THE INFLUENCE OF CLASS AND GENDER UPON THE …

THE INFLUENCE OF CLASS AND GENDER UPON THE

PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY IN

FITZGERALD'S THE GREAT GATSBY:

A MARXIST FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

TAN MILCHA FRANCINE

Student Number: 144214001

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2018

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ii

THE INFLUENCE OF CLASS AND GENDER UPON THE

PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY IN

FITZGERALD'S THE GREAT GATSBY:

A MARXIST FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

TAN MILCHA FRANCINE

Student Number: 144214001

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2018






vii


viii

For

My Beloved Parents,

My Beloved Foster Parents,

And

The Future Me


ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to God for everything that

happened in my life. Because of His guidance and blessing, I was able to go

through my problems and finish this thesis.

Second, I’d also like to extend my gratitude to my thesis advisor, A. B. Sri

Mulyani, Ph.D. who patiently helps me to do this thesis. I cannot finish this

undergraduate thesis without her suggestions and guidance. I also would like to

thank my co-advisor Dra. Theresia Enny Anggraini, Ph.D. for the help and

suggestion for my thesis.

Last, I would like to thank my parents and my foster parents who never

stop to pray and support me. Amel, Dina and Lucia, thank you for accompanying

me since our freshman year in college. I also want to say thank you to Nelly, who

always accompanies and works together with me. Mbak Lia, thank you for your

help and advice on this thesis. My childhood friend, Maria, thank you for your

support. You really inspire me to be a better person. I can do nothing, except to

say thank you for all the help.

Tan Milcha Francine


x

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ........................................................................................................ ii

APPROVAL PAGE ............................................................................................. iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ........................................................................................ iv

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ..................................................................... v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN KARYA ILMIAH ........................ vi

MOTTO PAGE ................................................................................................... vii

DEDICATION PAGE ........................................................................................ viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... x

ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... xii

ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................ xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study ................................................................................ 1

B. Problem Formulation......................................................................................4

C. Objective of Study..........................................................................................5

D. Definition of Term..........................................................................................5

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE.....................................................7

A. Review of Related Studies .............................................................................. 7

B. Review of Related Theories...........................................................................9

1. Theory of Character and Characterization................................................9

2. Theory of Patriarchy...............................................................................13

3. Theory of Marxist Feminist....................................................................14

C. Review of Related Background....................................................................16

D. Theoretical Framework.................................................................................18

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 20

A. Object of the Study ....................................................................................... 20

B. Approach of the Study..................................................................................21

C. Method of the Study.....................................................................................22

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ................................................................................ 24

A. The Descriptions of the Characteristics in The Great Gatsby’s Characters . 24

1. Jay Gatsby...............................................................................................25

2. Nick Carraway........................................................................................27

3. Daisy Buchanan......................................................................................29

4. Tom Buchanan........................................................................................31

5. Jordan Baker...........................................................................................33

6. Myrtle Wilson.........................................................................................35

B. Patriarchal Society in The Great Gatsby......................................................37


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C. The Influence of Gender and Social Class on Women’s Position in the

Patriarchal Society........................................................................................42

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ........................................................................... 47

REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 50

APPENDICES ...................................................................................................... 52

A. The Summary of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby ......................................... 52

B. Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald .................................................................. 53


xii

ABSTRACT

FRANCINE, TAN MILCHA. (2018) The Influence of Class and Gender upon

the Patriarchal Society in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: A Marxist Feminist

Perspective. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters,

Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Patriarchal system curbs the behavior of the women in society. It places the

women in the second position after the men. Women have to follow the men’s

decision. This thesis analyzes how patriarchal society treats the women in

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. In the novel, people treat each other based on the

social class status and also the gender. The female characters cannot make the

decision for themselves. They have to follow what the men ask them to do.

In the first problem, the researcher describes the characteristics of the main

characters and other selected characters in the novel. The second problem is to

describe the patriarchal society in the novel. The last problem is to analyze the

influence of gender and social status on women’s position in the patriarchal

society. To analyze the last problem, the researcher uses a Marxist feminist

perspective.

Library research method is used to analyze the object of the study in this

thesis. There are primary and secondary sources used to answer the problems. The

primary source is Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The secondary source is thesis,

journals, dissertation, articles and also the books related to the character and

characterization theory, patriarchal theory and Marxist feminist theory. The

researcher also uses some book and journals which related to the Marxist feminist

perspective and object of the study.

The characteristics of the main characters and other selected characters are

described in the analysis. They are Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan,

Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker and Myrtle Wilson. They have their own

characteristics which portray the patriarchal society in the novel. Their

characteristics represent their behavior in society. It also shows how they treat

other people in the patriarchal society. Through the description of the main

characters' characteristics, it can be seen that social class and gender influence the

women’s position in the patriarchal society. Daisy cannot defeat her husband even

though both of them belong to the upper-class society. She cannot choose Gatsby

because her husband is richer than Gatsby. On the other hand, Tom treats people

who come from the proletariat class badly. He is not reluctant to do violence to

the proletariat class, including women. From the analysis, it can be concluded that

women cannot defeat the men’s position in the patriarchal society. The social

class status does not really help the women to defend their voice in the society. It

is because the men always in the first place of the society.


xiii

ABSTRAK

FRANCINE, TAN MILCHA. (2018) The Influence of Class and Gender upon

the Patriarchal Society in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: A Marxist Feminist

Perspective. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra,

Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Sistem patriarki membatasi perilaku wanita di masyarakat. Sistem tersebut

menempatkan wanita di posisi kedua setelah pria. Wanita harus menuruti

keputusan yang telah ditentukan oleh pria. Skripsi ini menganalisa bagaimana

sistem patriarki memperlakukan wanita pada sebuah novel dari Fitzgerald yang

berjudul The Great Gatsby. Di novel tersebut, orang-orang memperlakukan

sesama berdasarkan pada status kelas sosial dan juga jenis kelamin. Karakter

wanita dalam novel tidak dapat membuat keputusan untuk diri mereka sendiri dan

mereka harus mengikuti hal-hal yang diperintahkan oleh pria.

Skripsi ini mempunyai tiga rumusan masalah. Masalah pertama untuk

mendeskripsikan sifat karakter utama dan karakter pendukung pada novel.

Masalah kedua untuk menggambarkan sistem patriarki yang ada pada novel.

Masalah terakhir untuk menganalisis pengaruh jenis kelamin dan status sosial

pada kedudukan wanita di masyarakat patriarki. Masalah terakhir dianalisa

menggunakan sudut pandang marxist feminist.

Objek studi pada skripsi ini dianalisis menggunakan metode studi pustaka.

Ada data utama dan data pendukung yang digunakan untuk menjawab rumusan

masalah. Data utama berupa sebuah novel dari Fitzgerald yang berjudul The Great

Gatsby. Data pendukung yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini berupa skripsi, jurnal,

disertasi, artikel dan juga berbagai buku yang berkaitan dengan teori karakter dan

karakterisasi, teori patriarki dan teori Marxis feminis. Peneliti juga menggunakan

beberapa buku yang berkaitan dengan pendekatan Marxis feminis dan juga objek

studi.

Sifat dari para tokoh utama dan beberapa tokoh pendukung diceritakan di

analisis. Tokoh tersebut adalah Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan,

Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker and Myrtle Wilson. Tokoh tersebut mempunyai

sifat tersendiri yang menggambarkan keadaan masyarakat patriarki dalam novel.

Sifat tokoh-tokoh tersebut mencerminkan tingkah laku mereka di masayarakat.

Selain itu, sifat tokoh-tokoh tersebut juga menunjukkan bagaimana mereka

berinteraksi dengan orang lain di masyarakat patriarki. Dari penggambaran sifat

karakter-karakter tersebut, pengaruh jenis kelamin dan kelas sosial pada wanita di

masyarakat patriarki dapat terlihat. Daisy tidak dapat melawan suaminya

meskipun mereka berdua berasal dari kelas yang sama. Dia tidak bisa memilih

Gatsby karena suaminya lebih kaya dari pada Gatsby. Disisi lain, Tom

memperlakukan orang yang tidak berasal dari kelas sosial yang sama dengan

buruk. Tom bahkan tidak segan untuk melakukan kekerasan pada mereka tanpa

membedakan pria maupun wanita. Dari analisis tersebut, dapat disimpulkan

bahwa wanita tidak dapat mengalahkan kedudukan pria dalam masyarakat

patriarki. Bagi wanita, status kelas sosial tidak dapat banyak membantu mereka

untuk mempertahankan pendapat di masyarakat karena pendapat dan keputusan

pria selalu menjadi yang utama.


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Fiction consists of novel and short story. Both of them have intrinsic and

extrinsic elements which become a part of the story. People are using fiction to

express not only their ideas but also imaginations. In addition, people show their

critiques of particular events through fiction as well. M. H. Abrams states that

prose can create a report about what is happening around a human’s life as the

citation below shows:

Most modern critics of prose fiction, whatever their persuasion, make an

important distinction between the fictional scenes, persons, events, and dialogue

that a narrator reports or describes and the narrator's own assertions about the

world, about human life, or about the human situation; the central, or controlling,

generalizations of the latter sort are said to be the theme or thesis of a work (1999,

p. 95).

Fiction cannot dissociate from the character element. The role of the

character is important to develop the plot of a fiction. According to Childs &

Fowler (2006), the character represents a person and has its own characteristic.

The character as a part of fiction can undergo the change in the individuality and

self-determination (p. 23). The character also decides whether the novel has a

good ending or not. Moreover, the character can build readers’ emotion when they

read a fiction.

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby portrays the societal condition in the 1920’s

in America. This novel is interesting to discuss because Fitzgerald gives a clear


2

description of the 1920’s era by depicting of the characters in the novel. The

characters in the novel represent people in that era. The characters are observed

more specifically with Marxist feminist perspective. It is because this theory is

relevant to be applied so that the female characters’ inferiority, especially in

relation to class and gender in the novel, can be easily understood.

Although the women in the 1920’s already getting their rights to vote and

become freer than the last generation, they still bounded by the patriarchal system

in the society. Sylvia Walby in Theorizing Patriarchy states, “patriarchy as a

system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and

exploit women” (1990, p. 20). This fact eventually constructs the position of

women in the patriarchal society is under the men’s power. Women cannot do

everything they want. Their life is limited because men have more privileges than

women in every aspect of life.

According to Mary Becker in Patriarchy and Inequality: Towards a

Substantive Feminism says that patriarchal society is influenced by ethnicity, race,

class, sex and many others. In the patriarchal society, class and gender also have a

role in how society treats men and women. The men from the proletariat class are

treated differently by society. This also prevails among women who do not belong

to the bourgeois class. However, it can be seen clearly in how the patriarchal

society treats women. They are placed in the second position in the patriarchal

society (2015, p. 24).

In addition to the previous point, the role of class and gender in the

patriarchal society can be seen in the Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The novel


3

tells about how society discerns someone not only from his or her attitude, but

also by the wealth and social class. Gender also becomes an important part of the

story’s plot. In the novel, the wealth and social background of a person are

important things. People from the proletariat class are treated differently by

society. The bourgeois people consider the proletariat class as people who do not

bring many advantages for them. Most people, especially the women from the

bourgeois class do not want to have any special relationship with people from the

proletariat class. The bourgeoisies tend to show off their wealth in order to attract

the attention from society and also to keep their reputation in the society. The

women are also obsessed with wealth and extravagant life.

Therefore, one of the main characters of the novel, Jay Gatsby, who comes

from a proletariat family does not want to accept the fact that he does not belong

to the upper-class society. He runs away from his house to have a better life. He is

willing to do everything to be rich and get his woman, Daisy, back. Daisy meets

again with Gatsby after he has already become a successful man. Daisy agrees to

be together with Gatsby because she does not know who Gatsby really is. After

Daisy’s husband reveals Gatsby’s background, she refuses to be with Gatsby.

Gatsby's past becomes one of the reasons why Daisy refuses to come back with

him. For Daisy, the background of a person and family name are more important

than love.

The characteristic of Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters, shows that

people cannot hide their past, although they undergo a change in their life. In this

case, Jay Gatsby, who used to come from the proletariat class cannot really


4

change his bad attitude and behavior. It makes the society does not fully respect

him as a man who belongs to the bourgeois class. The people in the society

respect him for his wealth and power, not as a person. Through the characteristics

of the main characters and other selected characters, the way of how people treat

one another in the society can be seen clearly. The characteristics of the main

characters also show that they cannot get along with the proletariat class.

Moreover, the plot of the story in The Great Gatsby describes how the

patriarchal system takes part in the society. The novel describes the patriarchal

system in the society through the behavior of the characters and the way the

characters communicate with each other. The way the characters act in the society

can be seen through the characteristics of the main characters and other selected

characters in the novel. How people in the patriarchal society treat a person is

influenced by the gender as well as the social class status. The men see the women

who come from the different class status as their sexual object and the place to

release their desire. The women cannot refuse it. Instead, they see the men in a

different way. The bourgeois women see the proletariat men as people who can

harm their reputation in the society.

B. Problem Formulation

To limit the discussion, the researcher finds three research questions.

1. What are the characteristics of the main characters and other selected

characters described in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby?

2. How is the patriarchal society described in The Great Gatsby?


5

3. How do gender and social class in patriarchal society influence the women’s

position in The Great Gatsby?

C. Objectives of the Study

For the first objective, the researcher observes the characters in Fitzgerald’s

The Great Gatsby. The characters in the novel undergo some changes in their life

which influence their characteristics.

The second objective, the researcher wants to define the patriarchal society

in The Great Gatsby. Patriarchal society makes the women in the second position

after the men. The female characters in the novel do not have much freedom to

voice their opinion. They cannot really do their activities without any

interruptions of the men.

The last objective, the researcher describes how gender and women’s class

status influence the position of women characters in The Great Gatsby. In the

novel, women are degraded by the men. The form of degradation is not only

understood through the conversation between the characters, but also through the

way the author narrates the behavior of the female characters.

D. Definition of Terms

The researcher uses three terms to make this research easy to understand.

The first term is the patriarchal society. Patriarchal society is the society which

is ruled by the men.

Patriarchal (ruled by the father)—that is, it is male-centered and controlled,

and is organized and conducted in such a way as to subordinate women to

men in all cultural domains: familial, religious, political, economic, social,

legal, and artistic. (Abrams, 1999, p. 89).


6

Patriarchal society has made the men in the first place in every aspect of

life. Men are considered as the decision maker and the leader.

The second term is the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie is the people who

come from the upper class of society and have the labor. The bourgeoisie has

more right to do everything in the society.

The reigning ideology incorporates the interests of the dominant and

exploitative class, the "bourgeoisie," who are the owners of the means of

production and distribution, as opposed to the "proletariat," or wage-earning

working class. (Abrams, 1999, p. 148).

The last term is the proletariat. M.H. Abrams stated in A Glossary of

Literary Terms that proletariat is the opposite of the bourgeoisie. Proletariat is

a group of people who belong to the lower class. Most of the people in this class

are the laborers who work with the bourgeois class.


7

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

To analyze how social class and gender in patriarchal society influence the

women characters in The Great Gatsby, the researcher decides to apply Marxist

feminist perspective. “Marxist feminism’s primary task was to open up the

complex relations between gender and the economy” (Selden et al, 2005, p. 125).

The researcher finds thesis and dissertation, which apply The Great Gatsby as the

object of the study. A journal which discusses the Marxist feminist theory is also

used in this thesis.

A thesis entitled Materialism in Novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott

Fitzgerald written by Nurul Naila Azmi describes how materialism changes

people’s decision and life. In her thesis, Azmi explains that materialism can affect

a human’s sense. As a mother, Daisy actually has to take care of her child, but

Daisy does not do that. She asks someone to take care of her child. In the thesis,

Azmi also explains Daisy’s reason to get married to Tom Buchanan. There is no

love for Daisy’s marriage. Daisy accepts the marriage because of Tom’s wealth

(2009, p. 27).

Azmi's thesis and this research have a similarity in the discussion of the

materialism on The Great Gatsby's female characters. The materialism in this

thesis explained through the influence of social class status and gender on


8

women’s position in society. Besides that, this thesis does not only focus on the

materialistic but also the way patriarchal society treats the women in the story.

The researcher also finds a dissertation, which written by Sebastian Fälth

entitled Social Class and Status in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The

dissertation discusses how the social class differentiates the society. The main

characters in The Great Gatsby want to be accepted in the upper-class society.

Gatsby, as one of the main characters, is willing to do everything to hide his true

identity. Fälth also states that people who belong to the upper class really pay

attention to their reputation in the society and do not want to accept the impacts.

They do not want something bad to ruin their name and also the social status in

the society (2013, p. 19).

The dissertation above and this research discuss the influence of social class

in society. Although this research has the same problem as the dissertation above,

this research analyzes not only the influence social class status but also gender

upon women's position in the society. Marxist feminist theory is used to explain

the influence of social class status and the position of women in society.

Beside an undergraduate thesis and a dissertation, the researcher finds a

journal which is written by Jinee Lokaneeta entitled Alexandra Kollontai and

Marxist Feminism. The journal and this research use Marxist feminist theory. The

researcher wants to analyze the relation of gender and social class in Fitzgerald’s

novel. The gender here is about how patriarchal society treats the women.

Although Kollontai stated that the struggle for women's rights had to be

waged both inside the party and outside it, it was the latter that had been

theorized and directed against the bourgeois women's movement. Kollontai

explained at great length the class nature of the bourgeois women's


9

movement and its, limitation in taking up issues of working-class women

(Lokaneeta, p. 3).

From the quotation above, it can be seen that the bourgeois women do not

have a good relationship with women who come from the working class. The

upper-class people do not hesitate to treat proletariat women badly. It also

happens with the Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Tom’s mistress who comes from

the working class cannot get along with people from the upper class. Tom does

not have any feeling to his mistress and he just uses her to satisfy himself.

The journal is relevant to this thesis. It is because the researcher wants to

limit her analysis of gender and social status in the patriarchal society. On the

other hand, what makes this study different from the journal is that this research

focuses only on the relation of male and female characters from different social

class status in The Great Gatsby.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

Characters have the most important role in the fiction world. The characters

in fiction consist of human, animal and any other things. They can talk and do

everything like what humans can do. Characters of a fiction also have emotion

which can connect to the readers who read the story so that the story looks real.

Characters are the life of literature: they are the objects of our curiosity and

fascination, affection and dislike, admiration and condemnation. Indeed, so

intense is our relationship with literary characters that they often cease to be

simply ‘objects’. Through the power of identification, through sympathy

and antipathy, they can become part of how we conceive ourselves, a part of

who we are (Bennett & Royle, 2004, p. 61).


10

The characters consist of flat and round characters. Flat characters do not

have any dominant traits which become the symbol of the characters. It also can

be said that flat characters do not undergo the changes in their characteristic (Arp

& Johnson, 2009, p. 163). Flat characters usually do not have a detailed

description of their characteristics. They often used to develop the plot story in

fiction.

To be more specific, the flat character has a special character which is the

stock character. The stock character is the character that can be found easily by

the readers. It has a stable characteristic although it always can be found in every

chapter of the novel. Some of the stock characters cannot be forgotten by the

readers because of its characteristic.

In contrast with the flat character, James McConkey in The Novels of E.M.

Forster states that round characters are more complex and have many sides. The

characteristics of the round characters are not stable as it always changes. The

round characters are able to surprise the readers through their behavior in the story

(1957, p. 16). In other words, the author gives a detailed explanation about the

way the characters feel and what the characters are doing. The main characters in

a novel are usually round characters. Both on the flat and round characters give

the readers a different emotion when they read the novel. The fictional characters

are categorized into static and dynamic characters. The static character does not

experience the change from the beginning of the story until the end. It is different

from the dynamic character. The dynamic character undergoes the change along

with the story.


11

The plot story of the novel is transferred to the reader through the

characterization of the characters in a novel. Characterization describes the

thought, characteristic and behavior of the characters in a fiction. Chris Baldick in

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms states the writer uses direct

method and indirect method to present the characterization of the characters, as

shown in the citation below:

The representation of persons in *NARRATIVE and dramatic works. This

may include direct methods like the attribution of qualities in description or

commentary, and indirect (or 'dramatic') methods inviting readers to infer

qualities from characters' actions, speech, or appearance (2001, p. 37).

Direct method tells the characteristics of the characters through the plot of

the story with the help of other characters. According to Thomas R. Arp & Greg

Johnson in Perrine’s Literature Structure, Sound and Sense (10th ed), “the direct

method usually has little emotional impact unless it is bolstered by the indirect. It

will give us only the explanation of a character, not the impression of a living,

breathing human being” (2009, p. 163). The direct method does not give much

emotion to the readers because it is just an explanation about the characters. It

does not really involve the readers in the characters because the characteristic of

the characters is not showing, but it is described by the author.

For the example of the direct method is the characteristics of Jay Gatsby.

The author uses Nick Carraway to characterize Gatsby as the citation below

shows:

“I’m Gatsby,” he said suddenly.

“What!” I exclaimed. “Oh, I beg your pardon.”

“I thought you knew, old sport. I’m afraid I’m not a very good host.”

He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one

of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may


12

come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the

whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an

irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you

wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in

yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at

your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely at that point it vanished — and I

was looking at an elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty,

whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. Some time

before he introduced himself I’d got a strong impression that he was picking

his words with care (pp. 52-53).

The quotation above shows Gatsby’s characteristic as a friendly person. He

does not hesitate to welcome Nick Carraway in a friendly manner.

In contrast with direct method, the indirect method is not directly telling the

readers about what the characters are like. The readers have to find out what do

the characters want, think or feel. Florman states, “In indirect characterization,

rather than explicitly describe a character’s qualities, an author shows the

character as he or she moves through the world, allowing the reader to infer the

character’s qualities from his or her behavior” (2018, para. 8). Tom Buchanan is

the example of the character that used the indirect method to describe his

characteristics as the citation below shows:

“Civilization’s going to pieces,” broke out Tom violently. “I’ve gotten to be

a terrible pessimist about things. Have you read ‘The Rise of the Colored

Empires’ by this man Goddard?”

“Why, no,” I answered, rather surprised by his tone.

“Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we

don’t look out the white race will be — will be utterly submerged. It’s all

scientific stuff; it’s been proved.”

“Tom’s getting very profound,” said Daisy, with an expression of

unthoughtful sadness. “He reads deep books with long words in them. What

was that word we ——”

“Well, these books are all scientific,” insisted Tom, glancing at her

impatiently. “This fellow has worked out the whole thing. It’s up to us, who

are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of

things.”


13

“We’ve got to beat them down,” whispered Daisy, winking ferociously

toward the fervent sun.

“You ought to live in California —” began Miss Baker, but Tom interrupted

her by shifting heavily in his chair.

“This idea is that we’re Nordics. I am, and you are, and you are, and ——”

After an infinitesimal hesitation he included Daisy with a slight nod, and she

winked at me again. “— And we’ve produced all the things that go to make

civilization — oh, science and art, and all that. Do you see?” (pp. 15-16).’

From the quotation above, the author shows one of Tom Buchanan's

characteristics as a racist man through the conversation between Buchanan and

Nick Carraway. Here, the readers are not only able to feel the characters’ feeling

but also imagine the characters’ action.

2. Theory of Patriarchy

Patriarchal society sees the men as strong, protective, and decisive. The

women are in the second position after the men because they are considered as

weak and emotional. The class status does not really help the position of woman

in the society.

Being dispersed among men, women have no separate history, no natural

solidarity; nor have they combined as other oppressed groups have. Woman

is riveted into a lop-sided relationship with man: he is the ‘One’, she the

‘Other’. Man’s dominance has secured an ideological climate of

compliance: ‘legislators, priests, philosophers, writers and scientists have

striven to show that the subordinate position of woman is willed in heaven

and advantageous on earth’ (Selden et al, 2005, p. 120).

Although the law states that women and men have the same right, but it

does not really happen in reality. Patriarchal society makes men have more

privileges than women. The men are a leader in every aspect of life and the

women have to follow the men’s decision.

Patriarchy is thus, by definition, sexist, which means it promotes the belief

that women are innately inferior to men. This belief in the inborn inferiority

of women is a form of what is called biological essentialism because it is


14

based on biological differences between the sexes that are considered part of

our unchanging essence as men and women (Tyson, 2006, p. 85).

According to Lois Tyson in Critical Theory Today states that the patriarchal

society differs the women as ‘good girls’ and ‘bad girls’. If the women accept and

follow the norms in the patriarchal society, they are considered as ‘good girls’.

The women who break the norms in the society are considered as ‘bad girls’. The

patriarchal society does care with the role of the women in society and still, sees

women as an object without consider their feeling and opinion (2006, pp. 89 –

91).

In analyzing how patriarchal society oppresses the women in The Great

Gatsby, the theory of patriarchy is applied by the researcher. The female

characters in the novel still cannot do everything they want to do. It is because the

men who take decision for the women. Rosemarie Tong in Feminist Thought says

that patriarchal society determines the standard job for men and women. The

women have to do jobs related to the feminine personality such as nursing,

teaching, childcare, etc. They are not permitted to do the masculine job. This kind

of standard in society aggrieved the women because they cannot have a job which

not related to the feminine personality (2009, pp. 33 – 34).

3. Theory of Marxist Feminist

Marxism is applied to analyze the characters and the division of the social

class in the society. As an umbrella term, Marxism focuses on the relation

between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Marxism is applied to analyze the

class conflicts, the alienation between individuals, the bourgeoisie and the

proletariat. The economy condition at that time causes the alienation between the


15

bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie has more power than the

proletariat who becomes the labor for the bourgeoisie’s industry.

A marxist critic typically undertakes to explain the literature in any

historical era, not as works created in accordance with timeless artistic

criteria, but as "products" of the economic and ideological determinants

specific to that era. What some marxist critics themselves decry as "vulgar

Marxism" analyzes a "bourgeois" literary work as in direct correlation with

the present stage of the class struggle and demands that such works be

replaced by a "social realism" that will represent the true reality and

progressive forces of our time; in practice, this has usually turned out to be

the demand that literature conform to an official party line (Abrams, 1999,

p. 149).

Marxist theory appears because of the capitalism in the society. In this

society, capitalism makes the increase of proletariat workers as well as the

instability in economic condition. The proletariat has to struggle to get a better

life. Marxist theory sees the proletariat’s struggle to get the equality in the society

which is dominated by the bourgeoisie. The differentiation of the social status

between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat makes the proletariat suffer. It is

because the bourgeoisie makes the proletariat suffer by not giving the proletariat

their full right. Marxist theory helps the readers to understand how social class

status and economy status affect the way people treat each other in the society.

Marxist creates classes in the society which alienate the relation between the

working-class with the upper class also with the way the working-class lives their

life. The women from the working-class have to work to get money for their

family. They cannot stay at home and taking care of children. It is different from

women who belong to the upper-class. They still can do what they want although

there are some limitations made up by the patriarchal society.


16

First, workers are alienated from the product of their labor. Second, workers

are alienated from themselves because when work is experienced as

something unpleasant to be gotten through as quickly as possible, it is

deadening. Third, workers are alienated from other human beings because

the structure of the capitalist economy encourages and even forces workers

to see each other as competitors for jobs and promotions (Tong, 2009, p.

101).

On the other hand, Marxist feminist theory focuses more on the gender

differentiation in the working-class. This theory does not separate the social class

with the personal identity of a person as shown in the citation below:

Marxist feminists have attacked the "classist" values of the prevailing

capitalist society of the West as the world also gradually becomes "

globalized." Marxist feminists do not separate "personal" identity from class

identity, and they direct attention to the often nameless underpinnings of

cultural productions, including the conditions of production of texts, such as

the economics of the publishing industry (Guerin et al, 2005, p. 234).

Marxist feminism thinks that when a proletariat man or a bourgeois man get

married to a woman, the men take over the household. The woman is in the man’s

power and she does not have rights to fight the man. Marxist feminist uses class

analysis to explain women’s oppression in the patriarchal society.

C. Review of Related Background

The thesis of The Influence of Class and Gender upon the Patriarchal

Society in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: A Marxist Feminist Perspective gives a

brief explanation about the background which related to the novel. This related

background used to understand the societal condition in The Great Gatsby. The

researcher uses the historical background to portray the situation in The Great

Gatsby.


17

The Great Gatsby is written in the jazz age era. The jazz age era also knows

as the roaring twenties in America.

In 1920’s America – known as the Jazz Age, the Golden Twenties or the

Roaring Twenties – everybody seemed to have money. The nightmare that

was the Wall Street Crash of October 1929, was inconceivable right up until

it happened. The 1920’s saw a break with the traditional set-up in America

(Trueman, 2015, para. 1).

Jazz age starts with the end of World War I and ends in 1929. It also

becomes the birth of jazz music in America. The jazz age is the term used by

Fitzgerald to describe the flamboyant where the political, social and economic

condition in America start changing.

According to Carlisle (2009), the prosperity brought by the end of the Great

War and the Industrial Revolution meant that the wealthy could be very wealthy

without relying on the accumulated splendor of “family money,” and the lavish

lifestyles held the public fascination. The appearance and the lifestyle of the

young woman, especially those from late teenage years to 30, who engaged in a

score of scandalous activities and flouted the conventions of the previous

generations start to change. They change their hair into bobbed hair and make

themselves look boyish. They do smoke in public. These young women are

known as flappers (pp. 5 – 6).

Although the women already get their right to vote and able to have a job

like the men, the patriarchy system still does not agree with their new lifestyle.

The 1920s marked an increasing movement of women into the workplace,

and particularly of educated women into the professions. Although they still

faced opposition from conservatives who believed women should focus on

the domestic sphere, they faced fewer formal barriers than women of the

Progressive Era. However, there were still plenty of informal barriers that

made it difficult to break into any of the major career fields. In particular,


18

male gatekeepers who controlled hiring and admission to professional

schools often dismissed women’s career aspirations and passed them over in

favor of men (Carlisle, 2009, pp. 15-17).

After World War I, people from the older generation or the conservatives

wants the women to stay at home and take care of the family. These conservatives

also want the flappers to change their new lifestyle back to their old lifestyle.

Despite the increasing freedom in this era, there is a regulation which

regulates the beverages sale. The regulation is about the percentage of the alcohol

which can be traded in the society. Even though there is a regulation about alcohol

sale, some people still do the trade without caring about the regulation.

From then on, it was illegal to sell any “intoxication beverages” with more

than 0.5% alcohol. This drove the liquor trade underground–now, people

simply went to nominally illegal speakeasies instead of ordinary bars–where

it was controlled by bootleggers, racketeers and other organized-crime

figures such as Chicago gangster Al Capone. (Capone reportedly had 1,000

gunmen and half of Chicago’s police force on his payroll.) (History.com

Staff, 2010, para. 6).

D. Theoretical Framework

There are three theories applied to analyze Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

Those theories are theory of character and characterization, feminist theory, and

Marxist feminist theory. Each problem formulation uses different theory to solve.

To answer the first problem, the researcher uses the theory of character and

characterization. That theory is used to analyze the characteristic of the main

characters and other selected characters in the novel. The researcher analyzes the

way the characters communicate with each other and the way the characters think

about something.


19

Theory of patriarchy is applied to answer the second problem. It is because

the theory explains the patriarchal system in society. Theory of patriarchy also

gives an explanation about women’s position and the way the society treats

women in patriarchal society in the 1920’s era.

To answer the last problem, the researcher is applied Marxist feminist

theory to analyze and explain about the gender and also class status in the society.

Since the analysis focuses more on the women, the researcher applies patriarchy

theory to analyze the influence of gender in the patriarchal society. The Marxist

feminist theory is applied to analyze the class status of men and women in the

patriarchal society.

This research attempts to analyze the differentiation of social class in the

society through Marxist Feminist theory. The differentiation can be seen from the

way bourgeoisies treat the proletariat people, particularly the women. People from

the upper-class often mistreat the proletariat because of their social status.


20

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methodology used in this research that consists of object

of the study, approach of the study and method of the study.

A. Object of the Study

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was the object of this study. This novel was

similar to the life story of the author, Francis Scott Fitzgerald. It was first

published in 1925 and sold poorly. After Fitzgerald’death, the Modern Library

editorial board voted it the 20th century’s best American novel and second best

English-language novel in 1988. The novel consisted of nine chapters and

considered to be a great American novel. The important characters in the novel

were Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Fay, Jordan Baker and

Myrtle Wilson.

The Great Gatsby told a story about a man named Jay Gatsby who came

from the lower-class society. Gatsby could not accept that fact, he ran from his

house to get a better life. He also joined the army and it became the beginning of

his feeling for Daisy. Both of Daisy and Gatsby were in love, but their social

status did not let them be together.

When Gatsby was struggling to get a better life, Daisy married a rich man,

Tom Buchanan. She refused the marriage at first, but in the end, she became

Tom’s wife. Tom was not a loyal man. Although he married Daisy, he also had a

mistress named Myrtle.


21

After Gatsby had become a rich man and had everything, he started to get

close to Daisy. It started from the moment Gatsby bought a luxury house across

the place where Daisy lived. This novel represented the American dream where

money became the most important thing.

B. Approach of the Study

In analyzing Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the researcher applied Marxist

feminist theory which influenced by Karl Marx and Frederic Engels. Marxist

feminist theory belonged to the Marxist approach. Marxist approach itself focused

on the social economy in the society.

Marx and Engels explained in the Communist Manifesto that a constant

factor in all of recorded history is that social development takes place

through the class struggle. Under capitalism this has been greatly simplified

with the polarization of society into two great antagonistic classes, the

bourgeoisie and the proletariat (Woods, 2013, para. 53).

Marxist approach was used to analyze the class status in the society.

According to Karl Marx, society was divided into bourgeois and proletariat. The

bourgeoisies were people who came from the upper class and the proletariats were

the people who came from the labor class.

Furthermore, the researcher mingled Marxist and Feminist approaches to

analyze how social class and gender influence the women in patriarchal society.

Marxist feminist approach will involve an emphasis on the relations

between capitalism and the oppression of women. It will require an

awareness of the specific oppression of women in capitalist relations of

production, but this must be seen in the light of gender divisions which

preceded the transition to capitalism and which, as far as we can tell, a

socialist revolution would not of itself abolish (Barrett, 1986, p. 9).


22

The researcher also wanted to know what kind of women’s oppression in

The Great Gatsby. According to Tong in Feminist Thought, women’s oppression

was related to their workplace. Women were often considered not having a good

skill like what the men had. Some of the women also got a low salary in their

workplace (2009, p. 119).

C. Method of the Study

The thesis entitled The Influence of Class and Gender upon the Patriarchal

Society in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: A Marxist Feminist Perspective used

some methods to do the analysis. The library research method was used by the

researcher to answer the problem formulation.

First, the researcher read not only the novel but also the book which related

to the novel and tried to understand the story.

Second, the researcher searched for some books which were related to

Marxist feminist approach, patriarchal theory, Marxist feminist theory and theory

of character and characterization.

Third, the researcher read all the theories and also the approach to

understand them before applied it to the analysis. Theory of character and

characterization was applied to the first problem. The patriarchal theory was

applied to the second problem. Marxist feminist theory was applied to the last

problem.

Fourth, every problem formulation was answered with the specified theory.

The researcher also tried to look for some additional information related to the


23

theories and approach on the internet. The last step was to find the analysis of the

gathered data.


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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter discusses the answer of three research questions in the first chapter.

First, the researcher describes the characteristics of the characters in The Great

Gatsby. Second, the researcher discusses about the patriarchal society in The

Great Gatsby. The last, the researcher observes how class and gender influence

the position of women in the patriarchal society.

A. The Descriptions of the Characteristics in The Great Gatsby’s

Characters

Characteristics of the characters in a fiction are described through the

author’s characterization. There are two ways used by the author to present the

characterization of the characters. They are indirect method and direct method.

The first is direct method. In this method, the writer describes the

characteristics of the characters in the analysis in a form of narration. The author

shows the characterization by describing what the characters like or dislike. Other

characters are also used by the writer in order to give the explanation about the

characterization of the selected character (Arp & Johnson, 2009, pp. 162 - 163).

The second is indirect method. In indirect method, the author presents the

characteristic of the characters by their actions. The readers have to find out by

themselves to know what the characters want and what the characters think or


25

feel. It is different from the direct presentation because the readers are involved in

the story (Florman, 2018, para. 8).

To answer the first question in the problem formulation, the researcher

describes the characteristics of the characters in The Great Gatsby. The researcher

only chooses some characters who have the important role in the story. Those

characters are Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Nick Carraway,

Jordan Baker and Myrtle Wilson.

1. Jay Gatsby

Jay Gatsby is one of the main characters in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby does

not really reveal his characteristic. Instead, Fitzgerald uses other characters to

reveal Gatsby’s characterization to the readers.

Gatsby is a round character in the novel. From the beginning until the end of

the story, he undergoes the change in his life. The author shows Gatsby

characteristic as the passive person at the beginning, but he changes when he

meets Daisy. He becomes a man who is able to fight for his love. The author

mostly uses the direct method to reveal the characterization of Jay Gatsby. It is

because his characteristic is shown by the way other characters describe his

personality.

At the beginning of the novel, Gatsby is described as a mysterious man. It is

because no one knows about him and his background. People only know Gatsby

as a person who likes to arrange a big party and a very rich man. The party which

is held by Gatsby makes people curious though they seem not too care about him.

It is different from Nick Carraway. One day, he gets an invitation from Gatsby to


26

attend his party. Nick is eager to meet Gatsby in person because of it. He really

wants to know who Gatsby is.

He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one

of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you may

come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the

whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an

irresistible prejudice in your favor (p. 54).

The quotation above shows the first impression of Nick when he meets

Gatsby at the party. Gatsby is welcoming him in a friendly manner. Nick is

impressed with the way Gatsby speaks towards him.

In addition, Gatsby is a big dreamer. He wants to be a rich man. He runs off

his house to achieve his dream to be a rich man.

James Gatz — that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed

it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the

beginning of his career — when he saw Dan Cody’s yacht drop anchor over

the most insidious flat on Lake Superior (p. 104).

After Gatsby runs off, he creates the new identity and hides away his family

background. He also changes his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby. He lives

his life as the new Gatsby.

The fact that he comes from the poor farmer family does not stop his dream

to become a successful man. He tries to do everything to make his dream comes

true.

His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people — his imagination

had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay

Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of

himself (p. 105).

Gatsby cannot accept the fact about his poor family. This makes him do

every kind of job to be a rich man and he does not really care with the law.


27

Gatsby is willing to do everything to get his love back although he has to be

a liar. He tells a lie about his wealth. He covers his lies by creating stories about

his wealth and also his background.

‘I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West — all dead now. I

was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my

ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition’

(p. 71).

Now, Gatsby has become a very rich man. It makes people always wonder

where his wealth comes from. So, he creates stories about it to make people stop

wondering about his wealth.

Gatsby is a loyal man to his lover. His love for Daisy has never changed. He

does not care about the fact that Daisy already has a husband and a daughter.

After Gatsby becomes rich, he tries hard to get Daisy back. He even reveals his

love for Daisy in front of her husband.

‘I want to know what Mr. Gatsby has to tell me.’

‘Your wife doesn’t love you,” said Gatsby. ‘She’s never loved you. She

loves me.’

‘You must be crazy!’ exclaimed Tom automatically.

Gatsby sprang to his feet, vivid with excitement.

‘She never loved you, do you hear?’ he cried. ‘She only married you

because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible

mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!’ (p. 137).

Gatsby loves Daisy so much. He is not afraid to reveal his feeling in front of

Daisy’s husband. Gatsby’s love turns into an obsession. It makes him willing to

accept all the risk to be together with the woman he loves the most.

2. Nick Carraway

Nick Carraway is the narrator of the novel. Nick is the round character in

the novel. He undergoes the changes in his characteristics from the beginning until


28

the end of the story. Fitzgerald shows the characteristic of Nick through the

indirect method. Here, the readers can understand Nick’s characteristic by

observing his actions, his thoughts and also his feeling. In chapter one of The

Great Gatsby, the readers can see that Nick Carraway considers himself as a

person who does not easily judge something.

In consequence, I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has

opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a

few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to

this quality when it appears in a normal person, and it about that in college I

was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret

griefs of wild, unknown men (p. 7).

Nick observes his surroundings first before judging something or someone.

Nick’s attitude, which is not easily judging something, makes him become a

tolerant person. He can accept everything without much complaint.

Nick is a humble person although he comes from a noble family. He moves

out from the Middle West and goes to the East. He does not depend on his

family’s wealth. When he feels that the Middle West is not like what he has

expected, he goes to the East and learns the bond business.

I enjoyed the counter-raid so thoroughly that I came back restless. Instead of

being the warm centre of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the

ragged edge of the universe — so I decided to go East and learn the bond

business. Everybody I knew was in the bond business, so I supposed it could

support one more single man. (p. 8).

Nick is a good friend of Gatsby. He is always ready to help Gatsby

whenever he has problems. He is the one who helps Gatsby getting Daisy back. “I

called up Daisy from the office next morning, and invited her to come to tea” (p.

90). He even helps to arrange a meeting for Gatsby and Daisy by inviting Daisy to

come to his house and have a tea.


29

Nick is not only a good friend but he is also the closest person to Gatsby. He

is always there for Gatsby until Gatsby has died. He also tells Gatsby’s father

about his son.

About five o’clock our procession of three cars reached the cemetery and

stopped in a thick drizzle beside the gate — first a motor hearse, horribly

black and wet, then Mr. Gatz and the minister and I in the limousine, and a

little later four or five servants and the postman from West Egg in Gatsby’s

station wagon, all wet to the skin (p. 181).

Nick tries to gather all of Gatsby’s acquaintances to attend Gatsby’s funeral

although no one comes to the funeral. He is the only Gatsby’s loyal friend who

eventually attends his funeral anyway.

3. Daisy Buchanan

Daisy Buchanan is Tom Buchanan’s wife and Gatsby’s first love. She is the

cousin of Nick Carraway and comes from a wealthy family. Daisy’s appearance is

symbolized the woman in the 1920’s era. The characteristics of Daisy is similar to

the characteristic of Fitzgerald’s wife. Daisy is a flat character in the novel. Her

characteristic does not really show the change.

Daisy’s family obliges Daisy to get married to a man who also comes from

the upper-class. Her family does not care about Daisy’s feeling and it makes her

less sympathy towards other people.

‘We don’t know each other very well, Nick,’ she said suddenly. ‘Even if we

are cousins. You didn’t come to my wedding.’

‘I wasn’t back from the war.’

‘That’s true.’ She hesitated. ‘Well, I’ve had a very bad time, Nick, and I’m

pretty cynical about everything’ (p. 20).

Daisy reveals herself as a cynical woman when she talks to Nick. She sees

her environment as something that can be controlled by money.


30

Fitzgerald shows the readers that Daisy is not a good mother to her baby

daughter. It can be seen in the conversation between her and Nick. She says that

she wants her daughter to be a beautiful little fool so her daughter can have a good

life.

‘It’ll show you how I’ve gotten to feel about — things. Well, she was less

than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether

with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a

boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and

wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘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).

Daisy wants her daughter to be like her. She has everything in her life, but

she never gets the love from her husband. She pretends not to know anything

about her husband although she knows that he is an unfaithful man. According to

Daisy, beauty is the power of a woman, so she wants her daughter to be a

beautiful girl with the good life.

Daisy is a person who cannot stand her decision. When she meets Gatsby

for the first time, she falls in love with him. Both Gatsby and Daisy love each

other without seeing their social difference. Daisy’s family asks her to marry Tom

Buchanan, the man who has the same status as Daisy’s family.

But she didn’t say another word. We gave her spirits of ammonia and put

ice on her forehead and hooked her back into her dress, and half an hour

later, when we walked out of the room, the pearls were around her neck and

the incident was over. Next day at five o’clock she married Tom Buchanan

without so much as a shiver, and started off on a three months’ trip to the

South Seas (p. 83).

Daisy refuses the marriage at first, but she cannot do anything about it. She

unwillingly gets married to a rich man and forgets her relationship with Gatsby.

She chooses the wealth over her love for Gatsby.


31

Daisy is a selfish woman. When Gatsby asks her to come back to him,

Daisy does not refuse him. She emphasizes her ego to be with her lover and

forgets her status as a married woman. One time Gatsby asks Daisy to reveal their

relationship to her husband, but Daisy refuses to do it.

‘There, Jay,’ she said — but her hand as she tried to light a cigarette was

trembling. Suddenly she threw the cigarette and the burning match on the

carpet. ‘Oh, you want too much!’ she cried to Gatsby. ‘I love you now —

isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.’ She began to sob helplessly. ‘I

did love him once — but I loved you too’ (p. 139).

Daisy tries to prevent Gatsby revealing their relationship, but he does not

listen to her. He still reveals their relationship to Tom somehow. Daisy cannot

choose between Tom and Gatsby. She loves both of them.

Daisy cannot keep her relationship with Gatsby though Gatsby wants to do

anything for her. He even covers Daisy’s name from the police. He does not tell

anyone that she hits Myrtle.

I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to

him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were

careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures

and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or

whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the

mess they had made… (p. 186).

Daisy is a coward because she also does not admit what she has done. She

let everyone blames Gatsby for her mistake. In the end, Daisy chooses her

husband who can vouch for her life.

4. Tom Buchanan

Tom Buchanan is Daisy’s husband. Fitzgerald shows Tom’s characteristic

through the indirect presentation. The readers can see Tom’s characteristic

through his action.


32

Tom comes from a very rich family. He is a racist person. He thinks that his

race is the best race and he can do everything.

‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we


scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’

…

‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing. It’s up to us, who are the

dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things’

(p. 19).

Tom considers the white race is better than other races. He is proud of being

white. It is because Tom thinks that the white race is a powerful race.

Tom is an unfaithful husband. He has an affair with a woman named Myrtle

Wilson. Myrtle Wilson is a woman who does not feel satisfied with her marriage

life. Although Tom has claimed that he loves his wife, but his actions do not

prove it. He always meets his mistress secretly.

‘Why ——‘ she said hesitantly, ‘Tom’s got some woman in New York.’

‘Got some woman?’ I repeated blankly

Miss Baker nodded

‘She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don’t you

think?’ (p. 21-22).

Tom is not only an unfaithful husband but also a harsh man. He does not

think twice to do violence. He is able to hurt whoever makes him angry. It

includes his mistress who makes Tom gets angry and loses his patience.

Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to

face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right

to mention Daisy’s name.

‘Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!’ shouted Mrs. Wilson. ‘I’ll say it whenever I want to!

Daisy! Dai ——‘

Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his

open hand (p. 43).


33

Daisy’s husband is not only a harsh man but also a sexist man. The

quotation above shows that Tom degrades his mistress by doing violence towards

her. Tom always forces Myrtle to obey him.

Tom has a tendency to put the blame on someone. He does not admit his

mistake. He thinks that he can do everything to other people just because he has

power and money.

‘I told him the truth,’ he said. ‘He came to the door while we were getting

ready to leave, and when I sent down word that we weren’t in he tried to

force his way up-stairs. He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him

who owned the car. His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute

he was in the house ——' (pp. 185-186).

To protect Daisy and his family’s name, Tom changes the fact that Daisy is

the one who kills Myrtle. He confesses to Myrtle’s husband that Gatsby is the one

who kills her.

5. Jordan Baker

Jordan Baker is Daisy’s best friend. She is not the main character in the

novel, but she has an important role in the story. The author shows her

characteristics through the indirect presentation. To know her characteristic, the

readers have to observe her.

Jordan is an independent woman. She does not rely on her family’s money.

She has her own profession as a professional golfer. Her appearance symbolizes

the flapper generation in the 1920’s.

‘Jordan’s going to play in the tournament to-morrow,’ explained Daisy,

‘over at Westchester.’

‘Oh — you’re Jordan BAKER.’

I knew now why her face was familiar — its pleasing contemptuous

expression had looked out at me from many rotogravure pictures of the

sporting life at Asheville and Hot Springs and Palm Beach (p. 25).


34

A golfer is not a common profession for a woman at that time and Jordan

chooses it as her profession. It makes her becomes a famous golfer. Nick meets

her at Daisy’s house. Nick feels like he is familiar with her face though he never

meets her before.

Jordan is a glamorous woman and likes to attend a party. She also loves

talking about people and other things related to women just like an ordinary

woman.

‘Do you come to these parties often?’ inquired Jordan of the girl beside her.

‘The last one was the one I met you at,’ answered the girl, in an alert

confident voice. She turned to her companion: “Wasn’t it for you, Lucille?

‘I like to come,’ Lucille said. ‘I never care what I do, so I always have a

good time. When I was here last I tore my gown on a chair, and he asked me

my name and address — inside of a week I got a package from Croirier’s

with a new evening gown in it.’

‘Did you keep it?’ asked Jordan (p. 49).

Jordan does not always talk with people at the party. She has a chat with

people if there is something interesting. Sometimes she just attends the party and

enjoys it without really conversing.

Jordan is an observer. She stays quiet and just observes her surroundings

sometimes. “‘Anyhow, he gives large parties,’ said Jordan, changing the subject

with an urbane distaste for the concrete. ‘And I like large parties. They’re so

intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy’” (p. 56). She likes to observe her

surrounding to get some information for herself or just for fun.

Jordan is a sly woman. She does everything to gain profit for herself. She

can be a bad woman sometimes to keep her reputation.

Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and now I saw that

this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code

would be thought impossible. She was incurably dishonest. She wasn’t able


35

to endure being at a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose

she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to

keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the

demands of her hard, jaunty body (pp. 64-65).

Sometimes Jordan also takes advantage of the people or the situation to

keep her image as a good woman. She tends to avoid smart people who are able to

know her bad behavior.

Jordan is not only a selfish but also a careless woman. She only cares about

herself and her own goodness.

‘You’re a rotten driver,’ I protested. ‘Either you ought to be more careful, or

you oughtn’t to drive at all.’

‘I am careful.’

‘No, you’re not.’

‘Well, other people are,’ she said lightly.

‘What’s that got to do with it?’

‘They’ll keep out of my way,’ she insisted. ‘It takes two to make an

accident.’ ‘Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself.’

‘I hope I never will,’ she answered. ‘I hate careless people. That’s why I like

you’ (p. 65).

People’s opinion is not important to Jordan Baker. She never pays attention

to her surrounding as well. As long as she is in good condition, she never cares

about others.

6. Myrtle Wilson

Myrtle Wilson is an unfaithful wife of George Wilson. She has a secret

relationship with Tom Buchanan who can give everything for Myrtle. She even

lies to her husband in order to meet with Tom.

‘Doesn’t her husband object?’

‘Wilson? He thinks she goes to see her sister in New York. He’s so dumb he

doesn’t know he’s alive.’

So Tom Buchanan and his girl and I went up together to New York — or

not quite together, for Mrs. Wilson sat discreetly in another car. Tom


36

deferred that much to the sensibilities of those East Eggers who might be on

the train (p. 32).

Myrtle never feels satisfied with her marriage life. It is because her husband

is a poor man. She wants someone who is able to fulfill her needs.

Myrtle never respects her husband. She even regrets her decision to get

married to her husband. It is because her husband is not like the man she has been

dreaming off.

‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,’ she said finally.

‘I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my

shoe.’

…

‘The only CRAZY I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made

a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never

even told me about it, and the man came after it one day when he was out.

‘oh, is that your suit?’ I said. ‘this is the first I ever heard about it.’ But I

gave it to him and then I lay down and cried to beat the band all afternoon’

(p. 41).

Myrtle always dreams to marry a rich man who can fulfill all her needs. She

can be easily tricked by luxurious things and good appearance. So, when her

husband wears the best suit, she thinks that he is a man who can fulfill all her

needs.

Myrtle is a materialistic woman. She adores the luxurious things which she

gets from Tom. Myrtle is also like to show off her luxurious things to the people.

The luxurious things are very important for Myrtle’s pride. She feels proud of

herself if she is able to show people her luxurious thing.

‘My dear,’ she cried, ‘I’m going to give you this dress as soon as I’m

through with it. I’ve got to get another one to-morrow. I’m going to make a

list of all the things I’ve got to get. A massage and a wave, and a collar for

the dog, and one of those cute little ash-trays where you touch a spring, and

a wreath with a black silk bow for mother’s grave that’ll last all summer. I

got to write down a list so I won’t forget all the things I got to do’ (p. 42).


37

Myrtle is a careless and selfish woman. She does not care about the people

around her, especially her husband. She always searches for ways to run away

from her husband.

A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting

— before he could move from his door the business was over.

The “death car.” as the newspapers called it, didn’t stop; it came out of the

gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment, and then disappeared

around the next bend. Mavromichaelis wasn’t even sure of its color — he

told the first policeman that it was light green. The other car, the one going

toward New York, came to rest a hundred yards beyond, and its driver

hurried back to where Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt

in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust (pp. 143-144).

The main goal of Myrtle’s life is to run away from her poor husband to get a

better life. So, when she sees a car, she just runs away from the house to stop the

car without any hesitation. It is because she presumes Tom is the one who drives

the car.

B. Patriarchal Society in The Great Gatsby

Patriarchal system in the society is something that never can be easily

erased. In the patriarchal society, women always have the second position after

the men. The men have all of the authorities to decide everything.

Patriarchy is thus, by definition, sexist, which means it promotes the belief

that women are innately inferior to men. This belief in the inborn inferiority

of women is a form of what is called biological essentialism because it is

based on biological differences between the sexes that are considered part of

our unchanging essence as men and women (Tyson, 2006, p. 85).

In The Great Gatsby, the readers can see that the position of men and

women are different. The men are described to be powerful. They are not afraid to

show their true personality. The society does not really forbid what the men want

to do.


38

‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we


scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’

‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy, with an expression of

unthoughtful sadness. ‘He reads deep books with long words in them. What

was that word we ——‘

‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glancing at her

impatiently. ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing. It’s up to us, who

are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of

things’ (p. 19).

Tom Buchanan is a racist person and he is an example of a person in the

1920’s era who does not afraid to show it. It is different from the female

characters in the novel. The women have to keep their words and behavior. The

women cannot voice out their opinion as free as the men.

The society already differs the role of men and women. The men have to be

able to get the proper job and the women have to act feminine. The women cannot

do the men’s job. If the women violate the women’s role, the society considers the

women as ‘bad girls’. According to Lois Tyson in Critical Theory Today states

that the patriarchal society differs the women as ‘good girls’ and ‘bad girls’. If the

women accept and follow the norms in the patriarchal society, they are considered

as ‘good girls’. The women who break the norms in the society are considered as

‘bad girls’ (2006, pp. 89 – 91).

Jordan Baker is the example of a woman who does not do the feminine job.

She is an independent woman. Jordan Baker is a professional golfer. She does not

care about people’s opinion about her job which is a man’s job. “For a while I lost

sight of Jordan Baker, and then in midsummer I found her again. At first I was

flattered to go places with her, because she was a golf champion, and every one

knew her name” (p. 64). The bourgeois women are free to choose what kind of job


39

they want. Jordan Baker is also the example that the bourgeois woman can do

everything she wants to do.

The men never want to be defeated by the women. It is because women are

often considered as a weak object by the men.

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 is like an object for both Tom and Gatsby. They fight over Daisy’s

love with their own ways. Tom determines to hold Daisy because of Tom’s pride.

He claims that he loves Daisy, but his actions do not show it. He has many

mistresses and Daisy knows it. She does not confront Tom because of his wealth.

‘Even that’s a lie,’ said Tom savagely. ‘She didn’t know you were alive.

Why — there’re things between Daisy and me that you’ll never know,

things that neither of us can ever forget.’

…

‘You don’t understand,’ said Gatsby, with a touch of panic. ‘You’re not

going to take care of her any more.’

‘I’m not?’ Tom opened his eyes wide and laughed. He could afford to

control himself now. ‘Why’s that?’

‘Daisy’s leaving you.’

‘Nonsense.’

‘I am, though,’ she said with a visible effort.

‘She’s not leaving me!’ Tom’s words suddenly leaned down over Gatsby.

‘Certainly not for a common swindler who’d have to steal the ring he put on

her finger’ (pp. 139-140).

Gatsby also states that he loves Daisy so much, but Daisy does not choose

him. Gatsby’s love for Daisy turns into an obsession and he wants to own Daisy.

The fact that the men have a higher position than the women, makes the

women try to keep their position in the society through the marriage. Lois Tyson

in Critical Theory Today states, “The plot thus implies that marriage to the right


40

man is a guarantee of happiness and the proper reward for a right-minded young

woman” (2006, p. 89). Some women even willing to do everything to strengthen

their place in the society and to achieve the happiness in their life.

Daisy and Myrtle are the examples of the women who depend on the men’s

power to strengthen their position in the society. Although Myrtle is married to

George Wilson, she still has a relationship with Tom Buchanan. In Myrtle’s mind,

she can divorce her husband and marry Tom someday. So, she can become a

bourgeoisie just like Tom. Daisy is the same with Myrtle. Both of them endure the

degradation from Tom Buchanan. He is not only doing violence to them but also

hurting them with his bad words.


open hand.

Then there were bloody towels upon the bath-room floor, and women’s

voices scolding, and high over the confusion a long broken wail of pain (p.

43).

Myrtle thinks that Tom’s wealth will increase her class status in the society.

She does not care with the way Tom treated her. She willingly accepts the

degradation which is done by Tom. Myrtle is okay with Tom’s behavior as long

as Tom is able to fulfill her needs.

For Daisy, she cannot choose Gatsby and divorce Tom. She sacrifices her

love because Tom comes from the bourgeois family.






South Seas (p. 83).


41

Tom Buchanan who belongs to upper-class status makes Daisy willing to

marry him. It is because Tom can strengthen her family status in the society. Tom

does not only strengthen Daisy’s position but also gives Daisy happiness with his

wealth.

Men and women are different. The men can do violence when there are

many people around him. It is because the men have much power than the

women.


open hand.

Then there were bloody towels upon the bath-room floor, and women’s

voices scolding, and high over the confusion a long broken wail of pain. Mr.

McKee awoke from his doze and started in a daze toward the door. When he

had gone half way he turned around and stared at the scene — his wife and

Catherine scolding and consoling as they stumbled here and there among the

crowded furniture with articles of aid, and the despairing figure on the

couch, bleeding fluently, and trying to spread a copy of Town Tattle over

the tapestry scenes of Versailles. Then Mr. McKee turned and continued on

out the door (pp. 43-44).

Tom is not reluctant to hurt Myrtle in front of her family just because she

tests his patience. Tom’s power makes him free to do anything. It also shows that

Tom is a violent man.

Indeed, the readers see Gatsby and Wilson’s strong love for their lover, yet

they degrade the women at the same time. Gatsby is showing off his wealth to

Daisy to make her back with him again. This action does not really show his pure

love for Daisy. Gatsby’s action shows that he wants to “buy” Daisy’s love with

his wealth.

He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us,

shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as

they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired

he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher — shirts with stripes


42

and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint

orange, and monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, with a strained sound,

Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily.

“They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick

folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such — such beautiful

shirts before” (p. 99).

Gatsby even lies to Daisy about his family background because he is afraid

of losing Daisy. It also shows that the class status is important in the society.

The male characters in the novel always take decisions without having any

discussion with their closest people. According to Lois Tyson, “traditional gender

roles cast men as rational, strong, protective, and decisive; they cast women as

emotional (irrational), weak, nurturing, and submissive” (2006, p. 85). Those

men’s nature affects their behavior. It can be shown through how the men take the

decision. They do not care about another people’s opinion.

C. The Influence of Gender and Social Class on Women’s Position in the

Patriarchal Society

The society has known that women are always in the second position since a

long time ago. It does not matter whether the women come from a wealthy family

or just from a worker class. The class status does not really help the position of

woman in the society.

Being dispersed among men, women have no separate history, no natural

solidarity; nor have they combined as other oppressed groups have. Woman

is riveted into a lop-sided relationship with man: he is the ‘One’, she the

‘Other’. Man’s dominance has secured an ideological climate of

compliance: ‘legislators, priests, philosophers, writers and scientists have

striven to show that the subordinate position of woman is willed in heaven

and advantageous on earth’ (Selden et al, 2005, p. 120).


43

People differ from working-class and upper-class in the society. Working-

class people who are usually called as proletariat are not really treated well in the

society. They have to work hard in order to fulfill their needs. It is different from

the bourgeois people. The upper-class usually can do everything and being the

leader of the society.

People from the upper-class or bourgeoisies tend to interact with people

from the same status as them, especially the bourgeois women. They can express

themselves to every person without worry.

“Mr. Gatsby!” He put out his broad, flat hand with well-concealed dislike.

“I’m glad to see you, sir… . Nick… .”

“Make us a cold drink,” cried Daisy.

As he left the room again she got up and went over to Gatsby and pulled his

face down, kissing him on the mouth.

As he left the room again she got up and went over to Gatsby and pulled his

face down, kissing him on the mouth.

“You know I love you,” she murmured.

“You forget there’s a lady present,” said Jordan.

Daisy looked around doubtfully.

“You kiss Nick too.”

“What a low, vulgar girl!” (p. 122).

Although the women from both of the social class are not able to compete

with the men, the women of the upper-class still get more respect from the men.

The quotation above shows how Daisy and Jordan can do everything they want.

They even kiss a man without care about the place around them. It also proofs that

the bourgeois women can do anything because of their social status. Meanwhile,

the proletariat women have to ask their husband’s permission even just to go out

from home.


44

Daisy’s family comes from the upper-class. She is already showered with

wealth since she was young. She always gets everything she wants yet she cannot

get her love.

“Take ’em down-stairs and give ’em back to whoever they belong to. Tell

’em all Daisy’s change’ her mine. Say: ‘Daisy’s change’ her mine!’.”

She began to cry — she cried and cried. I rushed out and found her mother’s

maid, and we locked the door and got her into a cold bath. She wouldn’t let

go of the letter. She took it into the tub with her and squeezed it up into a

wet ball, and only let me leave it in the soap-dish when she saw that it was

coming to pieces like snow.






South Seas (p. 83).

It shows that even though women from upper-class have everything, they

still cannot fight the men. Daisy is the proof that even the bourgeois women are

still always in the second position. It is because when a woman gets married to a

man, her social class will follow the man’s social class. Moreover, if the man who

married a bourgeois woman comes from higher social class, the bourgeois woman

have to follow what the man decides for her.

When Gatsby gives her an option to choose her love or her marriage, Daisy

chooses her marriage. It is because she will lose the respectability if she chooses

to be with Gatsby.

‘Of course it matters. I’m going to take better care of you from now on.’

‘You don’t understand,’ said Gatsby, with a touch of panic. ‘You’re not

going to take care of her any more.’

‘I’m not?’ Tom opened his eyes wide and laughed. He could afford to

control himself now. ‘Why’s that?’

‘Daisy’s leaving you.’

‘Nonsense.’

‘I am, though,’ she said with a visible effort.


45

‘She’s not leaving me!’ Tom’s words suddenly leaned down over Gatsby.

‘Certainly not for a common swindler who’d have to steal the ring he put on

her finger’ (pp. 139-140).

Gatsby’s family background is not like Tom’s family. If Daisy were married

to Gatsby, her position in the society would not be as strong as when she marries

Tom. So, to maintain her social class in society, Daisy has to choose her husband

and forgets her love. It also shows that Daisy’s social class status in society

cannot help her if she were married to someone who his social class is lower than

her.

The bourgeois women are able to choose their own job. Jordan Baker is the

example from the novel. Jordan is like Daisy who comes from the upper-class

family. “For a while I lost sight of Jordan Baker, and then in midsummer I found

her again. At first I was flattered to go places with her, because she was a golf

champion, and everyone knew her name (p. 64).” The difference between Jordan

and Daisy is that Jordan is a professional golfer. She is able to do a man’s job

without having prohibition from the society and her family because of her social

class status in society.

Jordan Baker is a typical woman from the upper-class. She likes to attend

the party and have gossip with others.

‘Do you come to these parties often?’ inquired Jordan of the girl beside her.

‘The last one was the one I met you at,’ answered the girl, in an alert

confident voice. She turned to her companion: ‘Wasn’t it for you, Lucille?’

‘I like to come,’ Lucille said. ‘I never care what I do, so I always have a

good time. When I was here last I tore my gown on a chair, and he asked me

my name and address — inside of a week I got a package from Croirier’s

with a new evening gown in it.’

‘Did you keep it?’ asked Jordan (p. 49).


46

Women from the upper-class and working-class have a similarity. They like

to talk about other people. Talking about people’s business is a fun activity for

them.

Myrtle Wilson is the example of a woman from the working-class. She

cannot act as freely as Jordan and Daisy. Her social class status limits her actions

so she has to search for someone who has a higher social class status.

‘The only CRAZY I was when I married him. I knew right away I made a

mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never

even told me about it, and the man came after it one day when he was out.

‘oh, is that your suit?’ I said. ‘this is the first I ever heard about it.’ But I

gave it to him and then I lay down and cried to beat the band all afternoon’

(p. 41).

If the bourgeois women are respected by the society, the women from the

worker class are not really reputed by the society. It becomes one of the reasons

for Myrtle to have an affair with Tom. Myrtle thinks that her class status in

society will change if she gets married with Tom.


47

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, the researcher concludes the answer to the problem

formulation, which are already answered in the previous chapter. The first

problem is the description of the characteristics in The Great Gatsby’s characters.

The researcher only chooses some characters that have an important role in the

story. Those characters are Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, Tom

Buchanan, Jordan Baker and Myrtle Wilson.

The description of the characters’ characteristics shows that every character

in the novel has their own peculiarities. Jay Gatsby is not only a hard-working

man but he is also a loyal man to his lover. The narrator of the novel, Nick

Carraway, is a good person who does not easily judge people around him. On the

other side, Tom Buchanan is not only an arrogant man but also a violent man. He

often degrades women with his behavior and his words.

Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson have a similar personality. Both of

them are the materialistic women. They cannot waive the wealth and the social

class status. For Daisy and Myrtle, the wealth can bring happiness into their lives

and they can acquise everything to maintain whatever they have. Jordan Baker is a

bit different from Daisy and Myrtle. She is an independent woman although she

comes from the upper class.

The second problem is the patriarchal society in The Great Gatsby. The

patriarchal system in this novel can be seen clearly through the way the male


48

characters treat the female characters from the first chapter until the last chapter of

the novel. The male characters are often shown a bad attitude and degrading

women.

The male characters in the novel show their power in their own way. At the

beginning of the story, Tom already shows his bad personality. He does not

hesitate to show it. He is able to do violence to whomever makes him angry. It is

different from Gatsby. Gatsby who comes from a working-class family proves

that he is able to compete with Tom although Gatsby gets his wealth through the

illegal way. Gatsby’s love for Daisy makes him eager to own Daisy. He tries to

convince Daisy by showing off his wealth, but it is useless after Daisy knows

about his background.

The female characters in the novel cannot do what they want to do. For

Daisy and Myrtle, they have to obey their husband, though both of them have an

affair. It is different from Jordan Baker. She does not care about other people’s

opinion. She also chooses to be a golfer which is a man’s job.

The last problem is the influence of women’s position through gender and

class status in the patriarchal society. Women are the second gender in the

patriarchal society. They do not have any right like the men do.

The bourgeois women are more respected than women from the working

class. The society does not really make a problem if the bourgeois women do

something which violates the rule. Here, Jordan Baker is the example of the

bourgeois woman who violates the rule. She is a professional golfer. She knows

that it is the man’s job, but she does not care.


49

Through The Great Gatsby, it can be seen that class and gender do not really

change the position of the women in the society. Both of the proletariat and

bourgeois women are still in the second position after the men. Indeed, the

bourgeois women can do everything, but they cannot replace the men’s position in

society.


50

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52

APPENDICES

A. The Summary of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby was about the struggle of Jay Gatsby to achieve his

dream. Gatsby came from a poor farmer family in North Dakota. He could not

accept the reality about his life and run off his house. Gatsby changed his name

from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby. He worked hard and became a successful man.

He lived in West Egg and always held a lavish party every Saturday night at his

house.

Gatsby has a neighbor named Nick Carraway, who was Daisy Buchanan’s

cousin. Nick and Gatsby became best friends. Nick was the one who helped

Gatsby to meet Daisy. The party was stopped after Gatsby met Daisy. Gatsby

tried to convince Daisy to leave her husband. Although Daisy knows that her

husband had a mistress, she still did not want to leave him.

Daisy met Gatsby before he left for the war. She was deeply in love with

Gatsby without knowing about his family background. She promised to wait for

Gatsby and married him. After she married Tom, she still saved her love for

Gatsby.

Tom, who was suspicious about the relationship between his wife and

Gatsby confronted them. There were also Nick and Jordan in that room, but they

did nothing. Gatsby asked Daisy to choose him over her husband, but she could

not choose him after Tom revealed who Gatsby was. The class status was more

important for Daisy than her love.


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Daisy was with Gatsby in his car when all of them went back to East Egg.

She was the one who drove Gatsby’s car. The car hit Myrtle who suddenly runs to

the road because she thought that it was Tom’s car. Tom said to Myrtle’s husband

that Gatsby was the one who hit her until she died. Daisy and Tom left the East

Egg to bury the truth that Daisy was the one who hit Myrtle. Myrtle’s husband

could not accept that his wife’s death already. He came to Gatsby’s house and

shot at Gatsby before he killed himself. There was no one who came at Gatsby’s

funeral, except for Nick Carraway and Gatsby’s father.

B. Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald or known as F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on

September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was named after Francis Scott

Key, the lyricist of The Star-Spangled Banner, who also his ancestor. He left his

school and joined in the army in November 1917. He was a second lieutenant and

stationed in Montgomery, Alabama. He met with the daughter of an Alabama

Supreme Court judge, Zelda Sayre, and they fell in love. Zelda did not want to

marry Fitzgerald until he became successful. His successful first novel publication

helped him to win Zelda’s heart. He married Zelda in 1920 and had a daughter

named Frances Scotty Fitzgerald in 1921.

Fitzgerald was one of the greatest authors in American literature. He wrote

novels and short stories to support his life. His first novel, The Sides of Paradise,

published in 1920. It brought the fame and success to him. The second novel, The

Beautiful and Damned, published in 1922. The third novel, The Great Gatsby,

published in 1925. Although it considered as Fitzgerald’s finest work, the novel


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was not successful until the 1950s and 1960s. This novel was well-known with the

“American Dream”. On the other hand, this novel was also the portrayal of

Fitzgerald’s life. The Fourth novel, Tender Is the Night, published in 1934.

Fitzgerald wrote the last novel The Love of the Last Tycoon in 1939 and it was

unfinished. Some of Fitzgerald’s notable short stories were The Diamond as Big

as the Ritz, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Camel's Back and The Last

of the Belles.

Fitzgerald’s life began to get worse after the completion of The Great

Gatsby. He became an alcoholic because of his failure in his works. He moved to

Hollywood in 1937 and wrote screenplays in there. In the 1940, he had a heart

attack. It made his death in the age forty-four and his last novel left unfinished.


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