The Women In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Surviving A Mans World

Envisioning a world where a lover is the only means of escape from an abusive and untruthful marriage, this was the reality for many women of the 1920’s; and the even darker reality for the women of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. There were only a handful of women in the 1920’s who were able to maintain a comfortable life without a man, leaving many women heavily dependent on their status and men to provide for them because they did not have equal opportunities. This is bitterly true for Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. The women are both trapped in cruel marriages to men they don’t love because they have no other choice, or they risk a life of hardship. This forced proximity encourages the women to cheat

Myrtle, Tom’s mistress, calls him at dinner time while Daisy, Nick, and Jordan are all sitting at the table. Daisy is brutally embarrassed, she is forced to lift her happy facade of a perfect life and confront the darkness of her marriage while her closest friends and family watch; even though everybody knows he is cheating on her. Jordan points out “‘She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don’t you think?’” (Fitzgerald 15). Even though everyone is horribly aware of Daisy’s situation, she must stay with Tom to protect their reputation. If Tom and Daisy’s reputation were ruined, it would be extremely difficult to uphold their lavish lifestyle. Daisy must do her job to uphold her reputation so that her family does not suffer, she cannot leave him without the threat of losing everything she has ever known. When Tom drags Nick with him to spend the day with Myrtle, it’s clear that Nick is uncomfortable with them together. Eventually, they end up in Myrtle’s apartment where they get wildly drunk with her sister and a few others. Myrtle’s sister tells Nick “‘Neither of them can stand the person they’re married to.’” (Fitzgerald, 28). Myrtle and Tom are both cheaters

Myrtle wants to escape her life of poverty and cosplay with a rich woman in Manhattan so she can feel good about herself and her life. However, Tom cheats on Daisy because she is a mere status object to him, and he does not truly love her. By being with Daisy, he can improve his reputation and become more powerful by using her family to make possible connections to aid him in his professional career as well as his social life. Although Daisy and Myrtle are both aware of their place in society as women, they go about it in different ways. Myrtle knows she is poor, low class, and has no real power or influence in high society; but that doesn’t stop her from dreaming about a life like Daisy’s where she can spend money frivolously in her own apartment and live a hedonistic life without worrying about money. As she explains the story of how she and Tom met, she ends with “‘You can’t live forever, you can’t live forever.’” (Fitzgerald 30). Myrtle is perfectly aware that this relationship with Tom has no substance, but it allows her to indulge in her fantasies where she can be whatever she wants to be. She knows her life is short, and as a woman her chances are limited so she uses Tom to live her life to the fullest extent, even