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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
fish’” (Fitzgerald 103). He claims that Daisy is running around with other men and thinks it is ridiculous, but yet he is cheating on Daisy with Myrtle. Not only is Tom selfish, he is also hypocritical. Tom’s affair with Myrtle Wilson was not private. He took a phone call from her during dinner one night, and Daisy was aware of it. Tom is selfish in that he is pleasing himself with another woman while married. Tom also feels as if he is superior to everyone else. He states, “‘She’s not leaving me!...Certainly not for a common swindler who’d have to steal the ring he put on her finger’” (Fitzgerald 133). Tom believes he obtains Daisy, but in reality he does not even care about her. Tom Buchanan also believes he is richer than God, and believes that wealth will get him anywhere in life. This is why he is certain that Daisy will not leave him for Gatsby, since he sees Gatsby as poor. Surprisingly, Tom can also be seen as unselfish. When Tom and Gatsby are arguing at the Plaza, Tom says, “‘I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife’” (Fitzgerald 130). His response to the argument shows that Tom genuinely does care for Daisy and clearly wants to be with her. He also states, “‘...I love Daisy too. Once in a while 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’” (Fitzgerald 131). During their argument, Tom Buchanan asserts that his marriage with Daisy is perfect and he loves her. Tom is also portrayed as unselfish when Myrtle dies. He is so distraught about her death. Nick says, “...I heard a low husky sob, and saw that the tears were overflowing down his face” (Fitzgerald 141). After assuming that it was Gatsby who hit Myrtle, Tom is startled by the fact that Gatsby did not even try to stop his car before killing her. This event in the novel shows that Tom has a heart for the people he cares about. Although Tom shows very few actions of being selfless, he is exclusively portrayed as selfish.
Tom functions under the illusion that Daisy not only loves him now, but has always loved him and been completely devoted to him. Daisy does admit that she once loved him, but he was not her first choice; Gatsby was. Tom is also under the illusion that Daisy will never leave him. He has an ongoing, almost public affair with Myrtle but still wants to be devoted to Daisy and demands her devotion to him. Tom feels as if he will never lose anything: his money, Daisy, or his social status.
One reason Tom is unadmirable is because of the way he treats his wife Daisy. He is unfaithful and he is also hypocritical. As Tom cheats on Daisy with Myrtle, Daisy has an affair with Jay Gatsby. When this affair is revealed to Tom, he becomes outraged despite that fact that he
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)
Selfishness is a disease of the soul that every person experiences several times throughout their life. To say that it has never been experienced would be hypocrisy. To say that it is a “good thing”, would be erroneous. Although as humans we like to lie to ourselves, it is no question that selfishness can make any person act like a fool. It consumes us and makes us into someone we are not. Whether it leads to getting people killed, falling in love, or buying alcohol, selfishness always leads to destruction.
Tom Buchanan may be the worst character in the novel because he cheats on his wife with his mistress and describes women as crazy fishes who meet all kinds of men. Also, others may say Tom Buchanan is the worst character because his wife describes him as a “brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen of a---” (12). Finally, others may think he is the worst character because he tells Daisy to go with Gatsby because it was time that Gatsby realizes that his “presumptuous little flirtation is over” (135). Since, he did not consider Gatsby’s feelings toward his wife some may consider him the worst character in this novel. Overall, Daisy Buchanan is the worst character in this novel because she creates a bad example for her daughter due to her unfaithfulness, cruelty, and carelessness. Obviously, as a mother you are supposed to set a good example for your daughter in order for her to be
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
“"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