The Powerful and Influenced “Dishonesty in a women is a thing you never blame deeply.” (Fitzgerald 58) In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald Nick Carraway tells of one summer he spends with Mr. Gatsby and the old money fortunes of his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan. He explains the lives, money, and relationships that they all hold as he gets to know them. The roles of women in The Great Gatsby expressed by Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle are very influential and powerful towards the men that surround them. They use their emotional personalities and physical appearances to manipulate and hold the love and affection between the men who love them. First and foremost, Daisy is a very influential and powerful woman towards Gatsby and Tom because she has a way with her words and voice. She can manipulate the men that interact with her, making her irresistible and hard to forget. “He knew that …show more content…
She carries her full figured self to attract the eye of her lover. Myrtle is a foolish girl believing that the only reason Tom does not leave Daisy is because she is Catholic, which is far from the truth. “And I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head.” (Fitzgerald 36) Myrtle plays dumb when it comes to Tom having an interest in her when they first met on the train. She knew he would look at her and is attracted to the dominance he has over her and the money he has unlike her husband who is passive and poor. She flirts with him so he finds interest in her. “I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,…I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.” (Fitzgerald 34) Myrtle has a type of control over her husband and uses him. He is in love with Myrtle and will do anything for her and she uses that to her advantage, as it allows her to order him around. She admits that she has never loved him and would marry
Caroline Goveas Mrs. C. Custodio ENG 3U1 8 May 2023 Patriarchal Perpetuation and Victimization in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi once said “Women are the victims of this patriarchal culture, but they are also its carriers” (Ebadi). In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel, The Great Gatsby, women portray the changing ideologies of femininity in 1920s society, yet continue to perpetuate the patriarchal structure, by which they are victimized. Women of the 1920s are perpetually criticized by male characters, specifically by Nick Carraway, the narrator. In particular, Myrtle Wilson is manipulated to serve the desires of men, both willingly and unwillingly. Furthermore,
Everyone has fantasized about being rich and all the luxury that comes with it. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing of “The Great Gatsby” suggests how money ruins the lives of many. It ruins those who possess it and those who don’t. Fitzgerald explains through Myrtle Wilson, Jay Gatsby, and Daisy Buchanan that money and materialism causes us to lose sight of our values and what is truly important. Myrtle Wilson is very desperate to leave the Valley of Ashes.
In this quote, "I married him because I thought he was a gentleman and knew something about breeding, but he was not fit to lick my shoe" (Fitzgerald 34) Myrtle clearly states that George is not her type. She wants to escape her unhappy life with George; therefore, she has an affair with Tom Buchanan to fulfill her worldly desires of partying and having a rich man. Her lust for life leads to her death. Myrtle’s death emotionally and mentally affects George, which prompts him to murder Gatsby (who he mistakes for both his wife’s killer and lover), and then kills himself.
In the novel The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald set in the 1920s, a man named Jay Gatsby who became rich through illegal means tries to win the heart of a woman named Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan’s wife. The wife of a garage owner named George Wilson, Myrtle, is also having an affair with Tom. Throughout the course of the novel, Tom and Wilson run into similar encounters. Both of them discover that their wives have been cheating on them and have comparable reactions. These discoveries and related events reveal their attitudes toward women and become violent.
Gatsby gives her the opportunity to choose her own course of action. While it is true that Gatsby sees a relationship with Daisy as a goal rather than a relationship, Daisy has the opportunity to control her own destiny when she is with Gatsby. This makes her eventual decision to stay with Tom even more revealing, towards her deeper, possibly even hidden to herself, motivation of wealth and social
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, characters have very distinct identities that develop throughout the book and many inferences are needed to understand the characters. One example of this is Daisy Buchanan. Daisy Buchanan cares greatly about wealth and is a very careless person. Throughout the novel, many of her decisions are due to her greed and carelessness, even though those decisions may not be the best decisions for her. Daisy displays her greed throughout the novel; she marries Tom Buchanan because of his wealth.
In this novel, Daisy is the most abused by male characters. She is objectified, cheated on by her husband, and probably physically abused by him, based on what he did to Myrtle. When Daisy gets back together with Gatsby, he says, “It excited him too that many men had already loved Daisy-- it increased her value in his eyes.” (page 156). This quote shows how men objectify Daisy just because
Fitzgerald in the novel, uses careless individuals who would destroy everything and everyone and yet still manage to retreat back to their money. Daisy Buchanan, the ‘golden girl’ is rather dishonest and deceitful throughout the novel. As she starts having her affair with Gatsby, she creates unrealistic expectations in Gatsby head about their future together. As Gatsby is having drinks at the Buchanan’s, Tom leaves the room and Daisy kisses Gatsby and declares, ‘I don’t care!’ At this point, the audience realizes that Daisy is and always was in love with Gatsby and that she was prepared to leave Tom.
Throughout the novel “ The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald it becomes more and more evident that Daisy is the biggest user and manipulator than the rest of the characters. Daisy is the type of character who seems and feigns innocence but this is to derail and confuse people of who she really is as a person. Not only does she use and string Gatsby along but she does the same with Tom. Daisy seems to be in control in situations when it may seem very unlikely that she is.
She married George thinking he would be wealthy and powerful and his money would place her on the top of the social ladder allowing her to be
In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Daisy is portrayed as a modern woman; she is sophisticated, careless and beautifully shallow. Daisy knows who she is, and what it takes for her to be able to keep the lifestyle she grew up in, and this adds to her carelessness and her feigned interest in life. In all, Daisy is a woman who will not sacrifice material desires or comfort for love or for others, and her character is politely cruel in this way. Daisy’s main strength, which buoyed her throughout her youth and when she was in Louisville, is her ability to know what was expected of her and feign cluelessness.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby,” Daisy Buchanan struggles to free herself from the power of both Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, whom both use their wealth and high standings as a way to dictate power over and impress others. Fitzgerald purposely develops Daisy as selfish and “money hungry” character when she chooses Tom, a rich man, over Gatsby, a poor man (who she was in love with), which establishes her desire for power that she never achieves.
Tom has no consequence for his affair with Myrtle, but Myrtle does because she does not have money. Also Daisy stays with Tom after she finds out about the affair because she is used to the lifestyle of the wealthy. During dinner with Nick Daisy says that she is, “Sophisticated-God, I’m sophisticated” (Fitzgerald 20). This sophistication is brought about by the wealth that Tom has. The only reason she stays with him is to keep this sophistication.
“I hope she’ll be a fool--that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, beautiful little fool”(Fitzgerald 17). This line, stated by Daisy, accurately demonstrates the perception of women during the 1920s. Women were seen as objects and deemed incapable of intelligent thought. In The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays women based on similar stereotypes from this time period. Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker are all prominent female characters in the story whose behaviors and actions, although different, showcase the common desires and struggles of women at the time.
Although the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes the parties and prosperity of the American 1920's, it reveals many major characters meeting tragic ends. The characters who meet these ends - Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, and George Wilson - possess the same tragic characteristic: they endeavor for something more out of their lives than what they have. This ambition for what they could not have ultimately spelled their doom: Gatsby wanted money and Daisy; Myrtle wanted wealth and luxury, and sought it from Tom Buchanan; Wilson earned what he could only to please Myrtle. The Great Gatsby reveals a tragic nature through the trials and tribulations these characters endure to progress and prosper, only to receive death for their ambition. The exciting and wild time period of the "Roaring Twenties" provides a stark contrast to the deaths in order to further highlight the tragic nature of the novel, and leaves a theme that even those with the most hope and strong ambitions can fail and die miserably, no matter how much money they have.