The Women of the Great Gatsby

Within The Great Gatsby, there are a lot of different types of women portrayed.The main women in the novel are Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson.

All three women carry a personality all to their own, and it shows throughout the novel.In all, the novel portrays a certain type of women.In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s eyes, women are foolish, unflattering, untrustworthy, and impulsive.This theme is shown all throughout the novel.

One of the first things said by Daisy, in regards to her daughter was, “I’m glad it’s a girl.And I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” (17) This quote is quite self-explanatory, showing that women are to be oblivious or even complacent to what’s around them.This is shown best with Daisy, with Tom’s infidelity.In The Great Gatsby, Daisy is charming and gorgeous as well as shallow and ditzy.

She is very focused on material things, caring more about her appearance and wealth than most things.She is higher up in social circles, and seems pretty well-off and happy.However, throughout the whole novel, she is aware that her husband is being unfaithful to her.In the novel, this shows the idea that women are to be complacent and turn a blind eye to their husband’s wrong-doings.Another way she is portrayed is being not loyal, untrustworthy, and careless.

Even though she was driving the car when Myrtle was killed, she still allowed Gatsby to take the blame for it, eventually resulting in the death of both Mr. Wilson and Gatsby. Jordan is unlike most women in the 20s and years prior.She is harsh, confident, strong-willed, and marches to the beat of her own drum.She is very blunt, saying exactly what she is thinking.She is very independent, and this is definitely shown in her relationships with men.

She can be very dishonest, bending the truth to Nick as well as cheating her way to winning her golf tournaments.She is quite promiscuous throughout the novel, only opening up to Nick because she can be herself around him.She is also very careless, as shown with her infamous driving skills.She says that as long as everyone else around her is careful, she doesn’t need to be (58).In all, Jordan was a new type of women in the 20s, and it shows all throughout her personality and actions. The third woman in the novel, Myrtle Wilson, is no exception to the rule.

Myrtle is known for being brash, load, insensitive, and promiscuous.As the leading home wrecker in the story, Myrtle Wilson is the woman that Tom Buchanan has an affair on Daisy with.That being said, she is careless to the people around her, specifically to Daisy and her husband Mr. Wilson.She disregards people’s feelings, and she doesn’t care very much for people lower than her.

These are all traits that all of the women in the novel carry.Myrtle was being completely manipulated by Tom, and didn’t care.She was controlled, and Tom has complete authority over her to do as he wished.She was also extremely materialistic, as all the women in The Great Gatsby are. All in all, many themes of women are presented in The Great Gatsby.The most pronounced being that women are to be oblivious to their surroundings, as well as complacent to the men in their lives.

Apart from Jordan Baker, who is shown as marching to the beat of her own drum, not caring what people thought of her.This novel has so many great themes of women that still shine true today for a lot of women.It’s relatable, being as a lot of women today are still F. Scott Fitzgerald’s image of a woman.Unflattering, untrustworthy, and impulsive fools.