Gender Trouble In The Great Gatsby

Areej Sous

Ms. Shada Shahin

ENGL227 A

9 April 2014

Gender Trouble: Between Submission and Dominance

The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms identified Gender as “A term referring to the socially constructed identities man, woman, masculine and feminine” (265). The latter identification of the word “Gender” in the glossary emphasizes the word “socially” which allows us to believe that gender is not a scientifically proven fact, nor is it a religious regulation that allows men to act in a certain manner and women in another. To elaborate, gender stands as a myth created merely to be used in favor of men, in order to have the higher dominance over women. Similarly, society, as well as men, uses this term in order to submit women to a certain image that portrays them as weak and ignorant creatures who should always obey men’s orders. In The Great Gatsby, many characters are portrayed through Fitzgerald’s characterizations as perfect symbols for the sexist and stereotyped societies of the nineteen hundreds. However, Fitzgerald did not apply this theory on all of the chosen characters for his novel; on the contrary, certain acts of certain characters have proven to contradict this theory. Moreover, a few of the novel’s characters proved to be lost between the acts of submission and dominance, which further assures that the gender theory is nothing more than an image created by the surrounding society of a person. All in all, gender roles in The Great Gatsby played a major role in understanding the acts of different characters. However, while some characters have proven to be perfect evidences for the gender theory , others have completely contradicted it.

One of the first images that Fitzgerald uses to introduce us to one im...

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...tle, as if he is retaking the control of the wheel of her life, which brings both women back to the bubble that society created for them.

All together, The Great Gatsby sits as an example for Fitzgerald’s stereotypical roles for women and men in their societies in the twentieth century. Although Fitzgerald tried taking a couple of characters outside this theory, however, her ended up bringing them back to where they belong in the first place. In other words, Fitzgerald tried to get rid of the sexist and limited view that a reader might encounter while reading his novel, but failed in doing so because he ended up putting the pieces back exactly where they belong. Lastly, Fitzgerald proved to the readers through his characters that if a person tries to jump out of the place which he should be in, he or she will suffer the consequences for committing such an act.