Women In The Great Gatsby

“A woman of 1920 would be surprised to know that she would be remembered as a new woman” (Benner). Indeed, the majority of women were working as housewives, and many significant changes would take place in their appearance and attitude later in the 1920s. However, women were not given the same opportunity and equality as men. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, sets during the conflicts of the Roaring Twenties, describes a complex society with different gender roles. The Great Gatsby illustrates the decline of the American Dream by revealing the conflict between women’s subservient roles and their progressive resistance to social expectations in 1920s America. The fact that women were trapped in an oppressive marriage demonstrates that

Myrtle's sister Catherine, who lives a similarly dependent life, comes to Tom's party in "with a proprietary haste [and] a solid, sticky bob of red hair"(Fitzgerald 30). The indirect characterization reflects modernized females such as Catherine are socially free and have lifestyles of self-reliance. The imagery of confident and fashionable women emphasizes women’s disagreements towards modern social standards and their disregard for conservative ideas. The appearance of the "New Women" was a significant step towards independence and equality as women now have an entirely new attitude of fashion and way of life. Women saw the 1920s society as a time to declaring independence because their unique appearance "belongs to the age of freedom, frankness and progressiveness"(Garden). Garden tries to prove her bobbed hairstyle represents the improvements towards the equal society. The fashion and expectations of the new woman, or the flappers, in the 1920s, were shown in their new clothing or hairstyles. The emerging of the flappers illustrates how women tried to take a progressive step towards equal rights in the traditional 1920s society; they wanted to express themselves through self-determined styles and ultimately broke the inequality between female and male in order to reach their American Dreams. Although women tend to be open-minded, the harsh limits of traditional gender roles restrict women's ability to achieve their goal and American