Navya Tyagali Whitt American Literature Honors 7 21 September 2022 Tom Buchanan: Does Deceit and Duplicity Make Him the Apex Predator? “The Great Gatsby reads like a warning. For as much as it is a story about the American dream, it is also a story about power under threat, and of how that power, lashing out, can render truth irrelevant” (Smith). In her article “How The Great Gatsby Explains Trump,” Rosa Smith illustrates how within Gatsby, the act of “lashing out” due to a surfeit of power is carried through by Tom Buchanan, the double-dealing antagonist of the novel. Tom demonstrates how power trumps all, and how when one possesses power, they have the capability to write their own truth. Smith contends that when power is valued above any …show more content…
Rosa Smith elaborates that “Tom… turns Wilson’s need for vengeance to his advantage—just as Trump, with his anti-immigrant rhetoric, played to the previously unspeakable fears of those who felt their country had been taken from them.” Throughout The Great Gatsby, Tom feeds off of George Wilson’s loyalty to him — and hangs the prospect of new business in front of Wilson like a carrot to a horse. To trick Wilson into trusting him, Tom continuously promises Wilson a car to sell, using manipulative tactics whenever Wilson’s faith wavers. When Wilson begins questioning Tom, he contends that “if you feel that way about it, maybe I’d better sell… [the car] somewhere else after all” (Fitzgerald 24). Tom’s necessity for Wilson’s trust stems from his affair with Wilson’s wife — so naturally, Tom makes prodigious promises to keep Wilson from being wary of his calculating intentions. Wilson is blinded with the belief that Tom is a friend, someone he can truly trust, and it’s this blind faith that ultimately leads Wilson to his demise. Trump adopts these exact tendencies with his “Muslim ban” and anti-immigration policies. He convinced his supporters that the policies will truly benefit their own lives — which is distinctly untrue. The anti-immigration laws do not actually benefit our economy, as immigration increases …show more content…
As individuals get caught up in the chase, moral and ethical integrity take a backseat — as demonstrated through Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby. By virtue of his Machiavellian outlook of the world, Buchanan’s persona is even now reflected in American culture. His nature is still buried deep within modern affairs — specifically in American politics with former President Trump. The pair share an exorbitant amount of respect for socioeconomic status, and care not about who they hurt to maintain this power. In this world of demagoguery that Buchanan and Trump have so meticulously designed, no relationship is tantamount to the taste of power. This is the augury that Fitzgerald conveys through Gatsby: the consequences of holding pure power to such a high regard — consequences that were relevant at the height of jazz age — and are just as relevant today. As displayed in Tom, the constant desire to remain the apex predator forces individuals into a ruthless, unilateral way of thinking — a mindset where one only sees the material and transactional use of others, where moral integrity falls short to personal satisfaction. To quote Nick Carraway: “They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness... and let other people clean up the mess they had
F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby, wrote Tom whose flaws are being a cheater and abusive person. Tom Buchanan’s abusive behavior towards his lovers in the book is something that should never be overlooked. One could overlook the cheating due to being blind in love and money, but abuse is crossing the line of morality. Even though everyone knew about his behavior, he never tried to change and continued to hurt them. It is not possible to overlook his physical abusive behavior even if he is a wealthy man.
(25) Tom's apathy toward Wilson is similar to the apathy he has toward his
Rhetorical precis: The Great Gatsby Ch. 1 Scott F. Fitzgerald, an American author, in chapter one of his novel “The Great Gatsby” (published in 1925), claims that the rich Americans are using prestigiousness, wealth, and power to allude their unsightly truth. By using the Buchanans as an example, a wealthy, powerful, and socially solid old family, Fitzgerald reveals dishonesty of Daisy and Jordan, worst of all, a racist, dishonest, and adulterer Tom Buchanan. Fitzgerald's purpose is to discourage the practice of formulating a conclusion based on the superficial appearance in order to make his readers reconsider their views of America. He builds an intimate relationship with his audience of readers who are interested in his novels.
People pursue wealth as a means to gain power and influence, viewing it as a symbol of success. However, the relentless pursuit of wealth can lead to moral decay and corruption, causing people to sacrifice their moral principles in order to obtain material possessions. The character of Tom Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel exemplifies this phenomenon. Tom's relentless pursuit of an idealized lifestyle defined by wealth causes him to abandon his moral compass, how wealth can have a corrosive effect on an individual's character and drive them to behave in ways that destroy themselves and those around them. Tom Buchanan views physical objects as tools to assert his superiority and dominance over others.
All of the discussion hints as to how Tom intentionally agreed with Wilson’s conclusion in order to encourage him into getting rid of Gatsby, but since the discussion wasn’t included in the book, the alteration of the scene made Tom seem as if he wanted to delude Wilson into getting rid of Gatsby. Tom saying Gatsby is a crook is his method of deceiving Wilson in order to get out of trouble himself and possibly allow Wilson to act irrationally and take an action against Gatsby. When Tom says “He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car. His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute he was in the house —” (Fitzgerald 136), his affirmative response proves the possibility of him intentionally affirming Wilson and deluding him in order to make Wilson emotions rile up even more, hoping Wilson would
Tom was given all his money and never worked for it, but George’s wife was centered around having the expensive things in life. Tom speaks to Gatsby and says “...Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now” (Fitzgerald 138). Tom uses this statement to describe to Gatsby how Daisy had always loved him. While Daisy was cheating with Gatsby she went off and chose Tom because that is what was right based on his riches, and was the reason she originally chose him over the less wealthy Gatsby, when he left for the service. Besides the fact that the men receive their incomes in alternative ways, Tom managed to retain his wife, unlike Mr. Wilson.
Tom Buchanan takes advantage of the fact that George is an oblivious, poor man when he says “He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive” (Fitzgerald 26). Because Tom views George at a lesser value than himself, it makes it easy
An important theme in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is the corruption of morals because of wealth. It doesn’t matter if one comes from old or new money, wealth will corrupt the morality of even the humblest. The first example of wealth corrupting morals is in the indifference to infidelity between the married Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. The next example of wealth corrupting morals is seen in Jordan Baker’s actions to keep her luxurious lifestyle. Third, Jim Gatsby’s pursuit of wealth lead to the corruption of his morals.
Tom Buchanan is Fitzgerald’s masterpiece of creating a character who portrays the life, and characteristics as an alpha male. Through the vision of character’s surrounding Tom we began to see how his loftier masculinity characterizes him in the story. I begin with a quote from Tom’s wife Daisy that embodies the intimidating masculine characteristics of Tom, “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-----” (Fitzgerald 12). In this quote from Daisy we view a list of characteristics that are associated with Tom’s masculinity.
First of all, Tom Buchanan and George Wilson largely shared their attitudes toward women. For example, it is clear that Tom is concerned that Daisy, his wife, would go off on her own and do things by herself. One instance of him acknowledging this concern is when he says "I wonder where in the devil he met Daisy. By God, I may be old−fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much these days to suit me” (Fitzgerald 111). Tom says this after finding out that Gatsby had met his wife, implying that Daisy was “running around too much” simply by going anywhere at all without his prior knowledge.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby,” Daisy Buchanan struggles to free herself from the power of both Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, whom both use their wealth and high standings as a way to dictate power over and impress others. Fitzgerald purposely develops Daisy as selfish and “money hungry” character when she chooses Tom, a rich man, over Gatsby, a poor man (who she was in love with), which establishes her desire for power that she never achieves.
If his mind is not occupied by his mistress Myrtle, he is drowning in thoughts of Gatsby’s suspected crime-filled life. “Indeed, Tom Buchanan's sources appear most reliable in his characterization of Gatsby's drug store chain as ‘just small change’ compared to his stolen bonds” (Pauly 116). Buchanan is a hypocrite towards Gatsby. He denounces Gatsby’s life actions as being morally evil but Tom’s actions are no different than Gatsby’s in the sense that both men are unfaithful to themselves and their nearest relationships. Tom is competing with Gatsby through deception and treachery, and their dangerous habits wound them
The novel describes the nature of men being either loyal companions or complete pigs. Tom Buchanan and George Wilson are two characters who are completely different people, but despite their differences they still manage to have a few things in common. One thing that
In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”
In “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan represents a man who is unfaithful, selfish, and arrogant. Throughout this essay, the character Tom Buchanan will be analyzed and will explain his purpose in this story as well as the many flaws he possesses which make him an unlikable person. Tom is considered to be the antagonist in this novel, but his main purpose in this story is to be the barrier between Daisy and Gatsby. Unbeknownst to Tom, Daisy eventually gets back with Gatsby but has a massive fit once he finds out they’re together.