Gatsby post 1

On page 55 of The Great Gatsby, the protagonist describes a scene at one of Gatsby's parties. He says that "When the "Jazz History of the World" was over girls were putting their heads on men's shoulders in a puppyish, convivial way, girls were swooning backward playfully into men's arms, even into groups knowing that someone would arrest their falls." Here, the females in the story are acting in a manner that is pleasant. They are partying and acting in a manner that was acceptable and common during this time period. They are also reffered to as girls, not women. Then, on page 105, the protagonist is describing Dan Cody. He says, "Cody was fifty years old then, a product of the Nevada silver fields, of the Yukon, of every rush for metal since Seventy-Five. The transactions in Montana copper that made him many times a millionare found him physically robust but on the verge of softmindedness, and suspecting this an infinite number of women tried to seperate him from his money. The none too savory ramifications by which Ella Kaye, the newspaper woman, played Madame de Maintenon to his weakness sent him to sea in a yacht, were common knowledge to the turgid journalism of 1902." In this quote, the females are acting in a not so acceptable manner. They are essentially gold digging. They are associating with Cody for his money. Also in this quote, the females are reffered to as women. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald reffers to females who are acting playful as girls, and those who are acting in a manner that may be seen as unacceptable as women. This is Fitzgerald's way of saying that nothing comes good with age for females. It is his sexist opinion that as a female ages, she loses her fun, playful qualities that made her appealing, and becomes much less than appealing by gaining traits like lying and gold digging. Fitzgerald may have written this because as his love interest got older, she cheated on him. To describe that situation Fitzgerald may have described her as a girl as she flirted with the guy, but following the incident where she cheated, he would have quickly reffered to her as a woman because of her actions. The flip flop between females being reffered to as girls or women throughout the novel is based on their actions, and reflect events that affected Fitzgerald from earlier in his life.