Tom Buchanan Character Analysis Essay

In our reading we have met cheaters, liars, killers, and bullies. I believe that the worst character we have encountered is Tom Buchanan from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tom is an abusive and arrogant man. He is different from Kino, whose decisions were backed by pure intentions. Kino wanted a good life for Coyotito, but Tom is just a selfish man. His intentions are rooted in pride, arrogance, and greed. In my opinion, this makes him a worse character.

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

Tom shows that he is misogynistic by the way he treats Daisy and Myrtle. Women are clearly objects and/or prizes to Tom, and he does not care about their feelings. He also shows that he has racist values. He showcases them by voicing his opinion on interracial marriage and by reading racist books such as The Rise of the Colored Empire. These are two qualities in a person that play a strong role in whether or not I associate with a person. Tom also values wealth greatly, but people who have recently acquired their wealth seem lesser to him than people who were born into a wealthy

After Myrtle was hit and killed by a car, Tom told George, her husband, that the person driving the car was Gatsby. It was actually Daisy who killed Myrtle, but Gatsby paid the price for her mistake. George Wilson went to Gatsby’s mansion and shot Gatsby while he was in the pool. After killing Gatsby, George took the gun and commited suicide. Then, Tom took Daisy and their child and moved away and left Nick Carraway without his cousin or his friend. Tom did not care about Gatsby’s death, even though he was someone his wife