Is Fitzgerald’s Portrayal of 1920’s Women Entirely Negative?

Although the women reflect “foolishness” on the outside, The Great Gatsby provides several examples in which women empower themselves despite their inferior status. Although Fitzgerald may have viewed women as a weaker sex, several females in the novel demonstrate an underlying power through their relationships, and display some admirable qualities. Although they are not able to achieve the same amounts of success as men in the society; by attaching themselves to a suitable mate allows them to share in the success of the men. In the patriarchal, greed-driven society of 1920’s portrayed in “The Great Gatsby”, the female characters are controlled and possessed by the men; yet, as illustrated through Daisy and Myrtle, by accepting this inferior position, the women are able to manipulate the emotions of men and use their sexuality in order to obtain financial security and social acceptance. As F. Scott Fitzgerald said in his lifetime, “‘Women are so weak, really – emotionally unstable – and their nerves, when strained, break . . . this is a man’s world. All wise women conform to the man’s lead’”(Francis Kerr). He demonstrates this idea through the surface level weakness of his female characters in The Great Gatsby. For example, when Daisy describes the birth of her daughter, she expounds the female inferior position: “‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool’”(Fitzgerald).
Although Daisy is disadvantaged due to her gender, she searches for a financially and socially stable relationship in order to be happy. Before entering into marriage with Tom, Daisy was in a relationship with Gatsby; yet, even at this stage of life, Fitzgerald demonstrates Daisy’s concern for stability. Gatsby deceives Daisy into believing that he is the financially stable man she is in need of: “He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretenses. I don’t