Feminist View on the Great Gatsby

Susan B.

Anthony once said “The true republic: Men, their rights and nothing more; Women, their rights and nothing less. ” This is her point of view on the way women were thought of during the 1920s. She recognizes the large gap between women and men’s rights. During this time though, many changes had began. Women just got the right to vote, therefore gaining more independence of their own which they did not always know how to use. This is also when the trend of a flapper began.

Views changed from politics to social lives, hem lines were raised, and risks were taken.The confusion of this time for most men is easily seen in The Great Gatsby. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, women are portrayed as a minor role to society.

They are reliant and selfish by expecting men to take care of them, they are shown as nothing more than a status symbol in the way that they allow men to control them, and they are unfaithful and dishonest. The main women in The Great Gatsby, Daisy and Myrtle, depend on the man that they are with to support them and buy them anything they wish. Myrtle, for instance, is unhappy with her life with Wilson.She sought out another man to take care of her, someone that can spoil her. Wilson offering her everything he could is not enough for Myrtle. She complains about it even when he tries his best, by saying things like, “He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in” (F.

Scott Fitzgerald 35). Wilson cannot afford a suit so he borrows one from someone else, and although he tried his best for her it is not enough. In her mind she needs to be taken care of, and the state of poverty that Wilson was in just does not do. Myrtle feels she deserves and needs a man that could buy her anything her heart desires.Tom was the perfect candidate for her; he was very wealthy and welcoming to the idea of an affair.

She loves Tom for the simple fact that he can support her, although she knows he will never leave Daisy. She is content with their relationship though, because she is able to be spoiled. This is shown when they are walking around and she passes by the man selling dogs. Myrtle knows Tom will buy her one, so she simply says to him “I want one of those dogs” (27). The dogs were over priced and mutts, yet Tom will buy it for her along with everything that is needed for a dog if she insists.Women During the time The Great Gatsby was written were still dependent on men, and that is what Fitzgerald is showing through Myrtle and Tom’s relationship.

Along with relying on men, the women in The Great Gatsby allow men to control them. They think that is what men want in a woman. Daisy recognizes this, and “hope(s) she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing in this world” (17). She wants her daughter to be a fool, and fools are easily controlled.

During the 1920’s it was thought of as the role of women to follow after a man. It was a desirable trait.This theme is also shown throughout The Great Gatsby through the character Myrtle. She lets herself be controlled by Tom in order to be able to stay with him. The one moment she decides to not follow the mode and lash out, he punishes her.

He gets away with it too, without any punishment or disbelief, “Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (37). Her nose was broken by Tom because she disobeyed him and did not let him control her. This reflects the point of view at the time. Women should be poised, obedient, quiet, and sidelined. This is how women were expected to ct during the 1920s, and Fitzgerald directly put this idea into The Great Gatsby.

Women are also shown as unfaithful, sneaky, and dishonest. This correlates directly to the flapper trend which began in the 1920’s. The flappers would smoke in public, wear more revealing clothes, and be as reckless as they pleased. Daisy for instance, does not commit to one man. She has an affair on Tom with Gatsby, but will not leave Tom.

She seems to love them both, yet will always choose Tom over Gatsby because of his money and reputation. She is shown as selfish and not trustworthy.Nick Carraway, the narrator, realizes this also. While running into Tom after Gatsby’s death he makes the comment “you know what I think of you” (179).

This is Nick referring to his anger towards tom and daisy for betraying Gatsby. Daisy was supposedly in love with Gatsby, until she killed Myrtle and knew that Tom could keep her from getting caught. She left Gatsby behind in the dust, and let Tom blame him for the murder of Myrtle. Myrtle, before her death, is another example of being unfaithful.

She lies to Wilson regularly about going into town with Tom, she is happier with Tom.If it was not for the inconvenience of getting a divorce she possibly would have. Instead though, she decides to build a web of lies and live by them. Wilson does not even realize he is being betrayed until he finds the expensive dog collar. Myrtle “trie[s] to tell [him] something funny about it, but [he] knew it was something funny” (158). He came to the conclusion then that he had always been suspicious of; myrtle had not been faithful to him.

Women were thought of as deceiving during this time period, as it was reflected into The Great Gatsby.The way that men thought of women during the 1920s is shown all throughout this novel. The way men saw them, the way they saw themselves, and the way they were struggling to reconstruct their own image in society. In The Great Gatsby the women can be found being dependent, selfish, unfaithful, sneaky, and put as a status symbol for men.

The 1920s was a time of renovation. Women were claiming their rights as members of society, and also developing new habit and ideas. The 1920s is what made it possible for women today to have equal rights with men, and have the same expectations put on them.