Emily Cotrufello

Kathleen Blackwood

ENGL/WMNST 194

December 15, 2022

“White” Feminism: Oppression of Marginalized Women by Privileged Women

in Passing and The Great Gatsby

When envisioning the patriarchy and the way it harms women, the image conjured is one

of a man directly oppressing a woman. And, certainly, men, specifically cisgendered, white,

able-bodied, heteronormative, and wealthy men, do abuse women. It is seen when a man verbally

assaults his wife. It is seen when a man sexually assaults a woman. It is seen when the system,

one founded by and for men, limits women from certain jobs, lifestyles, forms of dress, equal

pay, and countless other boundaries. The patriarchy’s survival and domination is not solely

dependent on men, however – it is also dependent on women. There are women of privilege,

such as white women or wealthy women, who turn against other women and join in men in

oppressing them to advance their own positions within the hierarchy of the patriarchy. As long as

there are countless women beneath them, these women will be safer in their marriages, families,

and greater society, and will live a far more comfortable life. Though it can be unintentional,

ignorant oppression, this betrayal of fellow, marginalized women can also be a conscious choice,

even if not necessarily malicious, but rather out of survival instincts. Nella Larsen’s Clare Bellew

and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Daisy Buchanan are both characters that represent the same kind of

woman, a “white” feminist, who uses the patriarchal system to her advantage to put down other

women and therefore increase her standing, as is displayed through the excusal of their

husbands’ racist words and actions, their relationships with their daughters and their view of
femininity, and their interactions with other women in their lives, even those they are “close”

with.

In The Great Gatsby, Daisy’s husband, Tom Buchanan, is almost immediately introduced

as the stereotypical masculine figure - physically strong, aggressive, and with “a cruel body,”

with Daisy a perfect contrast to him, the perfectly feminine and demure wife (Fitzgerald 8). A

rich, sexist, racist, abusive, and arrogant man, he depends on dominance over his wife and other

men around him to maintain his ego. His impassioned racist remarks reflect that need for control

that he possesses. In spite of, and likely also due to, her husband’s abuse towards her, when in

public, Daisy supports Tom and his beliefs, even though they are disgustingly sexist and racist.

For example, while Tom is discussing a book on eugenics that he read to Nick, Daisy makes a

supportive and sickening remark.

‘It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have

control of things.’

‘We’ve got to beat them down,” whispered Daisy, winking ferociously toward the

fervent sun (Fitzgerald 13).

Daisy, and all of the women in the novel, are victims of the patriarchy and the men in their lives,

and it makes sense for Daisy to say something in defense of herself and the lifestyle she wishes

to maintain through her marriage. This is not a justification for her excusal of and participation in

her husband’s racism, because, as we see later in the novel, Daisy has the ability to go against her

husband - she has an affair without Tom’s knowledge or consent. When an issue does not pertain

to her selfish interests in upholding the life she has made, such as racism, she agrees with Tom,

giving it hardly any thought. Daisy’s reasoning is complex, but no matter the intention - even to
keep herself safe - the consequences are the continued white supremacist notions in her husband

and in the world.

Though Clare Bellew is a Black woman, while Daisy is white, their lives and husbands

are incredibly similar, particularly due to Clare’s passing as white. Like Tom, John is a white and

wealthy man who is active in high society, while also being a violently racist man. The first time

he meets Irene, the narrator of the novel, he says “I don’t dislike [Black people], I hate them,”

unaware that Irene or his wife are Black women (Larsen Part 1, Chapter 3). The fact that Clare is

even married to John, other than being dangerous for her, is supporting his racism and

discrimination against other Black people. Furthermore, John frequently uses racial slurs, even in

his nickname for his wife, which she allows and even embraces, strangely enough. As Irene is

meeting him for the first time, she thinks that,“in Clare’s eyes, as she presented her husband, was

a queer gleam, a jeer, it might be. Irene couldn’t define it. The mechanical professions that attend

an introduction over, she inquired, ‘Did you hear what Jack called me?’” (Part 1, Chapter 3). To

support and think such a nickname is funny, even if Clare is able to pass as white, is incredibly

oppressive. Irene and the other Black friends that Clare and John encounter throughout the novel,

even though he is unaware of their race and believes them to be white, are subjected to direct,

virulent racism and white supremacy, and Clare is the one that exposes them to that and puts

them all at risk. Like Daisy, Clare is selfish and only cares about preserving her wealthy,

comfortable lifestyle, even if it means being married to an objectively terrible and racist man and

risking the safety of marginalized people to have that lifestyle.

Both Daisy and Clare have minimal interest or love in their relationships with their young

daughters, reflecting their rather detached views of motherhood and femininity. Raised in a

patriarchal society that looks down on women and “womanly” traits and praises men and
“manly” traits, both Daisy and Clare managed to develop very warped beliefs about their own

femininity and that in their daughters. In an analysis of the significant connections between

Gatsby and Passing, Moynihan offers that

the mother figure or role represents complications not just in gender identities… but in

the racial, ethnic, or national identities of the characters and narrators… Both Daisy and

Clare are two such figures, racialized mothers to Pammy and Margery, respectively.

Furthermore, as women married to wealthy, socially important men, they would be expected to

have sons to carry on the family name and legacy - girl children are a disappointment and an

uncomfortable reflection of themselves/their younger selves. For example, when Daisy reunites

with Nick, she tells him of her experience of having a daughter, Pammy:

Listen, Nick; let me tell you what I said when she was born…It’ll show you how I’ve

gotten to feel about — things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God

knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the

nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my

head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘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.’ (Fitzgerald 16).

By saying these misogynistic words against her toddling daughter, Daisy is also speaking of

herself and other women of her status in 1920s New York society. Daisy has been conditioned

into acting like a “beautiful little fool” to ensure her own survival and ability to thrive in high

society and her marriage. As a “fool,” she is forced to lose all of her personality that does not

agree with society’s standards and, by extension, the standards of her husband. This includes

acting in an ignorantly oppressive manner towards other women, world issues such as racism,

and the coldness/distance from her daughter, whom she only rarely interacts with, and always
with the nurse there. Clare has a similar distance from her daughter, both emotionally and

physically. Not only does she think that “being a mother is the cruelest thing in the world”

(Larsen Part 2, Chapter 2), but she also views Margery as a liability that could have possibly

exposed her as a woman of color, if Margery had been born as visibly non-white. It is likely due

in part to this liability that Margery attends school in Europe, with an entire ocean between her

and her mother who cannot emotionally handle the raising of her. Whether she actually doesn’t

care for her daughter, or rather cares far too much, Clare presents as someone who is indifferent

towards her child and motherhood.

“Children aren’t everything,” was Clare Kendry’s answer to that. “There are other things

in the world, though I admit some people don’t seem to suspect it.” And she laughed,

more, it seemed, at some secret joke of her own than at her words.

The fact that Daisy and Clare oppress and have misogynistic views towards their own daughters,

not just marginalized women or those of a different race or class presents the twisted picture of

their views of womanhood and the role they play in society. Their daughters, obviously being

girls, is a source of grief and failure in them, and reflects all of the things they have been

indoctrinated to look down upon - even themselves.

The way that Daisy and Clare both interact with other women around them reflect a deep

selfishness and lack of empathy for those who have struggled in many of the same ways that they

have, as a woman in a patriarchal society. There is no limit to either of their self-interest in

preserving their privileged way of life, so intense that they put others in harm’s way to ensure

their station remains unchanged.

The most notable example of this, of course, is when Daisy kills Mrs. Wilson, Tom’s

mistress, in a brutal act of vehicular manslaughter. Rather than stopping, “Daisy stepped on it.
[Gatsby] tried to make her stop, but she couldn’t, so [Gatsby] pulled on the emergency brake”

(Fitzgerald 111). There is ambiguity surrounding whether Daisy knew that she was about to hit

and kill her husband’s mistress or it simply was an accident, but either way, there was no concern

shown for anyone but herself. Surely, Mrs. Wilson was a threat to Daisy in countless ways,

especially socially and maritally. As a high-class woman of the time period, Daisy would have

depended on the public appearance of security in her marriage, and having affairs would threaten

that security in her life. However, Daisy was also engaged in an extramarital affair with Jay

Gatsby, further stressing how hypocritical and self-interested of a woman she was. By murdering

Mrs. Wilson, whether in a premeditated or accidental manner, and refusing to take the blame

(instead allowing Gatsby to place it on himself), her self-serving nature and extremely negative

perception of those of lower class is obviously revealed. Her actions directly led to the deaths of

both Mrs. Wilson and Gatsby, and due to her position and interest in preserving that position,

both were expendable sacrifices from lower-class origins.

Through her reunion with Irene and the pursuit of a close “friendship” with her, Clare

constantly places the entire Redfield family and all other Black people she interacts with in

danger. Clare is a Black woman, but she passes almost exclusively as white. This is a decision

she has made, and is allowed to make if it makes her feel safer in a system built against her, but

by living her double life and interacting with Black people who cannot and do not pass as white,

she is contributing to their possible harm. She wants to successfully live the double life she is

trying to lead, but with her dangerously racist husband, it is impossible to have both without

endangering others. Clare doesn’t seem to care about this, though; she states that “to get the

things [she] want[s] badly enough, [she’d] do anything, hurt anybody, throw anything away”

(Larsen Part 2, Chapter 4). Not only are the Black people that associate with Clare at risk of
physical harm, but are also subject to other forms of racism, such as the cruel use of slurs by

John or even the insensitive way that Clare discusses skin color, passing, and race.

It also appears to be difficult for Clare or Daisy to establish genuine kinship with fellow

women who they consider to be friends. Irene gets the impression that Clare is “hard and

apparently without feeling at all” and can swing back and forth between extreme love and

extreme ferocity for the women that surround her (Larsen Part 1, Chapter 1). The lack of stability

in their relationship confuses and hurts Irene, who is also suspecting that Clare is interested in

her husband, Brian, while Clare seems to be unaware that anything could possibly be amiss, in a

state of ignorance. Daisy’s relationship with Jordan Baker is strange as well – it seems to be a

relatively surface level connection, with Jordan caring for Daisy far more than Daisy cares for

her. Jordan expresses that “Daisy ought to have something in her life,” and shows genuine care

and love for her, while Daisy is an inward-facing character who does not express concern for

Jordan or much affection. Neither Daisy nor Clare could care less about supporting the other

women in their life, women who they claim are their “best friends”.

Daisy and Clare both exhibit classic hallmarks of “white” feminism. Moon and Holling

articulate that

the oppressive nature of (white) feminism manifests in its discursive violence that is

amplified by a white epistemology that helps advance white supremacy. (White)

feminism masks white epistemology by masquerading as a liberatory movement that

professes to represent ALL women while primarily focusing on the needs of white

women (258).

Though it is doubtful that Daisy or Clare would identify themselves as feminists, they do fall

quite perfectly into representing the white supremacist patriarchy and oppresing other
marginalized groups, especially women of lower socioeconomic status and “race” than them.

Their primary motivations throughout their respective novels is protecting themselves and

ensuring that their lives remain comfortable, and neither give much thought to who they might

hurt by engaging in their self-preservation. At risk of sounding overly-critical of the two women,

it is important to highlight that they were two women in a time period far different than the

present day. The 1920s were a part of a tumultuous decade following the first World War and

preceding the Great Depression. Daisy and Clare knew what they wanted from life, and knew

how to manipulate the patriarchal system in order to ensure that they could have as easy a life as

women of their situations could have. Their betrayal of other women and marginalized groups to

attain those lifestyles is, of course, questionable and unfair, but they lived in an unfair world and

did what they thought was right to guarantee safety for themselves, their families, and their

children. In the end, however, only the truly “white” feminist of the two of them survives,

Clare’s story ending tragically. No matter how similar and parallel the lives of the two women

are, in the end, Daisy is a white, wealthy woman, protected and honored by the patriarchy, while

Clare is a Black woman who has been exposed for having passed. Her death symbolizes the

complex truth: white feminism will only ever truly fight for and try to protect white women and

their skewed version of feminism, and will view women of color as expendable second-thoughts.
 Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925.

Larsen, Nella. Passing. Knopf, 1929.

Moon, Dreama G., and Michelle A. Holling. “‘White Supremacy in Heels’: (White) Feminism,

White Supremacy, and Discursive Violence.” Communication and Critical/Cultural

Studies, vol. 17, no. 2, 2020, pp. 253-260.,

https://doi.org/10.1080/14791420.2020.1770819.

Moynihan, Sinéad. "Beautiful White Girlhood?: Daisy Buchanan in Nella Larsen's Passing."

African American Review, vol. 47, no. 1, 2014, pp. 37-49,228. ProQuest,

https://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fs

cholarly-journals%2Fbeautiful-white-girlhood-daisy-buchanan-nella%2Fdocview%2F16

29415646%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D13158.