Madden 1

Austin Madden

Mr.Smith

E block

January 12, 2012

Gender Roles in The Great Gatsby

Gender roles appear prominently throughout The Great Gatsby. These Gender Roles are

especially shown in the characters Daisy and Tom. The Gender Roles in the Great Gatsby are

very traditional, with the man running the relationship while the woman stays in and takes care

of the house and the kids. Women are expected to basically bow down and let their husbands

completely control them. In The Great Gatsby, there are very obvious gender roles, which is not

suprising given that the book does take place in the 1920’s. Throughout the book, Fitzgeralds

point of view on said gender roles is clear. He enjoys the idea of women breaking these gender

roles and he does not like the fact that men were considered superior. Said Gender Roles are seen

most in Daisy and Tom.

The Great Gatsby is a reflection of how women were treated in 1920’s America. The 1920’s

were weeblyperceived as a time of progress for women, they branched out of the roles they were

expected to take. Although it seemed like this, women were still very mistreated; this is

displayed in the characters Daisy and Myrtle. A specific example of women breaking free of

these roles are Flappers. Flappers blatantly disregarded the norms established for women in the

1900’s. In an informative article by Claire Sauro she explains,” In the years following World War

I, the word was increasingly used to describe a fashionably dressed, impulsive young woman and

by the 1920s, it was used to describe "modern" young women who broke traditional rules of both

appearance and behavior”(Sauro). The 1920’s being a time of women breaking free from how
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they were traditionally expected to act explains why Daisy is aware of the standards for women

being wrong and is presented as a free spirited, impulsive, independent woman. This is

demonstrated when Daisy 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 in this world, a beautiful little fool”(Fitzgerald). Daisy recognizes the fact that

although there is supposed to be “progress” toward women breaking through these gender norms,

there really hasn’t been any. Women are still unable to explore themselves and she is afraid

because her daughter is going to have to grow up not being able to do what she wants to do, wear

what she wants to wear or just live life freely. Both of these topics confirm each other because

Flappers are a perfect example of women breaking these gender norms, and it helps explain why

Daisy is different from most women in the sense of gender norms. Daisy is almost like a flapper

in a way because she has subtly broken these gender roles, but she knows her daughter will

eventually fall victim to these gender norms and she hopes she will be a “fool” and not be upset

or act out against these norms.

Another example of the very clear gender roles in The Great Gatsby is Tom Buchanan. It is

clear throughout the book how Tom expects women to behave and dress, especially his wife.

There are many instances in the book where Tom shows his need for control over his wife. One

being when he says, “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere

make love to your wife”(Fitzgerald). He wants to be the one controlling Daisy, as well as the fact

that Daisy is not permitted to have the same disloyal relationships as him. Tom clearly thinks that

his wife and all women are below him. This idea is also demonstrated when Tom hits Myrtle,”

Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand”(Fitzgerald).

Tom treats Myrtle like an object that is just there for him and his enjoyment. Tom considers him

and Myrtle’s relationship to be acceptable meanwhile Daisy and Gatsby are wrong. He has
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extreme double standards as far as what is fair for both him and Daisy to engage in.

Tom and Daisy Buchanan embody the typical gender roles of the 1920’s. Tom being the

dominant breadwinner husband and Daisy mostly being the submissive objectified wife. The

Great Gatsby does a tremendous job to show the distinct gender roles within the characters in the

1920’s aswell as why sticking to such societal norms can have a negative outcome.
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Works Cited

Skill Not Foundational Proficient Advanced

Yet
Identifies a topic Appears in first Thesis establishes a
paragraph complex claim

Thesis establishes a
topic and a claim

Thesis Comments:

Includes two or Includes evidence Includes specific,

fewer sources from scholarly and meaningful, and
informational well-chosen
Some evidence sources that connect evidence that relates
relates to the thesis to the novel and to the thesis
support the thesis

Evidence

Comments:

Summarizes sources Explains how Explains

evidence supports well-selected points
topic sentence of of comparison
individual among sources and
paragraphs evidence and their
connection to the
Analysis Explains how details thesis
in the novel are
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significant in
regards to context,
character, plot, or
theme

Comments:

Little connection Explains how the Clearly explains

between texts; texts/sources are relationships among
difficult for the related, though texts (how they
reader to see how points could be confirm or challenge
the texts are related more selective or each other, build on
better developed each other, provide
Synthesis differing
Includes multiple perspectives, etc.)
sources in each body
paragraph

Comments:

… Some elements Heading is correctly No errors in MLA

missing or some formatted format
errors in MLA format
Pages are numbered

In-text citations are

correctly formatted

Works Cited format:

hanging indent,
MLA Format double-spaced,
alphabetized, starts
on a new page

Works Cited: each

source entry is in
correct MLA format
Comments:
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… Shows evidence of Most quotes are All quotes are

basic proofreading correctly integrated correctly integrated

Follows essay Shows evidence of

Conventions organization careful proofreading

Shows evidence of
proofreading

Comments:

Austin,
Big highlight of this paper is the first body paragraph. I feel like this is where you have the most
clear understanding of what you were trying to say about the characters in the novel. You
mention how Daisy is both a free kind of woman, while still being stuck in the traditional roles.

I think where you need some improvement is solidifying what an argumentative essay needs to
do. Your thesis mentions that there are gender roles as shown by Daisy and Tom. For this to be
a thesis, you would need to state what occurs due to those gender roles. You have the ideas
present in your analysis, but don’t quite mention them early on. If you had been grounded in
this, then I think the rest of the essay would have improved as well… And I know you had the
ideas about this, from our conversations. Now we’ll just work on getting those ideas into the
writing!

Grade: C