Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Women's movement in the early 20th century
Fitzgerald portrayals of woman essays assignment in the great gatsby
’to what extent has the image of the ‘flapper’ obscured the reality of life for american women in the 1920’s?’’
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Women's movement in the early 20th century
Hunter Barnes
Mrs.Barnes
Honors English 3
The Great Gatsby
Women had very different lives leading up to the 1920s . They were expected to be completely covered and be very modest. They were also expected to follow all the rules that they were given and be very “lady like”. The 1920s gave women the opportunity to rebel from the normal of that time period. Women started cutting their hair short into a bob. Women also started partying and showing more skin. These women were referred to as flappers. In Fitzgerald’s books The Great Gatsby they portray the women of the era with three main female characters. The three main female characters are Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson. Each of these women show a different perspective of life in the 20s. Myrtle Wilson is a very different type of woman. She’s is more shapely. She has a very strong will and I very sure of what she wants in life. She is married to George Wilson who owns a small car shop. She says “ i only married him because i thought i loved him” ( chapter 2)George is a very nice man who likes living his simple live with his wife. Myrtle on the other hand doesn’t like her simple
…show more content…
Jordan is a professional golfer which it was kinda odd to have a women as a professional athlete. Another thing about jordan was the fact that she was a lier and a cheater. She openly had a cheating problem. She say "Nevertheless you did throw me over," said Jordan suddenly. "You threw me over on the telephone. I don't give a damn about you now, but it was a new experience for me, and I felt a little dizzy for a while." ( chapter 1)She happens to bond really well with Nick Carraway who is the narrator of this story. Nick knows that she's bad news but he’s still intrigued. It was very tabo for women of this time to be acting or doing the things that Jordan was participating in. Fitzgerald uses her character as kinda a black sheep of
Unlike Daisy, who comes from old money, Myrtle is from the lower middle class. Myrtle hopes to climb the social ladder by cheating on her husband with Tom Buchanan.
2. Myrtle represents the contrasting women of the lower class. She is an opportunist; she is obsessed with wealth and material possessions. She will do anything to be of a higher social class. She is sexualized and objectified by the dominant wealthy man.
Throughout the book, women take important roles and change the story, ultimately leading to Gatsby’s death. Myrtle, Jordan and Daisy are just the same as the men, each striving for what they want, whether it be love from another or material goods, only to be held back by sexism of the time. Her husband Wilson loves her, but turned out to be poorer than the man she thought she was marrying. Myrtle wants someone to love that loves her to go along with her wish of a life of luxury.
Unlike the other two main female characters, Jordan seems uninterested in typical female pursuits and conducts herself in a masculine manner. In fact, Fitzgerald describes Jordan as “a slender, little breasted girl with an erect carriage that she accentuated by throwing her body backwards at the shoulder blades just like a youthful cadet” (Fitzgerald 11). According to Fitzgerald, women who act masculine also look masculine themselves. Since Jordan possesses almost none of the desired feminine qualities in her personality and manner, Fitzgerald declines to give her any physical feminine qualities also. In doing so, Fitzgerald insinuates that women who do not pursue feminine hobbies are not real women, but instead are unattractive, androgynous pseudo-men. In addition to her physical male qualities, Jordan also professionally plays golf which is a traditionally male-dominated sport. Describing a tournament that Jordan played in during the summer, Fitzgerald writes, “There was a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round. The thing approached the proportion of a scandal—then died away” (Fitzgerald 57). Not only does Jordan commit the offense of moving into the male sphere, but she also cheats and lies to get ahead. Clearly, Fitzgerald believes that women are not naturally talented enough to take part in masculine activities, and
F. Scott Fitzgerald was accurate in his portrayal of the aristocratic flamboyancy and indifference of the 1920s. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores many aspects of indifference and flamboyancy. A large influence on this society was the pursuit of the American Dream. Gangsters played a heavily influential role in the new money aristocracy of the 1920s. The indifference was mainly due to the advent of Prohibition in 1920. One major societal revolution in this period was that of the “new women,” who expressed new actions and beliefs. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald accurately portrayed his characters Nick Carraway, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, and the novel’s eponym, Jay Gatsby, as a part of the society of the 1920s.
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).
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.
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.
Gender Roles: In some respects, Fitzgerald writes about gender roles in a quite conservative manner. In his novel, men work to earn money for the maintenance of the women. Men are dominant over women, especially in the case of Tom, who asserts his physical strength to subdue them. The only hint of a role reversal is in the pair of Nick and Jordan.
Myrtle’s desperation all boils down to her marriage to George Wilson. In chapter 2 Catherine asks Myrtle why she married George. Myrtle answers “I married him because I thought
F. Scott Fitzgerald third book, “The Great Gatsby”, stands as the supreme achievement in his career. According to The New York Times, “The Great Gatsby” is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s. In the novel, the author described Daisy Buchanan as childish, materialistic, and charming. These characteristics describing Daisy is also description for the way women were seen during the 1920s.
innumerable characteristics to enhance the plot of The Great Gatsby. Jazz became hugely popular in the 1920's. Couples just could not stop dancing. Flappers defied the norms of dress and behavior and their only goal was to please themselves. The women who attended Gatsby's parties were flappers which includes Gatsby's love Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker. Prohibition was in full swing in the 1920's and Al Capone led the way in illegal liquor business. The fictional character of Jay Gatsby was deeply involved in. Readers can take a look through the era's greatest memoir, The Great Gatsby, and other writings by Fitzgerald and find that the 1920's were a time of decadence, frivolity, and escape. No matter rich or poor, people lived in the moment, loved their lives and the young (and sometimes old) partied like there was no tomorrow.
Even though she is a more miniscule character in the book, Myrtle Wilson wears a mask. Myrtle is unhappy in her marriage with her husband, George. When her and George met, she had thought that he was a man with a lot of money. Once they got married, she soon realized he wasn’t a rich man at all after he borrowed “somebody’s best suit to get married in.” Despite the fact that he didn’t have much money, Myrtle just puts a fake smile on her face and stays with him while still having an affair with Daisy’s husband Tom.
This idea further reiterates Myrtle Wilson’s seductive nature in the text. Men are so fascinated by her that they are willing to be unfaithful to their spouses to be in her presence. However, it seems as if Fitzgerald does not foreground Myrtle’s behavior as positive. In the vicinity of the Valley of Ashes, where Myrtle resides, lay the tired eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleberg, staring down at the society before him.
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”.