Victorian era changes people's behavior, where they become more free-will, youthful and carefree, despite of being more conservative before. People are more open-minded and found satisfaction through the “open pursuit of sex, money, and booze” (Berman 53) as they suggest their wealth and status in the society. New York City had become one of the cities where materialistic wealth has become the key of happiness and the standard to judge people's success, further leading Americans to pursue each other in a negative, acquisitive way. Through the different scenes and characters of the famous novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores how the society twisted the original idea of

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Completely motionless and with her chin raised a little, as if she were balancing something on it, which was quite likely to fall. If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes, she gave me no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised to murmur an apology for having disturbed her by coming in. (Fitzgerald 8) Jordan exudes confidence and self-assurance, often displaying a cool, detached demeanor that sets her apart from other female characters who are often portrayed as emotionally entangled or reliant on male figures. Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby symbolizes the contemporary American woman, their confident demeanor, and egalitarian relationships with males. Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, examines the varying levels of patriarchal standards by which different women abided during the 1920s.

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Regarding the same championship, Nick accuses Jordan of participating in dishonest behavior without evidence. He assumes from her personality and how she presents herself that she is getting herself into trouble. Nick says that “At her first big golf tournament there was a row that nearly reached the newspapers -- a suggestion that she

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In focusing on the purposeful development of Jordan Baker in ‘The Great Gatsby,’ we can understand the purposeful progression of her characterization and apply it in it’s relation to the novel’s overall literary theme in compliance with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s narrative intent. One of the most important parts of understanding a character is understanding their character and personality. The Merrill and Reid personality types display such personalities. In viewing a character’s (in this case Jordan Baker’s) response to conflict, we can understand which of the four personalities they have the most tendencies for.

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However, as time goes on, Nick discovers that Jordan hides behind a mask of deceit, and is not really who she says she is. “She was incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world…” (64). Jordan also happens to be dishonest, that is, cheat, with her career, as well. Her dishonesty doesn’t bring about her downfall, but it does eventually cause Nick to unceremoniously dump her before leaving the tainted streets of New York for

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The year is 1925: with the end of The Great War came the great realization that life is short and shouldn’t be wasted on satiating suffocating societal norms. This is the age of the “New Woman.” Jordan Baker, a character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is an example of the so-called, “flappers,” that defined this period in women’s history. Through haughty words, arrogant behavior, and an intimidating disposition, Fitzgerald depicts Jordan as an independent woman trying to balance life as a poised lady of the socioeconomic elite with life as a free-spirited athlete, struggling to prove herself in a male-dominated world. Throughout pages 8-19, her haughty words, arrogant behavior, and intimidating disposition give insight

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After World War 1, the 1920s was often referred to as the Roaring ‘20s. It was known as this because of the sustained economic prosperity during this time period. Consequently, with the economic prosperity came with major political, social, economic, technological, and cultural developments of the 1920s. The “Roaring Twenties” can be considered as a time of many advancements that helped shape the lives of Americans on a large scale. For instance, one of the social developments in the 1920s was that people longed for a simpler life.

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Between World War I and the Great Depression, the 1920’s were unique and special years in American history. The best way to represent that time would be by historian Frederick Lewis Allen providing the historical account of America in the 20’s in Only Yesterday and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famed novel, The Great Gatsby. Both of them reflect America in the Twenties by showing lifestyles and behaviors of people who lived in that time. We can follow their beliefs, actions, and morality through the works. While Allen was seeking to capture a decade, F. Scott Fitzgerald did a good job by pointing to the main issues during that time.

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She has racial prejudice views that she tries to enforce on the Finch family which causes some negativity in the household and an antagonist view upon her own character. She feels as though the Finches are civil and are of higher stance so she wants her whole family to look as such regarding clothing, presence, and attitude towards other races lower than the whites. She depicts such racial views to her niece and nephew and neither really appreciate her views. She mentions how someone poorer than the Finches should not even associate with them, such as the Cunninghams. As she states, “The thing is, you can scrub Walter Cunningham till his shoe shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit but he’ll never be like Jem.”

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