Why Is Tom Important In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby was a book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald who wrote the book based off the 1920s or as many called it “the roaring 20s”. The story takes place in New York which was separated by two basic areas which were called the “West Egg” and the “East Egg”. The East Egg was known for their old money and the West Egg was known for their new money, although the East Egg residents looked down upon the West Eggers they still had money and their standard or wealth; unfortunately there was another area that separated people by their class and the place was called The Valley of Ashes. This was the place that no one in the 1920s strived to be because this was the poorest side of town. Everyone in this era wanted to be wealthier than the next

In the beginning of the novel, Daisy and the readers find out that Tom is hiding something from Daisy. Jordan states, “She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don’t you think?” This quote suggests that Tom is cheating on Daisy with another woman. We see early on that their relationship isn’t ideal, Tom seems to be very mentally abusive toward Daisy, constantly degrading her implying that he might not even actually care about her and the reason he stays with her is because she is the “dream woman” woman who every male fawns over. Daisy seems to have everything that the American Dream basically requires wealth, a family, and love. But the one thing she doesn’t have is happiness she became corrupted by this dream. She thought she had everything she would ever need but she knows that isn’t true, Daisy has a daughter who she wants best for she doesn’t wat her daughter to struggle with her happiness like Daisy has. Daisy states, “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool” (). During this time there were very limited possibilities for women to become rich and successful unless the married a man who was wealthy, and not for love.

His love and devotion to Daisy took over his whole life, he is the poster child for the American Dream in the novel but he felt as if he needed to live up to these standards in order to accomplish his dream, which was to marry Daisy. Gatsby and Daisy were together before she met Tom, but while Gatsby went off to fight in the war Daisy couldn’t wait for him and married Tom. When Gatsby came back he thinks that in order to win Daisy back he needed money so he can give Daisy everything that she would ever want. Gatsby looked too a green light that shined across the bay to where Daisy lived to keep her in his thoughts and as a sign to never give up on their love. It’s very obvious to the readers that Daisy isn’t what Gatsby expects her to be, this isn’t the case for Gatsby unfortunately he doesn’t see what the reader sees from an outside perspective. We know that although Gatsby tries to fulfill his fantasy to be with Daisy it’ll never come true. The green light means many things in the novel and but the most obvious is hope and jealousy, he still has hope that him and Daisy will be together and he’s jealous that Tom has what he wants so desperately, Gatsby wants everyone to like him and be impressed with what he has, and more importantly he wants Daisy to see him as the perfect man. “We both looked down at the grass – there was a sharp line where my ragged lawn ended and the darker, well-kept