Masculinity In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby is a story of a man’s desire to reunite with a loved one and how every character desires to diverge from the 1920s societal norms. The story begins with a man named Nick Carraway. Nick begins with a short synopsis of his life before arriving in West Egg. Nick, whose profession is working in the bond business, bought a house on West Egg. Eventually, Nick meets a wealthy man named Jay Gatsby. As the novel continues, Nick’s cousin, Daisy, is revealed to be the wife of Tom Buchannan, and Gatsby’s love. Despite the fact that Daisy is married and has a daughter, Gatsby still longs for her love. Nick eventually becomes friends with a professional golfer named Jordan Baker. Among all the other characters, Jordan Baker is the only one

Throwing another party, Jay Gatsby invited Jordan to talk to him. Here, Nick Carraway is describing Jordan’s characteristics. Nick describes, “I noticed that she wore her evening dress, all her dresses, like sports clothes-there was a jauntiness about her movements as if she had first learned to walk upon golf courses on clean crisp mornings” (34-35). Jordan Baker’s masculine traits reveal themselves in this passage with the phrase “jauntiness about her movements” referring to her accentuated self-confidence. The way Jordan is characterized, for instance, her confidence and accentuated pride in every move she makes, stresses the idea of how androgynous she is. In addition, men in the 1920s were prideful and determined with their actions, and women were delicate and dependent on men. Here, Jordan is conveying pride and determination. Because Jordan expresses these masculine traits, she feels as if she doesn’t belong in 1920s society. Ultimately, Jordan’s pride and self-confidence stress this concept of the need for divergence from feminine norms in the 1920s. Later in the novel, Nick describes his lifestyle in New York and the taxis at eight o’clock. He continues by thinking about Jordan. Nick narrates, “At first I was flattered to go places with her, because she was a golf champion, and everyone knew her name. Then

Writing about Jordan's golf tournament up in Warwick, Nick proclaims Jordan's caddy “retracted his statement.” To clarify, a caddy, whose job is to assist the golfer by carrying the bag and giving advice, gave the wrong advice to Jordan and went back on what he said. Jordan’s contemptuous perceptions of men are revealed when Nick describes, “Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible. 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 smiles turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard, jaunty body” (39). The 1920s society suggested that women were to love men, and not to despise those they choose. Jordan’s repellence of men is a perfect example of her independence because it demonstrates how she would rather be alone than with a man, displayed in the text by the phrase “felt safer. ” In addition, Jordan’s independence from the male character emphasizes the idea that she strives for superiority over men. In the 1920s, females were dependent on men, yet Jordan is showing complete disregard for men. Concepts like these ultimately emphasize the idea of diverging from