Examples Of Insecurity In The Great Gatsby

Insecure people can make themselves happy by making others unhappy. Their insecurity serves as a defense mechanism that protects their ego and by bringing others down, they can achieve psychological relief and it raises their self-esteem. In the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald implies that insecurity can lead to people controlling and manipulating others to feel better about themselves, through Tom Buchanan’s treatment and manipulation of Daisy and Myrtle both physically and emotionally, and Tom’s way of degrading George Wilson and Gatsby based on their intelligence and wealth status.

Tom’s insecurity is most apparent with his relationship with Daisy because Tom allows himself to do anything he wants, but if Daisy does the same thing he gets upset and undermines her intelligence because she is a woman. There is a point in the story where Tom’s insecurity is shown when “His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his

One example of the manipulation that Tom uses is the things he tells Myrtle about Daisy. “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic and they don’t believe in divorce. Daisy was not a Catholic and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie” (Fitzgerald 33). This quote emphasizes the extreme lengths that Tom is willing to go to manipulate Myrtle and her feelings to have her believing that he loves her and wants to be with her but can’t because his wife is religious, which is a total lie. In addition Tom also manipulates Myrtle physically. “Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 32). Tom punches Myrtle when she doesn’t stop saying his wife’s name. This shows that level of self-control that Tom does not have and that he thinks that taking his anger out on a person is ok. He uses Myrtle as a source to take his anger and pain out