Feminist and Lesbian Criticism in The Great Gatsby
No novel gives goose bumps to readers without the sparkle of a powerful woman. In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jordan, Daisy and Myrtle make up the scenario of the feminine force in a world ruled by men. While Daisy and Myrtle are feminine, delicate and live in the constant longing for unconditional love, Jordan is the representation of the modern, feminist woman. Jordan enjoys living life carelessly and does not find it necessary to have a man by her side, she has a masculine appearance and personal characteristics that are commonly found in men, such as dishonesty.
According to Lois Tyson, the author of Critical Theory Today, "feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature (...) reinforces or undermines the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson 83). In The Great Gatsby, while Fitzgerald represents several weaknesses of women through Daisy and Myrtle, he makes Jordan the illustration of Tyson's feminist theory.
Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, defines Jordan as "incurably dishonest" (Fitzgerald 64). Some of the events of the novel that demonstrate Jordan's dishonesty are the "incident" that occurs at her first golf tournament, the fact that she keeps information hidden from Daisy, Tom, Nick and Gatsby, even when she is trying to help them, and the fact that she uses bribery and coercion to fix erroneous attitudes, which are characteristics usually associated with men. The first impression Nick has about Jordan is of a woman who endures anything but being at a disadvantage, which is due to rumors he heard that "at her first big golf tournament (...) she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round" (Fitzgerald 63). After that, "Nick catches her lying about having left a borrowed car out in the rain with its top