"The Great Gatsby" Female Characters Analysis
This is The Great Gatsby female characters essay. The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics of the female characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby through the lens of feminist literary theory. One can argue that the development of the female protagonists within the text can show the traditional gender roles are somehow differentiated between dominance of men and independence of women. By shifting the aim of study from a male to female characters, new understandings emerge to point out that there are multiplicities of readings embedded in the text. Furthermore this paper discusses the power relations between the sexes, and the ways in which patriarchal values are enforced or resisted. On a surface read the novel under discussion seems to reinforce patriarchal stereotypes of women as proper and delicate but later it is illustrated that women speak, and express themselves in more liberated ways. Moreover Fitzgerald was conscious of the female subjugation as the characters actively try to construct their own identities, something that is reflective of the emerging role of women in the time period.
Feminism or rather its essentiality, springs from gender inequality that existed from the beginning of time. Women’s inferiority to men was present in every aspect, even in literature. As in each profession, even in writing women were considered of having a lower status than their male counterparts. Feminism is, therefore, a doctrine which is concerned with women’s emancipation. But broadly speaking the concept embraces other areas of women’s lives such as their development, role in social, cultural, and economic affairs. Hence the feminist perspective attempts to bring attention to otherwise overlooked topics related to women. Nowadays significant progress has been reached towards equality be it in the real, or literary world.
Demonstrating how people are a product of their culture, The Great Gatsby reveals how the text reflects the changing cultural norms that threaten a traditional society. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was a short story writer and novelist whose writing defined the 1920s ‘Jazz Age’, an era immortalized in the American psyche through fiction. Fitzgerald was not a feminist; but because of the strong development of feminist criticism over the last two decades, it is necessary to reread the text from a new perspective.
The novel paints the image of America in 1920’s Roaring twenties. Before the war, as Kelly Boyer Sagert described in her work, the feminine ideal was defined as a slender curvy woman who used to wear tights, long skirts, and high buttoned boots. However after the war their behavior changed; women could be seen in the company of men, smoking, drinking and partying in nightclubs. In other words a ‘New Woman’ had emerged. The main female characters Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle present various aspects of feminist philosophy by reflecting opposing principles of society’s feminine ideal, and all three display an honest deal of modern independence. The women also challenge their assigned roles by preferring the excitement of carefree lifestyle to the more traditional employments of hearth. There are trials to redefine society and culture in a new way by gender relations as the women actively try to change the social norms through their attitudes and actions; however the inequities did not cease to exist as this ‘new woman’ they did not equal men at odds as they were still economically dependent on men in the early 20th century. Thus women’s liberation was far from complete. As a pivotal part of Fitzgerald’s artistic career The Great Gatsby has continued to attracted critical attention and reappraisal.
This thesis intents to explore the book through a feminist lens. Therefore the feminist criticism centers on the general ideal of the feminine experience, the difference between men and women, and the relationship between the sexes.
