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The Portrayal Of Women In The Great Gatsby And A Doll's House

1853 Words8 Pages

Manjot Sohi
Ms. Szpyrka
ENG3U2-02
Monday July 24th, 2023
The Portrayal of Women in Literature: A Contrast of Weakness and Strength Women have been portrayed in literature for centuries. Different characters can reflect the time in which they were written, as well as the author's perspective on womanhood and femininity. It’s interesting to see how women are displayed in literature as either strong or weak characters. By analyzing the portrayal of female characters, the readers can gain insight into the female identity that has historically shaped the character itself. F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll's House are two examples of how the portrayal of women is different in literature and how the depiction of different …show more content…

Daisy Buchanan is often seen as thoughtless because of her actions and behavior towards other characters mainly, Gatsby. During her youth, Daisy fell in love with Gatsby but ended the relationship with him after he left for World War 1 mostly because of his financial situation, he was poor. Instead, she married Tom for her benefit since she was weak and Tom was wealthy and able to provide for her and comes from a wealthy family with a long-standing social status. Daisy leads Gatsby on again when they reconnect by showing interest and declaring her love for him, despite being married to Tom. Gatsby says “She never loved you, do you hear? He cried. She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me.”(130). Regardless of Gatsby‘s love and devotion towards her she abandons him and chooses to remain with Tom, her powerful and wealthy husband rather than pursue a relationship with Gatsby. It is evident that Daisy is not considerate of Gatsby and only cares about herself and her reputation. If she was considerate and truly loved him, she would have waited for him to return and would not have led him on again knowing she would not leave Tom. Her decision displays Daisy’s weakness through her lack of empathy and thoughtfulness towards Gatsby’s feelings as she prioritizes her desires over him. To conclude, Daisy's inconsiderate behavior …show more content…

Nora is considerate about the impact of her actions on her husband and makes sure to be the perfect wife and mother who would do anything to please her husband at the start until she realizes she has been living a lie. She does what her husband tells her to do and becomes a decoration to charm her husband but her strength helps her become independent. An example of her thoughtfulness can be seen when she is talking to Anna about her kids. “[Nora] Do you believe they would forget their mother if she quite went away?… But how could you make up your mind to it?… Dear old Anna- you were a good mother to me when I was little. [Anna] My poor little Nora had no mother but me [Nora] And if my little ones had no one else, I’m sure you would-”(19). This indicates how Nora cares about her children, she thinks about how Anna was a good mother to her and will take good care of her kids. Nora believes that she is a negative influence on her children and they will do better without her. Daisy has been lying and keeping secrets from them and feels as if she has not been a good role model for them. She presents herself as a strong character as she leaves her family, which is a really hard decision, to pursue her freedom. Nora also borrows money so that Torvald could get better from an illness which portrays how thoughtful she is. She

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The underlying question is; Why did Daisy choose Tom over Gatsby? Even though Gatsby had everything; a large mansion and new money, Daisy still chose the egotistical Tom over him as he represents old money and has a high social and economic status. One can infer that Daisy finds Gatsby too demanding as he forcefully insists that she makes an announcement that she never loved Tom. As a result, she decides to stay with Tom to maintain her status quo. I feel that this was a very selfish move, as she did not take Gatsby’s feelings into consideration.

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Tom was envious that Gatsby was receiving all the attention from Daisy. Even though Tom and Gatsby were both very wealthy and successful, Daisy has always loved Gatsby. Gatsby wanted Daisy to even tell her husband she never loved him. Gatsby says “It doesn’t matter any more. Just tell him the truth–that you never loved him–and it’s all wiped out forever” ( Fitzgerald 132).

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Daisy “wanted her life shaped now, immediately-and the decision must be made by some force-of love, of money, or unquestionable practicality-that was close at hand” (151). Tom provides security when it came to money and he fit the status quo. Daisy is more concerned about her social status than love. She would rather be  high end and classy instead of waiting for someone she loves. Eventually Daisy and Gatsby reunite, but this relationship does not last.

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However, this resentment is then redirected to Daisy’s husband, Tom who Gatsby thinks is unworthy to be married to her, “‘Your wife doesn’t love you,’ said Gatsby quietly. ‘She’s never loved

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In the book, Tom says, “And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart, I love her all the time” (Fitgerald 131). Their relationship isn’t close perfect and they both know that, but it fills them both with an odd sense of comfort. This sense of comfort is what causes Daisy to stay with him; therefore, she feels that if she leaves him she won’t feel that same comfort. Also, when Gatsby would plan things to do with Daisy, she usually did not act like it was as big of a deal as Gatsby acted.

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Daisy wanted to live a wealthy life. She mentions that “she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver” (76). Despite loving Gatsby, she married Tom so that she could live the lifestyle that she wanted. She wasn’t willing to give up her lifestyle for Gatsby. Sadly, Gatsby wanted a lover (Daisy), but he didn’t have the money to support her.

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In Chapter 7, during a heated argument with Tom, Gatsby unknowingly reveals Daisy’s true feelings. He states, “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me” (Fitzgerald 130). Although Gatsby expresses that Daisy was waiting for him, she actually grows tired of waiting, which shows her impatience towards him. This is impatience because instead of waiting for someone she claims to love, she decides to stop waiting and actually moves on with her life. In fact, she marries someone else shortly after Gatsby leaves to fight in World War I.

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However, in chapter 7, during the confrontation, Daisy quickly rethinks her decisions and states, ‘I did love him once – but I loved you too’. As Gatsby hopes and expectations of them being together breaks the audience starts to comprehend that Daisy contradicting statements is purely because she is afraid to leave Tom. Tom came from a wealthy family and was highly respected in society. Daisy knew that life with him would be luxiourous and entirely satisfactory in terms of respect and wealth. In addition, the author is trying to convey to the audience that Daisy is too secure in her marriage with Tom to even consider leaving it.

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Gorgias was a famous sophist. A sophist is a class of professional teachers in ancient Greece who gave instruction in various fields, as in general instruction in various fields, as in general culture rhetoric, politics, or disputation. Sophist saw all language as persuasive intent. Gorgias believed that that truth can be created by rhetoric such as poetry. Gorgias thought that a good orator can speak on any topic and persuade the audience with the power of speech.

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Similarly, Daisy behaves in a careless manner as she continues her relationship with Gatsby although she does not truly love him. Even though she may have had love for him once, Daisy will never love Gatsby the way she loves Tom and the lifestyle and freedom she has with him. Daisy lets Gatsby believe that they have a chance to be together, and lets Tom believe she is entirely loyal to him. Both relationships demonstrate how careless Daisy is with others feelings and would rather satisfy herself than own the truth. The continuation of Tom and Daisy Bucannan’s romantic relationships outside of their marriage highlights

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’”(130) At first, the way Gatsby is during this confrontation seems like a very dominant, act of bravery against Tom. However, this reveals Gatsby's surface-level perspective. The act of defying Daisy's pleas is inherently selfish in this context as he does it for his values of love not for Daisy, emphasizing the lack of direct power and control she has. She avoids conflict, as she is a docile female keying into the more traditional role of women.

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Reader’s perception is one of the most essential aspects of a novel, this refers to what the audience brings to the novel and determines whether a book is transcendent. The perception can be affected by several factors such as the format, the language and the message of the novel in general. A book can be interpreted differently according to culture, ideology, and even gender. The novel, The Great Gatsby written and published by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, is faced with reader-response criticism by two different social groups; feminist, that want to achieve equal cultural and social representation for women, question the treatment the women in book receive by the men, yet view the novel as an example of the empowerment of females in during the 1920’s. Then Marxists, who analyse class relations, social conflict and social transformation, interpret the book by analysing the representation of a materialistic elite class and the struggle of the middle class to fit into their world.

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Nora is a married woman and has children to take care of. She really has little freedom because of the way Torvald treats her. She is not even I feel as if deep down she knows she is not free and wants something more in her life then to be a entertaining puppet for Torvald. She realizes at the end of the story that Torvald is not good to her because of the way he acted when she told him about forging the signature. When Torvald called her a criminal and other harsh words she realized that she had no true love from Torvald and wanted to be free from him.

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In the present time, Daisy is moved on and married, with a child in a beautiful grand home. Her relationship with Tom can be speculated to be based on her wanting to gain his finances or that he can support her like no one else can. Daisy portrays an idealistic vision of herself, and , throughout the story, shows a selfish and narcissistic persona at times. Daisy and Gatsby

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Daisy proves to be easily swayed and shallow from the start, if only Gatsby could have foresaw it before it affected when he returned from war expecting to have Daisy. Before Gatsby left for war, Daisy promised that she would wait for him, however, when Gatsby returned, he found the situation to be different from expected, yet was willing to persuade her to come back to him despite her disloyalty. “Daisy cannot wait for Gatsby to return from war. Since she desires a love which is defined rather than limbo; she quickly accepts her new love in Tom Buchanan. Her decision is to marry Tom”

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