Effects Of Tom Buchanan In The Great Gatsby

Few Good People

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (79). The characters Tom and Daisy Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby; as individuals and as a pair embody and emit carelessness throughout the novel. Tom is a selfish, privileged, philandering brute who shows little empathy for those around him. His wife Daisy is superficial and spoiled, caring little for the effect of her actions and having insufficient care for those closest to her. In addition to these faults, the couple enable and encourage each other's despicable

To begin, Tom Buchanan is a callous with the feelings and wellbeing of the people in his life. The two characters who appear closest to Tom are his wife Daisy, and his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, yet he treats them both terribly, even resorting to physical abuse on at least two known occasions. The first occurs not long after Tom's introduction into the novel, when his wife shows their party guests her knuckle, which is “black and blue” (11), and continues to recount; “You did it, 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…” (11). No person who loves and cares for their spouse should ever harm them; accidental or not. If this first occasion may be dismissed as an accident, the second certainly can not. In the very next chapter, Tom and Myrtle are arguing “whether or not [Myrtle has] any right to mention Daisy's name” (21) when Tom, “making a short deft movement, [breaks] her nose with his open hand” (21). Tom Buchanan resorts to physical abuse when arguing, and grossly mistreats the women in his life. This inability to show even basic respect and decency for those nearest to him, allows for him to continue and be reckless with those

Jay Gatsby embarks on a love affair with Tom's wife, earning his wrath despite the fact that he is currently doing the same. After Gatsby is involved in a tragic accident that claims the life of Myrtle Wilson, her husband George wants revenge. Tom tells this unbalanced man “the truth” (79), ruthlessly sealing Gatsby’s fate. Tom justifies this by arguing “what if I did tell him? That fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust in your eyes just like he did in Daisy's but he was a tough one” (79), in other words uses his personal vendetta as a reason for carelessly ending a man's life. He does so with little remorse and a sense of righteousness which is entire inappropriate and beyond the behaviour of a decent human being. The way Tom treats others is despicable; he lies and tricks to get what he wants. Tom convinces Wilson that he is going to sell him his car as a flimsy excuse to have an affair with Wilson's wife. When Tom takes Nick to visit his mistress, Myrtle, they meet Wilson, who asks “When [Tom is] going to sell [Wilson] that car” (15), when Tom says he'll bring the car in a week, Wilson is unhappy as he had earlier “unconvincingly”