Exploiting the ideologies of feminist criticism, it could be reasoned that The Great Gatsby promotes an obscured masculine agenda. Through Fitzgerald’s treatment of the fundamental female characters in The Great Gatsby, the novel seems to uphold and corroborate with the traditional gender roles, neglecting any positive alternative view in the process. Fitzgerald himself is said to have been greatly affected by an affair his wife Zelda is supposed to have had, during the time the novel was written. Thus it is somewhat understandable he would write with contempt towards certain female characters and their portrayal (Bruccoli,1994). The author’s unwillingness to change his outlook and worldview seems to indicate he, himself, has become a slave to the established male dominated society.
In “The Great Gatsby: Fitzgerald’s Opulent Synthesis (1925)”, Robert and Helen Roulston express Fitzgerald’s doubts about the novel. At first, Fitzgerald is not happy with the title because he believes it does not accurately reflect the theme of Gatsby as a victim of the American Dream. Many aspects of the novel reflect events and people in Fitzgerald’s life. Robert and Helen Roulston analyze the similarities between the characters and people in Fitzgerald’s past. The authors also examine the artistic elements in the novel and compare Fitzgerald to other authors.
So, it cannot be characterized as a happy, innocent tale. The author of The Great Gatsby wrote this novel influenced by his own life and his relationship with his wife Zelda. The unifying elements of this novel are the character of Gatsby and the New York where the episodes occur. Fitzgerald first began working on The Great Gatsby on 1922. He reported to his editor Maxwell Perkins: “ want to write something new, something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately patterned” (Perkins, 2004).
Throughout The Great Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson desired to fit in with the upper class; however, her marriage to George Wilson prevented such from occurring. Myrtle failed to recognize her husband’s hard work and true character due to her efforts to rise in social status. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald emphasized Myrtle’s hatred towards her marriage through her conversation with Catherine, depicting how people of the twenties focused more on wealth and power compared to moral American values. As readers closely evaluate the moment of Myrtle’s dialogue, she dictated her feelings towards her marriage in a way that supposedly justified her infidelity. Myrtle stated, “I married him because I thought he was a gentleman” (Fitzgerald 34).
A man’s assiduous rise into money to get the love of his life back. Life abruptly cut short. This is what most readers and movie-goers glean from every iteration of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Both movie adaptations of the novel, Jack Clayton’s interpretation and Baz Luhrmann’s iteration, captures the overall plot, but certain nuances and particular instances of artistry that Fitzgerald wove into his work are lost in translation. Clayton does a much better job at authentically presenting the setting, characters and overall atmosphere that Fitzgerald had intended within the novel.
The Great Gatsby is a story about a man revolving part of his life around trying to achieve his American dream by conforming to a woman and society 's standards. The passage, Winter Dreams, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has the same theme. A poor man loves a wealthier woman and revolves his life around trying to get her. To be able to relate to these characters and truly get a feel and understand each characters actions in these novels, readers must use intellectual empathy to put themselves in their shoes to see how they would feel and react in the same situation. Gatsby sees Daisy as not only a woman whom he loves, but also a symbol of his American dream of being seen as “old money”.
The Great Gatsby A feminist literary interpretation By Veronica In this essay, I will be interpreting the 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald novel- “The Great Gatsby”, through a feminist literary point of view.The Great Gatsby is a whimsical tale of riches and star crossed lovers, where a well-educated young man, Nick Carraway, writes about his move to New York, where he practices the bond business. He lives in a rich district, “The West Egg”, where his neighbour, Jay Gatsby, throws large, luxurious parties every Saturday night. It is not until he interacts with Gatsby that he finds out that the parties he throws are nothing but an attempt for him to meet an old love. I will be discussing the role women have in this novel, and how women at the time were portrayed in the story. Gender stereotypes of the time are confirmed in The Great Gatsby, and there is little variety in the way characters of the same gender are portrayed, especially women.
Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby uses the association between Jay Gatsby and his fantasies, to complement and investigate important thoughts. Accordingly, Gatsby 's hostile dreams and materialistic esteems depict how Gatsby 's character has created and depicted when his demise, as opposed to the hero who is Gatsby 's character and identity. This is on account of it is his fantasies and standards that visually impaired him from considering he is an unaccepted individual in American culture and that he is sub-par compared to alternate subjects of West Egg; the result of this is his demise toward the finish of the novel. Prohibited love is investigated by Gatsby 's misconception of why he can 't experience passionate feelings for Daisy, since
Modernist became very disillusioned and unable to find their true identity. During this period the culture was striving for the American Dream. Through this era readers will notice the use of characters to find the true emotions of the characters. In the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby who is one of the main characters has turned to love to find his true identity. When Gatsby falls in love with Daisy, Gatsby becomes very disillusioned within himself and his relationship with Daisy.
Lois Tyson’s review of The Great Gatsby through a feminist lens describes how F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel promotes patriarchal gender roles for many different reasons. First, Tom Buchanan strongly believes in patriarchal gender roles because he has double standards for men and women. Tom believes that he should be able to cheat on Daisy, but when Daisy cheats on him it represents that the traditional form of marriage will be ruined. Tom also assumes that society depends on the stability of the patriarchal family and that the stability of the patriarchal family rests on the conformity of women to patriarchal gender roles. Next, Tyson suggests that because Nick is the narrator his views and beliefs represent the novel’s ideological bases, and