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Literary analysis on the great gatsby
Literary analysis for the great gatsby
Literary analysis on the great gatsby
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A selfish person does the most harm to others by caring only for themself. Being selfish means not considering others in each situation, or being self-centered. Tom repeatedly shows just how selfish he is by what he says and does. His actions prove that he does not care about how situations affect others, only himself. It is important to recognize when you are selfish to others. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom is the most selfish character, Tom is the most selfish character because everything he does is in concern for himself. Tom is married to Daisy simply for wealth. After finding out that Daisy wants to be with Gatsby, Tom says, “‘...women run around too much these days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy
In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy struggles between her desire to be with someone she truly loves and her rational to be with someone who will give her social and financial stability. Ultimately, Daisy chooses Tom over Gatsby as he is the safer option once Gatsby is revealed to be untruthful, showing that she is predominately interested in a steady life.
Knowing from their different circumstances, he could not marry her. So Gatsby left to accumulate a lot of money. Daisy, not being able to wait for Gatsby, marries a rich man named Tom. Tom believes that it is okay for a man to be unfaithful but it is not okay for the woman to be. This caused a lot of conflict in their marriage and caused Daisy to be very unhappy.
I saw Tom as a hypocrite. Even though he was off having a shameless affair with Myrtle, he still condemns Daisy for having an affair with Gatsby.
"I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out”(229) Tom isn't just going to stand around while gatsby tries to steal his wife from him even though he cheats on her almost every night. Tom actually loves her deep inside even though he cheats on her “He nodded sagely. "And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in awhile I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time." (252)
From a young age, our parents teach us to be grateful for what we have. However, as human beings and Americans, we * find it difficult to be content with what we consider “less.” Much of the American Dream revolves around success, and in general, the more you have, whether it is money, possessions, or relationships, the more successful you are. The American value of achievement often results in selfishness, once described by William E. Gladstone as “the greatest curse of the human race” (William E. Gladstone quotes, 2010). Collectively, The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath demonstrate how selfishness breaks society, affecting both the individual as well as those around him, and how selflessness repairs it.
All of the wealthy characters, including Gatsby, use people and things and then discard them as trash.. Tom probably leads the most purposeless life out of the three with no career. He spends his day’s playing with polo ponies and race cars. He has one affair after another and treats his mistresses of these affairs as if they were only toys. When he realizes that Daisy is having an affair with Gatsby.
This chapter showed me how abusive Tom truly is. It also shows that everyone has made up their own stories about Mr. Gatsby. Which makes me want to read more and find out who Mr. Gatsby really is. It also introduced Tom’s mistress and the people Tom is around when he leaves Daisy at home while he is at the apartment that he bought for Myrtle.
In the book, yes, Tom is an arrogant, brutish man, and a cheater, but he still has softness in his heart, when Mrytle died. He didn 't point fingers at Gatsby right away. Yet, throughout the movie, Luhrman played Tom as a true villain; making Tom look like the maleficent guy, when really we should look at Daisy’s character. She’s a gold digger. If Gatsby didn 't have money at all, she wouldn 't have “loved” or stayed with him for a single second. In reality, her character is shallow, selfish, and she’s a killer. She isn 't as innocent as everyone sees her
“"Self-control!" Repeated Tom incredulously. "I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out"” (Fitzgerald 130). Tom does not see Gatsby as an equal, even though they both have wealth; the only differences about the wealth are as follows: Gatsby started out impoverished and earned his wealth; whereas, Tom had his wealth handed down. This quote is an example of irony; Tom wants to go on a tangent about self-control; he needs some self-control! Tom will make love with any woman he pleases and shower them with money. “His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked—and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts” (Fitzgerald 7). Wealth makes Tom "paternal," as though it gives him the right to tell the entire world how to behave. A realization is that Tom did not earn his wealth. Tom has literally done nothing to deserve this thought process. So why does he get to be boss to everyone? Tom thinks since he has money that he can do anything he wants; however, this thought process is unacceptable for Jay Gatsby to have, at least in the eyes of Tom
Tom and Daisy Buchanan, the rich couple, seem to have everything they could possibly want. Though their lives are full of anything you could imagine, they are unhappy and seek to change, Tom drifts on "forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game"(pg. 10) and reads "deep books with long words in them"(pg. 17) just so he has something to talk about. Even though Tom is married to Daisy he has an affair with Myrtle Wilson and has apartment with her in New York.. Daisy is an empty character, someone with hardly any convictions or desires. Even before her relationships with Tom or, Gatsby are seen, Daisy does nothing but sit around all day and wonder what to do with herself and her friend Jordan. She knows that Tom is having an affair, yet she doesn't leave him even when she hears about Gatsby loving her. Daisy lets Gatsby know that she too is in love with him but cant bring herself to tell Tom goodbye except when Gatsby forces her too. Even then, once Tom begs her to stay, even then Daisy forever leaves Gatsby for her old life of comfort. Daisy and Tom are perfect examples of wealth and prosperity, and the American Dream. Yet their lives are empty, and without purpose.
The entire book revolves around his one selfish desire to be with the woman he loves, Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby is well aware that Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan, but that does not stop him. Gatsby and Daisy begin seeing each other and spending a great amount of time together. This was not enough to satisfy Gatsby. One night, he and Tom, Daisy’s husband, were in dispute.
An example of this is when Nick is talking to tom about his accomplice in adultery and Nick says “Doesn’t her(Myrtle Wilson) husband object?” and Tom replies with “Wilson? He thinks she goes to see her sister in New York. He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive” (Gatsby 26). This indicates that Tom is very cocky and ignorant. Tom’s immoral acts in the novel stem from his overconfidence and ignorance due to his wealth and power. This is further proved by the fact that when his first and only child was born, he left Daisy without any support only one hour after the birth of their daughter.
Tom is a very strong man who is also capable of violence. Many of these acts of violence are towards his wife Daisy. During the novel it is stated and inferred that Tom is violent with Daisy, and we read first hand about his violence with Myrtle. During Nick’s first visit to Tom and Daisy's house she alludes to something Tom did to her “We all looked-the knuckle was black and blue” “You did it Tom” (Fitzgerald 12). This shows how crooked Tom’s morals are, that he cares so little about people around him that he resorts to physical violence when he is upset with them. Also that he would do such a thing to women, let alone his wife, shows how much his morals are corrupted. Tom tries to portray that he is a real manly man yet he, a man of immense size and strength, would even dare hit his wife and even bruise her, again shows how much his morals have been corrupted by his wealth and power. Tom is not only violent with Daisy. Tom’s most egregious act of violence in the novel happens with Myrtle, his mistress. At a party Myrtle and Tom get into and argument and violence ensues “He also mistreats Myrtle herself, whom he violently hits in front of her sister and Nick when she mentions Daisy’s name” (The Great Gatsby 69). This proves Tom’s absolute moral corruption completely, that he would slap and break a woman's nose for mentioning a single name is perfect example of moral bankruptcy. This
In "The Great Gatsby," Tom is one of the most enigmatic, vivid and compelling characters. He openly broaches his racism, temperament and sexism as if he has no apprehension in the world. However, there is much more to his character than it seems. Tom uses his bulkiness and husky voice to mask his loneliness in order to escape reality. His loneliness can be seen through his constant venery of women, inability to settle down in one location and through his fear of losing control. Escaping reality, however, is only temporary and his pusillanimity to face his true self throughout the course of the novel catches up to him in the end.
Throughout Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, there is a broad spectrum of moral and social views demonstrated by various characters. At one end, is Tom, a man who attacks Gatsby's sense of propriety and legitimacy, while thinking nothing of running roughshod over the lives of those around him. A direct opposite of Tom's nature is Gatsby, who displays great generosity and caring, yet will stop at nothing to achieve his dream of running off with Daisy. The moral and emotional characteristics of Gastby and Tom are juxtaposed, Tom, the immoral character and Gastby, the moral character while the other characters' moral and emotional developments appear between these two.