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Why Is Jordan Important In The Great Gatsby

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In Bad Driving: Jordan's Tantalizing Story in "The Great Gatsby", Veronica Makowksy made a strong point that Fitzgerald has made Jordan a limited character and needs to be a more relevant character in The Great Gatsby. I disagree with these points as Jordan is a problematic character and Fitzgerald portrayed her to the audience specifically in this way and made many points that show this. Makowsky tries to state that the reason Jordan is like this is because of the discrimination against women, and if she were more prominent in the book, she would not be as much of a judged character.
Veronica Makowsky, explains how Jordan, the self-centered, dishonest rebel, should have a bigger role in the great gatsby, as she is just like Gatsby because …show more content…

Jordan has a corporeal presence in the novel as well as an evocative if sketchily presented past, that in some ways resembles Gatsby's. Even if Gatsby and Jordan both have similar backgrounds, that does not mean that they are comparable in importance. Makowsky states that “She is often readily dismissed as part of " rotten crowd", (Gatsby 162), that Nick repudiates at the end of the novel”. At the novel's end, Nick ends up acting like Jordan and shutting her out because he believes he is better than her and doesn't need to be around her. I think that Jordan in this novel is portrayed as a new woman in the 1900s time period. She is more self-centered, boyish, and dishonest. This does not portray the right feminism ideal as this essay, Veronica writes is mainly about how Jordan needs a bigger role in the great gatsby to show how iconic of a character she is. I disagree with this statement because Jordan is not the ideal woman and readers should not be looking up to her. On page 39 Nick makes this comment, “She was incredibly dishonest.”, “At her first big golf tournament, there was a row that nearly reached the …show more content…

This is a normal thought for this time period as women in the 1920s had few rights and strict standards, but for Makowsky to say that Jordan and Daisy are limited by their gender when it is clearly stated in the book that Jordan is a troublemaker and a dishonest woman, is a stretch in my opinion. I do not think that her gender is the aspect that limited her fully, I think that her personality as a person has limited her in life aspects. This is shown whenever Nick reveals that she had cheated in her first-ever big golf tournament, as well as when he says she is incredibly dishonest. These comments were made when Nick first met her, showing the reader that Jordan is known around Long Island as dishonest. In conclusion, I think that Makowski is wrong when she states that Jordan and Daisy are limited by their gender. Even though the 1920s were a time that women had no rights or freedom, Jordan is a dishonest person in general and that is pointed out many times by Nick and Fitz

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The Great Gatsby: Immorality in the Eye of the Beholder Delving into F. Scott Fitzgerald’s best-selling novel, The Great Gatsby, one meets a plethora of well-to-do characters. From the very beginning the protagonist, Nick Carraway, depicts how immorality and betrayal shape his newfound life in West Egg. The first scent of true betrayal comes when Nick is offered to visit his cousin Daisy’s house. Nick is hastily introduced to Jordan Baker, who later tells him that Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, has “another woman” in New York. Instead of this being a shocking, broad, or unheard of statement, Jordan says it as if it were yesterday’s news.

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871 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays women in an extremely negative light. The idea Fitzgerald gives off is that women are only good for their looks and their bodies and that they should just be a sex symbol rather than actually use their heads. He treats women like objects and the male characters in the novel use women, abuse women, and throw them aside. I believe that Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle are prime examples of women in The Great Gatsby being treated poorly.

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Scott Fitzgerald’s work, “The Great Gatsby”, Jordan Baker is developed as a female character who undergoes self realization in the face of societal oppression through her independent characterization and through the overall theme of social rankings in the novel. She was born into money and she will accept nothing less than what life owes her. She also is ready to defy societal norms as most of the women Jordan’s age have husbands and children while she shows the world that she can be completely fine on her own. Jordan Baker perseveres through this novel as a wealthy pro-golfer living in the “old money” East Egg side of town and yet she fights for her right to be an individual and defies social traditions. These contradicting characteristics make Ms. Baker the complex character she is and Fitzgerald does this to allow her to truly define herself and her role in the

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To break down this quote, Nick said this about Jordan because unlike Daisy, she has goals and priorities in life and looks towards the future. Whereas Daisy is stuck in the past and lives in this illusion of reality. Another great representation of Jordan’s character is when she is with Nick at Gatsby’s party, as stated here, “She held my hand impersonally, as a promise that she’d take care of me in a minute” (Fitzgerald 42). This quote clearly shows that Jordan is assertive and is confident. Back then, it wasn’t as common for girls to be confident, so again she breaks the idea of what a female should look and act like.

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1283 Words | 6 Pages

His belief in his love for her is like a young child’s love with a kindergarten crush. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s imagination and obsession gives him the happiness and satisfaction he requires in his life, however, reality does not fully comply to his aspirations. Early on in the novel, the narrator, Nick Carraway, gets into a conversation with Jordan Baker. Jordan is Daisy’s friend. She recalls a moment when

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This situation shows that even if women are independent, the social hierarchy will keep them below the status of men. Nick’s opinion on Jordan’s life shows that he, along with the rest of society, is not prepared for women to be fully independent. In reference to one of Jordan’s championship games , Nick says, “She wasn 't able to endure being at a disadvantage” (Fitzgerald 58). This quote from Nick shows that he and the rest of society were aware of the gap in respect and social equality between men and women, they just felt it was justified.

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751 Words | 4 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, the contrast between Daisy and Jordan illustrates the emergence of the New Woman and the decline of male dominance during the 1920s. Throughout the novel, Daisy is portrayed as a domesticated and stagnant character in order to depict the traditional behavior of women at that time period. Daisy is seen as a shallow character when she responds “oh, yes” to Nick’s statement that her daughter “talks, and-eats, and everything” (Fitzgerald 16). The quick and short response reveals Daisy’s lack of attachment towards her daughter.

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497 Words | 2 Pages

Her moral ambiguity begins with her occupation as a professional golfer, which is a male-dominated and in addition to that, her career launched off with a big scandal. At his first Gatsby party, Nick finally recalls where he remembers Jordan from and what she had done. He says, “At her first big 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” (Fitzgerald 57). Nick describes her as, “a slender, small-breasted girl with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet” (Fitzgerald 11), so her androgynous physical appearance also connects with the color gray. Another one of her physical features, which are, “her gray sun-strained eyes” (Fitzgerald 11) directly connects her to the color gray in The Great Gatsby.

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1837 Words | 8 Pages

Nick, similarly to his feelings towards Gatsby, is mesmerized by Jordan, “At first I was flattered to go places with her, because she was a golf champion, and everyone knew her name. Then it was something more. I wasn’t actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity. The bored haughty face that she turned to the world concealed something” (Fitzgerald 46). Although he is not yet in love with Jordan he is enthralled by her fame, success, and strength which is emphasized by his accounts of being flattered to be able to go places with her.

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Last, Jordan is described as an athlete and reserved but beautiful nonetheless. The way that the characters are described enhances the ideal of the “1930’s” Happiness, parties, and wealthiness. Nick fought in the war and is well off but not rich like Gatsby. He came to New York to be in the bonding business.

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2439 Words | 10 Pages

He refers to her as “this woman” when he describes how she “rushed out at [them];” his attitude towards this person he just ran over was less than of her being a human being and more like she was some stray animal destined to be roadkill. Between these three characters, they are all part of a web that was the vision of women in the 1920s. In a particularly powerful interaction between Daisy, the typical, submissive, beautiful woman; and Jordan, the accomplished, defiant and trouble seeking woman; we see these two personas mingle on an extremely hot summer day. Daisy is whining and crying about how she sees no future in the unbelievable heat, showing her strong tendency for overreaction and her inability to see beyond now. Jordan, however, replies to her, saying to Daisy to not be “morbid” and that “life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall”, showing her progressive

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2397 Words | 10 Pages

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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1557 Words | 7 Pages

“I hope she’ll be a fool--that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, beautiful little fool”(Fitzgerald 17). This line, stated by Daisy, accurately demonstrates the perception of women during the 1920s. Women were seen as objects and deemed incapable of intelligent thought. In The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays women based on similar stereotypes from this time period. Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker are all prominent female characters in the story whose behaviors and actions, although different, showcase the common desires and struggles of women at the time.

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1399 Words | 6 Pages

Conversely, Jordan presents her feminine power during Gatsby’s party when she tells Nick that the group they were associating with was too polite for her and that she wants to go find the host (Fitzgerald 45). Typically, in the higher class, the women do whatever the men deem appropriate or interesting to them, but Jordan, being the independent woman she is, chooses her own paths in life. Jordan is not attracted to the conversation at hand; therefore, she is going to present her feminine power and walk away from the cult of upperclassmen to pursue anything that she wants to, and no one is going to stop her.

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430 Words | 2 Pages

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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