Portrayal of Women: The Great Gatsby and The Odyssey
In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Buchanan is an important woman character, but only in relation to Jay Gatsby’s dream. Ever since Gatsby had come back from the army, he had longed to have Daisy back in his life, and so everything he did and built up was in some way for her (e.g. his house and the parties he threw). Nick says: “He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy” (1). But apart from Daisy being the ultimate prize in Gatsby’s dream, she doesn’t really seem to have any other importance in the novel.
However, in the book The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, Penelope is an important woman character, as well as the maids. Penelope and the maids are important woman characters in the novel as they are the narrators, they have a key role in the novel. Atwood lets us read about how they feel, what they dream, their desires and disappointments and explore into their minds. A reason for Atwood telling us the story from a woman’s point of view could be because in The Odyssey by Homer, a female’s perspective is missing, making the woman’s voices unheard. The novel (The Penelopiad) in also written in the modern day (2004/5), and we can see when Penelope says to Helen “My wittiness, or your bare-naked tits-and-ass“ (2), which is using very common words used in today’s English language. Nowadays there is a stronger equality between men and woman, and so a woman’s voice is heard more, which could be the reason why Atwood makes sure we hear what Penelope and the maids have got to say, and how they feel. Therefore the novel is from a different view, it is feminist. Whereas in the 1920’s when The Great Gatsby was set, there was a different attitude towards women, there was less equality, and only the beginnings of a change. In the 1920’s women were given the right to vote; in 1870, black men were given the right to vote: so even though women were
However, in the book The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, Penelope is an important woman character, as well as the maids. Penelope and the maids are important woman characters in the novel as they are the narrators, they have a key role in the novel. Atwood lets us read about how they feel, what they dream, their desires and disappointments and explore into their minds. A reason for Atwood telling us the story from a woman’s point of view could be because in The Odyssey by Homer, a female’s perspective is missing, making the woman’s voices unheard. The novel (The Penelopiad) in also written in the modern day (2004/5), and we can see when Penelope says to Helen “My wittiness, or your bare-naked tits-and-ass“ (2), which is using very common words used in today’s English language. Nowadays there is a stronger equality between men and woman, and so a woman’s voice is heard more, which could be the reason why Atwood makes sure we hear what Penelope and the maids have got to say, and how they feel. Therefore the novel is from a different view, it is feminist. Whereas in the 1920’s when The Great Gatsby was set, there was a different attitude towards women, there was less equality, and only the beginnings of a change. In the 1920’s women were given the right to vote; in 1870, black men were given the right to vote: so even though women were