Premium Essay

Gender Roles In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Ice Palace

Submitted By
Words 746
Pages 3
Love, winter, prejudice, trapped. During the 1920s, gender roles started to change. After the war, women started demanding equal rights and starting dressing in a more revealing manner for the time period. However, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's “The Ice Palace”, originally published in May 1920, the relations between men and women and their associated qualities revert back to those of the pre-World War I era. Throughout the story, Fitzgerald portrays the relationship between men and women as men most often having more power, and implies the meanings of masculinity and femininity. The basis for the story is that Sally Carrol Happer, a Southerner, is the fianceé of Harry Bellamy, a Northerner. In most, if not all, of the chapters, a man wants to …show more content…
In the first chapter, Sally Carrol is discussing her impending nuptials with her group of friends. One friend, Clark Darrow, tells her “Don’t marry a Yankee, Sally Carrol” (286). Sally Carrol then asks who she would marry instead and Clark offers himself as an option in order to keep her in the South. Her response illustrates another relationship between men and women: women needing men so that they can have a life. Sally Carrol responds to the questions of her friends about the engagement and states, “I want to go places and see people. I want my mind to grow” (287). Sally Carrol believes that she needs to marry Harry Bellamy to have a happy and fulfilled life despite that she would leave her friends, family, and community behind. For this reason, Harry would have the power in the relationship as he would provide the funding for the possible trips. Later in the story, Sally Carrol strengthens the idea that Harry has more power when she is discussing her relationship with a guest at a dinner-party during her visit to the North. She informs the guest that she is “the sort of person who wants to be taken care of after a certain point” (298). As …show more content…
Instead of using the words “masculinity” or “femininity” and their related words, Fitzgerald embraces the idea of “canine” and “feline”. The context of the words imply a connotation of “masculine” and “feminine,” respectively. The previously mentioned party guest is the first to use these words to describe party-goers. The guest describes Harry as “canine distinctly” (297), and further describes guests: “All the men I’ve met to-night seem to be canine” (297). In this sense, “canine” is “a certain conscious masculinity” (297). Based on examples of canine and the definition provided, to be a canine, one must accept, project, and be proud of their masculine traits, such as strong-willed, powerful, affluent, and prosperous. However, not all men in the story are considered masculine, even if they possess some of these traits. The guest previously named groups of “felines”: “I’m a feline. So are you. So are most Southern men an’ most of these girls here” (297). The guest includes himself and Southern men because, according to the guest, they have femininity or subtle masculinity. This could be due to the different paces of life in the different locations. In cities more to the north, an inference that men may need to show their masculinity more so than men in southern cities in order to be taken seriously in business and in

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Cyrus the Great

...critical theory today critical theory today A Us e r - F r i e n d l y G u i d e S E C O N D E D I T I O N L O I S T Y S O N New York London Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2006 by Lois Tyson Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑97410‑0 (Softcover) 0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑97410‑3 (Softcover) 978‑0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Tyson, Lois, 1950‑ Critical theory today : a user‑friendly guide / Lois Tyson.‑‑ 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑97409‑7 (hb) ‑‑ ISBN 0‑415‑97410‑0 (pb) 1. Criticism...

Words: 221284 - Pages: 886

Premium Essay

Learning Theory

...Beginning theory An introduction to literary and cultural theory Second edition Peter Barry © Peter Barry 1995, 2002 ISBN: 0719062683 Contents Acknowledgements - page x Preface to the second edition - xii Introduction - 1 About this book - 1 Approaching theory - 6 Slop and think: reviewing your study of literature to date - 8 My own 'stock-taking' - 9 1 Theory before 'theory' - liberal humanism - 11 The history of English studies - 11 Stop and think - 11 Ten tenets of liberal humanism - 16 Literary theorising from Aristotle to Leavis some key moments - 21 Liberal humanism in practice - 31 The transition to 'theory' - 32 Some recurrent ideas in critical theory - 34 Selected reading - 36 2 Structuralism - 39 Structuralist chickens and liberal humanist eggs Signs of the fathers - Saussure - 41 Stop and think - 45 The scope of structuralism - 46 What structuralist critics do - 49 Structuralist criticism: examples - 50 Stop and think - 53 Stop and think - 55 39 Stop and think - 57 Selected reading - 60 3 Post-structuralism and deconstruction - 61 Some theoretical differences between structuralism and post-structuralism - 61 Post-structuralism - life on a decentred planet - 65 Stop and think - 68 Structuralism and post-structuralism - some practical differences - 70 What post-structuralist critics do - 73 Deconstruction: an example - 73 Selected reading - 79 4 Postmodernism - 81 What is postmodernism? What was modernism? -...

Words: 98252 - Pages: 394

Premium Essay

Geiziji

...FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING BIOGRAPHIES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND ALBERT EINSTEIN, THIS IS THE EXCLUSIVE BIOGRAPHY OF STEVE JOBS. Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering. Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing offlimits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and...

Words: 233886 - Pages: 936

Premium Essay

Reading a Novel in 1950-2000

...Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 i RTNA01 1 13/6/05, 5:28 PM READING THE NOVEL General Editor: Daniel R. Schwarz The aim of this series is to provide practical introductions to reading the novel in both the British and Irish, and the American traditions. Published Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel 1890–1930 Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Daniel R. Schwarz Brian W. Shaffer Forthcoming Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel Paula R. Backscheider Reading the Nineteenth-Century Novel Harry E. Shaw and Alison Case Reading the American Novel 1780–1865 Shirley Samuels Reading the American Novel 1865–1914 G. R. Thompson Reading the Twentieth-Century American Novel James Phelan ii RTNA01 2 13/6/05, 5:28 PM Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Brian W. Shaffer iii RTNA01 3 13/6/05, 5:28 PM © 2006 by Brian W. Shaffer BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Brian W. Shaffer to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and...

Words: 123617 - Pages: 495