Friday, June 9, 2017

What are the similarities among the rich women in this book, particularly, Daisy, Jordan, and Mrs. Sloane?

The rich women in The Great Gatsby are by and large rather vapid, dishonest people, more concerned with comfort than love or meaning. All three of the women in question are superficial and more interested in surface than substance.
We see this in the brief appearance of Mrs. Sloane. In chapter six, Mrs. Sloane invites Gatsby to dine with her and Mr. Sloane, though it is obvious to most present that she is only doing so to be polite and does not actually want Gatsby to come. However, Gatsby does not catch onto this and accepts, believing the invitation to be genuine. This little interaction says volumes about how the rich women in this book act, looking down on those not born into money, saying things they do not mean, and regarding those people with a sense of social snobbery.
Jordan is introduced as a so-called golf champion who actually cheats on the green. She is young, beautiful, seemingly tough, and straightforward. Nick is attracted to how honest she seems, but in the end, Jordan's cynical posturing and seeming openness are all a sham. When Nick starts to get close to her, looking for a real relationship, she cuts him off, not wanting anything beyond surface-level.
Daisy is the epitome of this all-glitter-no-substance type. She is beautiful and charming, but in the end, about as cold as Jordan, though in another way. She seems soft and vulnerable, someone Gatsby could "rescue" from a miserable marriage, but it turns out she is too comfortable to risk leaving her philandering spouse. Daisy is so self-absorbed as to come off as amoral as well. She allows Gatsby to take the blame for killing Myrtle with the car and demonstrates no remorse as far as the reader or Nick can tell.
In the end, one is left wondering if Daisy ever cared about Gatsby at all. One might assume she does love Gatsby but is too dependent upon the comforts of social station to leave her husband for him. One could also argue that Daisy views Gatsby as a plaything in much the same way Tom perceives Myrtle. Her feelings are ambiguous enough for either to be a viable argument.
So, all three of these rich women share superficial manners, a lack of feeling for other people (particularly those from lower classes, even if they have become wealthy like Gatsby), dishonest natures, and class snobbery.

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