Role Of Manhood In The Great Gatsby

In a male-centric society, everything revolves around the predominant definition of maleness or manhood. It is what everything else hinges on. If the definition of manhood changed, everything else would change and paradoxically, it can only change when everything else changes. It will only change when the definition of manhood has to change for some reason. In many texts from the early twentieth century and even more recent books, the male authors seem to focus mainly on men’s experiences, thoughts, values, etc. However, nearly all of the books have a key female character that plays a big part in one of the main male character’s life. Though all of the books have key female characters, it seems that their only purpose is to serve the males in some way or they have an important relationship with one of the male characters that makes them important to the book.

The book explores the search for happiness and wealth through the American dream and shows dysfunctional relationships, materialism, and corrupt values during the Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby is a rags to riches story of a man in pursuit of his dreams. The Great Gatsby is not the story of a woman’s pursuit of happiness and does not offer a good female representation of a 1920’s woman. The book seems to reduce women to mere objects through characters like Tom and Gatsby who manipulate and glorify Daisy. In The Great Gatsby there are several men that have a physical dominance over women. Daisy, Myrtle and Jordan reveal through their limited social freedoms and appearances that the new woman of the 1920’s was not an acceptable