Examples Of Villains In The Great Gatsby

There tends to be a mixed opinion on who the true villain is in the book The Great Gatsby. Readers usually have three different candidates when covering who the true villain is. These people are Tom Buchanan , Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby. All these characters in a way can be displayed as showing villainous acts. I beg the question, why would the author display all these characters doing bad acts if there was only one villan? During a closer analysis, it is displayed that the villain isn't a character but a force. All these characters, who have wealth, or are poor are still chasing wealth and status. The only characters who are exempt from this are Nick and Jordan. Characters in The Great Gatsby who are still chasing wealth and status, all

When Tom is introduced he is summarized by Nick as ¨Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven–a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anticlimax.¨() In this first quote, it introduces Tom's current life as anticlimactic, this furthering reasoning for Tom's desire for status in life. Tom mourns his youth because it was the peak of his life and he hasn't yet had anything to compare to it. Nick analysis on Tom is that ¨Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game¨ We see in the text that Tom, who chases status, becomes extremely bitter after facing the fact that his life peaked in

With this being the case for Tom, he acts out of need to gain status. This, resulting in one of the reasons the stories played out the way it did.

Another character in the book, Myrtle, falls victim to the same mindset of chasing status and wealth. Myrtle describes her distaste with her marriage, explaining that he isn't worthy of her love: ¨I thought he was capable of breeding, but he wasn't even able to lick my shoe¨

Myrtles distaste for George displays to be caused from arrogance. This is her way of saying she doesn't find him worthy even though they both are poor. The author also symbolizes this in the book itself as Myrtle's desire for Tom resulted in her literal demise. Myrtle crosses the street trying to talk to Tom, after breaking things off with George. Myrtle's intentions are clear as she has already wanted to marry Tom. This was Myrtle's attempt to try and sway Tom into being with her. Tom is the pick because he's wealthy and has a more confident personality. This, however, does not go so well for Myrtle as it results in her death. The villain in the grand scheme of things is the need for wealth and status. Myrtle embodies this well, as her need for wealth and status results in her