Social Class in ‘The Great Gatsby’: Women’s Reverberations in the Jazz Age

Contrasts and Confluences: The Intertwined Fates of Gatsby's Women and Their Social Ladder

The three female characters came from different social groups. Daisy and Jordan both came from the highest social class: old money, the socialites, which highly contrasts the more grounded lifestyle that Daisy’s cousin, Nick, lived. Myrtle, however, belonged to the working social class and was unhappily wed to George Wilson, a spiritless man who owned the gas station in the Valley of Ashes, a place that symbolizes moral decay, located between West Egg and New York.

It was evident from the novel that all three women were unfaithful, whether it was to their spouses or their friends.

Daisy’s and Myrtle’s unfaithfulness was the affair they had with Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, respectively, while Jordan Baker’s unfaithfulness was a bit different; she was unfaithful to her friend, Daisy by keeping Tom’s and Myrtle’s affair under the blanket. Because Tom Buchanan, Daisy, and Myrtle had found themselves indirectly entangled in each other’s life, and even though they had very different characteristics and origins of social class, they later turned out to be very much similar. Furthermore, it was also made clear that Gatsby would always be an outsider to the Buchanan family because no matter how rich Gatsby is, he would always be in the category of West Egger and would never fit into the East Egger society standards.

Society and Class in 'The Great Gatsby: Women's Struggles and Stereotypes in the Jazz Age

The Roaring Twenties, or the Jazz Age, was an accurate period of social changes mostly noticeable in the area of women’s rights. Before this era, women were often recognized as sex symbols and were treated merely as objects. It was expected from women to be beautiful in the hope of marrying into a rich family, which is exactly what Daisy did and what she hoped her child to do. Jordan, however, defied the expectation set and was described as a brave, proud, and masculine woman, the ideal idea of flapper women in the 1920s. The main female characters: Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle, were written in such ways to display the stereotypes that people had of women back then. Daisy, though actually not a fool, was the stigma of foolish women from the upper class whose views and ideals were molded by society’s expectations. She burned down her hopes and dreams to dedicate her life to household duties in exchange for luxury and social status.

She was also the representation of the amoral values that the East Eggers seemed to have and was the embodiment of women transitioning toward empowerment. Similarly, Myrtle and Daisy are both unhappy in their relationship, but Myrtle, coming from a lower social class, is a materialistic opportunist, willing to do anything to climb into the higher social class. Because of her burning desire, she got involved in an affair with Tom Buchanan in exchange for materialistic gifts as a way out of poverty. To Tom, Myrtle was merely a sex object kept on a leash of luxurious bestowments, and Myrtle was foolish enough to think that Tom actually loved her and that he would leave Daisy for her. On the other hand, Jordan was the symbolization of a revolutionary, self-sufficient woman who was arrogant, unemotional, and irresponsible. Her character challenged the idea of a ‘damsel in distress,’ which was very popular and common in 1920.

References:

1. Fitzgerald, F. S. (1925). The Great Gatsby. Scribner.
2. Bruccoli, M. J. (2000). F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: A Literary Reference. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers.
3. Churchwell, S. (2013). Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of The Great Gatsby. Penguin UK.
4. Latham, A. E., & Patell, C. R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to The Great Gatsby. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5. Tyson, L. (2006). Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge.
6. Milford, N. (2013). Zelda: A Biography. New York: Harper & Row.
7. Fass, P. S. (1977). The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s. Oxford

Did you like this example?

382

16