The Portrayal of the 'New Woman' in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

Abstract

This thesis analyses the portrayal of the ‘New Woman’ of the roaring twenties in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The analysis will additionally analyse the reasons behind Gatsby’s portrayal of its ‘flappers’ utilizing the novel’s author and narrator. In addition to this analysis, this thesis encloses a piece of creative writing. This creative writing serves to alter Gatsby’s representation of the ‘New Woman’ by including perspectives that were excluded in Fitzgerald’s version of the story. An exegetical statement at the end of this thesis will explain the choices that were made in the creative writing piece and link it to the findings of the analysis that precedes it. The importance of this thesis relates to the novel’s influence on our collective memory of the roaring twenties and its ‘flappers’.