A Study of Characterization of Jordan in The GreatGatsby

戴欣怡

The First World War is the watershed of American history. AfterWorld War I， American economy enjoyed a period of great prosperity. Itnot only brought great material wealth to the United States， but alsochanged women there in terms of their spirit. Fitzgerald' s The GreatGatsby， set in early 1920s， shows a theme of how the American dreamaffects all the characters depicted in the novel. Many professional womenin the 1920s became independent and started to pursue their individualhappiness. Jordan in The Great Gatsby is representative of such womenwho are capable of using their own hands to work and living desired livesof their own.

For Jordan， economic independence has supported her free andhappy life. As a professional golf player， she had a stable source of in -come， which gave her the freedom to enjoy life materially， for example，cutting the most fashionable short hair at that time， smoking and drinkingfreely. More importantly， her freedom of life tells us that she does notneed to rely on men to survive and make a living， which helps form herindependent personality， a character free from the binding of traditionalAmerican culture on male superiority and female inferiority. This kind ofspiritual independence is also reflected in her arrogant way of facing theAmerican new world. Jordan thought marriage resulted from love， notfrom material needs. She broke up with Nick because she didn' t lovchim any more. Similarly， When she decided to break up with Nick， shedidn't drag water as she didn't have to please anyone but herself. As aresult， she wasn't forced to engage in a marriage by her family， whichshows that she was able to break away from the binding of the old tradi -tions about marriage. The most important thing in Jordan， the character，is that she has her own thinking and judgment on everything. When Tomand Daisy quarreled，she could see the essence of their quarrel throughthe surface and stay out of their mess. The above are attributed to Jordans independent and happy life.

Meantime another character named Daisy in Fitzgerald novel servesas an opposite example. In a society where patriarchy exists，the sup-pression of women cannot disappear. A patriarchal society like the Unit-ed States，the suppression of women naturally exists，which may hinderwomen from their pursuit of independence，equality and freedom. In thenovel，even though Daisy was born in the upper-class，she couldntmake decision on her marriage because she was not independent. Underthe pressure of her family，she broke up with Gatsby and married Tom.Tom，as the representative of the patriarchal society，oppressed Daisy andadopted different standards for himself and Daisy. When he found outthat Daisy had an affair，he was furious，but he himself was the first oneto cheat Daisy. For him，what he did was nothing to be criticized. PoorDaisy could only pretend not to know anything about Tom's cheating.Living in a upper-class or having a lot of wealth in ones life doesntrepresent having happiness.

Both Jordan and Daisy have beautiful looks and money. Owing todifferent personalities and life values， they live totally different lives. Jor-den is free and happy，but Daisy is sad and oppressed. They represent twotypical kinds of women in the Jazz Age：one is trying to break free from theshackles of old traditions while another is still oppressed by the patriar-chat society. Their stories reveal that feminine exploration to indepen-dence，freedom and American dream at that time was full of hope but stillhad a long way to go. Jordan's image also inspired contemporary women topursue spiritual freedom and independence through their own efforts.