Compare And Contrast Tom Buchanan And The Great Gatsby

Judy Garland once said, “For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul” (Garland). Daisy Buchanan was the object of affection for Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Tom Buchanan tried to use his wealth to woe Daisy into loving him. Jay Gatsby used his charm. wealth, and past encounter with Daisy to swindle her away from Tom. Even though Gatsby and Tom were portrayed as opposites of each other, they both have a lot in common. Tom Buchanan and Gatsby both used people to their advantage to get what they wanted; they both were culprits of infidelity, but the wealth Gatsby possessed was self-made unlike Tom Buchanan. Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan both take advantage of the people they met, in

Tom had an affair with Myrtle Wilson. In his affair with Myrtle, Tom verbally berates Myrtle. Since Myrtle is of a different class, he feels like a king, especially in her eyes. Tom buys her lavish gifts, but in the end he is so vulgar towards her. He verbally berated her, physically assaulted her, and yet it does not affect him. Tom gained a sadistic satisfaction by knowing he was superior to Myrtle. Tom couldn’t have this feeling towards Daisy because Myrtle is just his mistress. “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 a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomever he knew” (Fitzgerald 24). Tom was so pitiful. It's one thing to have an affair; it's quite another to humiliate your friends and wife by rubbing that mistress in their face. On the other hand, Gatsby’s infidelity was kept almost a secret in comparing to Tom’s. In regards to Gatsby and his unfaithfulness to moral obligation, Gatsby lied and lied about his past and his money. Also, the reader never really saw this in detail, but the affair is pretty well implied. The amount of time she spent at the Gatsby residence, and the effort he went through to keep her visits secretive. “I hear you fired all your servants.” “I wanted somebody who wouldn’t gossip. Daisy comes over quite often—in the afternoons”

Gatsby's rags-to-riches success story makes him an embodiment of the American dream. He started life with nothing, as the son of unsuccessful farmers. Tom Buchanan inherited all of his money from his family. “His family were enormously wealthy, even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach… he’d brought down a string of polo ponies from Lake Forest. It was hard to realize that a man in my own generation was wealthy enough to do that” (Fitzgerald 6). Tom Buchanan was filthy rich. Tom’s carelessness of spending money didn’t matter because the money really wasn’t his. In comparison to Tom, Gatsby appreciated the fortune he worked for. Despite the way the men reached their riches, Gatsby and Buchanan possessed similar