The Women In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Women of Gatsby

Fame, fortune, and future- the promise of a post-war fantasy, for men at least. In America, the 1920's was the dawn of an era where women received voting rights, yet women were still socially and fiscally suppressed. The man always had the final say and ultimate approval from society. Women were often forced into relationships based upon money and status, rather than love. Because it is set in the 1920’s, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, provides a look into the struggles women faced due to their social and financial status. The feminist lens draws attention to how women are perceived based upon their financial status as seen through the characters of Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan. Daisy exemplifies the upper

Her financial success relied on her family and her husband Tom, who she married for stability so she could maintain her lavish lifestyle. At the small soiree held at the Buchanan, Tom stated, “'Her voice is full of money'” (Fitzgerald 92). Tom married Daisy due to her status and prior generational wealth, due to societal standards during this era Daisy was to marry up or at her level, nothing below. That is also the reason why Daisy stayed with Tom in the end and did not choose Gatsby. She knew Tom's money was everlasting, while she might have had a deep love for Gatsby, his money was new and unreliable. She was born into a well-off family which made life easier yet still impossible, which made her more appealing to a man like Tom. She was a pretty and pure little thing that he could add to his collection, and Daisy knew she did not

When her daughter was brought into the picture she wished that, "she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool" (Fitzgerald 16). The mentality instilled by society for women to be "beautiful little fools" is damaging and sadly Daisy felt the need to conform to it. Daisy lived in a microcosm of wealth in the East Egg. Daisy boisterously claims, "I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything”. “Sophisticated — God, I’m sophisticated!” (Fitzgerald 16). Her last line of sophistication is her showing herself to her husband. Her reassurance of her wealth states her underlying insecurities about money and where it comes from. When Daisy was forced to decide between Tom and Gatsby, she knew that Gatsby's money was dirty from bootlegging and ultimately stayed with Tom. To maintain her pure idyllic she has built for herself through marriage and old money, she stayed with Tom. The harsh reality of Daisy's life was that due to women's place in society in the 20s she could not be ungrateful or else her entire life could be pulled out from under her. In the end, she got out unscathed for her killing of Myrtle due to the men in her life shielding her from the harsh reality of issues like death because she was this angelic womanly figure. Women today must face accountability for their actions that Daisy is out of simply due to the time period and her