Fitzgerald' Misogyny

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), one of the most outstanding writers in American literature in the 1920s, is known as the spokesman and laureate of the"Jazz Age". His novels have become a hot subject of many critics and scholars. The representative work of him is The Great Gatsby, which is full of the breath of money and finance, reveals a vivid picture of the society in the Jazz Age of America. A large quantity of Fitzgerald's life experiences are introduced into the great novel. He falls in love with the upper class girls but fails for his poor situation. He desires the enjoyment of the gold and luxurious living. But his dreams of upper class life are dashed and ultimately destroyed. Thus critics have probed into The Great Gatsby from the perspectives of themes, narrative skills, symbolism, etc.This thesis ventures to interpret the misogyny of Fitzgerald by enunciating the new women and traditional gender roles both in Fitzgerald's life and The Great Gatsby. And it also illustrates the tragic destiny of being doomed as"the Other".The thesis is made up of introduction, three chapters, and conclusion. The first part is a brief introduction of the author, his works and his contribution in American literature. It also illustrates the literature review of The Great Gatsby at home and abroad, research motivation, research methodology and questions.Chapter one is about the theoretical statement and feasibility of feminist criticism and cinema theory.Chapter two illustrates Fitzgerald's biased attitude to new woman and material female images by making an overview of women in and out the traditional gender roles in Fitzgerald's life and works, and also enunciate the influence of the age and life experiences on the forming of Fitzgerald's misogyny in The Great Gatsby.Chapter three is a textual analysis of the representations of Fitzgerald's misogyny from the perspective of feminist criticism and classical cinema theory. By reading of The Great Gatsby, it can be obtained that women characters are seriously affected by the misogyny of Fitzgerald. Moreover, they are reduced to be"the Other"and the victims of the patriarchy. This basically reflects in the following respects: first, The Great Gatsby is a man's book. Male narrator Nick has severe patriarchal consciousness and misogyny while reading the female images; second, the focus of male gaze is mainly on women's body, especially the sexual features of female characters. They are forced to become the objects and victims of voyeurism of man; third, not only the female images are seriously distorted, they have also been imposed upon a lot of negative personalities.Therefore, it can be concluded that it is not reasonable for the critics and readers to judge the women in the text only following the gaze of man. Under the patriarchal ideology, Fitzgerald's negative description of female images, to a certain extent, reflects the misogyny and the biased attitude to new women of American.