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Zelda's Treatment Of Women In The Great Gatsby

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Zelda Fitzgerald was a significant icon of the roaring 1920s. From a socialite, painter, and novelist, she was Scott’s literature icon, later influencing the role of the Great Gatsby’s wife in his book published in April of 1925. Zelda grew up always thinking on the positive side of things, regardless of the harsh gender normalities taking place in the jazz era. She was the youngest of five children and lived a youthful and privileged life. As a teenager, Zelda was a talented dancer who challenged the gender norms of her time by drinking, smoking, and spending much of her time with boys. At the age of eighteen, she met the love of her life, Scott F. Fitzgerald, at a country club dance. They had one kid, and moved to long island, New York where …show more content…

Emotional damage can be just as painful as physical abuse in a relationship. Scott had multiple affairs with other women, while married to Zelda-- Zelda could do nothing but watch this happen, and never said anything, as she was scared for physical abuse. The most emotionally damaging thing for Zelda to experience was the fact that while still in a relationship with Scott, Scott did nothing but compare her to the other women that he was dating, and made Zelda feel that she would never be good enough. A woman who is being abused in a close relationship is being threatened and mistreated in an environment that should be her sanctuary, making the abuse more harmful and escape extremely difficult (Lips, 2017, Pg. 502). Zelda was, “She was a woman who adored and hated her husband, who adored and oppressed and victimised her. Her melodramatic life was in real terms the stuff of fiction” (Beaumont, 2013). This quote is significant because it highlights Lip’s point about how hard it is for women to leave an abusive relationship, in an environment that is supposed to be her “sanctuary.” Women will always look for a reason to stay in the relationship, when there are a million reasons to leave, because they are

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