The Great Gatsby A Misogynistic Tale English Literature Essay

America during the Jazz Age was a place where women were rapidly becoming more self-reliant after World War I by procuring men’s jobs, bobbing their hair, and disregarding the traditional family unit. While the 1920’s was a time for women to explore their newfound independence, renowned author F. Scott Fitzgerald made his female characters out to be foolish and disloyal, ultimately bringing upon the downfalls of men. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays women as shallow, selfish beings who are dominated and seen as possessions, rather than people, by the men in their lives.

Although F. Scott Fitzgerald composed The Great Gatsby during the 1920’s, an era when women were becoming more independent and liberated, he depicted the book’s female characters as prizes to be won, due to his lifelong fascination with affluent, beautiful women. As a young man, Fitzgerald was rejected by Ginevra King, a striking debutante with whom he was infatuated, after her father warned him that poor boys should not think of marrying rich girls. Thomas Stavola expresses Fitzgerald’s peculiar fixation with ladies in social classes far above his own by proclaiming, “The women Fitzgerald sought out at Princeton and afterwards were beautiful, rich, and socially unavailable. They usually had many of the qualities his mother lacked” (Stavola 45). This proves that Fitzgerald based many of the female characters in The Great Gatsby on his own bad experiences with women. A biography of Fitzgerald states, “He also carried on an extensive correspondence with debutantes and subdebutantes. For Fitzgerald, boy-girl relationships amounted to a kind of contest in which there could only be one winner” (“F. Scott Fitzgerald”). This illustrates Fitzgerald’s bitter view of women, an outlook that was not only a result of Ginevra’s beguiling, but also of his bizarre relationship with his wife, a marriage which was filled with cheating and arguing, eventually ending in his wife’s admittance to an asylum.

The novel’s key female character, Daisy Buchanan, is based on both Ginevra and Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda, a privileged beauty whose psychotically envious and careless behaviors created a baseline for Daisy’s nature and actions. Many of those who have studied the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald agree that much of his work is based on his own life, with some biographers stating, “It was characteristic of Fitzgerald, who was one of the most autobiographical of writers, to transform his own experience into fiction,” (“F. Scott Fitzgerald”). The previous line showcases the author’s habit of using his own experiences and sexist views to create The Great Gatsby.

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Daisy Buchanan embodies the role of Tom’s simple and self-centered trophy wife who is glorified as a “perfect” individual in the mind of Jay Gatsby. Although Daisy is far from flawless, Gatsby sees her as so, and believes that he can “buy” her. He is not truly in love with Daisy, but instead with his own skewed ideas about her wealth and status. Carol Wershoven sums up Daisy’s indifference best by declaring, “Daisy wants things and people, but she feels no true sexual desire, and thus there is no space inside her that can be filled, no unfinished part of her that can be completed by another. She is a trick of blankness” (Wershoven). By expressing these thoughts, Wershoven paints a lackluster portrait of Daisy as a gorgeous yet worthless girl with an insignificant place in the universe.

When Gatsby first visits Daisy’s mansion as a young soldier, the author describes the event by saying, “It amazed him- he had never been in such a beautiful house before. But what gave it an air of breathless intensity was that Daisy lived there- it was as casual a thing to her as his tent out at camp was to him” (Fitzgerald 148). This excerpt displays Gatsby’s superficial love for Daisy, since what he really loves is how he feels when surrounded by all her family’s wealth. Due to Daisy’s past as a rich Louisville debutante, she is used to being valued for and defined by only her beauty and money, not her intelligence or character. In regards to her infant daughter, Daisy divulges to her cousin, Nick, “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 17). When Daisy says this, it demonstrates how she believes that the only thing a female can be is a beautiful puppet for a man to control, as opposed to a smart, independent woman who thinks and acts for herself.

Jordan Baker, the novel’s modern, masculinized flapper, is a dishonest and independent woman who appears to be a stereotypically butch “man-hater.” Although Jordan does not seem submissive to men, Nick exerts his supremacy over her by terminating their relationship, which he ends, despite his attraction to her, due to her deceitful ways. Nick says, “Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply- I was casually sorry, and then I forgot” (Fitzgerald 58). Our narrator is not at all surprised about Jordan’s deception, due to a societal expectation for women to lie, which reveals men’s low standards for females.

Jordan’s liberation can be interpreted as a turn-off to the aggressively domineering males in The Great Gatsby, regardless of the changing roles of women in the 1920’s, proven by the following quote: “A suggestion of lesbianism may cling to Jordan Baker. At Gatsby’s first party, she remembers details of casually met girl twins, romanticizes her interest in Daisy (though Daisy has that effect on many), plays a sport mostly played by men, and is not voluptuous” (Lathbury). Although Jordan’s more modern values may be viewed as a step in the right direction for women, Fitzgerald portrays her as an intimidating and unscrupulous individual who possesses only the worst typically “male” traits, including vanity and lustfulness.

Myrtle Wilson is rendered as a lewd woman who is nothing more than an unimportant plaything for Tom Buchanan. At the same time, she has absolutely no respect for her own husband due to his low income and status. Carol Wershoven’s expresses Myrtle’s lecherous ways by saying, “Myrtle is bored with her husband and looking for a better deal” (Wershoven). Myrtle is a lowly, pathetic home wrecker who is completely controlled by Tom. At one point in the tale, Tom’s mistress riles him up by bellowing, “Daisy! Daisy! Daisy! Shouted Mrs. Wilson. ‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai-‘ Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 37). This quotation indicates the acceptance of domestic abuse, while causing the woman in question appear just as wrong as the man.

Men in The Great Gatsby see themselves as controllers of women, and they believe, for the most part, that those of the female gender are untrustworthy, disobedient belongings that they must keep in line. Tom Buchanan has double standards about his wife’s relationship with Gatsby, since he himself is having an extramarital affair with Myrtle. This past association between his wife and Gatsby raises some questions for Tom about his wife’s loyalty, causing him to tell Nick, “By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much these days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish,” (Fitzgerald 103). This shows Tom’s hypocritical and domineering disposition, traits that are willingly accepted by Daisy, who always seems to obey her unfaithful husband. Both Gatsby and Tom make decisions for the women in their lives, because they see females as being too stupid and unreliable to think for themselves. Gatsby conveys this authoritative attitude by straightforwardly telling Tom, “Daisy’s leaving you” (Fitzgerald 133). This illustrates that not only is Tom able to manipulate Daisy, but that Jay has the ability to control her as well.

While some might argue that The Great Gatsby portrays women as free, progressive characters, it is impossible to ignore the fact that females are shown in a particularly bad light throughout the novel. With Daisy as an egotistic trophy wife, Myrtle a meddling whore, and Jordan a masculine fraud, F. Scott Fitzgerald has written a story full of unfaithful women who embarrassments to their gender. This harsh and humiliating representation of women is attributable to Fitzgerald’s encounters with females in his own life. Therefore, The Great Gatsby negatively depicts females by making their existences revolve around pleasing and submitting to men.