Women's Rights in The Great Gatsby Essay Sample

It is not hard to notice the patriarchal patterns of creative writing, however no instances seem to be more on the nose and less acknowledged than The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In the roaring 20s and a post war climate, women’s rights in the western world were having more light shed on them, with obvious hesitance from men in power. Every female character written by Fitzgerald has the motive of gaining either money or power and portrayal describes these characters to be greedy and self-absorbed. This display is seen as totally normal in the novel, and just the ways this world has come to be. By creating an atmosphere with clear favoritism on the basis of sex, throughout the novel Fitzgerald establishes a male dominated narrative which villianizes the portrayal of femininity across the lines of class due to the fact that Fitzgerald’s reality is similar to that which he has crafted for this novel and one he has been used to living in his entire life.

In the very beginning of the novel the readers are faced with Tom Buchanan, the man’s man and personification of a patriarchy and privilege. The audience sees him as an antagonist, and someone incapable of acknowledging someone else’s joy. Every time he is brought into a scene there is a visceral reaction from the characters present. One display of this is when the readers first meet Daisy, and the relationship displayed between her emotions, in this case excitement to meet a long missed relative and Tom’s self-centered reaction. “Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room... the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor” (Fitzgerald 9). It’s as if Tom is a vampire, who instead of blood seeks the happiness of any unfortunate soul he meets, and lamentably he is always invited inside of a home because of his wealth and status in the world. He figuratively sucked the life out of a room, simply by presenting himself in his own manner. His character becomes intolerable and a pain to confront simply because of his ability to get his own way. “Tom interrupts Daisy’s words without permission and consideration. In his mind, Daisy has no rights to challenge him, but submits to him… his purpose is only to maintain his reputation and dignity.” (Li 5). The opinion of his own wife doesn’t matter to him, he needs to get his point across at any cost. It’s very easy to tell that he will talk at someone and not with them. He’s the man, he is deserving of the pants in the relationship, he’s even more so the man’s man, a figure that masculinity looks at and aspires to be. Dominant, disruptive, and deliberately counterproductive, it’s everything a man needs to have control, all present in Tom Buchanan. A man of wealth, pride, and an overall snide presence, he perfectly encapsulates everything about the figure of a patriarchy.

The namesake of the novel is no better with his presence, the character Gatsby displays beliefs that he is deserving of unrelenting romantic interest simply because of who he is. Throughout the novel Gatsby is seen doing activities to build a false persona for himself, one that he imagines would be more appealing to someone with romantic intentions. This act in itself is a warning sign for someone to be careful around, but the complete disregard for the opinions of Daisy truly cements this. “Love in his mind is uppermost, so his egotism unilaterally defines his love with Daisy as true love no matter what the real emotion of Daisy is” (Li 5). There is no mention of how Daisy feels about this situation until chapter 7, for half of the novel up until that point has her stringed along with whatever other characters want to do. The only reason the audience knows Daisy has interest in Gatsby is because, “he can compete with Tom in wealth.” (Li 5). This characterization shows that it’s perfectly normal for men to expect women to accompany them simply for existing, and that the key to receiving feminine love is paying your way in. So long as Gatsby had clean money, he had Daisy in his pocket, allowing him to feel that she was with him 100 percent of the time. This prompts Gatsby throughout the novel to speak on behalf of Daisy despite never consulting her. This comes to a head when he is forced to confess his love, “No, we couldn’t meet. But both of us loved each other all that time, old sport, and you didn’t know.” (Fitzgerald 99). Gatsby would do anything for Daisy’s approval and Daisy would do most things for Gatsby’s wealth. This proves that neither one of these characters are acting out of emotions but rather out of social standard. They’re doing what the world expects them to do and that is the underlying problem. Society has allowed men to believe they are owed the world, and villanizes women for attempting to do a fraction of the same.

In order to properly display a patriarchal society, oppression of anything but masculinity must take place. Fitzgerald had no problem doing this, as stated by Soheila Pirhadi Tavandashti, lecturer at Islamic Azad University and acclaimed critic on feminist issues, “The novel abounds in minor female characters whose dress and activities identify them as incarnations of the New Woman”(Tavandashti 11). Everything that makes men and specifically Fitzgerald uncomfortable is forced and packed into the characterization of every single female character in the story. These characteristics span from obnoxious and greedy, to self-absorbed and emotionless. This is seen when Daisy finally has to confront the idea of loving another man, “Her eyes fell on Jordan and me with a sort of appeal, as though she realized at last what she was doing — and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all.” (Fitzgerald 99). Only when faced with love, a classically feminine emotion, does she finally make a decision. Even then the decision is not based on present emotions, but rather how she felt 5 years ago, she’s portrayed as confused, and down-right absent minded in the face of any key decision. Daisy finally finds her voice when she is faced with the consequences of losing Tom, and in turn her life line. She does love Gatsby, but she loves Tom’s money and status more. Closing the door on a second form of financial security is a no go despite her emotions. This brings in Tavandashti’s second point, that these characters are, “portrayed as clones of a single, negative character type: shallow, exhibitionist, revolting, and deceitful.”(Tavandashti 11). Any character with a display of femininity is villainized by the narrative of the story and forces the audience to view them in a bad light. All of these characters are the same, in the regard that the reader is meant to not like them, and to disapprove of their actions, all the while the reader’s surrogate body in this story does arguably worse things. The entire point of this narrative is to portray that women are incapable of their “inherited” world and aren’t abled enough, controlled enough, or versatile enough to rise up to the occasion.

Fitzgerald has displayed throughout the novel that he believes the current patriarchal system works. He believes that men are dominant, they deserve whatever they please, and that “the new women” is attempting to destabilize these beliefs. For the times, Fitzgerald is not an inherently bad person, but his failure to recognize such beliefs as negative forces his novel to be viewed in an arrogant light. None of these characters are likable, the men are naive and quite frankly dense, while the women are portrayed as everything someone should hate, because their creator detests women. Everything about this novel displays the patriarchal ties to creative writing, in the time of confrontation, men will do everything in their power to push back. Just as the conversation of women’s rights begins, the villainization from men will ensue, if they are deserving of the world, why is it being taken away from them. That mindset is seen with the characters in the story, the atmosphere of the 20s, and the writings of Fitzgerald. Patriarchal influences run deeper than one would expect, and the basis of sex has a much greater impact on perception than would like to be admitted.