More handpicked essays just for you.
The Buchanan's view on the great gatsby
Tom buchanan as villain great gatsby
Essay on Tom Buchanan and George Wilson from the Great Gatsby
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
A Freudian Analysis of Tom Buchanan
Tom Buchanan is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most infantile character his novel The Great Gatsby. He is driven by his animalistic impulses and is incapable of maintaining any level of commitment to his wife, Daisy—especially when thwarted with other viable options on whom to, quite literally, thrust his desires. In this paper, I will use a Freudian psychoanalysis to examine Tom’s behavior and actions and assess how his childhood and collegiate background may have impacted his inability to uphold a culturally appropriate level of self-control.
The first insight readers get into Tom Buchanan is in Nick’s explanation of Tom’s childhood in which he describes Tom’s family as “enormously wealthy”, but that he seemed to drift about in his adult life search a sort of “dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable
…show more content…
football game” (Fitzgerald, 1995, p. 10). In this description, it is evident that Nick is aware of Tom’s subconscious longing for a spectacle of some sort to take place—one of which he is at the center whether for a positive or negative reason. This may stem from a desire for attention that was not granted to him in his childhood. In addition, this assessment of Tom proves fair and relevant as he partakes in several encounters with other characters that prove his having an innate need for attention which is uncontrollable, thus demonstrating that his id is his main source of control (or lack there of). The id leads to impulsive decisions that result in displays of crude misbehavior. Outlined below are just a few examples out of numerous instances: • Tom speaks on his racist ideologies at a dinner party saying, “It’s up to us, the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.” The others present humor his discussion, but it is clear that they do not buy into what he believes to be scientific research and logic. Also, this is clearly not appropriate dinner conversation and he ends his speech only to answer a phone call from his mistress (Fitzgerald, 1995, p. 17). • Tom unethically brings Nick (Daisy’s cousin) to meet his mistress, Myrtle. Nick, though uncomfortable, complies. The two kiss in the presence of her husband who is not paying attention at that moment (Fitzgerald, 1995, p. 27). • Tom and Myrtle begin to discuss whether she has a right to say Daisy’s name. Though Tom is cheating on his wife, he thinks it wrong of his mistress to mention her name, and when she does in an outburst, he hits her, breaking her nose (Fitzgerald, 1995, p. 41). • Two or three months into his marriage with Daisy, Tom was in the papers for a car accident with a chambermaid of a hotel where the two were staying.
This is his supposed first instance of cheating on his wife, though numerous other infidelities have followed (Fitzgerald, 1995, p. 82).
In just these few instances, readers begin to piece together Tom’s lack of impulse control. His desire for attention overtakes his other traits, and this only becomes clearer when Tom begins to lose those who give him the attention.
Towards the end of the novel, Tom begins to lose Daisy to Gatsby and Myrtle to her husband, Wilson. These shifts in their attention leave Tom feeling redundant. As described by Nick, Tom was feeling “hot whips of panic” upon losing the control, of his “secure and inviolate” wife and mistress (Fitzgerald, 1995, p. 131). Without these women to maintain what little grounding in moral behavior Tom has, he becomes frantic and delusional causing an even more thoughtless outburst in the Plaza hotel scene in which he confronts Gatsby for stealing his wife. When asked to uphold a “little self-control” by Daisy, he refutes
shouting: “Self control! 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…. Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.” (Fitzgerald, 1995, p. 132) Tom, in just this one monologue, displays a lack of self-control and ironically executes a belief for monogamy to be upheld in marriage. In addition, he explains that he cares what others think of his family despite having been in the newspapers for an affair and continuing to have additional relationships throughout his marriage to Daisy, and completes his speech with even more of his racist principles. In this moment, his impulsive dialogue is at its peak. He displays not only a lack of control but also a subconscious need for attention.
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.
What about your little affairs? How many times have you gone on one of your sprees? 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. Daisy turned from Tom and began to sob, “did it ever come to your mind Tom that I need a little some love too?”
She became used to him being unfaithful to her that she suggests to him after leaving him during Gatsby wild party “ and if you want to take down any addresses here’s my little gold pencil” (105). Tom and Myrtle relationship caused problems more in Myrtle life rather than Tom’s because unlike Tom’s wide, Wilson was unaware about her unfaithfulness and reacted way differently by becoming sick. In Nick’s perspective, he explains, “He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick” (124). Wilson behaves in way by having her locked in a room until he gets the car to move away but soon enough for jealousy to strike among Myrtle about Tom and his wife which later causes her death. Her death occurred because of the greatly amount of envy she has towards Daisy and her lifestyle with Tom. The feelings that she felt showed upon her by having “…one emotion after another crept into her face like objects into a slowly developing picture” (124). This single small affair between Tom and Myrtle became something bigger than expected by a heart broken husband, dishonesty, and death among a mistress. This crime is much relatable to many affairs in the world that ends really bad divorces and trust issues from the dishonesty from their significant
Daisy will never leave Tom as he represents the social class she wants. Tom comes from old money similar to Daisy; if Daisy left Tom she would lose her social class and automatically be disowned from the old money class of New York. Likewise, irony is used to effectively illustrate Tom Buchanan’s hypocritical nature. After Tom finds out that Daisy and Gatsby are romantically involved, he insults Gatsby left and right. He goes as far to say that, “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife” (130). His statement here is deemed ironic. He is enraged and offended that someone else is having an affair with his wife, yet he is doing the same thing to another man’s wife, Myrtle Winston. It as if Tom can cheat on Daisy, but when Daisy does it all hell breaks loose. Irony is also well utilized to show how two faced a character Tom is. When Myrtle dies, Tom immediately becomes Mr. Wilson’s right hand man. He told the policeman “I’m his friend (140)” while he had “his hands firm on Mr. Wilson’s body”.(140) This situation is ironic as Tom is putting a front that he is a good person and that Mr. Wilson can lean on him when
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....
Throughout the novel, one of Tom 's biggest careless acts was when he cheated on Daisy. Tom is a cocky, confident man shown many times throughout the novel like when Nick arrived at his house and "Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch" (Fitzgerald 6). His stance showed his arrogance, and how highly he thought of himself because of his wealth. Tom was a man who often acted without thinking things through, like having an affair with Myrtle. Despite both Tom and Myrtle being married, they both had affairs. Tom doesn 't hide his affair from Nick and introduces him to his mistress Myrtle at Wilson 's garage. Tom doesn 't seem to care if anyone finds out because he feels as though nothing would change due to his wealth. While at Myrtle 's husbands garage, Tom tells Myrtle to meet him at the train station. They end up going to their apartment in New York City that they keep for their affair. While at the Morningside Height 's apartment Myrtle starts to talk about Tom 's wife Daisy, ""Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!" shouted Mrs. Wilson. "I 'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai-"" (Fitzgerald 37). Tom didn 't like Myrtle overstepping her boundaries and to show
Wilson shows this attribute by telling Michaelis the man who runs the coffee shop adjacent to Wilsons business that he had his wife locked up and, “she’s going to stay there till the day after to-morrow, and then we’re going to move away” (Fitzgerald pg136). This statement shows that Wilson will do what he believes is best when Myrtles involved, and her opinion has no weight in his decision making process. Tom also shows his dominant mentality in chapter 7 when Tom and Gatsby are arguing over Daisy and Tom ejects, “She’s not leaving me!” (Fitzgerald pg133). This statement shows that Tom has a sense as if he has ownership of Daisy and makes her decisions for
At the hotel gathering, Gatsby struggles to persuade Daisy to confront her husband and she responds with “Oh, you want too much! . . . I did love him once--but I loved you too” (Fitzgerald 132). Daisy desperately tries to satisfy Gatsby but his imagination blocks his mind to such a degree that it eliminates his chances of learning how to comprehend reality. After Myrtle’s murder, Nick advises Gatsby to leave town but instead he realizes that “[Gatsby] wouldn’t consider it. He couldn’t possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do. He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bear to shake him free” (Fitzgerald 148). No matter how hard Nick attempts to help him make the better choice, Gatsby continues to skew his priorities like a juvenile. Unfortunately for Gatsby, Daisy stays with Tom, a more secure and experienced adult, leaving Gatsby alone. As Gatsby’s life loses his vitality, he obviously needs learn how to act like an adult and survive in the world; but unable to accomplish this, Wilson kills him soon
Tom wanted the "possession" of Myrtle, Myrtle wanted Tom's "luxuries and wealth," and Daisy wanted Gatsby simply for his wealth. Both Tom and Daisy know each other's affairs, but neither one truly cares. As the story progresses, it seems as though each of them is trying to make the other jealous. Honesty and Love, two words known only by the faithful, George Wilson. George certainly had his flaws, but he loved his wife dearly and couldn't live without her. "He was his wife's man and not his own." When he became aware of Tom and Myrtle's affair, he was "really sick, pale as his own pale hair and shaking all over." He locked her up in fear that she would run away with Tom forever.
Tom’s education, money and upbringing certainly represents Fitzgerald’s idea of the upper class. He is described as “a sturdy, straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face, and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward … you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat.
Their reactions to this betrayal have some similarities and differences. Both husbands reacted simile in the way they tried to keep their wives anyway from the person they were cheating with. After learning about their wives discrepancies both men become more willing to fight for their wives affection. The two of them would do anything necessary to get their wives back. But Tom and George had different methods in separating their wives from that other person who they were cheating with. Tom did so by learning incriminating evidence about Gatsby just to exploit his false persona to Daisy. During his exploitation, Tom, “...picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him and wasn’t far wrong.”(133) These facts freighted Daisy and made her believe that she didn’t actually really know of Gatsby was. This lead to Daisy returning to her husband, Tom. Myrtle, his wife, by literally separating her from returning to the other man. He locks her in their upstairs bedroom and began preparing the couple to move west anyway from the man she was having an affair
Myrtle is, as Daisy, impressed with Tom's wealth and appearance, but, like Jay Gatsby, is stuck in a fantastic, idealized perception of her object of affection. Even when abused and trampled over by Tom, Myrtle continues to adore him, just as Gatsby continues to dote upon Daisy after being obviously rejected by her. As far as ethical considerations, Gatsby tends to prove himself a sincere and caring person, while Daisy and Tom just destroy the lives of two people and then leave town to escape the consequences of their actions.
Buchanan is constantly behaving contrary to his thoughts in this novel. Tom is very insecure and scrambles for control as he hides his self-confidence. He shows his distress with himself when Daisy comments on his new habit of reading “profound books” about white supremacy. Even though he was born into incredible money and privilege, he has a fear it could be taken away by social climbers. That insecurity only translates into even more obvious corruption of his power - flaunting his relationship with Myrtle, revealing Gatsby as a bootlegger, and manipulating George to kill Gatsby. Tom will face some consequences for his actions but in the end of the novel he is still able to sweep Daisy away with him. He will first be met with a brief moment of anguish when he finds out of Daisy and Jay's long rooted relationship and on top of that, he learned of his mistress moving out West. Tom will react to his uncomfortability by pleading and yelling and will eventually get his way, but probably not for much
Tom Buchanan epitomizes the advent of moral uncertainty of the Modernist Era. Upon Tom’s introduction in the novel, Fitzgerald makes his lack of morals very evident. When Nick goes to have dinner with the Buchanans and Jordan, he learns something new about Tom. Jordan tells Nick something she believed everyone knew.
“When our bodies are in disrepair, our personalities suffer along with it” (Healthyplace.com)”. In their relationship Tom has a lot of control over Daisy and their relationship. He does not allow Daisy to have a say in things.Tom seems to keep Daisy in the dark and keep her out of some of the things going on in his life. When Tom starts seeing Myrtle he thinks that it is okay and he doesn't seem to feel at all bad about it. Tom thinks that it it okay for him to do this but if Daisy ever did something like this it would not be okay.Tom becomes furious at the idea that Daisy and Gatsby could be having an affair but doesn't think twice about him and Myrtle. One very important thing that Daisy lacks is the ability to care about her daughter. This is show when Daisy says “ I hope she’ll be a fool. That’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool (Fitzgerald 17). This shows how Daisy think that women have no place in this world and that they should only be thought of as an object and not as a person. These thoughts come from the relationship that Daisy has with