Character Analysis Of Jordan Baker In The Great Gatsby

When reading the famous novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is easy to get caught up in the main character, Jay Gatsby. After all, the novel is about him, right? While the focus is Gatsby, characters like Jordan Baker also play an important role in furthering the story. Jordan Baker is a friend of Daisy Buchanan, the love of Gatsby’s life; she spends endless hours in Daisy’s company. She also acts as the causal lover of the narrator, Nick Carraway and tells him the story of Jay Gatsby’s past. Jordan Baker comes from old money and like Daisy, she is spoiled. In this time, money is everything and there can never be enough of it. She is a professional golfer but has been rumored to have cheated in a match. She smokes and drinks,

Jordan’s physical appearance shows her as a “blonde and very athletic, physical, tan, and angular” (Best Character Analysis). In contrast, Daisy is described as a more fragile figure with dark hair and she is married, unlike Jordan. In the book, Daisy is perceived as one of the most socially acceptable woman of the time. During the 1920’s, women were expected to marry, especially wealthy women. Staying home with the children was the main job of women during this time. Jordan contradicts the role of a typical woman by the way she smokes and drinks, dates around, and works for a living. In our society today, women often juggle a career, a family, household chores, exercising, and providing meals for the family, many women do all of this even without a man in the picture. Fitzgerald's description of Jordan Baker compares very similarly to a woman in today’s society. Today, women stand up for themselves against men and other social expectations. Many women have worked very hard to be given the same opportunities men are offered. It takes a very confident, secure, and brave woman to stand out in a world where women were to hide behind their husband. However, Jordan does not entirely express the best choice of character while opposing her expectations throughout the entirety of the

Scott Fitzgerald as a care-free, single woman in the 1920’s who seems not to care about anyone but herself, and when taking a closer look, she is a symbol for how women will change over time from the forms of the 1920’s to today. Today’s women work for a living, come home and run the house, meanwhile, not always having a man in the picture. Jordan does conform to society by marrying Nick after 5 years, however, she does so under conditions to allow her freedom still. Jordan held her ground throughout the story of The Great Gatsby and continued to symbolize what women have evolved