Analysis Of Tom Buchanan In The Great Gatsby

Tom Buchanan: wealthy at a wealthy time The roaring twenties were the birth of a now iconic brand of materialism and ignorance in America. And in the great American novel: The Great Gatsby, no character encapsulates the roaring twenties quite like Tom Buchanan. He is an extremely privileged cis white male who was born into vast wealth. Born into a nearly perfect scenario and without the burden of capitalism, he directly causes the death of another person for personal gain. The author’s reasonings for writing in such a way can only be seen while using three perspectives, Marxist, new historicist criticism, and 2nd wave feminism. When relating the text to social class, you realize that during the 1920s, income inequality was at a historic high.

It is made evident by how his house is described before he was formally introduced in person, as Fitzgerald wrote “Their house was even more elaborate than I expected… and Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch”(6). The majority of the paragraph explains the greatness of the house before barely mentioning that Tom is also there. As the author had disdain for those who were old money, he specifically ignorantly wrote Tom. His wife Daisy sarcastically states: ‘He dreads deep books with long words in them.’(13). This further establishes the notion that he represents the old money-rich white elite. Due to Tom’s economic stature, he has no reason to be intelligent as the burden of capitalism was lifted by his ancestors. This ties into writing him as a murderer after he kills Gatsby by manipulating Wilson into believing that Gatsby is Tom. The old money takes advantage of an unhinged and angry worker for

As previously mentioned, the 1920s in America was a time when people were materialistic and ignorant. I already established that Tom represented ignorance, but I have yet to mention materialism. A great example of Tom’s materialism is the gift he buys Myrtle. She asked him if he could get her a dog and the dog's price was gouged to some degree and he responded “It’s a bitch” and “Here's your money. Go buy ten more dogs with it”(28). This shows how he had not put any thought into the gift and was treating it as if he was buying her off. The reason why Fitzgerald wrote him to essentially get away with murder and not care is to show the corruption at the time. In the quote stated in the last paragraph, he describes “carelessness” and this carelessness is made worse by the fact that in the 1920s, corruption began as a direct result of the banning of alcohol. Corruption allowed the rich to act even more carelessly as they would receive fewer punishments for their actions. It was hinted at when Gatsby is alongside a cop who is angry with his speeding so he pulls out a white card from his wallet and waves it. The policeman then says “Right you are”(68) and drives away. This shows an example of the corruption that plagued the 1920s playing into a rich person's