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Stereotypes In The Great Gatsby

1196 Words5 Pages

Picture a lavish party with all the affluent folk of the city gathered under one roof, dressed to the nines. The combined net worth of all the individuals attending this party would probably be enough to save a whole poverty-stricken country. Everyone present was dancing, chattering, and mingling with each other at the house of one of the wealthiest individuals in the city. Nothing is left out, with every drink, meal item, really anything they could ever desire lies within reach. Or does it have to? Though everything seems to be perfect for those from the top echelon of society, The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald contradicts this very notion. Throughout the story, the readers get an intimate peek into the lives of the characters. In which …show more content…

Daisy is put on a pedestal by the men around her; she is viewed as a “prize” that must be won and a decorative ornament rather than a person they genuinely love. Compared to this, in modern-day society, other qualities such as intelligence and independence are also indicators that many look for in others. However, in the story, “Daisy’s physical beauty and social gifts. [ensures] her social success: she is “by far the most popular of all the young girls” in town; hordes of “excititives” find her desirable and seek her attention” (“Chapter 8 The Great Gatsby: An Unusual Case of Mate Poaching”). This causes Daisy to have to prioritize such shallow qualities in order to secure financial and emotional security via her spouse. On the other hand, Tom is portrayed as aggressive and overpowering towards the women in his life. “The reader learns early in the novel that Tom is having an adulterous affair and is careless enough with his marital relationship that he takes a call from his lover while he is dining at home with his wife and friends” (Lance …show more content…

At the same time, she is also too emotionally and financially dependent on Tom to ever truly consider moving on to Gatsby. On the other hand, Tom values his reputation for ever truly considering leaving Daisy. On the whole, couples are expected to maintain their marriage at all costs, with separation being scorned by their community. Tom’s dominance over Daisy shows how male superiority is normal, while women are supposed to be submissive to them. Overall, the book portrays unequal and distinct gender roles of the 1920s via the characters Tom, Daisy and Gatsby. It helps show the implications these societal expectations can have on their relationships and the choices they make. For example, the portrayal of Tom and Daisy shows the gender expectations of the time period and the difference in power and autonomy of men compared to women. However, Jay Gatsby contrasts these traditional societal standards and gender roles. Gatbsy’s character highlights the alternate ways that masculinity and male social roles can be portrayed, contrasting Tom’s approach to this. The dynamic between Daisy, Tom and Gatsby also reveals more about societal expectations and the implications of blindly following gender

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The deceptive relationships in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, cause a void in the lives of each character. Barbara Will explains the relationship of Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby as, “Daisy it is so much his social ambition that threatens Tom as the fact that his pursuit portends. ‘Intermarriage between black and white.’ Gatsby's “Obscenity” for Tom lies in the challenge he poses to sexual and racial norms”(Will). As Barbara Will reflects on all three characters.

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Archetypes In The Great Gatsby

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In her literary criticism of The Great Gatsby titled “Herstory” and Daisy Buchanan, Leland S. Person Jr. describes the conflict that Daisy comes into with both Tom and Gatsby. Person describes Daisy as a victim of the actions of the men in her life, reasoning that “She is victim first of Tom Buchanan’s ‘cruel’ power, but then of Gatsby’s increasingly depersonalized vision of her” (Person Jr. 250). While Daisy is victimized and objectified by both Gatsby and Tom more and more as the novel wares on, she ultimately has the opportunity to choose the more malleable if not lesser of the two evils. In Daisy’s relationship with Tom, Tom holds the majority of the power and is thus able to dictate her actions much more easily. However, when she is with Gatsby, it is by her own decision.

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Societal Norms In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the novel illustrates the patriarchal society of the 1920s and the oppression of women within it. The novel shows traditional gender roles being strictly enforced through the character of Daisy Buchanan and also presents contrast through Jordan Baker, a strong independent woman challenging the gender roles imposed upon her. This serves to highlight the societal restrictions and traditional expectations faced by women during this era and the emergence of a new generation of women who sought to break free from these constraints. Some critics renounce this, stating that the novel reinforces patriarchal societal norms rather than challenging them. This essay will argue that the novel presents a distinct

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Who Is Fitzgerald Present Nick's Flaws In The Great Gatsby

945 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby is set in the 1920’s when women were generally seen as successful when they found wealthy husbands. After finding this wealth, women more often than not would fade into the background of their husband’s influence, instead of discovering their own happiness. Daisy fits this description perfectly. She is a young woman who married Tom Buchanan because of the “unquestionable practicality that was close at hand” (Fitzgerald 132). Due to Tom being a wealthy Yale alumni and Daisy “feeling the pressure of the world outside,” instead of waiting for her true love, Gatsby, to return from war, she married Tom to secure her place in the world of elites (132).

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How Is Masculinity Presented In The Great Gatsby

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Whilst Tom personifies the idealised 1920s version of confrontational masculinity, Gatsby subsequently embodies a more traditional, romantic approach. As a facet of their contrasting ideals, Tom's craving for approval stems from his desire to maintain his societal status and power, whereas Gatsby's is driven by his yearning for acceptance and love, most notably from Daisy. Tom’s fear that people “sneering at family life and family institutions” would lead to “intermarriage between black and white” elucidates how he craves dominance and control through his disdain of throwing away ‘family structure’; patriarchal dominance. This is further represented through his use of physical force on Myrtle. This violent act immediately makes his toxicity not only emotional, but also escalated to a physical level.

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Daisy is a narcissistic person that constantly starts problems and getting in trouble even with Gatsby who risk everything for her and will die for her so she can be pleased. She keeps Gatsby around because he can do her dirty work. She said she loves Gatsby but in reality she never did. Daisy just wanted someone to have fun with that spoils her rather than her very own husband, Tom. “As soon as she finds out that Gatsby may be making his wealth in backroom, bootlegging ways, she’s done with the whole flirtation.”

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Examples Of Daisy Death In The Great Gatsby

1410 Words | 6 Pages

Daisy, a woman who is married for convenience and is overshadowed by her husband, struggles against the tide of sexism and requited love before inevitably giving up. Finally, Tom, a boy incapable of feeling like a man, forever hunts his true sense of worth in women, money, and muscles regardless of the people he hurts along his journey. Gatsby, a well known yet mysterious fat cat, experiences tragedies that stem from his long-lasting fixation with his obsession: Daisy. Gatsby’s love for Daisy perseveres through long periods, sometimes years, of not talking to her. The fanatic millionaire, Mr. Gats, was forced to leave his beloved Daisy behind when he was drafted into the military where he served for around 5 years.

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Connotation Of Women In The Great Gatsby

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In today’s duplicitous society, men often pursue the “perfect woman”. This woman is construed to be; fit, provocative and ravishing. However, in greatly distinguished American novel, The Great Gatsby, the men have strayed from stalking women for their looks. Instead, Gatsby chases Daisy to achieve her as a prize of his bounty and any affection Gatsby demonstrates toward her, is simply to appease to her sense of status and wealth. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald, exhibits Gatsby’s these feelings for Daisy through the clever usage of connotation, symbolism and metaphors.

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Stereotypes In The Great Gatsby

1244 Words | 5 Pages

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Masculinity In The Great Gatsby

938 Words | 4 Pages

Tom therefore can be translated into a symbol of dictatorship because of his oppressive violence on the helpless. Tom’s aggressive actions towards Myrtle, re-illustrates the idea that women are weak

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2397 Words | 10 Pages

The era’s “perfect woman”, Daisy Buchanan, is a bubbly, conflicted woman whose choice is between two men: her husband, Tom Buchanan, and her former lover Jay Gatsby. Since Daisy’s character was written in the 1920s, women’s characters were based on the traditional women of the time period, and many women then were still seen as objects and as less desirable than men. When Daisy is invited to Gatsby’s mansion, her first sight of him in many years upon seeing his expensive clothing, she is so overcome with emotion that she begins to weep “with a strained sound” and begins to “cry stormily” showing her true reaction to something as petty as material objects (92). She continues, claiming that

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1384 Words | 6 Pages

Money, power, and success have blinded people into thinking they are in love and it has led to these women being oppressed. Tom and Gatsby in this book are what is called the patriarchy. According to Revise Sociology, the patriarchy is “The systematic domination of women by men in some or all of society’s spheres and institutions.” In Tom and Daisy’s marriage; they are both having an affair, Tom wasn’t at his child’s birth, and he oppresses Daisy physically, maybe by accident, and socially, by not allowing her to go wherever she wants to go. In Tom and Myrtle’s affair; they are both married, yet they have this affair, she is dependent on him because he oppresses her economically and psychologically, and he also oppresses her physically when he broke her nose.

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