Character Analysis of Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a classic novel that was written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. This novel shows the glamour and chic of the Jazz Age, as well as greed and wealth of those who lived at that time. It tells the story of the American dream and its corruption. Jordan Baker is one of the main characters of The Great Gatsby novel. She is represented as a dishonest and reckless woman with the arrogant attitude towards others, which was typical of the elite during the Jazz Era. The first proof of her arrogance is exposed in her very first dialogue with Nick when she looks down on him and says that he’s living in West Egg in contrast to herself, living in the East Egg. She has a high opinion of herself and thinks that she’s superior to those who live in the West Egg.

Another trait inherent in the society of the Jazz Age is recklessness. Jordan Baker also has this trait, as she often expresses her bluntness, dishonesty, and laziness. Tom Buchanan often wonders how Jordan gets anything done. Her recklessness is also expressed in the way she drives a car when she says, “It takes two to make an accident.” As for Miss Baker’s another negative trait, dishonesty, it is also often mentioned in the novel. For instance, there is a rumor that Miss Baker moved her golf ball in order to win a tournament. Nick Carraway, who likes Jordan very much, also says that “she was incurably dishonest.” The list of negative traits of Jordan Baker doesn’t end here because she is also portrayed as a very blunt woman.Throughout the book, she states her opinions rather openly. For instance, she is the first person who tells Nick about Tom’s mistress. Recklessness of American people is often emphasized by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby, and he obviously uses the character of Jordan Baker as a number one example of that trait. However, along with her negative traits, Jordan Baker has strong sides. Firstly, being a very independent and self-sufficient woman, she is a living example of the American dream. She proves wrong the idea that women are feeble creatures who can’t exist without men’s assistance. There’s also something masculine about her; namely, her name “Jordan” and the descriptions of her as a “small-breasted” and “hard” woman. Jordan Baker is also a highly emancipated woman: she plays golf, drinks alcohol, smokes cigarettes, and has sex not because of the pressure on her but because that is what she wants. Jordan Baker proves to be an essential character in The Great Gatsby novel. Fitzgerald gave Jordan such an important role in his novel because he wanted to emphasize both the bad and the good things and traits that were dominant during the extravagant Jazz Age.

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