The Great Gatsby very firmly establishes
that there are specific classes and many people’s lives depend on these social
standings. Daisy is a wife who often sits around and waits for her husband to
come home. From a text-to-world view, having more money and being in the upper
class has always been a problem, slaves and servants have often wanted to
rebel. There have been many laws passed saying that everyone deserves equal
opportunity so taxes are raised so that everyone has Medicare. This has become
controversial and being able to throw a lavish party exemplifies the opportunities
that people with more money have. Daisy does not have much power in her
relationship with her husband and this shows that the standard of men having
more power is very dominant. In the past there has been much controversy of the
equality of all people, until the 19th Amendment was passed. In 1920
a woman’s life mostly consisted of doing whatever their husband told them to;
they were often not let out of the house unless the husband approved it. Many
societies today still treat women that way and expect them to just deal with
it. Daisy and Myrtle are great examples of waiting to be told what to do by
either their husband or their lover even though the 19th Amendment
had been recently passed; the men still had the idea that they had full control
over their women. Though Daisy seemed to be able to do what she wanted, she had
to deal with many years of her husband cheating on her while she had never even
kissed Gatsby and her husband threw a tantrum. The classes and roles of women
have evolved and changed over the years, but in this book these ideas create
the setting and tone of New York during this time.
The concept of women's lifestyles of the 20th century is heavily played on in Fiztgerald's writing. You are correct in saying that both Daisy and Myrtle are not quite free to do as they wish, for if they were, both of them would most likely have gotten divorces from their husbands. As the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920, true equality for women had not spread yet. Also, Fitzgerald's writing span was from his first novel in 1920 up until he died in 1940. Those would be the years of trasitioning for womens rights. Some of his own personal bias is probably interjected into his writings. To me it seems that he shows Daisy and Myrtle as women of the past age that are dependent upon men and he uses Jordan Baker to identify with a new generation of independent women. When descibing Nick's first encounter with both Daisy and Jordan he states that Jordan is "the younger of the two" (8), leading us to realize she is from a slightly different time frame--one that is most likely more open to women's rights.
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