Whitty 1

Kayla Whitty

Mr. Pace

Honors Lit & Comp

December 21, 2022

Liberated or Repressed

Throughout the 1920s there were many opposing ideas of what women and men's roles

were in society. With the nineteenth amendment being ratified in 1920, the “roaring twenties”

were not just a time for carefree living, but also a time of women taking control of their own

power, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates an exaggerated version of that

time. The Great Gatsby represents two opposing sides of gender dynamic within relationships in

regards to the story of gender and the roles that it played in the 1920s, creating a paradoxical

view on itself through the evolution of the story.

Even though women were supposedly viewed as equal citizens under the law, the 1920s

served as an adjustment period, where many still resorted to old societal standards that deemed

women to be a man’s property. Jordan Baker seems to be the only one who does not follow

typical societal standards: “Witnessing Daisy's being treated as property for exchange (the string

of pearls Tom gives her parallels the dog collar he buys Myrtle) is a formative experience in the

young Jordan's developing attitudes toward gender and women's position in society” (Froehlich).

Jordan Baker felt that she was responsible for Daisy’s unhappy marriage to Tom, but she also

utilized it as a way to make herself more independent, which the book suggests, through

narration from Nick, that independence is not socially accepted. The idea that women did not

operate as their own was also demonstrated when Nick describes how “the history of the summer

really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans”
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(Fitzgerald 5). When married, Daisy had taken Tom’s last name, and even Nick, who appeared

unproblematic on the surface, saw them as one unit under the power of the man. This was

especially present later in the book, when Nick meets Myrtle and continues to stay with Tom,

knowing how it would hurt Daisy. In relation to affairs, Fitzgerald only made it acceptable for

the man in the marriage to indulge, shaming Daisy for trying to rid herself of a man that was

continuously unfaithful without question from his peers. Both sources highlight the idea that

women were only the property of their husbands, but Froehlich began to demonstrate how Jordan

had actually begun to run independently, not needing, nor wanting, a man to decide things for

her. With Jordan being the only character who is confident in her independence, The Great

Gatsby fails to represent a time that would have had major change. Fitzgerald failed to recognize

the immense change that was happening during the 1920s, which in itself would be paradoxical.

By adding a single character that is confident in her independence, it shows that Fitzgerald knew

of the change that was happening, but decided to contradict it by writing a book that according to

the back cover is “an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s” (Fitzgerald). The Great

Gatsby ignores what was happening socially at the time, which makes the story an inaccurate

view on the time.

Fitzgerald wrote the book based on his own perspective, but that perspective meant that

women would never be enough in a world dominated by men. The 1920s were a time filled with

change, but Fitzgerald was never able to recognize the significance of that change, nor

demonstrate it in his writing of The Great Gatsby: “Fitzgerald viewed this shift in American

mores through his own 'male perspective of puzzled ambivalence' and harbored a persistent fear

that 'the flapper embodied not freedom but moral anarchy and lack of direction” (Maclean). At

this time, flappers were girls who would be characterized as flirtatious or lively, they wished to
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be different than those before them, and many people did not like them because of their

outlandish ideas about how life should be pursued. Flappers did not believe in marriage nor

having children, which upset many that were still rooted in traditional conventions despite it

being a time for social reform. Fitzgerald was just one of many who did not see women’s

freedom as a good thing, but instead as a misstep, something that suggested that women were not

capable of deciding things for themselves. When Daisy was reflecting on her first memories after

giving birth, she stated: “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 17). Fitzgerald continuously suggests that women

were not capable of doing anything more than finding a husband, adding that a girl must be a

fool to get anywhere, meaning that a man would be the dictator. This is not representative of the

change that had been made throughout the United States though. If the context of the book had

been set earlier, when women could not go to school, or engage themselves in politics, then

Fitzgerald would be right to say that it would be hard for a girl to go places without help from a

man. This book is based in the 1920s, so having a daughter should not have been a tragic event

for Daisy, because the 20s were a period of adjustment and reform that made it possible for

women to become independent. Even if gender was still not equal, it would not do her daughter

any good to be negligent to the things happening around her. These sources confirm each other,

suggesting that the 1920s were a time of rebellion, and not a time of actual change. Both sources

are capable of supporting the fact that F. Scott Fitzgerald did not create a story that was

representative of gender roles in the 1920s. Not only is the book self contradictory, but it also

contradicts facts from the time period, creating a false image of what the time was, and how that

affected relationships and dependency.

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Although The Great Gatsby originally portrayed a time of inferiority, Fitzgerald began to

provide a paradoxical argument to the previous ideas that women were still an object that

belonged to man. Even though women had fought for their ability to be involved in society,

many were still against this idea, which led to new organizations being formed to account for

women in these places: “During the 1920s many women, newly emancipated by possession of

voting rights and relaxation of social strictures, took power into their own hands by becoming

active in racist groups that came together in 1923 as Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK)”

(Blee). Women who joined the klan were well-educated and would join on their own without

influence from their husbands or family, making the choice for themselves based on their own

views. This opposes earlier chapters of The Great Gatsby that grouped women as one with their

male counterparts. Fitzgerald mainly focused on the ways that women were still an object to be

possessed, even though the 1920s were really a time where women came into their own power,

and this power was not taken lightly. Throughout the entirety of The Great Gatsby, George

Wilson, the husband of Tom’s mistress, Myrtle, is portrayed as someone who had been trapped

by their own doings. Even if he did not love Myrtle, he still considered her to be his own, even

though others began to see him as: “His wife’s man and not his own” (Fitzgerald 136). Without

Myrtle, George was nothing. With lack of money, she represented something that he could have

power over. However, Myrtle seemed to be the one with power in the relationship, much like

Tom in his relationship with Daisy. Both were open about their affairs and proceeded to do what

they wanted without consent from their partner. Fitzgerald had an idea set about gender roles in

the 1920s, and even towards the end of the book, did not stray far away from that aspect. The

Great Gatsby is a book that, in regards to gender, represents a time before the nineteenth

amendment was passed. Many women in this book were only recognized as a piece of their
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husbands, with Jordan Baker being the one character that might represent how many women

began to feel after the ratification of the nineteenth amendment. Blee had shown how women

took power into their own hands, but Fitzgerald, even when putting power in the women’s hands,

never actually took away the power that George held over his wife. The quotes later on in the

book contradict what Fitzgerald had argued previously, suggesting that he saw a change, but still

viewed men as dominant. By suggesting that Myrtle was the one in charge, Fitzgerald created a

paradoxical point to his own argument that women could never be recognized without a man, but

both statements are an exaggeration of the time period and do not represent the 1920s as a whole.

Although F. Scott Fitzgerald created a book that has been continuously used through

generations, his personal views on gender roles in the 1920s obstructed his ability to create a

story that correctly identified what role gender played at the time. So, not only did the book

represent a paradoxical view of the 1920s, but it also created one on itself by suggesting that

some women, later on, could be independent, or be the one in charge of their relationship, even

though Fitzgerald made it apparent, at the beginning of the book, that he pitied women for their

lack of independence.
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Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2020.

Froehlich, Maggie Gordon. "Jordan Baker, Gender Dissent, and Homosexual Passing in The

Great Gatsby." Children's Literature Review, edited by Jelena Krstovic, vol. 176, Gale,

2013. Gale Literature Resource Center,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1420110010/LitRC?u=mlin_n_newhigh&sid=bookmark-LitRC

&xid=c407ca7e. Accessed 11 Dec. 2022. Originally published in Space Between, vol. 6,

no. 1, 2010, pp. 81-103.

"Kathleen M. Blee." Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors, Gale, 2016. Gale Literature
Resource Center,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1000150722/LitRC?u=mlin_n_newhigh&sid=bookmark-LitRC
&xid=ce1a7355. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.
Maclean, Rose. "A Petronian brothel in The Great Gatsby." Ancient Narrative, vol. 13, annual

2016, pp. 17+. Gale Literature Resource Center,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A485672639/LitRC?u=mlin_n_newhigh&sid=bookmark-LitRC

&xid=ce39ccff. Accessed 11 Dec. 2022.