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Character Analysis Of Tom Buchanan In 'The Great Gatsby'

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Danielle Gamelin December 20, 2022 W3 Who Tom Buchanan is. In the story The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the theme of wealth comes up a numerous amount of times throughout the story. Wealth is not just brought up in the story about the wealthy. The story shows aspects of the people who are born into wealth and the people reaching for it. Throughout the book different perspectives have been shown on how wealth reveals humans true colors. Different characters in the book have their different perspectives on what money means to them. Specifically, Tom Buchanan, who inherited every penny he had, uses money as a way to elevate himself from others which is shown in his personality, actions, and appearance throughout the story. Tom was the …show more content…

“He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong”. (133) In this moment, Tom had just revealed a secret to Daisy, whom both men are in love with, that Gastby has never told her to ruin Daisy’s trust for him. Tom had felt threatened by Gastby’s relationship with Daisy. Gastby was just as wealthy as Tom, but the only thing that was different was their upbringing. Gastby’s past life was a lot harder and even embarrassing for him so he covered it up with lies. Tom felt that if he were to spill Gastby’s past life to Daisy, she would be disgusted with it and no longer have feelings for Gastby, it somewhat …show more content…

He had enough of this woman acting as she would disobey him, the authority. So he did what he knew would control her which was violence. Myrtle continued her affair with Tom after this because of her need to reach the level of “East Egg” wealth. This shows how Tom’s wealth gives him privileges that others who are not in his social class. In chapter 6 another example of Tom’s authority over women is shown: “‘By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much these days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish’” (103). Tom is speaking to Nick, wondering how Daisy knew of Gatsby. Tom is implying that it isn’t okay for Daisy or any other females to socialize with other people which shows the theme of the position of woman as well as how hypocritical Tom is since he is in a relationship with Myrtle at this

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Normal people’s houses will not be 'glittered,' and will not have a lake in front of it, demonstrating how wealthy he truly is. Because Tom Buchanan inherited a wealthy estate, extravagance, and ostentation doomed the final fall. Although hereditary wealth is appealing and millionaires are wealthy, they should recognize that wealth is not easily obtained and should live a simple and modest life. Tom Buchanan clearly belongs to the second one; he has long forgotten that wealth comes from his family, not him has long been addicted to hypocrisy,

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