(ویژه سومین کنفرانس چند زبانه‌های ایران )

 Abstract

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel set in the Jazz Age on Long Island by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel depicts interactions between the first-person narrator, Nick Carraway, and his mysterious millionaire neighbor, Jay Gatsby, and his obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. During World War II, the Council on Booksin Wartime sent free copies to American soldiers, so the novel experienced an unanticipated wave in popularity. This newfound popularity brought up critical literary reexamination. The work soon became a part of most American high school curricula and, as a result, a part of American popular culture. Multiple adaptations, on stage and screen, followed in the succeeding decades. The novel’s treatment of social class, old money versus new money, gender, race, and its cynical attitude towards the American Dream is now a matter of discussion. The old money does not allow the new money to present itself due to its fear of change. Although Gatsby is now a wealthy man who throws many parties, he is not considered equal to Thomas Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, a millionaire who lives in East Egg. Even Gatsby feels shame when it comes to the history of his family, who was not actually from the bourgeoisie. Furthermore, the patriarchal system restrains women’s behavior in society and puts them in the second position after men to follow what men ask them to do. The female characters are not able to make decisions for themselves. So the researcher uses The Great Gatsby, patriarchal theory, and Marxist feminist perspective to investigate the influence of gender and social status on women’s position in a patriarchal
society.

Introduction

Through the portrayal of the characters in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald captures the society of America in the 1920s. The characters are observed through the lens of the Marxist feminist perspective, in which the female characters’ inferiority can be easily understood. Sylvia Walby, in Theorizing Patriarchy, states, “Patriarchy is a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress, and exploit women.” Although women already got their right to vote in the 1920s, they were still bound by the patriarchal system. They are more of a commodity for men to be possessed, as Daisy is for her husband and Gatsby. According to Mary Becher in patriarchy and inequality: in the patriarchal society, class and gender also have roles in how society treats men and women. Even proletariat men are treated differently than those of the bourgeoisie. It can be seen even in the region they live, West Egg for new money and East Egg for old money. It says that even a man like Jay Gatsby, who is now a wealthy man, cannot be considered equal to Tom, a hyper-masculine, aggressive, and super-rich man who comes from generations of familial wealth. Moreover, the failure of the American dream can also be seen in the story. So a Marxist feminist analysis will fit the purpose of the study.

Review of literature

 

A. Review of Related Studies

The researcher decided to analyze The Great Gatsby from a Marxist feminist perspective to find how social and gender in a patriarchal society influence the woman character in the novel. The primary task was to discuss the complex relations between gender and the economy.

A thesis entitled The influence of class and gender upon the patriarchal society innFitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby: A Marxist feminist perspective written by Tan Milcha Francine describes how materialism identifies people by their properties. In The Great Gatsby, people are divided into two groups ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. In this thesis, Francine also explains why Daisy gets married to Tom Buchanan. The only reason Daisy accepted this marriage was nothing but money (2018, p. 7). It also clarifies how the main characters in the novel want to be accepted in upper-class society. But this fact illustrates that even if a man from the proletarian becomes a fabulously wealthy person, he is still considered a member of new money. Fitzgerald portrays this issue through the division between East Egg and West Egg for the nouveau riche and the old money.

Francine’s thesis and this research have discussed materialism through the influence of social class status and gender on women’s position in society. Furthermore, this research also focuses on the way patriarchal society treats a woman in The Great Gatsby.

Besides, Francine states that women from the upper class do not have a good relationship with proletariat women. The proletariat women are treated badly by the upper class. It is seen through Tom’s bad behavior toward Myrtle, his mistress, who comes from the working class. She also cannot get along with people from the upper class. Tom sees her as an object to be possessed and used. (2018, p. 9)

B. Review of Related Theories

 Theory of patriarchy

Patriarchal society gives men a biological privilege. Society sees them as protective, strong, and powerful, whereas women are in the second position because they are said to be emotional and thought to be weak. Although the law says men and women must have the same rights, a patriarchal society makes men superior to women. The inborn inferiority of women is what a patriarchal society stands on. Society labels women as ‘good girls’ and ‘bad girls’.

Those who follow the patriarchal framework are assumed ‘good girls’ while those women who dare to think and act differently and break the norms are ‘bad girls’. (Tyson, 2006, Pp. 89-91) The researcher applies the patriarchal theory to analyze how patriarchal society oppresses the female characters in The Great Gatsby. Men are the ones who make decisions for the women, so the female character is not free to do what they want to do.

Theory of Marxist feminist

 

Marxism, as an umbrella term, is applied to analyze the characters, the division of social class, the class conflicts, and the alienation between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat for which the economy is responsible. According to Abrams, a Marxist critic typically tries to explain literature as a “product” of the economic and ideological determinants specific to that era.

Marxist theory is a response to capitalism. It intends to explain conflicts in society between the upper class and the working class within a capitalistic society dominated by the bourgeoisie, in which instability in economic conditions increases while the rich get richer. This division makes the proletariat suffer. It is because the bourgeoisie does not let the working class have their full right. Marxist theory aids the readers in understanding how social and economic status form people’s identities. The woman from the proletariat has to work to make money, while it is different for women belonging to the upper class.

They can do what they want within the patriarchal framework. Marxist feminism theory concentrates more on gender differentiation. It believes that when a man, whether from the bourgeoisie or the proletariat, gets married to a woman, takes over the household. As a result, women are under the control of the man. She does not have the right to fight men. Marxist feminist utilizes class analysis to describe woman’s oppression in the patriarchal society.

Methodology

This chapter consists of the objects of the study, the approach of the study, and the method of the study.

A. Objects of study

The object of the study was Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. It was first published
in 1925 and sold poorly, while the critics’ views were positive. In 1988, after Fitzgerald’s death, it was voted to be the 20th century’s best American novel. The
book consisted of nine chapters and significant characters were Jay Gatsby, Tome
Buchanan, Nick Carraway, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker. The narrator tells a story about a man from the lower class of society named Jay Gatsby. He could not accept that he would live and die in poverty, so he ran from his house to reach his dream. He joined the army, and that was the beginning of the love story between him and Daisy. However, their social status was not the same.

Daisy married a prosperous man named Tom Buchanan while Gatsby was struggling to get a better life. His husband was disloyal. He has a mistress named Mrs. Wilson.

Gatsby became wealthy through illegal business and bought a luxury house in the West Egg, across from the place where Daisy lived. This novel is a good representation of the American dream and America’s capitalistic society in the 1920s.

B. Approach of the study

The researcher applied Marxist feminist theory belonged to the Marxist approach,
which was influenced by Karl Marx. So, the Marxist approach was used, with which the class status in society could be analyzed.

According to Marx, society was divided into two class statuses; the bourgeoisie and the proletariats. The former were the upper class, and the latter were the working

class of society or labor.
Therefore, the researcher used a mixture of the Marxist and Feminist approaches

to analyze how gender and social class affect women in a patriarchal society.
The Marxist feminist approach will involve an emphasis on the relations between capitalism and the oppression of women (Barrett, 1986, p.9).

C. Methods of the study

The paper entitled The Influence of Class and Gender on the Capitalist Patriarchal
Society in Fitzgerald’s’ The Great Gatsby: A Marxist Feminist Perspective utilized the library method to do the analysis.

First of all, the researcher tried to understand the story by reading the novel and the book related to it. As the second step, the researcher investigated some books related to the Marxist feminist approach, and patriarchal theory.

Third, the researcher read all the theories and tried to understand them before applying any of them to the story.

Fourth, every issue was answered by the appropriate theory. The last step was to draw the analysis out of the applied theories.

Analysis

The plot of The Great Gatsby describes how the patriarchal system takes part in society and shows it through the characters’ behavior. It says that how people in the patriarchal society treat a person is influenced by gender and social class status. The men see the women as a place to release their desire, and the women cannot refuse it. Women are objects to men as Daisy is to her husband and former lover. They fight to possess, which portrays their object-oriented point of view toward women.

That is, patriarchy treats women, whatever their role, like objects; like objects women exist, according to patriarchy, to be used without consideration of their own perspectives, feelings, or opinions. After all, from a patriarchal standpoint, women’s perspectives, feelings, and opinions don’t count unless they conform to those of patriarchy (Tyson 2006, p. 91).

Daisy reveals herself as a cynical woman when she talks to Nick. She sees her environment as something that can be controlled by money. Once more, the patriarchal values towards women can be seen in Daisy’s words about her baby:

“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” (pp. 23-24)

As Daisy says, beauty is the power of a woman; therefore, she wishes her daughter to be beautiful to have a convenient life. Daisy has everything in her life. But she never gets faithful love from his husband. Although she knows about her husband’s disloyalty, she pretends not to know anything. Her unwilling marriage to a man from the upper class indicates that women are supposed to act within the framework men have set for them.

Tom Buchanan is a racist person and he is not afraid to show it.

‘Well, it’s a fine book. Ad everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don’t look out white race will be – will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proves.’(p. 19)

Thomas does not think twice about acting violently. He confidently hurts whoever makes him angry, including his mistress Mrs. Myrtle Wilson. Tom tries to force Myrtle to obey him because he believes his gender and money permit him to do anything he wants.

By contrast, Jordan Baker is an independent woman who relies on her profession as a professional golfer, not her familial wealth. She represents the flapper generation, young women known for their energetic freedom, embracing a lifestyle viewed by many at the time as outrageous, in the 1920s in America. But she is also portrayed as a careless and selfish girl like every other woman in the story who avoids contact with clever men who can know her bad behavior.

All women are looking for dreamy men to fulfill their desires. It can be seen in the secret relationship between Myrtle and Tom because he can easily prepare any luxurious thing she wants. One can conclude the inferior women’s position to men in The Great Gatsby. The men are described as powerful. They have no fear of expressing their opinions. Quite the reverse, women have to keep their words and behavior. They are not allowed to speak up. So they guarantee a life of happiness by marrying the right man. In other words, society gives men an upper hand due to their sex. It is what can be called biological essentialism. Biological essentialism shows a process in which biological influences forego cultural influences and set predetermined limitations to the effects of culture.

Essentialism is the view that certain categories (e.g., women, racial groups, dinosaurs, original Picasso artwork) have an underlying reality or true nature that one cannot observe directly (Susan A. Gelman, Ph.D.).

By looking through a Marxist lens, one can see that since Jay Gatsby was a young child, he constantly tried to obtain wealth. Gatsby believed that he must reach the highest level of the social hierarchy by constructing a new image for himself. Karl Marx wrote in his 1859 ‘Towards a Critique of Political Economy’ that what determines man’s consciousness is nothing but their social existence. In other words, what defines you is your social circumstances that’s why Jay Gatsby feels ashamed of his unsuccessful parents and tries to use his education in Oxford as a source of pride. Although he is always determined to change his economic class, Marxist ideology does not consider that as an achievement since it depicts the unfair economic distinction.

Three different social classes are depicted in The Great Gatsby: “old money” (Tom and Daisy Buchanan), “new money” (Gatsby), and a class that might be called “no money” (George and Myrtle Wilson). Even if Gatsby now possesses extravagant wealth, he is recognized as new money, which means newly earned money is seen as less elegant. The green light that Gatsby is always rooting for but fails to grasp represents the unreachable American Dream. A Marxist analysis of the text focuses on Mr. Wilson, who symbolically represents the proletariat. He is the antithesis of Jay Gatsby. George Wilson worked hard all his life but did not gain any wealth or status. It portrays the doubting opinion about The American Dream, a national ethos of the United States. It is the belief that anyone regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into can attain their version of success in a society in which upward mobility, freedom of individual, self-reliance, and self-discipline are possible for everyone through hard work, sacrifice, and risk-taking. But The Great Gatsby shows The American Dream as more of a myth through the depiction of the Wilson character.

Conclusion

In this chapter, the researcher is determined to conclude the issues stated in the previous chapters. Fitzgerald tried to depict the unfair distinction between the worker class and the upper class and between men and women through the depiction of the characters. Jay Gatsby is a loyal man to his love. He always wanted to be considered a wealthy person who possessed familial wealth. So he creates a fictitious picture of himself. Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson have some characteristics in common. They are both materialistic, careless, selfish women. What brings happiness to them is extravagant wealth.

On the other hand, Jordan Baker is somehow different from them. She is from the upper class, but she is independent. The narrator, Nick Carraway, is a good person who is not interested in judging people. On the other side, Thomas is a racist, violent man who does not feel limited to degree women whenever possible.

The second thing to consider is the patriarchal system in the story. It can be seen through the bad attitude male characters have toward the female characters. The men often try to women. In the beginning, the reader can see Tom’s bad behavior. He never hesitates to show it. Whenever someone makes him angry, he does violence against him. Gatsby and Tom have one similarity. They both want to own Daisy. Jay Gatsby tries to convince her lover, Daisy, by showing off his wealth.

On the other hand, the female characters cannot do what they want. Even the women from the upper class can only act as they are expected. Both Daisy and Myrtle are obliged to obey their husbands. While Jordan Baker is different, she chooses to be a golfer, a man’s job. That is why she can be regarded as the flapper generation.

The last thing to consider is how gender and class status influence women’s position in society. Women are the second gender after men. They are considered to be emotional, negative aspect, and weak. The women from the bourgeoisie are more respected than women who come from the working class. Jordan Baker is a bourgeoisie woman whose profession is for men. But she is not considered a ‘bad girl’ because of her class status.

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby shows that bourgeoisie women have more opportunities to express themselves than preliterate women who ought to accept their inferiority. It is also a good portrayal of a capitalistic society in which everybody is defined by their properties and drawn by patriarchal values.

 BY: Atousa Mirzapour Kouhdasht

References

Abrams, M.H. (1999). A Glossary of Literary Terms (7th ed). Boston: Earl McPeek.
Francine, Tan Milcha. (2018). The Influence of Class and gender Upon The Patriarchal
Society in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby: A Marxist Feminist Perspective
Becker, Mary. (2015). Women’s Oppression Today: Problems in Marxist Analysis
(Fifth printing). London: Villiers Publication Ltd.
Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. (1922). The Great Gatsby. London: Penguin Books
Walby, Sylvia. (1990). Theorizing Patriarchy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd.
Tyson, Lois. (2006). Critical Theory Today (2th ed). New York: Routledge.