treating girls like a commodity for female

The Great Gatsby

As N. Scott Fitzgerald said in the lifetime, “‘Women are so poor, really – emotionally volatile – and the nerves, when strained, break… this is a man’s world. All sensible women conform to the male’s lead'”(Kerr 406). He illustrates this thought through the surface area level some weakness of his female heroes in The Superb Gatsby. For example , when Daisy describes the birth of her daughter, she expounds women inferior position: “‘All proper, ‘ I said, ‘I’m glad 2 weeks . girl. And I hope she will be a trick – option best thing a girl can be nowadays, a beautiful tiny fool'”(Fitzgerald 17). Although the females reflect this kind of surface-level “foolishness”, The Great Gatsby provides a number of examples in which women enable themselves inspite of their inferior status. Even though Fitzgerald may well have looked at women as being a weaker love-making, several females in the novel demonstrate an underlying power through their human relationships. Though they are not able to accomplish the same amounts of success while men inside the society, by simply attaching themselves to a appropriate mate, females are able to reveal in the accomplishment of the guys. In the patriarchal, greed-driven culture of The Great Gatsby, the feminine characters are commodified by men, yet, as illustrated through Daisy and Myrtle, by receiving this inferior position, the ladies are able to adjust the emotions of men and employ their sexuality in order to get financial protection and cultural acceptance.

Even though Daisy is disadvantaged because of her sexuality, she looks for a economically and socially stable romance in order to be happy. Before entering into marriage with Tom, Daisy was in a relationship with Gatsby, but, even at this stage of life, Fitzgerald illustrates Daisy’s matter for stableness. Gatsby deceives Daisy into believing that he is the financially stable gentleman she is needing: “He may have despised himself, for he previously certainly taken her underneath false pretenses. I no longer mean that he had traded on his phantom hundreds of thousands, but he had deliberately provided Daisy a sense of security, he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself – that having been fully capable to take care of her” (Fitzgerald 149). Daisy recognizes she is limited in contemporary society due to her gender, and so she attempts out human relationships in which the man is providing stability: “Jay Gatsby pursues Daisy knowing that her sense of happiness and the good your life depends on money and property” (Callahan 380-381). Daisy’s sentimentality is insignificant compared to the economical security she is able to obtain through a romantic relationship, so Gatsby realizes he or she must obtain the money and sociable standing Daisy desires. Even though Daisy are at a disadvantage, the lady uses her sexuality to find security for the future. She makes love to Gatsby because she believes he can provide her with a protected future, however, as your woman learns, he is not as established as he shows himself to become, so the moment Gatsby leaves for battle, Daisy carries on her look for stability.

Daisy finds the security she needs with Ben Buchanan. As Daisy seems vulnerable as a single female with an unsure long term, she pursues a different romantic relationship with a gentleman who has cultural and monetary stability: “Daisy’s pursuit of joy in the form of her dangerous, rebellious love to get Gatsby surrenders to the palpability of a safe, material, bumpy propertied union with Mary Buchanan” (Callahan 382). Since discussed in the previous paragraph, Daisy understands that love is not really the most important part of a relationship, instead, because illustrated through her marital life with Tom, Daisy is willing to acknowledge her second-rate position in order to obtain monetary security: “[Tom’s] family were enormously prosperous – even in school his flexibility with money was a matter of reproach – but now he’d left Chicago, il and arrive East within a fashion that rather got your breathing away… It had been hard to understand that a guy in my very own generation was wealthy enough to do that” (Fitzgerald 6). Unlike Gatsby, who robbed Daisy in to believing he could offer security, Jeff is able to present Daisy while using luxuries the lady desires, and, most importantly, with a superior cultural and monetary standing she could not get hold of alone. By simply allowing herself to be commodified, Daisy will be able to succeed through her partner.

Although Daisy is objectified within her relationships, when Gatsby earnings to her your life, she is presented the power to choose her fortune. Since Gatsby has obtained money and an upstanding social status, Daisy is definitely overwhelmed by decision the girl with presented with. In fact , when she visits Gatsby’s house, the girl becomes superficially emotional due to the wealth and security the girl sees: “Suddenly, with a stretched sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. ‘They’re such gorgeous shirts, ‘ she sobbed, her voice muffled inside the thick folds. ‘It makes me unhappy because We have never seen such – such amazing shirts before'” (Fitzgerald 92), yet, on a deeper level, Daisy perceives the stability the lady may have with a several man. Though she has experienced security in her matrimony to Ben, Daisy knows she has the energy to choose between two established guys. She keeps having an inferior sociable position, yet she is in a position to exploit the insecurities from the “secure” guys through all their emotions. For example , after the girl visits Gatsby’s house, Gatsby believes, “‘She didn’t just like it'” (Fitzgerald 109). Even though Gatsby provides confidence and suaveness by his previous parties, Daisy causes him to issue his talents as a web host. Both Jeff and Gatsby experience psychological insecurities as a result of Daisy. Even though the men be competitive over her as if she is a prize, Daisy takes advantage of her powerful position and sees a chance to be involved in an emotionally connected relationship with Gatsby, but, she recognizes she must have proof of his financial balance before making a decision. Although Fitzgerald believed women were “emotionally unstable, inches he shows Daisy like a woman whom considers her options before you make a decision. Daisy’s choice is decided for her the moment Tom uncovers the truth behind Gatsby’s riches. Again, Daisy understands that her inferior position makes her vulnerable, and, in order to obtain security, the girl remains with Tom: “she once again selects the conventional, life protection of Tom Buchanan” (Callahan 382). Although Ben does not provide an emotional interconnection, he is the reason behind Daisy’s cultural and economical stability, and so Daisy welcomes her commodified position so as to have a protected future.

Similarly, Myrtle uses her libido as a tool to help her find interpersonal and economic success through men, yet, she will not receive the same amount leveraging against the guys since her husband is poor. Instead, Myrtle enables herself to get objectified by Tom in order to receive luxurious items and live a “rich” lifestyle. For example , Chip describes Jeff and Myrtle’s apartment in New York, plus the reader has the capacity to compare the extravagance in the apartment towards the bleakness of Wilson’s garage. Unlike Daisy, who allows her poor position in order to empower very little, Myrtle efforts to antagonize Tom by utilizing Daisy’s name at the party. In response, Jeff breaks Myrtle’s nose. This is perceived as a great emotionally shaky outburst simply by Myrtle mainly because she fails to accept her inferior placement. On the other hand, the argument may also be interpreted as a manipulation simply by Myrtle to be able to test how much power she’s capable of obtaining. Just like Daisy, Myrtle is able to assault the emotional instabilities of men, which can be apparent from Tom’s sudden lack of self-control. Even though Myrtle is playing a damaged nose, the lady illustrates her ability to adjust Tom and use him for his financial security from her commodified position.

Myrtle has a strong effect over her husband, exactly like the influence Daisy has above Gatsby. Once Tom brings into Wilson’s garage to get gas, he learns that Pat intends to make money in order to take his wife aside and generate her content. Like Gatsby, Wilson understands he demands money in in an attempt to create balance and security for his better half. By providing her with the procedures she wants, he is convinced he can quit her infidelities. Myrtle does not trust the talents of her husband, though, instead, she wishes to flee with Mary because he offers financial steadiness and can give her using a successful upcoming. She understands her substandard position, and to achieve her goals, she makes threats and uses her sexuality to manipulate the emotions of both men. After discovering that Pat intends on leaving with Myrtle towards the West, Chip comments on Tom’s emotional state: “There is no confusion like the misunderstandings of a straightforward mind, as we went away Ben was sense the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until one hour ago protected and inviolate, were moving precipitately via his control” (Fitzgerald 125). Although Myrtle is remedied as property, she is good in exploit and disrupting the emotional stability of her hubby and Tom. By doing this, this wounderful woman has motivated her husband to be financially secure in order to make her happy and demonstrated to Tom that she is not just a convenient object for his use.

Even though share inferior roles inside the society, Daisy and Myrtle both enable themselves by manipulating the emotional instability of guys. Furthermore, by simply accepting their particular commodified functions, they are able to work with their sexuality in order to attain financial and social stableness. Fitzgerald may well have assumed that women were “emotionally unstable” and that they need to conform to the patriarchal contemporary society, but throughout the Great Gatsby, he shows the actual power of girls over guys. James M. Mellard explains these women as the “focal points” in each love triangular (854). This is certainly an important statement because the girls – even though treated while commodities by the men – demand the most attention due to their sexuality and ability to manipulate the feelings of the male characters. By accepting their inferior positions, Daisy and Myrtle (although she drops dead in the end) are able to gain financial and social stableness throughout the novel, illustrating that women can be effective in a patriarchal society.

Works Reported

Callahan, John Farreneheit. “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Changing American Dreams and the “Pursuit of Happiness” in Gatsby, Tender is definitely the Night, as well as the Last Tycoon. ” 20th Century Literary works 42. three or more (1996): 374-395.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1925.

Kerr, Frances. “Feeling ‘Half Feminine’: Modernism and the Governmental policies of Feeling in The Great Gatsby. ” American Literary works 68. 2 (1996): 405-431.

Mellard, Adam M. “Counterpoint as Strategy in The Great Gatsby. ” The English Journal fifty five. 7 (1966): 853-859.