Fitzgerald’s presentation of female characters
Uploaded by pnatari on Dec 06, 2002
In Chapter One, Daisy recalls the birth of her daughter.
She says; “I’m glad it’s a girl, and I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be – a beautiful little fool.”
- Consider Fitzgerald’s presentation of female characters in the novel; make reference to society at the time.
Scott Fitzgerald, born in 1896 in Minnesota, wrote the Great Gatsby in the 1920’s and is considered one of his most successful novels. Fitzgerald typically presents the female characters as uneducated, hypocritical and bitter.
Daisy Buchanen is the central female character in ‘The Great Gatsby’. She is an increasingly difficult woman to understand, in that; she has made herself deeply unhappy in continuing her marriage to her husband Tom Buchanen. However, her social status is far more important to her than fidelity, and she refuses to give up her lavish lifestyle and break away from Tom, even though he has had countless affairs with other women.
“I thought everybody knew.”
This shows that even though Daisy knows about the current affair at least, she is not willing to leave Tom, simply because in continuing her marriage, she is able to maintain the status that being attached to the Buchanen name gives her, this indicates that she is able to accept infidelity because her security is very important to her.
In the nineteen-twenties feminism became steadily more prominent, with women emphasising their rights to everything and anything. Daisy seems to reflect a certain aspect of this, which becomes distinctive when Jordan, Nick, Tom and Daisy are in the garden together.
“The telephone rang inside, startingly as Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom the subject of stables, in fact all subjects vanished into thin air.”
This shows that Daisy has a grasp on Tom, since she knows about the affair that he is having. This means that she sustains some level of a moral high ground, and can therefore make certain decisions. This extract also portrays Daisy as quite a powerful woman for the same reason.
When Daisy recalls the birth of her daughter, she is emotionally at a very low point. She realises that Tom doesn’t love her, but stays with her because she is everything that he believes a wife should be.
“That’s the best thing a girl can be in this World, a beautiful little fool.”
This extract shows that Daisy is no fool, she recognises that Tom doesn’t love her, and consequently...