Women's Role In The Great Gatsby Essay

Women’s role in The Great Gatsby In The Great Gatsby women play the role of instigators and have no important role within the story itself. Even Scott Fitzgerald acknowledges this dilemma himself saying, “…the book contains no important woman character.” (qtd. in Turnbull 197) and that, regarding to The Great Gatsby, “Women do not like it. They do not like to be emotionally passive.” (ibid. 507). Fitzgerald’s Novel portrays a new social and sexual freedom explored by women like Daisy, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson, as well as the many women who attend Gatsby’s glittering parties.
Daisy’s explorations are the most impactful within the story.
“Fitzgerald informs the reader too often of her charm without providing her with substance as a thinking, sentient woman. The effect is to reduce her to a charming wraith, a being who exists only as a fragile veneer, a shining radiance of Gatsby’s construction, the centerpiece of Tom’s wealth, rather than a woman with a personality of her own” (Strba
5). Daisy exists only in the way each man wants to picture her. Conclusively Daisy is torn between “her responses to Gatsby’s romantic vision of herself and Tom’s materialistic evaluation of her” (Strba 5). Daisy toys with the emotion of Gatsby who has an idealized vision of her and cannot see her imperfections.
Ultimately Daisy falls for the “materialistic” things in the world. This explains perfectly why she married tom while Gatsby was at war. Although she had second thoughts she ultimately went through due to the fact that Gatsby was a poor soldier and she wanted more, a.k.a Tom. However, when Daisy finds out that Gatsby has returned and has brought much wealth with him, she begins to have an affair with him, almost leaving Tom twice. This toying of emoting only makes Gatsby’s dream more real than ever and makes Tom even more of a threat than ever. To even further solidify our vision of Daisy, Fitzgerald has Daisy not attend Gatsby’s funeral and instead has her run away from the problem to chase more prosperity. The upper class women of this novel are seen as “brilliant creatures who are morally and economically passive in a world which has no other role for them.”
(strba5). Daisy isn’t the only one with an affair however. We are introduced to myrtle by her telephone call to Tom, which was during Daisy’s dinner party, causing much tension within the room. We can tell the Myrtle is of the lower class due to Jordan’s remark that, “Tom’s got some woman in New York”, who hasn’t “the decency no to disturb at dinner” (Fitzgerald 16). Myrtle, like Daisy, craves prosperity and, in pursuit of it, has an affair. Myrtle’s affair however is with Daisy’s husband Tom. Myrtle desires Tom for his bulky masculinity and his social style, “, and in a way her sexuality is a counterpart of Gatsby’s romantic passion for Daisy” (Strba 3). Myrtle is special however in the fact the she expresses such urgency to make her dreams a reality. This can be seen in the quote “All I kept thinking about, over and over, was ‘You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever’” (Fitzgerald 31). Myrtle craves this dream so much that, just like Gatsby, is blind to the fact that it will never become a reality. Tom to Myrtle is the ticket to the good life, while Myrtle to tom is seen as just as a secret lover he can’t fully have. Lastly we have Jordan baker. Unlike Myrtle, Jordan “maintains a deliberate detachment which masks a determination to come out on the top. Occupying a secure place in a socially influential stratum, she manipulates a patriarchal world to her own advantage” (Strba 4). Jordan rules her life by discretion while Myrtle talks without stop.