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How Does Jordan Baker Use Gender Lens In The Great Gatsby

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When the gender/feminist lens is applied to The Great Gatsby, it can be clearly shown that men and women are treated differently. Society stereotypes the way women and men should act or behave, such as being masculine and feminine. When a certain gender steps over that boundary, they get looked upon as different or strange. Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker represent perfect examples of these stereotypes. Tom embodies the tough, masculine, successful man, while Jordan isn’t quite the stereotypical woman due to her accomplishments and occupation. Therefore, when the gender lens is applied to Tom and Jordan, it is clear that everyone has a different view on how each gender should behave. Within the story of The Great Gatsby, we have seen that the …show more content…

She is smart, successful, and independent. That woman is Jordan Baker. She succeeds as a professional golf player, has many goals in life, and is seen as a fantastic flapper. Because of these attributes, she breaks the stereotypical figure of a woman who is usually seen as being dependent, sensitive, and lacking intelligence. Nick describes Jordan as being a bit different from the other girls, as he states, “There was Jordan beside me, who, unlike Daisy, was too wise to ever carry well-forgotten dreams from age to age” (Fitzgerald 104). To break down this quote, Nick said this about Jordan because unlike Daisy, she has goals and priorities in life and looks towards the future. Whereas Daisy is stuck in the past and lives in this illusion of reality. Another great representation of Jordan’s character is when she is with Nick at Gatsby’s party, as stated here, “She held my hand impersonally, as a promise that she’d take care of me in a minute” (Fitzgerald 42). This quote clearly shows that Jordan is assertive and is confident. Back then, it wasn’t as common for girls to be confident, so again she breaks the idea of what a female should look and act like. 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, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby as a character foil and a view into the life of a man in america during the 1920s. The 1920s were a time of change and transformation for the gender role of men in America, including men not having to have the perfect family facade. Many people believe that Tom and Gatsby are complete opposites in this book, but they are the same and are closely related to how men were in the 1920s. Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby are mostly opposites during the course of the book. Gatsby is described as “an elegant young roughneck, a year or two over thirty”, while Tom is described as he was a sturdy, straw haired man of thirty… a supercilious manner, two shining, arrogant eyes

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Tom hurls accusations at Gatsby and chastises him for an affair, while he too does not respect the marriage with Daisy that he tries to defend. Jordan tries to tout her morality, claiming to act like a lady, but her record does not support that, as she cheats. ”She is incurably dishonest. She was not able to endure being at a disadvantage,” (63). Daisy crafts her likeness to the purity and fragility of a rose, which the others believe as her true identity.

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She is such a stereotypical female character in a negative way. Fitzgerald portrays her as such a pure, pretty, proper character, but she does not really have a personality. She is stereotypically a bad driver, obviously, because she is a woman, but when it comes to her personality she’s just another cookie cutter woman in the 1920’s. Males overlook her because she is a celebrity and obviously she can’t use her head, but they trust her for as long as they still find her interesting. Once they decide that she does not have much of a personality, they abandon her and find someone better.

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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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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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In the 1920’s novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan’s actions impact his gender, wealth, and relationship status. The first social location is Tom Buchanan’s behavior is directly affected by in the novel his socioeconomic status. The novel shows Tom showing his gender and how it inversely changes his interactions in the world when Tom broke myrtle's nose in chapter 2.

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This harsh reality of sexism and the corruption of femininity is further maintained in the article “FEMALE POWER IN THE GREAT GATSBY” by; Gretchen Danielle Fischle when he states, “She is only able to bask effortlessly when she is talked about in relationship to the men around her…Daisy and Jordan both rebuke societal expectations and assert their power, but are hemmed in because of the overwhelming suppression of patriarchal discourse” (26). The effects of a woman living in a man’s world limit women from showing there power and femininity, the inequality of genders is a common recurrence within both Fitzgeralds and Hurston’s novels. Janie is forced to put on a false character of who she really is. Throughout the whole book Janie was with men that treated her wrong and did her bad. They always had Janie doing what they wanted her to do she could never do.

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Within Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the marriage between Tom and Daisy Buchannan is toxic and abusive. Fitzgerald purposefully puts women into socially constructed gender roles as a form of oppression that illustrates the need for feminism in society. In fact, author Frances Kerr points out how “The Great Gatsby is the product of Fitzgerald’s self-assertion at the point in his life when he sensed his creative potential most clearly; at the same time, his purposeful “attempt at form” bears the imprint of a personal struggle with the gender-inflected standards of modernism” (427). Fitzgerald created the women in his novel as a reflection of his own views on them.

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Fitzgerald is hinting that men have life easier than women do. Throughout “The Great Gatsby” the men act as if they have control and leverage over the women. The main male characters that are going to be compared and contrasted are going to be Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. These men have very similar characteristics when it comes to dealing with their attitudes toward women, their ways of showing violence, and their reactions to being cheated on. In this essay you will have an understanding from these characteristics.

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Scott Fitzgerald’s depiction of women in The Great Gatsby readers see women are prepared to emerge into the modern way of life, but society is not ready for the new nontraditional image of

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, there are many important characters, some alike and some different. Two characters who are both different and alike at the same time are Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. Fitzgerald gives the reader a lot of information about how Tom and George are very different from each other. One can interpret many different things that Fitzgerald may be trying to convey about the nature of men. Based on how he portrays Tom and George’s actions it helps to show the true nature of men.

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2439 Words | 10 Pages

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, is full of themes of wealth, love, and tragedy. Also 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 the 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, seen in their behavior, beliefs, and their ultimate fate.

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2397 Words | 10 Pages

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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For example, girls and women are generally expected to dress in typically feminine ways and be polite, accommodating, and nurturing. Men are generally expected to be strong, aggressive, and bold. In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents the female characters using the gender roles in the 1920s to suggest that because Myrtle rejects the gender standards, she faces failure whereas Daisy fulfills the gender expectations, is submissive to maintain stability in life. Fitzgerald presents the female character of Daisy Buchanan as submissive women through repetition and oxymoron to portray how she values traditional gender norms. Fitzgerald introduces the scene of delivery of Pammy through Daisy’s perspective to show the struggle of female gender in society.

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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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