In the novel The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald set in the 1920s, a man named Jay Gatsby who became rich through illegal means tries to win the heart of a woman named Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan’s wife. The wife of a garage owner named George Wilson, Myrtle, is also having an affair with Tom. Throughout the course of the novel, Tom and Wilson run into similar encounters. Both of them discover that their wives have been cheating on them and have comparable reactions. These discoveries and related events reveal their attitudes toward women and become violent. Tom Buchanan and George Wilson show many similarities and differences in their attitudes toward women, their ways of showing violence, and their reactions to being cuckolded. Tom …show more content…
An early display of Tom’s violence is when he is arguing with Myrtle about whether or not she has the right to say Daisy’s name. When Myrtle refuses to comply with Tom’s request, “making a short, deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand”(20). The scene in which this event takes place is in the beginning of the story and is probably meant to represent a typical day in Tom’s life. This shows Tom’s willingness to use violence over an issue as small as Myrtle saying a name. Furthermore, this violence is used by Tom to control Myrtle’s actions. However, Wilson uses violence under much more extreme conditions. For instance, when he is talking to Michaelis about Myrtle’s death, he says “It was the man in that car. She ran out to speak to him and he wouldn’t stop”(87). This quote shows that Wilson believes the driver of the car that killed Myrtle was performing an act of murder. This revelation and earlier discovery of his wife’s affair pushes him to the brink of reality, and he believes there is no solution other than to avenge his wife’s death. Consequently, he later finds and murders Gatsby whom he believes to be the killer. The difference in the context of Tom and Wilson’s acts of violence demonstrate the differences in their …show more content…
In particular, Tom is able to control his actions and manipulate those around him to achieve his goals. For example, after explaining to Daisy about Gatsby’s illegal means of becoming wealthy, he says “You two start on home, Daisy...In Mr. Gatsby’s car. Go on. He won’t annoy you. I think he realizes that his presumptuous little flirtation is over”(75). This quote demonstrates the control that Tom has over the situation. He is confident that Daisy no longer loves Gatsby and makes this clear by telling Daisy to ride home with Gatsby. Tom’s appropriately chosen words of “presumptuous” and “flirtation” further serve to discredit Gatsby’s affair with Daisy and belittles Gatsby’s character. In this way, Tom is able to maintain composure and convince Daisy to stay with him. On the other hand, Wilson becomes completely distraught and is unable to think rationally upon discovery of his wife’s affair. This can be seen by Nick’s description of Wilson that “he had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick”(67). It is clear that knowledge of Myrtle’s affair has imposed a tremendous amount of stress on Wilson, so much to the point that he became sick. Additionally, George makes some poor choices as a result of this stress, including locking up Myrtle in the room and threatening to force her to move west. It should
Before heading to the hotel, Tom was mad at the blatant disrespect Daisy had given him by basically saying I love you to Gatsby in front of him in the scene where “His hand, trembling with his effort at self-control, bore to his lips the last of his glass of ale” (Fitzgerald 119). Fitzgerald emphasises “self-control” in this sentence because Tom is enraged at this act, physically shaking to prove it. Later speaking to Nick and Jordan he said “‘You think I’m pretty dumb don’t you?’ he suggested. ‘Perhaps I am, but I have a - almost a second sight, sometimes, that tells me what to do.
“‘Even that’s a lie,’ said Tom savagely. She didn’t know you were alive. Why- there’re things between Daisy and me that you’ll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget.” (Fitzgerald 132). Even when Tom knows that Daisy is cheating on him with Jay Gatsby, he contends his marriage and fights for her.
Through use of comparison between Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s message about women and feminine power is that having a man deprives the women of their power, ranking higher in social standards deepens the wound of selfishness, and being deceptive
The actions Tom takes near the end of the story show how hypocritical Tom really is. For some reason, Tom is irritated that Gatsby and Daisy seem to have feelings for each other, but his affair with Myrtle is completely fine with him. To Tom, there is nothing wrong with him cheating on Daisy, but Daisy wanting to be with Gatsby is a horrid thing, even
The Nature of Man The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a detail filled trip back in time to the 1920’s. Fitzgerald tells the story of the inhabitants of West Egg, East Egg, New York City, and everyone in between. He is able to turn something as simple as a party into an entire plot to earn someone's affection and, what might seems like a harmless old billboard, into a symbol that is talked about on numerous occasions. As the novel progresses, more and more characters are introduced.
The theme of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is that the upper class tend to participate in actions that are commonly seen as dishonest, unfaithful, or sketchy. Characters like Nick, Gatsby, Tom and George have twisted views on their own reality due to unfaithfulness and dishonesty. Nick was constantly lied to in the story, for example, Gatsby lied to him about where he got his money. Lies, similar to the one above, gave Nick some twisted views on the reality of his friendship. Gatsby had a twisted view on love due to Daisy marrying Tom right after he left for the war, rather than waiting for him.
In the story The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the majority of the characters are either dishonest, chasing hollow dreams, or plain ignorant. Fitzgerald flaunts the flaws of these characters regularly. Tom Buchanan is a constant example of dishonesty, due to his reoccurring affair with Myrtle Wilson. Although she does not believe it true, Daisy is one of the most ignorant characters.
Tom Buchanan is an arrogant, controlling man, who does what he wants not considering about how his actions influence those around him. Tom is also the earliest person to use physical violence in the book, striking Myrtle in a fit of rage when she would not stop shouting Daisy 's name. "Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy 's name. "Daisy! Daisy!
Throughout The Great Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson desired to fit in with the upper class; however, her marriage to George Wilson prevented such from occurring. Myrtle failed to recognize her husband’s hard work and true character due to her efforts to rise in social status. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald emphasized Myrtle’s hatred towards her marriage through her conversation with Catherine, depicting how people of the twenties focused more on wealth and power compared to moral American values. As readers closely evaluate the moment of Myrtle’s dialogue, she dictated her feelings towards her marriage in a way that supposedly justified her infidelity.
However, the other time in the book when he uses violence is much more cruel than Tom’s actions. To avenge his wife, he tries to figure out who owns the yellow car that killed Myrtle. After doing that, he immediately shoots Gatsby, the owner of the car, with his gun upon finding him. After killing Gatsby, he then takes his own life; that is why “the gardener saw Wilson’s body...and the holocaust was complete” (Fitzgerald 173). At the time, Gatsby is swimming in his pool.
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 era’s “perfect woman”, Daisy Buchanan is a bubbly, conflicted woman whose choice is between two men: her husband, Tom Buchanan, and her
Polo player Tom Buchanan had an ongoing relationship with George Wilson 's wife Myrtle that ended very dramatically with the death of Myrtle in a car accident as well as causing the murder of Jay Gatsby. It was not till this time where George started to realize that his wife was having an affair and this made him very upset as Nick says “He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world and the shock had made him physically sick. ”(Fitzgerald 130). Tom took Gatsby 's car to get gas at George 's garage on his way to the city to meet with Gatsby. While getting gas Myrtle saw that it was Tom in the car and was upset because she was locked in a room and wasn 't allowed to see anyone.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, there are many important characters, some alike and some different. Two characters who are both different and alike at the same time are Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. Fitzgerald gives the reader a lot of information about how Tom and George are very different from each other. One can interpret many different things that Fitzgerald may be trying to convey about the nature of men. Based on how he portrays Tom and George’s actions it helps to show the true nature of men.
Carelessness: Failure to give sufficient attention to avoiding harm or errors; negligence. Being careless is a poor quality that, unfortunately, many people possess. Obviously, every single person has committed an act of carelessness. It is natural for a human to do so. Seldom does carelessness result in a good outcome.