Tom Buchanan is an interesting character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald carefully develops Tom’s personality, and this successfully results in the existence of an essential character who contributes to a lot of the story’s drama. Early on, the reader can see that Tom is not a good person, and this only continues to shine as he appears in the story.
Tom is introduced in the first chapter, and almost immediately the narrator notes that he lives among the wealthiest people in New York in beautiful East Egg. Additionally, it is mentioned that he had previously lived in other places central for rich people including Chicago and France. Tom grew up in a very wealthy family, which granted him opportunities
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like attending Yale University and owning an entire “string of polo ponies from Lake Forest” (6). Throughout the story, Fitzgerald emphasizes that the characters at the top of society’s riches are far from perfect, so the reader quickly establishes the fact that Tom is a corrupted person. Tom’s physical appearance says a lot about who he is as a character.
He has a lot of muscle in his legs and upper body, a trait that the narrator assumes is largely attributed to his current and past athletic lifestyle. His “two shining arrogant eyes” that “established dominance over his face” give the impression that he is vain (7). His voice, one characteristic that the narrator ponders in depth, is said to be deep and masculine but with an edge of harshness, which again supports his arrogant nature. Still early in the novel, Daisy makes reference to one of Tom’s most intimidating features, his height, which she describes as “great, big, [and] hulking” (12). All of these factors contribute to Tom’s character with the idea that he is …show more content…
egocentric. Tom is promptly shown to be a racist man. After he mentions that he had recently read Theodore Stoddard’s The Rise of the Colored Empires, he launches into a somewhat lengthy explanation about the book’s main ideas and how they relate to real life. In his description, he calls whites the “dominant race” and fears that people of other races will soon “have control of things” (13). The length and sense of urgency that is evident throughout his depiction of Stoddard’s work shows that Tom believes in white superiority and is therefore racist. During the events of chapter two, Tom is further defined by his high social class in that he is abusive.
Although he claims that he is happy with his wife Daisy, he still is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson, a married woman from one of the poorest parts of New York. Because of Myrtle’s low class, Tom orders her to get the drinks for the guests in their New York apartment (32). Later in the night, he breaks her nose when she starts screaming Daisy’s name, which shows that Tom does not really love Myrtle as he is more devoted to protecting his wife’s image. Instead, he uses her to supply mutual satisfaction for himself and Myrtle, but refuses to love her any more than he needs to for the
affair. Much later in the novel, Tom begins to suspect Daisy’s affair with Gatsby. While at one of Gatsby’s weekend parties, he assumes that Gatsby is a bootlegger, and he “make[s] a point of finding out” how Gatsby really earned his wealth that evening (108). In the next chapter, he finally discovers the affair and confronts Gatsby about it in front of Daisy. He also reveals what he discovered about Gatsby, all of which relates to how he managed to attain his wealth. After Tom realizes that Daisy will not turn away from him, he allows Gatsby drive Daisy back to their East Egg home. In this section, Tom is being characterized by his superiority and arrogance because he seems to be flaunting that Daisy will not leave him. Throughout the layers of Tom's personality, there is one common trait that is difficult to overlook. From his current extramarital affair with Myrtle to the ones that he had even just weeks after his honeymoon (77) Tom lacks a strong or even sensible amount of morality. On top of that, he is a hypocrite. He finds it challenging to accept that Daisy ever loved Gatsby and accuses her of lacking morality, but doesn’t acknowledge his own indecency in return. By the end of the novel, Tom and Daisy seem to be on better terms with each other, and they promptly abscond from New York. The two characters have decided to devote themselves to each other, which is the only time in the novel that Tom’s personality changes for the better. Tom is an essential character whose personality never takes a fully positive turn. He is best known for being an arrogant, “hulking,” immoral, and abusive person who takes advantage of his high status. Although Tom realizes his mistake of not devoting himself to Daisy by the end of the story, he is still an overall bad person due to his immorality and vanity. Therefore, Fitzgerald was successful in creating a static character who was essential to much of the plot’s development.
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 novel,” The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author portrays inner conflicts of Tom Buchanans through various vices that have negative effects on the individuals surrounding him. Tom is a wealthy white male that was born into a wealthy family. He went to school with the narrator, Nick. Tom is married to Nick’s cousin, Daisy. Nick describes Tom as, “It was a body capable of enormous leverage—a cruel body… His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed (Fitzgerald 7).” This description of Tom leads us to not like him as much. There is a use of negative words that help us to form our first
It ended with an even more disgusting event: Tom broke Myrtle’s nose because she dared to mention his wife’s name many times. Tom lets himself be brutal and free from conventionalities of the upper class; thus, he behaves also more naturally, but he does not want to lose Daisy and all that she represents.
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
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....
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is his statement of lifestyle in America in the 20’s. The author develops unlikable characters like Tom Buchanan an Old Money racist and Daisy a vapid spoilt individual to show the greediness and wealth in the 20’s. Overall, the worst character in this novel is Daisy Buchanan because she is careless, insensitive, and disloyal.
Tom realizes her desperate situation and takes total advantage of her. The clearest example of this is when Myrtle shouts Daisy’s name and Tom warns her not to say it again but Myrtle says Daisy's name anyway. Tom Buchanan in a “A short deft movement..., breaks her nose with his open hand.” Tom views her as not even being allowed to lick the dirt of his shoe. She is just another one of Tom’s possessions. Myrtle isn’t even allowed to say Daisy's name. He knows that she's in desperate situation. Tom is all she has and he knows this, he could do whatever he wants. He realizes that without her she will have to go back to George’s measly garage and she doesn't want that. Therefore Tom takes control of her desperation. Additionally, at the party, Catherine tells Nick that neither of them can stand the person they’re married to. They don't divorce and marry one another because Daisy is a Catholic. Nick knows that Tom is lying indicating to the reader, yet again, that Tom uses Myrtle for his own pleasure. She is nothing to him and he could do this because of Myrtle’s desperation. Another example in the novel is Mr. McKee asks Tom for a reference to be able to work in West Egg and Tom replies “Ask Myrtle,” said Tom, breaking into a short shout of laughter as Mrs. Wilson entered with a tray. “She’ll give you a letter of introduction, won’t you Myrtle?” She answers in confusion “Do what?” Tom is mocking her in front of
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
Tom Buchanan is described as having a strong and repugnant presence. He was a star athlete at Yale and is restless after his glory days of playing there, “…had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven-a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterwards savours of anti-climax” (page 10). He is arrogant and seems to believe that he can have anything that he wants. Even though he has a wife and child, he has no problem with having a mistress on the side and does not care that others, including his wife, know about it. In addition, Tom is very self-absorbed and cares only about himself and his own desires. Tom was what Daisy’s family considered to be suitable for their daughter. That, along with his money, is mainly why she married him.
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.
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.
First off, Tom states, “And what's more, 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). Tom thinks because he loves Daisy
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.
Tom Buchanan is Daisy’s rich, uptight, rude husband. He is a racist bigot and thinks the world revolves around him. Tom makes himself out to be a powerful man through
Scott Fitzgerald designed Tom Buchanan in an effort to showcase the absurd idea that society is conforming to-- the idea that being unfaithful to a significant other is morally justifiable. Fitzgerald was not naive when it came to the people around him, and he uses his writings to allude to the major problems that society faces. Statistics drawn have shown that infidelity has increasingly been becoming more popular, especially with the younger generations. This page about the “truth about deception” found that cheating is more common for those under thirty and is becoming more popular in modern times due to the increasing amount of younger members of society having numerous amounts of sexual relationships before marriage. Not only was F. Scott Fitzgerald able to accurately illustrate a growing problem through his character, Tom Buchanan, but he was also able to portray through this character just how few cheaters actually leave their original relationships that were unsatisfying to them. According to a study completed by the Pennsylvania State University, it was found that those who cheat in the relationship were less likely to leave the relationship while those who discovered that his or her partner was unfaithful were more likely. Tom fits these facts well-- even though he is thirty in the timeline of “The Great Gatsby”, his relationship with Myrtle Wilson was said in the novel to have been going on for some time, and he had also confessed in being in other affairs before. Even though he knew his actions and how it was hurting his wife, he still refused to leave her or let her leave him when she found a man who would give her the love she