F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the novel The Great Gatsby to show how the wealthy community coexisted during the Roaring Twenties. The two important characters in this story that show the differences between classes are Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Both these characters contribute directly to the tragic ending. In the novel, Jay Gatsby believes that his new found wealth and power will help him acquire his long awaited dream and eventually his happiness. In order to obtain this dream, Gatsby has to renew his love affair with Daisy a young woman from Gatsby’s past whom he loved dearly but lost. Gatsby had a love affair with Daisy, in his younger years, however Gatsby knew that it would not amount to marriage because they were from different social …show more content…
Tom, Daisy’s husband, even though he wants her seems to take her for granted and this is proven by the fact that he cheats on her. “The fact that he had one was insisted upon wherever he was known. His acquaintances resented the fact that he turned up in popular restaurants with her and, leaving her at her table, sauntered about, chatting with whomsoever he knew” (24). Tom seems to believe that he is and has everything, and that he possesses all the power so therefore he can do anything that he wants, even abuse his wife. “Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed expression on her little finger. ‘Look!’ she complained. ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked – the knuckle was black and blue. ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly. ‘I know you didn’t mean to, but you did do it. That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen of a –’ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy” (11-12). Tom is under the impression that Daisy can’t and wouldn’t leave him as why would she because he is better than her, based on Tom’s perspective. It is only when Gatsby comes into the picture that Tom understands that Daisy can leave him and that is a unacceptable thought in Tom’s mind. On the other hand there is Gatsby who has accumulated wealth by practicing shady business deals with the sole …show more content…
They are both able to flourish and spend their money anytime and anywhere they want, without any worry. Gatsby throws lavish parties every weekend, with the hopes of gaining back his true love, Daisy. “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his motor-boats slid the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before” (39). Likewise, Tom lives in an extravagant house and makes sure that everyone is aware that he is above them. Tom believes and wants others to believe that he is superior and that everyone is beneath him. “Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping
She chooses the extravagant lifestyle that Tom is capable of providing instead of patiently waiting for her true love. The self-centered desires she displays demonstrates the lack of authetic love she promised Gatsby. Instead, she marries Tom “without so much as a shiver”, demonstrating her hedonistic mindset (76). Since Tom treats Daisy with minimal care, she thoughtlessly dives into an adulterous affair with Jay Gatsby. With no severe intentions towards marriage, she always “ought to have something in her life” to fulfill her heart (79).
Wanting to gain status, Gatsby shows his wealth by throwing extravagant parties and purchasing expensive items to display. To announce himself as a man of wealth to the New York upper class, he purchases a “factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (5), his mansion in West Egg. It is here that he chooses to throw parties every weekend, where everyone shows up, though rarely people are actually invited. It is here that he is able to show off the true extent of his wealth to other rich folk. For example, in his library, he has a collection of “absolutely real” books, rather than “durable cardboard” (45), expected by Owl Eye, and attendant of one of Gatsby’s parties.
Wealth and greed can easily change a person’s lives. One of the major changes is that you can destroy your life in a way that can affect your decisions in the future. Just like how Tom and Daisy are, in The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, that follows Jay Gatsby, a man who orders his life around one desire: to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. Gatsby's quest leads him from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved, and eventually to death.
Firstly, being selfless and accommodating to others needs and wants is not something that the society in this time period can be proud of. Daisy, Tom and Gatsby develop the trait of selfishness in many ways throughout the novel. Daisy Buchanan is a wealthy woman who lives in the East egg and is married to Tom Buchanan. Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Jordan and Nick all go to town when Tom and Gatsby break into an argument because Tom finds out that Gatsby and Daisy are having an affair. Gatsby tells Tom the truth about Daisy and himself because Tom bombards him with questions when he says, “’She never loves you, do you hear?’
This callous disregard for Myrtle’s life further emphasizes Tom’s lack of empathy and humanity. Additionally, Tom demonstrates his treatment of Daisy as a possession to be controlled when he states, "I've got a nice place here… you ought to see the baby" (16). This quote reveals how Tom sees Daisy and her daughter as objects that complement his possessions, rather than human beings with their own desires and aspirations. Tom's treatment of Daisy serves as a powerful example of how the pursuit of wealth can dehumanize individuals and erode their sense of empathy, as he values his own wealth and social status more than her life and freedom. He also uses his wealth and power to maintain his position of privilege in society.
Tom’s and Gatsby’s party differed in almost every aspect possible. While Tom’s party was a small party to assert his dominance to his mistress and friends, Gatsby’s party was to lure and impress the love of his life. Tom’s party displayed his snobby old money ideals by not spending much money and effort, while Gatsby’s party symbolized new money with its excessive and flaunting spending and grandiose show. The level of intimacy at both parties differed significantly. Despite Tom’s party being small, it was far from intimate with all the guests budging into all conversations, Nick couldn’t even have a talk with Catherine long enough without Ms. Mckee budging in.
Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby are two main characters in the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby and Tom are similar in many ways but Gatsby is a better character because he cares for people and their feelings. Throughout the novel you can see how alike these two are and What is the difference between Gatsby and Tom Bouchernon. Tom and Gatsby have many things in common, one being their love for Daisy. Tom and Gatsby both showed their love for Daisy in different ways.
Throughout The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main focus of the plot appears to be on the erratic relationships that Nick, the narrator, observes over his time spent in West Egg. The main relationship however is the romance between Nick’s wealthy neighbor Jay Gatsby, and Nick’s cousin Daisy Buchanan, who is married to a rich man named Tom Buchanan. Over the course of the book, Gatsby’s “love” for Daisy leads both of them to pursue an affair that ends in the death of Gatsby, by a man who mistook him for his wife’s killer. The book, at first glance, attempts to make the romance of Gatsby and Daisy seem like a wonderful heart-wrenching reunion of two lovers after years of being apart from one another. However, there are many signs that
Both tom Buchanan and George Wilson are two vastly different people but are alike in the most unusual ways. They are the only two characters in the book to use violence; both say they “love” Myrtle and both fight for their women only when they are about to lose them. That is where the similarities cease. Tom is the man who cheats on his wife daisy, with George 's wife Myrtle, and then proceeds to slap her when she would not stop speaking Daisy 's name. George, on the other hand, is a passionate and faithful husband to Myrtle and is crushed to learn that she was cheating on him so much so that he assassinates Gatsby whom he thinks was cheating with myrtle and murdered to get rid of the evidence of his adultery.
In an attempt to win Daisy back from her lifestyle of “Old Money”, Gatsby becomes excessively greedy with his money. While he himself may not care about wealth, he knows Daisy does. Therefore, when Daisy comes to his mansion, he flaunts his expensive shirts. “‘They’re such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. ‘It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.’”
Jay Gatsby, the title character of the novel “The Great Gatsby” is a man that can not seem to live without the love of his life. Trying to win Daisy over consumes Gatsby’s life as he tries to become the person he thinks she would approve of. What most readers do not realize is that Jay Gatsby’s character mirrors many personality traits and concerns that the author of novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald, had. In fact, Gatsby and Fitzgerald are similar in that they both had a girl they wanted to win over, took a strong stance on alcohol, and ironically both had similar funerals, also, both people also symbolize the American dream.
It is not good enough for Daisy to say she loves him, she has to say that she never loved Tom. Gatsby refuses to
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the themes of love, lust and obsession, through the character of Jay Gatsby, who confuses lust and obsession with love. The character of Jay Gatsby was a wealthy business man, who the author developed as arrogant and tasteless. Gatsby 's love interest, Daisy Buchanan, was a subdued socialite who was married to the dim witted Tom Buchanan. She is the perfect example of how women of her level of society were supposed to act in her day. The circumstances surrounding Gatsby and Daisy 's relationship kept them eternally apart.
“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 138). These words, spoken by Tom Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby, exemplify the personality traits that are omnipresent throughout the novel. Tom is Daisy Buchanan’s husband whom she marries after her first love, Jay Gatsby, leaves for the war.
In The Great Gatsby, Tom sacrifices the marriage he has with Daisy by pursuing an affair with Myrtle Wilson. However, it can be argued how big of a sacrifice it is that he made as in the 1930s, it was common for upper class men to have a mistress as well as a wife, and it is suggested that Daisy is aware of the affair but remains with Tom anyway. Tom’s physical power is exhibited through ‘“Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!”