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Free Great Gatsby Essays: Social Locations And Tom Buchanan

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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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The author of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses Tom Buschan as a symbol of gender roles during the period of Roaring Twenties. Tom is the narrator, Nick's friend from college and they are having a reunion. Nick describes Tom as having, “Two arrogant eyes [that] had established dominance over his face,” (page 14). Fitzgerald chose to include the word “dominance” because men controlled almost everything during this time period. Tom is a prime example of men controlling their women, even with their eyes.

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Tom Buchanan: wealthy at a wealthy time The roaring twenties were the birth of a now iconic brand of materialism and ignorance in America. And in the great American novel: The Great Gatsby, no character encapsulates the roaring twenties quite like Tom Buchanan. He is an extremely privileged cis white male who was born into vast wealth. Born into a nearly perfect scenario and without the burden of capitalism, he directly causes the death of another person for personal gain.

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Fitzgerald, an American author, in chapter two of his novel “The Great Gatsby” (published in 1925), claims that the rich Americans has the power to do whatever they wish. Fitzgerald made Tom Buchanan an unstoppable bully in this chapter; Tom uses his social status and physical strength to boss those around him, he taunts Wilson while having an affair with Wilson’s wife, he breaks Myrtle’s nose without hesitation, and most importantly, no one tries or dare to stop him. Fitzgerald's purpose is to raise awareness of the wealthy's power in order to prevent them from dominating the lower classes.. He builds an intimate relationship with his audience of readers who are interested in his

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James Gotwals April 5, 2024 Honors American Literature Mrs. Wegener Comparing the houses of Gatsby and Tom Buchanan During the 1920s, there were vast amounts of wealth which were dispersed between many of the characters in the book. The book The Great Gatsby focuses on Long Island and the split between characters in the East and West eggs, different wealthy communities which are close in wealth and location, but are socially considered different. Jay Gatsby lives in West Egg, which is a community of very rich people who make their own money, and the house he lives in shows how he portrays himself differently than how he actually feels. Tom Buchanan lives in East Egg, the community of very wealthy people who come from old money, and his house

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This is such a great point as Tom is a very impulsive character and Tom uses his money to hide his immoral and other views. “Buchanan uses the defense of law and order to hide his dedecance and, implicity, his amorality”(Lena 30). As Buchanan is very much a man of racist and classist beliefs this is a very true statement. He uses his class as a petastule and he is standing above everyone else. In The Great Gatsby there is a distinction between old money which was gotten by inheritance and new money which is like a self made man.

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When Myrtle begs Tom for a dog, he nonchalantly hands her too much money and “decisively” says “Here's your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it” (Fitzgerald 28).Tom’s angry and ‘decisive’ tone of voice is because he uses Myrtle’s must assert dominance through materialism. As, Myrtle does not need ten dogs, yet Tom wishes to flaunt both his wealth and dominance by commanding her to buy them. Because of Tom, Myrtle also lives in excess and must face moral corruption. As after she buys the dog, Nick describes that

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Differing economic and financial origins shape individuals and determine their lifestyle depending on how the individual decides to navigate opportunities. Born into a poor family, Gatsby works hard to climb the social ladder and make something of himself. However, despite his best efforts, Fitgerald determines he is never able to escape the stigma of his humble beginnings and ultimately pays for this pressure to contend with those around him, with his life. This is elucidated where Tom Buchanan expresses that “the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife.” depicting how despite his wealth and success, Gatsby is never truly accepted by the ‘elite’ society he wants to be a part of.

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Tom is a strong example of the corruption that comes with wealth. Tom is described in Deceitful Traces of Power as, “In many ways Tom Buchanan embodies the decadence of the upper class” (Lena 98). Fitzgerald uses Tom to express the ways of an old money consumer (Lena 99). Toms comes from old money, meaning that the majority of his money is from his family, not from himself. Because of this Tom does what he wants to, abusing Myrtle, cheating on Daisy, going about as he wishes.

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Despite Tom’s wife being one of the most sought over women of the East Egg, he still disregards her feelings and has an affair that he doesn’t even bother to keep secret. Because he eulogizes himself that much. Tom refuses to acknowledge any faults he has throughout the book; including cheating on Daisy, breaking Myrtle’s nose, and assisting in the Death of Gatsby. His privilege is used as a shield from the violent nature of his character. Fitzgerald represented Tom as a motif for everything that is wrong with the class and status system; how privilege can get into your

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He has inherited a massive sum of money from his family, and has lived a comfortable and lavish life. It has lent him a great amount of status and infamy among the upper class, best shown in the opening pages of The Great Gatsby, where the narrator, Nick, says, “His family were enormously wealthy⎯even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach⎯but now he’d left Chicago and come East in a fashion that rather took your breath away; for instance, 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’s actions make it clear that he has become desensitized to the scope of his wealth. It seems that he is, in some way, aware of this, and instead of appreciating what he has, Tom has decided to use this ignorance as a way to flaunt his money.

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614 Words | 3 Pages

Social location affects how you act and perceive life in many different ways. For example in The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald a group of adults have many different understandings of life, many different views, and morals. A character named Daisy has interesting choices and emotions towards characters and events. First her marrying Tom because of his socioeconomic status, secondly her gender affecting her emotions after the accident, lastly her complicated relationship status between Tom and Gatsby.

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792 Words | 4 Pages

Almost immediately after seeing Nick, Tom says, “If it’s light enough after dinner, I want to take you down to the stables” (Fitzgerald 15). Tom almost immediately feels the need to usher Nick towards his stables, which is a sign of his own personal wealth. Tom’s desire to display his materialistic belongings as a show of his superiority is evident very clearly through this line. Though it’s essentially an offhand comment, Fitzgerald uses this remark to establish Tom’s character. Tom employs his wealth to demonstrate his higher standing on the social ladder.

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People pursue wealth as a means to gain power and influence, viewing it as a symbol of success. However, the relentless pursuit of wealth can lead to moral decay and corruption, causing people to sacrifice their moral principles in order to obtain material possessions. The character of Tom Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel exemplifies this phenomenon. Tom's relentless pursuit of an idealized lifestyle defined by wealth causes him to abandon his moral compass, how wealth can have a corrosive effect on an individual's character and drive them to behave in ways that destroy themselves and those around them. Tom Buchanan views physical objects as tools to assert his superiority and dominance over others.

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Fitzgerald states that Gatsby contains “an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness,” but provides insignificant details of Buchanan, such as his “rather hard mouth.” This establishes a greater level of importance and substance in Gatsby's character than Tom’s. Gatsby is said to have a “heightened sensitivity to the promises of life” and Buchanan is described as simply “establish[ing] dominance.” With these phrases, Gatsby is seen as sentimental, while Buchanan is emotionless. The emotional image of Gatsby and the detached image of Tom are further supported by the details included by Fitzgerald in these

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1238 Words | 5 Pages

In “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan represents a man who is unfaithful, selfish, and arrogant. Throughout this essay, the character Tom Buchanan will be analyzed and will explain his purpose in this story as well as the many flaws he possesses which make him an unlikable person. Tom is considered to be the antagonist in this novel, but his main purpose in this story is to be the barrier between Daisy and Gatsby. Unbeknownst to Tom, Daisy eventually gets back with Gatsby but has a massive fit once he finds out they’re together.

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