Expectations Of Women In The Great Gatsby

Roles and Expectations of Women The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald exhibited the expectations forced upon both men and women in the 1920s. The Great Gatsby’s three main women faced the roles of their generation with distaste, yet all three of them ended up fitting the mold in some way. All the female characters from The Great Gatsby had their inner turmoil; making us contemplate the struggle of being the “ideal woman” while still retaining one’s personal individuality. Whether it is Tom’s ignorant remarks towards women, or Daisy’s wish of her daughter to grow up a “a beautiful fool”, Fitzgerald leaves modern readers wondering – are some gender rules from the past still prevalent today? The leading ladies of The Great Gatsby all exhibited an expectation of women from the 1920s in their own way. Jordan’s character was the most independent female character in The Great Gatsby. She was a professional golfer and not tied down by anyone or anything. She was the one character who broke the most gender norms. “‘She’s a nice girl,’said Tom after a moment. ‘They oughtn’t let her run around the country this way’” (18). Tom, the old-fashioned misogynist pointed out his disapproval of Jordan’s freedom to roam wherever
Some say a woman should be happy to have a partner, regardless of how they treat her. Others make gender-based statements on what women can and can’t do. The fact that some people dislike female presidential candidates merely based on the gender is an current example of the adversity women face in “men’s jobs” still face. I’ve heard a multitude ignorant comments spewed from many about how a woman’s privileges and roles can’t be equal to that of a man’s, and is that really any different than Tom’s cruel comments about his opinion of women in the