Essay On Women In The Great Gatsby

1360 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Women and their fight for equality

The 1920s was of time of class, rich people thrived, woman started to revolutionize, music, and everything started to change. Major things happened during this time period including, discrimination against minorities and women pushing for natural rights. F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of, The Great Gatsby, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota during the 1920s into a family with high social aspirations but little wealth. He attended Princeton University in 1913 in hopes of becoming something more in life but failed to graduate. After serving for the army Fitzgerald wrote his first book and became wealthy and famous( Wiggins, Grant. The American Experience: California. 2010.pp 729). Two of many themes in the The Great Gatsby are resistance to change and the “new woman”. There were numerous events that led to these changes in the 1920s and many had a huge significance to the nation and still affect us today. The 19th amendment for example, was created during the 1920s and had a huge Impact on woman. The 19th amendment gave women the right to vote and soon granted them the same rights as men. In the beginning, woman were treated differently then men, women were expected to be obedient, do housework while men went to work, weren’t allowed to have the same education as men, they didn’t have the same rights as men. During the roaring twenties woman started to push for a change, they began to challenge society in many different aspects. For example, women started working in manufacturing. Although, it seemed as if they were now being treated better , men continued to put them below their class. Women held the least skilled jobs and received about half as much money as men did. Woman then began to take part in academic jobs and soon thrived in th... ... middle of paper ... ...s an example of discrimination and in the novel Jordan represents the “ new woman” . Towards the end of the quote “ the modern world” is mentioned which symbolizes resistance to change because Tom says “ I suppose you’ve got to make your house into a pigsty to have friends in the modern world” This shows that Tom does not like the Modern World and refuses to modernize with it. Overall, Fitzgerald does a fantastic job in reflecting the 1920s society onto The Great Gatsby. He mentions discrimination, women changing, war, industrial revolution, prohibition, and every important part that took place during that era. The significance of the “new women “ is that to this day women now have the same rights as men and are now treated equally. In conclusion, events that occurred during the 1920s greatly impacted and influenced our society to the modern world we live in.

Show More
Related

  • The Importance Of Sexism In The Great Gatsby

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    “I hope she’ll be a fool - that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 20). This quote is as true now as it was when Daisy Buchanan said it about her daughter in The Great Gatsby. Women grow up in a box of expectations. They are told to act a certain way and do certain things. Daisy knew that this was the world that her daughter was going to be growing up in, and that if she grew up to be a fool then she would fit into the world very nicely. If she grew up and became someone who noticed inequality, or who wanted independence, she would struggle in the world. While woman are no longer put in such a black and white box, there are still many expectations and limitations that woman have to face in their

    Read More

  • Women In The Great Gatsby Essay

    1969 Words  | 4 Pages

    Daisy Buchanan is the most significant female character in The Great Gatsby. F Scott Fitzgerald writes her as the most significant female because she is most like his wife, Zelda (Donaldson). Daisy is Gatsby’s motivation for wealth and why he wants to accomplish so much. He has longed for her because she has always been unattainable. Fitzgerald, like Gatsby was often rejected by women in a class higher than him (Donaldson). Zelda was Fitzgerald’s motivation for writing The Great Gatsby and many other works (Donaldson). It was a way for him to express his frustration and love for his wife. Zelda was the main female role in Fitzgerald’s life, much like Daisy is for Gatsby. Fitzgerald writes his relationship in order to cope with what is happening

    Read More

  • Oppression Of Women In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1518 Words  | 4 Pages

    The depiction of women various throughout time and places. Until the twentieth century, women were vaguely thought of, dependent on the man to create history, and represent humanity. And then the roaring twenties hit, a time where women’s suffrage started and the creation of a new idea, a new breed of women is beginning. This change, this “New Woman” is the foundation for all the female characters in the book, says Lois Tyson, “…an attitude of free self-expression and unrestrained enjoyment. In other words, as we often see during times of social change, a “New Woman” emerged in the 1920s” (Tyson 121). This change included shorter skirts, shorter or let down hair, no more corsets, smoking, drinking, driving, going about without a chauffeur, and even voting. These are all characteristics that Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson all have in common, although their roles in

    Read More

  • Emergence of Women in the Great Gatsby

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1920’s, the role women had under men was making a drastic change, and it is shown in The Great Gatsby by two of the main female characters: Daisy and Jordan. One was domesticated and immobile while the other was not. Both of them portray different and important characteristics of the normal woman growing up in the 1920’s. The image of the woman was changing along with morals. Females began to challenge the government and the society. Things like this upset people, especially the men. The men were upset because this showed that they were losing their long-term dominance over the female society.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Femininity Analysis

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1920’s women were fervently depicted as inferior to men and incapable of the success. In the novel The Great Gatsby female characters are subject to gender based stereotypes and blindly follow culturally accepted norms which dictate their place and position within society. The expectations placed upon the female characters to comply with the norms of society limit their potential to become successful in comparison to the male characters, who are successful in the 1920’s. Within The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates the female characters as socially and economically limited and dependant, due to the strong implementation of patriarchal roles of men in society. Women are confined

    Read More

  • Misogyny In The Great Gatsby Essay

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Roaring Twenties was a time great spending and extravagance as the rich had no limit to their wealth with the Gilded Age, which produced hundreds of millionaires. Even though there was new rush of modernism into Twenties, there was still traditions that had a big role in during the time period. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald show misogyny, gender roles, feminism and the stereotypes of the Twenties through characters like Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby, and Myrtle Wilson and their behavior’s.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel by Scoot F. Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby” is a well written synopsis of 1920s societal dynamic in America. The book follows the protagonist Nick as he describes the life and society in New York. He meets a man by the name of Jay Gatsby, who lives his life around only one desire to be reunited with love of his life Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby's quest leads him from a peaceful existence to WW I, from poverty to great wealth, from separation to the arms of the women he loves, and eventually to death. The author uses the story to portray the state and changes in the conscience of American Society at that time period. The stratification of societal class, the disillusionment with the idea of the American Dream, the preoccupation with wealth, the decays of morality with all the lies and deceits, the changes in women role and principles of marriage were all the part of Societal consciousness in the 1920s. Scott F. Fitzgerald effectively uses setting, plot, conflict, dialogue, and imagery in the novel to reveal societal stratification, disillusionment in the American dream, dominance of moral decays, changes in societal norms and values, as part of the conciseness of American society in the 1920s.

    Read More

  • Independent Women In The Great Gatsby

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    To start off with the most independent women in the book Jordan, she is about as equal gets for the 1920's. She is portrayed as a flapper: a women who dresses and/or acts scandalously and exhibits masculine traits such as smoking or drinking. Her body type is interpreted to be androgynous in appearance, Nick had said “ She was beautiful, yet terrifying to look at. “() Jordan also being a sport celeb of sorts being a golfer. Many, including Tom describe her as a cheat- not only in the game, but how

    Read More

  • Fitzgerald's Portrayal Of Women In The Great Gatsby

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jordan blurs gender roles because she wants the independence of the modern woman and the security of a man. As a result of striving for independence, Fitzgerald strips Jordan of her femininity.

    Read More

  • Women In The Great Gatsby

    1144 Words  | 3 Pages

    F Scott Fitgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is centred upon 1920’s America. In the text, characters such as Myrtle Wilson, Jordan Baker and Daisy Buchanan are all carefully constructed to reveal various attitudes held by America in the early 20th century. Overall, the construction of female characters in The Great Gatsby showcases an accurate representation of women in the time period the text was composed in.

    Read More

  • Gender Inequality In The Great Gatsby Essay

    2135 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...looking at the society during the 20th century, taking Jordan Baker as an example of a solitary women whom upholds pride and dignity, Jordan defies the typical women of the 20th century like Elizabeth Bennet in the 19th century. Jordan Baker, however has the character which reflects deficiently unlike Elizabeth Bennet, as described in the book, Jordan is 'incurably dishonest' (page 58) with many dishonest traits, and she has the feature of aristocratic pompousness which makes hypocritical, despite her being an upmost independent character within the novel, it also shows that her cynical and reckless personality, through her freedom of independence which she was trying to uphold, was just to primarily receive attention, in particular from men-whom she doesn't commit a relationship towards, as a 'domestic servant' like women were portrayed during the 20th century as.

    Read More

  • Women's Roles In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, the female characters play a significant role is the direction of the plot. The three characters Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan, play the most important female roles in the novel. Fitzgerald portrays two types of female roles, independent or the “flappers,” and dependent women.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Women Essay

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women are seen from a biased point of view in pop culture as they are often criticized and portrayed in degrading ways. The Great Gatsby takes place in the early part of the 20th century which is also known as the Roaring 20's. In regards to feminism, the women in The Great Gatsby are mainly depicted as second class to men. The story gives readers an insight of the roles that gender played in past World War I America. In The Great Gatsby, the author Scott Fitzgerald shines a light on the submissiveness of females toward males during the Roaring Twenties by giving the women in the novel an unfair representation as they are often identified as passive or negative “objects”.

    Read More

  • Marxist Lens The Great Gatsby

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald took place in the 1920’s when the nation was undergoing rapid economic, political, and social change. Looking through different literary lenses the reader is able to see the effects of these rapid changes. The marxist lens reflects the gap between rich and poor while the feminist lens showcases the patriarchal society.

    Read More

  • Gender Issues in The Great Gatsby

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    The gender issues in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby adhere to the traditional gender roles of a male-dominant society where women are sexually objectified and made inferior, while men are portrayed as the dominant gender. The narrator’s relationship with the female characters of the novel and their character traits reveal not only the established patriarchal society in the novel, but the chauvinistic attitude of the author as well. While feminine conformity to the ideal standards of women in a male-dominant society is reflected through characters such as Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson, male characters such as Tom Buchanan and George Wilson appear to represent the traditional man, thus satisfying the ideal gender roles of a male-dominant society. Though it appears that Nick Carraway’s admiration for masculinity allows him to suffer from his potential anxieties about his own masculinity, Carraway’s male chauvinistic mentality is certain because of his enforcement of traditional gender roles that exerts dominance over women in the novel. Carraway’s attraction to Jordan Baker’s masculine traits and his fascination of the socioeconomic status of men, such as of Jay Gatsby’s and of Tom Buchanan’s, display his conformity to the ideal, traditional standards of gender roles in a male-dominant society that explain his admiration for masculinity.

    Read More

More about Essay On Women In The Great Gatsby

Open Document