Examples Of Jordan Baker's Attitude In The Great Gatsby

In the Great Gatsby by F Scott. Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald uses Jordan Baker's deceitful behavior on the golf course and as well as her cynical attitude towards life, to show not only how success always comes with a price, but also the moral boundaries that people are willing to push and overlook for their own personal success.
Jordan’s cynical attitude allows her to think and act differently than others. Where many people find cheating and deception utterly unacceptable, Jordan sees it as a way of life. “Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and ... this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible” (Fitzgerald 57-58). To Jordan, this was the only means possible to keep her

Jordan is unable to handle being at a disadvantage towards others or be lower than them. She wants to support her social status and wealth, and due to her cynical attitude, she sees that society is full of deceit and betrayal, and she doesn’t want to leave anything up to chance. Therefore she believes that cheating is the only way to secure her status. Furthermore, as noted by Nick Carraway, the narrator of the book and Jordan’s love interest states that “She was incurably dishonest. She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing with subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard, jaunty body” (58). Jordan Baker’s cynical attitude was not there from the beginning. It was developed through all of her experiences from a girl to the person she

One such example would be Jordan’s athletic “achievements.” Jordan is known to many people across the world as an exceptional golf player, but to achieve that level, she had turned to cheating. “At her first big golf tournament, there was a row that nearly reached the newspaper- a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round” (58). It is shown that Jordan had evidently cheated in order to reach the level of success that she has now. Similar to American society, where so many companies do shady business deals to gain an advantage over their competitors, as well as athletes who dope to win. Many people, like Jordan, overlook the moral boundaries that have been pushed or even crossed, as their personal success is more important to them. The same can be said with Jordan-she is so obsessed with achieving her goal, she is willing to abandon her morality, and cheat just in order to win. However, Jordan may not be the sole reason to be blamed. Instead, society can be said to be the cause. As Nick contemplates, “Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply- I was casually sorry, and then I forgot” (58). Nick notices that society seems to have a ton of pressure on women. Success is always the goal in