Symbol

Symbols of gender inequality in The Great Gatsby are hard to come by, but cars seem to be the most prominent. Cars are an important symbol for prosperity and wealth, and driving a nice car is a way to show off your success compared to others in your community. In the novel, it is always men who are driving the fancy, expensive cars and showing them off like prizes. The few times where women are in the driver’s seat, they are explicitly described as being careless and unintelligent behind the wheel.

Gatsby owns multiple cars, but his most cherished and flashy is his Rolls-Royce. “It was a rich cream color, bright and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns.” (Fitzgerald page 33). This amazing car is not owned by a woman, but rather a man. Not only is it interesting the way cars are being described, but also the context being used. Men describe their cars with certain pronouns such as ‘she’ or ‘her’. They give cars human pronouns, which imply that cars are as important to men as their wives or girlfriends.

Nick and Jordan were going driving together, and Nick notices something particular about the way Jordan drives. He says “You’re a rotten driver.” (Fitzgerald, page 58). This is one of the only times in the novel where a woman is driving a car, and she is portrayed by Fitzgerald as being an under-par driver. This implies that women don’t have the same credibility and ability as men when it comes to anything about cars, because nice cars are clearly a symbol of being ‘manly’ or having a connotation of ‘masculinity’. In modern society, women being dreadful drivers is still a common stereotype. Collegiate Magazine stated that “for years, NASCAR has been one of the most gender exclusive sports”. This statement solidifies that not only were cars associated with men in the 1920s, but it is still an issue in the present. Driving cars is still considered a masculine activity, and women still don’t have the credibility that men do to drive them on national television (with a few exceptions).

Finally, Nick describes how Gatsby’s car arrives at his house early one morning, and uses interesting vocabulary. “Gatsby’s gorgeous car lurched up the rocky drive to my door and gave out a burst of melody from its three-noted horn.” (Fitzgerald page 63). Fitzgerald uses personification to describe Gatsby’s car, and almost making it seem more than just an object and giving it more importance than it deserves. This important and lively car is owned by a man, not a woman. A woman’s car wouldn't be described with such colorful vocabulary, because according to the book, men have the ‘right’ to own a car like this magnificent one. Cars are a symbol of gender inequality because women are almost never associated with them, therefore making women inferior to men. Fitzgerald goes a great job at discretely integrating this into his novel.

1.Wimbish, Andrew. "Even NASCAR Can Change Gender Stereotypes."Collegiate Times. N.p., 4 Mar. 2013. Web. 8 July 2014. <http://www.collegiatetimes.com/opinion/columnists/article_3c6ec7ee-fac7-5d64-b762-630b3099355c.html>.