Imogen Heap’s song “Aha!” creates an atmosphere that captures Tom’s feelings towards Gatsby. Tom thinks Gatsby is a little ridiculous and actively tries to emasculate him. Using the nonsense words “happy-clappy” in line 1 shows that Tom refuses to take Gatsby seriously. He then refers to Gatsby’s outward appearance as a man who is “high on life,” throwing fabulously extravagant parties attended by hundreds of people. But, when Tom becomes aware of Daisy and Gatsby’s affair in lines 4 and 5, he feels he has discovered the real man behind this facade. Now that Tom knows this about Gatsby, there is no way he’s going to let him get off scot-free, and he says so in the next line: “Cost you to keep me quiet.” In the next verse, Tom is again talking about this character that Gatsby has created for himself and how it has fooled many, including his wife. …show more content…
Tom has done some digging into Gatsby’s past and knows that he didn’t make his money honestly. Tom calls him out in front of Daisy during their argument in the hotel (133-134), referenced by the line “sneaky in suburbia.” The final verse shifts the focus from Daisy and Gatsby’s affair to Myrtle’s death. When Tom realizes it was Gatsby’s car that killed Myrtle, he feels sure that it’s Gatsby’s fault. Tom congratulates him for being so calculating that no one suspects him: “Well reckoned… no one’s ill at ease.” He then repeats the line “Cost you to keep me quiet,” but this time it has a more sinister meaning. Tom doesn’t stay quiet about Gatsby’s deeds; in fact, he directly implicates Gatsby’s involvement when the deranged George Wilson shows up at the Buchanans’ house with a gun. This leads right into his last line: “no one saw it coming.” Nobody but a few people ever knew of Gatsby’s involvement in Myrtle’s death, so when he was murdered, it was quite a
Tom has a high social status which displays irresponsibility and carelessness in The Great Gatsby. Nick says, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (191). As Nick explains, Tom Buchanan lives a careless lifestyle which shows through the way he destroys Gatsby’s life. Like Jordan and Daisy, Tom only cares about his own well-being. Tom says, “‘I told him the truth,’ he said. [. . .] He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car. His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute’” (190-191). Readers can probably suggest that Tom does not tell the truth because it’s the right thing to do; he tells Mr. Wilson the truth to save himself from getting hurt. Tom’s actions also lead to him destroying Gatsby’s life. Like most of the characters in The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan reckless lifestyle implies that he is a reckless driver as
“‘He wants to know,’ continued Jordan, ‘if you’ll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over.’” (Fitzgerald 78). This quote demonstrates that Gatsby is trying to see Daisy without Tom so that he can talk to her and get her to be with him instead of Tom. This is Greedy because Gatsby doesn’t care that Tom might love Daisy or that Daisy might love Tom, he just wants Daisy to fall in love with him again. This causes the ruin of Gatsby because Tom tells George that Gatsby is the person that ran over Myrtle. Once George knew who ran over Myrtle, he then went to Gatsby’s house and shot Gatsby before killing himself. Due to Gatsby’s greed, he caused his own death. Greed is a villain because it causes Gatsby to almost ruin Daisy’s marriage and also causes Gatsby’s
Tom knew that Myrtle was going to be at the shop and he knew she would see Miss Baker, mistaking her for his wife. This is why he didn’t take Daisy in his car, he did not want anyone to actually see Daisy so that when she planned to hit Myrtle with the car nobody would know who she was. After they had got gas, they met up with Daisy and Gatsby at the Plaza hotel. This is when Tom called out Gatsby for his affair with his wife and let out all of his secrets. Even after finding out everything, Tom still had confidence that Daisy was going to stay with him allowing her and Gatsby ride back home together, “You two start on home, Daisy, in Mr. Gatsby's car… Go on. He won’t annoy you. I think he realizes that his presumptuous little flirtation is over,” (Fitzgerald 141). Gatsby had allowed Daisy to drive his car, “.. but of course I’ll say I was , when we left New York she was very nervous and she thought it would steady her to drive… It all happened in a minute, but it seemed to me that she wanted to speak to us, thought we were
Gatsby is a very goal oriented man so “he could hardly fail to grasp it”(180), unfortunately “he did not know that it was already behind him”(180). His goal is to have Daisy as his wife and his strategy is to devote everything he will ever do to Daisy. He thinks this is love but it is certainly obsession. He becomes so obsessed that he objectifies her by thinking she's just another thing he has to obtain and call his own. Gatsby shows his obsession for Daisy when he tries to degrade Tom by saying, “your wife doesn't love you… she's never loved you. She loves me”(130). Gatsby is so obsessed that he finds it necessary to emasculate Tom by putting himself on a pedestal and saying that Tom’s own wife has never loved him. His obsession eventually leads to objectification. Gatsby says “oh you want to much”(132), which is ironic because Gatsby has the problem of being materialistic and he then says that Daisy wants to
There was a sense of sadness in Tom’s eyes as he said those words. Although Myrtle was killed, Tom was still very concerned about Daisy and Gatsby’s affair. “Daisy, do you want to tell me what has been going on with you and Gatsby all this time?” Tom asked her. Daisy suddenly turned sharply at Tom, “speak for yourself Tom.
"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)
Even though at first when they finally got together after all those years and everything seem great and romantic but good things always come to an end. The affair effected Gatsby in his life by having him back the old love he first had for Daisy even hoping for a lifetime future together. His dream is very much vivid about his romantic hopes about Daisy in his mind, “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams, not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion” (95). He seems to be falling deeper in love with her even maybe more than the love she really had for him even though through the end of the chapters her love that she claims to have for him seemed not truly. In New York, the truth comes out more about she feels about Gatsby by being questioned and feeling guilty when Tom gets to the fact that she loves him and not Gatsby but Gatsby rejects his sayings and tells Daisy to say how she truly feel about him. Over all the excitement, Daisy tells how she truly feel about the whole love affair, “I did love him once but I loved you too” (132). It is possible that the leading of Gatsby’s death was caused from Tom’s jealousy of his wife’s confessed love for Gatsby. Tom would had told Wilson that Gatsby was the driver of the car that killed Myrtle and her secret
When Nick Carraway confronts Tom about this, Tom nonchalantly replies, “I told [George] the truth,” (Fitzgerald, 2000) indicating full well that he knew George would get rid of Gatsby. Instead of taking responsibility for the calamity and saving Gatsby (whom Daisy supposedly “loves”), Tom and Daisy act out of self-interest and “retreat back into their money. and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” (Fitzgerald, 2000).... ...
Gatsby, Myrtle and Tom lie to themselves and others through their words and actions. Gatsby and Myrtle attempt to be social climbers; Gatsby loves the idea of Daisy and Myrtle loves the idea of Tom and what he can provide for her. They both try to appear as someone they are not: Gatsby tries to appear as a successful man who comes from a wealthy family while Myrtle longs to appear as an upper class woman. Their lies have tragic results since Myrtle, Gatsby and Mr. Wilson all die needlessly. However, Tom, who seems to be successful, lies because he is selfish and thinks only about fulfilling his personal needs. Clearly, The Great Gatsby demonstrates that deceiving others, for any reason, inevitably leads to tragedy for the individual and others who touch their lives.
Tom knew Myrtle better than any of the main characters. He had met her on a train headed for New York. When the train reached the city, she went with him in a taxi, and their affair began. Tom never made much of an effort to keep their relationship secret. In fact, he almost paraded her around in the presence of his acquaintances. They made frequent trips into New York so that they could be together. Myrtle was Tom's escape from his own life in East Egg. While Daisy provided him with a wealthy, acceptable social image, she was not much more to him than a mere possession. His affair with Myrtle offered him a chance to defy his social expectations. Their relationship was important to him because of this opportunity to escape. When Myrtle died, it shook him deeply, especially because he believed Gatsby had been driving the yellow car. After leaving George Wilson's garage the night of the accident, he managed to drive slowly until he and Nick were out of sight. Then he slammed his foot down on the accelerator, driving much faster. He began quietly sobbing, privately mourning her death. He immediately blamed Gatsby for bringing their relationship to an abrupt halt. "That God damned coward!" he cried. "He didn't even stop his car." His feelings of anger and hurt were greatly intensified by the day spent in New York....
For example, “...Tom Buchanan and his girl and I went up together to New York...for Mrs.Wilson sat discreetly in another car” (26). Even though Tom is close to Myrtle, he knows how detrimental it would be to his reputation if one of his rich friends saw him with Mrytle, so he makes her sit in another car. Likewise, Tom realizes the recklessness in his choices he is doing because it is both bad for himself, if someone in the “secret” society finds out he has a mistress. Also, it is bad for Daisy because she is getting cheated on without even knowing. Along with Gatsby and Tom, Daisy also commits reckless behavior when she does not go to Gatsby’s funeral. All his life, Gatsby acquired wealth and a huge mansion on the Long Island Sound right across from Daisy’s house, just to impress Daisy. He even hosted extravagant parties to attract Daisy to his house. After Daisy decides she does not want to go to Gatsby 's funeral, Nick Carraway concludes, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast
The passage in which Myrtle Wilson is killed exemplifies the recklessness of Daisy and Tom. Daisy sees Myrtle running out into the road and at first swerves toward the other car and seems to change her mind and just collide with Myrtle and continue on. Afterwards, Tom and Daisy just pack up and leave, without even attending Gatsby’s funeral. Nick seems to think they used their position in society to escape any mess they had gotten themselves into. Later on in the book, Nick says, "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness." That quote supports the way Daisy and Tom acted with the Myrtle incident. In this passage they retreat back into both their money and carelessness by running away.
Later, during a confrontation in the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby still believes that Daisy loves him. He is convinced of this as is shown when he takes the blame for Myrtle's death even though it had been Daisy who was driving. He also watches and protects Daisy as she returns home that night after all the secret affairs come unfolded, agreeing to stay all night waiting outside her house if Tom tries anything.
He didn't however and kept pursuing Daisy in secret arrangements and going as far as telling Tom that she never loved him. Tom easily crushes him and drives home with Daisy in Gatsby's car. Daisy is at the wheel when they drive by Wilson's garage. Myrtle runs to the car to drive away with Tom, but she is run over and killed by Daisy.(Fitzgerald 131-136) Tom tells Wilson that he saw Gatsby's car as that car that ran his wife over, and Wilson then shoots Gatsby. If Gatsby had just stopped his pursuit of Daisy, none of this would have happened. But his own delusion and ambitions led to his
He comes from a wealthy family and is quick to use his money against others. Buchanan often changes locations to escape situations caused by his reckless behavior. Abusive, masculine, and arrogant, Tom boasts about his power over others. Comments suggesting his mistrust of Daisy fly from his lips, but he has an ongoing affair with Myrtle Wilson. A party leaves her with a broken nose because Buchanan, thinking he is superior, punches her in the face. He barks contemptuous remarks toward those of other races. Furthermore, Buchanan, ”a brute of a man“, delights in dominating others (Fitzgerald 7). Boisterous and pompous, he parades Myrtle around the city, right in front of her husband, and speaks to her on the phone in front of his wife and guests. Later, he blames Gatsby for the tryst with her, and Wilson shoots Jay and himself. Tom’s personality fits all the mentioned traits in the article. As elucidated, these characteristics are harmful to society because individuals like Gatsby and the Wilsons end up dead due to Tom’s negligence. Nevertheless, Tom sheds a tear when his girlfriend dies, and he becomes increasingly nervous when he finds Gatsby and Daisy in love. Moving on, he masks his anxiety with snide commentary and egotism. Wealth and deceit buy freedom, so this egregious man continues an impulsive cycle that repeatedly results in