What Is The Role Of Women In The Great Gatsby

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Women today have opportunities the women of the 1990’s did not have; although many will still not marry for the sole reason of having someone to support them. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, he writes about several female characters who are clearly displayed to us. Although the story revolves around a man chasing a dream, the female characters stand out. Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker all have different wants and needs in their lives, but the restrictions of the times affected them all differently. Daisy Buchanan is a quiet, classy woman, who has a very wealthy husband, Tom Buchanan. Daisy spent a very long time dating Gatsby, but wed another. Daisy did not love Tom when she was going to get married, “Tell ‘em all Daisy’s change’ her mine…” (Fitzgerald 81). However being peer pressured by her family, she went through …show more content…

Myrtle is married and lives in the valley of ashes with her husband. She is also having an affair with Daisy’s husband Tom. Tom is an impulsive liar to keep things simple and to what he wants, “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s catholic and they don’t believe in divorce” (Fitzgerald 38). Daisy is not catholic which emphasizes how clueless Myrtle really is. Tom is not going to leave his classy wife for an unclassy, valley of ashes woman. Myrtle believes that she deserves Tom, and his money. Myrtle feels like she had made a mistake marrying her husband “The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in…” (Fitzgerald 59). She realized that when her husband did not have money she had made a mistake. Myrtle Wilson is a little different female role in the story, but not too different. She tries to marry in for the money and believes she deserves ‘the world’. She thinks so highly of herself and doesn’t wrong anyone, like Jordan