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Free Great Gatsby Essays: Social Locations And Tom Buchanan

568 Words3 Pages

Social Locations and Tom Buchanan In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, described as a hulking, hyper-masculine, and heavily rich man from East Egg, is time and time again presented as aggressive and entitled. Being so rich, Tom continues to use his status to get what he wants, and is indifferent to those he hurts in doing so. A great deal of this behavior stems from Tom’s social locations, or markers of his identity, which includes him being a rich white male from old money in the 1920s. To begin, Tom Buchanan is a man from old money and likely has never had to truly work a real job in his entire life. This greatly influences Tom’s attitude towards money and this is highlighted in the scene where Tom buys Myrtle a dog like it’s nothing. Fitzgerald writes, “It’s a bitch,” said Tom decisively. “Here’s your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it.” (Fitzgerald 31). This scene clearly displays Tom’s indifference towards spending large amounts of money, as he’s never had to work for the money he has due to his old money background and has never had a fear of running out of money. …show more content…

One element of this is Tom’s desire to be the dominant man and assert dominance over others, which can be seen when Tom insists on driving Gatsby’s car. In this scene Tom states, “Well, you take my coupé and let me drive your car to town.” (Fitzgerald 37). This shows Tom attempting to assert dominance over Gastby’s possessions, and in turn Gatsby himself, by driving his car into town instead of his own. Tom uses this to discreetly assert dominance over Gatsby as having his belongings taken control of by another man could be a major blow to his

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