How women are presented in “The Great Gatsby” Essay

F. Scott Fitzgerald said of The Great Gatsby that it contains no important muliebrity fibre. How argon women presented in The Great Gatsby, and how can this be compared with the launching of women in Cormac McCarthys No Country for elder manpower?Initially, it appears that the women typefaces are seen as inferior and are significant only in the relationship to masculine characters. A distorted view could be shown as both(prenominal) texts are written by manly narrators. F.Kerr said that Fitzgerald felt women are so weak, really- emotionally unstable- and their nerves, when strained, break this is a mans world. This insinuates that neither The Great Gatsby or No Country for old men contain an important effeminate character.In The Great Gatsby, Daisys life is defined entirely by her relationship with men. The line Dinner with the Tom Buchanans, enforces the ungrandness of women characters because it suggests that Daisys identity is only as Toms wife, non as an individual in h er own right, which fits with the Patriarchal society of the time. Fitzgerald uses Daisy, Jordan and myrtle as props to reveal the male characters personalities tell em all Daisys changed her mind shows Daisys main role within the novel is to be the object of Gatsbys desire. The character of Daisy also realises how little control she has over her life when she says the best thing a girl can be in the world is a elegant little muggins.This confirms Fitzgeralds statement of no important females because it simply implies women believed their roles in society werent important and had accepted the reality of living in the shadows of men. The noun fool is a person who lacks judgement which reflects Daisys life as she is dictated by Tom and was easily persuaded to marry him. It indicates that Daisy is aware of her humility as a char and corroborates Fitzgeralds statement. Furthermore, the adjective beautiful means looking pleasing at sight which was how Daisy first met her husband and t riumphed in sustaining a rich, luxurious lifestyle. Similarly, In No Country for Old Men Carla Jean lives in the shadow of her controlling, assertive husband.Although Llewelyn doesnt have money to control her, he possesses another soma of controlling factor to ensure that she feels insignificant. What? Quit hollerin. Thisenforces Llewelyns dominant behaviour because his disrespectful response indicates he shows no regard towards her point of view. The verb hollerin is extremely unequivocal and domineering, implying Carla Jean had yelled at Llewelyn, which isnt particularly reflective of her nature suggesting Llewelyn finds his wife irritating and sees her of no great importance.Fitzgerald enforces his statement of no female importance when he gives Jordan a name that isnt gender specific as it could show he believes masculinity is a key aspect to obtaining importance. The descriptions of Jordan focus on her masculine characteristics, she wore her evening dress, all her dresses, i nterchangeable sports clothes, which suggests, through the use of a simile, she has to flaunt her boyish figure in order to remain independent and not become controlled by male characters. On the other hand, the novel was set in the aftermath of World War One, a time when women started to fulfil the patronage roles of males who found themselves fighting a war. This contradicts Fitzgeralds statement like a young cadet, through use of a simile, Jordan could represent a modern ever-changing woman of the 1920s. The noun cadet means a young trainee in the police force or armed services which can stereotypically be seen as a masculine job.However, even though Jordan appears to be independent and obtains a certain level of importance, the men still seems to act apathetically towards her, thus confirming her irrelevance and insignificance. Similarly, in No Country for Old Men McCarthy displays Carla Jean being the victim of unimportance through Llewelyn and Chigurh constantly referring to her using the pronoun she instead of her name. Although, when Chigurh is committing murder he doesnt distinguish between the sexes he just kills equally, he still pays no respect to Carla Jean it doesnt cast any difference where she is, which enforces her unimportance because to Chigurh it is just another wasted bullet rather than the taking of someones life.Ryan P. Doom agrees with Fitzgeralds the women in No Country for Old Men serve no purpose other than to offer support. He believed they have little influence on the plot or the decisions made by the male characters. You aint going have to come looking for me at all. This supports Dooms statement as it shows Llewelyn becoming more concerned somewhat himself, rather than the urgency to save his wife. Therefore, the narcissistic Llewelyn helps portray woman as containingno importance because he puts himself first, irrespective of what will happen to his wife.myrtle is a character that represents the working class women of the 192 0s and is someone who isnt happy with what she has as she naively thinks Tom would leave Daisy and take her away from the vale of Ashes. Therefore, she is a character who believes in the ideals of the American Dream. Fitzgerald uses the oxymoron soft, coarse voice, to relate to her two contradictory lives as the coarse wife of Mr Wilson and the soft mistress of the upper-class Tom Buchanan. Additionally, although Myrtle believes she is Tom Buchanans mistress, she is essentially just involved in adultery and exposed to Patriarchal treatment because Tom has the power and control of the relationship and make the authoritative decisions as to when he wants to see her. When Myrtle begins to mock Daisy in front of Tom, Daisy, Daisy, Daisy, he becomes protective of his wife and let his anger overpower him by punching Myrtle.Making short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand. This proves Myrtles unimportance because Tom is indifferent to her feelings and values her w ith little significance. womens rightist critic Judith Fetterley would argue Myrtle is like the unattainable American Dream. Her objectification by Tom means she has no hope of actually achieving the Dream because the Valley of Ashes has left her with little hazard to achieve more in life, thus confirming Fitzgeralds statement of no important women characters because he gives them a despicable quality of life.On the other hand, Myrtle displays some power over her husband, his wifes man and not his own, which helps contradict Fitzgeralds statement as a higher authority and importance is being portrayed, however, her death overturns this and makes her insignificant. Similarly, in No Country for Old men, Carla Jean can be compared to Myrtle because they are both victims of lives they have no control over. Llewelyn explores female unimportance through a contemptuous tone Well I got a good feeling, so that should even out, suggesting he possesses no shame in the ignorance of his wifes viewpoint and feels no disgrace in taking control.It is evident that both Myrtle and Carla Jean are powerless to control their deaths Myrtles erotic personality followed her right until death her leftbreast swinging loosely like a flap, suggesting by the use of the simile like a flap and because the focus was on her left breast, rather than any other bole part, it was her sexuality that metaphorically killed her. The adjective loosely helps confirm Fitzgeralds statement as it could indicate how fragile and insignificant Myrtle is as a woman character. The physical mutilation or rape as some critics argue shows her insignificance and weakness.It suggests Fitzgerald felt some disdain or misogynism towards women. Similarly, in No Country for Old Men Carla Jean watches powerlessly as Chigurh flips the coin that decides her fate This is the best I can do. Call it. The inability to influence the plot implies Carla Jean delivers no significant importance because she suffers with the fate that lies in the hands of a male character, which holds the direction her life is heading. Thus implying women are unimportance because they are powerless and disposed no authority.A feminist may argue that women characters in The Great Gatsby are victims to a distorted interpretation as it contains male narrators and male protagonists. Fitzgerald himself admitted it was a mans book which possibly gives a biased representation of women in The Great Gatsby and supports the notion that it contains no importance woman characters. Arguably, Nick is an treacherous narrator as the only events brought to attention are those he has witnessed, which could suggest hes portraying a subjective view on the female characters. Also, his opinion of Jordan as incurably dishonest implies distain towards her and a disregard of her viewpoint.On the other hand, in No Country for Old Men Sheriff Bell perhaps gives a more faithful representation of female characters because he shows respect her wife Lo retta Bell shes probably right. She generally is, suggesting his admiration shows he gives women the realization they deserve. Arguably, when the book goes into third person, traditional Western cowboy attitudes are exposed as women have very minor roles and barely any time to advance up an important image. This could lead to a distorted view of women as they are not treated fairly and not given equal opportunity to gain the recognition and importance the male characters achieve.Overall, the impression is given that women serve less importance than men in both novels and are less influential towards the direction the plots take. Some parts within The Great Gatsby contradict Fitzgeralds statement because it contains characters such as Jordan who help portray a modern, independent woman which allows her to obtain a certain amount of importance. However, in No Country for Old Men the plot is largely based around Llewelyn and Chigurh who are both very narcissistic which leaves little opportunity for characters such as Carla Jean to express any importance as she isnt even valued by her husband. On the whole, it could be argued Fitzgeralds statement is acceptable because both novels are very male dominant.