To what extent did women treat men in similar ways in the Great Gatsby and Bernice Bobs Her Hair? (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Essay on Paired Texts
‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Bernice Bobs Her Hair and Other Short Stories’


To what extent did women treat men in similar ways in two of the texts you studied this year?


The central, female characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s texts The Great Gatsby and Bernice Bobs Her Hair and Other Short Stories are far from stereotypical. The women are not timid housewives, but strong-minded, manipulative women who love being in control. The texts’ female characters treat men as objects, which can be manipulated and controlled through the behaviour, speech or tone of a woman. These women have learnt that if they can create the right persona, the male population will be ‘eating out of their hand’. The women regard men as ‘prizes’ that can easily be won: all it takes is strategy and practice, and the more prizes they win the better, regardless of who gets hurt in the process.

Two of the women in the texts use a behavioural technique to help them obtai...