Lack Of Power In The Great Gatsby

Historically, women have had to overcome much harder challenges than men to be recognized. This was no different in the 1920’s where, amongst the glitz and glamor, women still dealt with hypocritical thinking. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald critiques the lack of power that women had by showing hypocritical and harmful thinking towards women like Daisy and Myrtle, and how this mindset is still prevalent within society.

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, the character of Daisy Buchanan is used to portray the hypocrisy between women and men during the time period. Within the first chapter of the book, we learn that Daisy’s husband, Tom Buchanan, has a mistress that he doesn’t hide very carefully. It is evident that Daisy knows about this woman,

Myrtle was the woman that Tom was having an affair with, unbeknown to Myrtle’s husband, George Wilson. Later in the novel, however, Wilson learns of his wife’s affair and decides to lock her in a room while he plans on forcing her to move with him across the country. Fitzgerald exhibits Myrtle’s confliction through the book by stating, “‘Beat me!’ he heard her cry. ‘Throw me down and beat me, you dirty coward!’ (Fitzgerald 137). Myrtle knew that being locked in a room for cheating was unfair because if it were George who had the affair, then it wouldn’t have been as serious of a crime. It isn’t too much later that Myrtle escapes and gets murdered by Gatsby’s speeding car. Myrtle was trying to run away from George, and to what she thought was Tom. If George would have talked to Myrtle and handled the situation in a mature manner, then Myrtle wouldn’t have run out into the street. Ultimately, George Wilson is at the greatest fault for the death of his wife, even though Gatsby hit her. Wilson, however, isn’t going to take the blame for his wife because women were seen as unequal to men. Wilson feels he did the right thing by locking his wife up in a room. Wilson feels he did the right thing by avenging the death of his wife, that he pushed over the edge, and killing Gatsby. Wilson feels he did the right thing by convincing all of New York that he was a loving and kind husband. In reality, a loving and kind husband wouldn’t abuse his wife to the point where her only option was to run into the street for