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Priscilla Aguilar

Mr. Smith

IB English HL 1

28 September 2020

Beautiful Little Women

In the classic fiction novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the reality of

how women are objectified by using a feminist lens and focusing on the three prominent women.

All three women- Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan- have different personalities, appearances, and

social classes. The one thing these women have in common is that they are all degraded in some

form. The relationships depicted in the novel are furtively beneficial to the men in the city. Daisy

Buchanan is the wife of an aggressive and arrogant man, Tom Buchanan. She is portrayed to be

delicate but she is smart and powerful internally. Tom and Daisy have built their lives together,

they are unwilling to leave each other and are casually together for the benefit of wealth and

freedom. It is known that Tom has had many affairs throughout their marriage and still continues

to do so. Daisy is aware of these affairs and during one of Gatsby’s parties, she gave him her

gold pencil if he wanted “to take down any addresses” (105). On the outside, Daisy seems

delicate but in reality she is strong enough to endure the pain that Tom puts her in. Although she

is aware of the affairs, she still stays because Tom is able to maintain her with his wealth. In

numerous of Gatsby’s parties, men are depicted as flirting and “talking with curious intensity”

while their wives attempt “to laugh at the situation [but instead break down] entirely and resort to

flank attacks” (51). Meanwhile men get to have the ability to have careless affairs without any

consequence, women have to endure the pain that comes with wealth. The relationships in the

novel show the dominance men have over women; they are able to do anything. Correspondly,
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the roles of women are wistfully just to please and maintain men. Although Tom has a loving

wife at home, he wants more and has a mistress, Myrtle Wilson that lives in the Valley of Ashes.

Whenever he wants to see Myrtle, he tells her to get on the next train in order to go to their

apartment. He mandates her to go see him, his character portrays that he doesn’t respect women

and only views them as something that could be used for pleasure. Once they get to the

apartment, they have a few drinks, argue, and then Tom breaks “her nose with his open hand”

(37). Tom’s aggressiveness leaves Myrtle powerless. He physically abuses her and degrades her

because of the dominance he has over her. Jordan Baker’s description represents a different form

of femininity that destroys traditional gender roles. Jordan’s first androgyny is first depicted by

her name; Jordan is a gender neutral name. She is an independent woman that is not married and

has her own wealth which differs from the normal dependent female; she is labeled as a

mysterious girl for being different. Nick describes her as a “small breasted girl” who “throws her

body backwards at the shoulder like a young cadet”, he portrays Jordan to have masculine

physical characteristics and gestures because of her underdeveloped physique and masculine

gestures (11). Jordan is also famously known for her cheating scandal where “she had moved her

ball” during a golf tournament (57). Her dishonesty contradicts the traditional views of women

being pure and innocent and her passion for golf can be seen as Jordan being competitive.

Furthermore, F. Scott Fitzgerald characterizes the women in the novel to be objectified by the

men surrounded by them.