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What Are The Destructive Women In The Great Gatsby

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In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the destructive trait of the women in the novel contributes to the interpretation of the novel by highlighting the state of being out of touch with the reality that wealth from the 1920’s brings to many of the women in the novel. The carelessness of Jordan and Daisy contributes to the interpretation through contrast, diction, and imagery. Even though viewing these female characters from a feminist perspective contrasts the criticism that they are careless and destructive. The vivid imagery of the couch symbolizes detachment because it helps describe how their carelessness can lead to isolation from society, leading them down a destructive road. In one specific scene, Fitzgerald creates a …show more content…

This example still demonstrates Jordan's isolation from reality and also her disregard for consequences and rules. Consequently, the contrast between the isolated couch and cheating shows the carelessness they were previously described as. Through Fitzgerald’s lens, he uncovers what the characters consider right and wrong. Jordan and Nick's beliefs contrast with each other. This contrast shows the destructive influence Jordan has, the scene is set when Nick calls out Jordan for her bad driving; ‘Suppose you meet someone as careless as yourself’ I hope I never will, she answered. ‘I hate careless people, that's why I like you’( Fitzgerald 58). This conversation illustrates their contrasting perspective with Nick's demonstrating concern for the situation. Jordan then admits she is careless, highlighting how she lacks concern. This lack of concern is dangerous especially when doing things like driving when lives are involved, therefore Jordan has destructive traits that are in touch with lacking empathy and care for

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She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep their cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard, jaunty body”(58). Through this quote Nick reveals his opinion on Jordan and it makes the reader wonder if Jordan is the polished professional golfer she perceives herself as. Another way Fitzgerald shapes Jordan is through her direct actions. “When we were at a house-party together up in Warwick, she left a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down, and then lied about it- and suddenly I remembered the story about her that had eluded me that night at Daisy’s. At her first golf tournament there was a row that nearly reached the newspapers- a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round”(57).

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Nick seems not to be oblivious to his sadness, although he lacks knowledge about the cause of the emotion, for he admits that dinner alone at the Yale Club is, “for some reason [,]…the gloomiest event of [his] day” (62). After dinner, Nick studies in the library, which he considers a quiet and “good place to work”, although he does mention that “there generally a few rioters”, which contradict Nick’s purpose for studying there, because if Nick really didn’t want to be disturbed he would go home (62). After studying for about an hour, “if the night [is] mellow” Nick restlessly “strolls around” the avenues and although among many, he still “[feels] a haunting loneliness” and can “[feel] it in others”(62). However, Fitzgerald relates Nick’s loneliness to that of “young clerks”, who “wast[e] the most poignant moments of night and life” “loitering” and waiting around for people to come and provide work for them, which parallels Nick’s own method of wasting time and waiting for people to provide him with something to

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Women in The Great Gatsby Throughout the 1920’s, the role women played in society was changing. Fitzgerald shows this in The Great Gatsby by the characters: Daisy, and Jordan. The morals and iimages of the woman changed. During this time period females began to go against the “norms” of society.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, is full of themes of wealth, love, and tragedy, as well as a subtle but powerful representation of gender. During the time this book was written, women’s suffrage had begun, so women were taking their first steps towards equality with men. The three main women characters in the novel - Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker- all have things in common but can be vastly different; they reflect both man and society’s view of women in the early 20th century. The Great Gatsby portrays the characters Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan as stereotypes of women during the 1920s, which is shown through their behavior, beliefs, and ultimate fates and their personalities display both powerful and potentially harmful stereotypes of women at this time.

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I’d be damned if I’d go in; I’d had enough of all of them for one day, and suddenly that included Jordan too. She must have seen something of this in my expression, for she turned abruptly away and ran up the porch steps into the house”(Fitzgerald 142). Nick's values and that of the other characters differ greatly and he is left repulsed by their indifference towards myrtle's death. It is in this moment that nick snaps back to reality. Nick finally realizes that the east truly isn't for him.

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For instance Tom, a patriarchal capitalist, disagrees with the level of independence Baker has, saying of her family, “they oughtn’t to let her run around the country this way” (22). Additionally, because of Jordan’s gender, she is forgiven for things about her nature that she cannot control. Nick Carraway, the ‘impartial’ narrator of the book, blatantly evokes sexism in his observations of Baker by saying that “dishonesty in a woman is something you never blame deeply” (64). Nick suggests that Baker is valued beneath men, by receiving lenient treatment as such. Baker’s portrayal sends a message to the reader from Fitzgerald of the generally low placement of women in

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Fitzgerald depicts the women of the novel as deceitful, sexual beings that are naturally subordinate to men through Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle. Daisy exemplifies the naturally inferior role of women relying on the wealth of men in their lives to take care of them. When Daisy talks about her daughter she claims, “a fool–that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”(21) establishing women’s subordinate role in which they are ignorant to the affairs of their husbands and expected to rely on their beauty to carry them through life. When Daisy is accused of infidelity with Gatsby in the hotel, Gatsby claims that Daisy is attracted to men of wealth and, “only married [Tom] because [Gatsby] was poor and she was tired of waiting for [him]”(137).

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