How Does Tom Buchanan Change Throughout The Great Gatsby

An eloquent story about one man trying to achieve the American Dream, ends in death and sorrow. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about a wealthy man named Jay Gatsby trying to achieve the American Dream in the 1920s. That dream is nearly complete- he almost has the girl of his dreams- until it is all taken away by exposure and death. Throughout the novel, multiple characters with different personalities are introduced, and some go through a few major changes. Coincidentally, Jay Gatsby is the character that is impacted the most by the events in the novel. The changes are most clearly seen when Gatsby reunites with Daisy Buchanan, and the fight at the hotel between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. To begin with, Gatsby’s personality shifts

Gatsby becomes excited, bold, and confident as he tells Tom that Daisy loves him, not Tom, and she plans to leave him. Gatsby becomes so confident with his statements that even Daisy tries to stop him, yet he does not listen. “‘ I’ve got something to tell you, old sport-’ began Gatsby. But Daisy guessed at his intention. ‘ Please don’t!’ she interrupted helplessly… Gatsby sprang to his feet, vivid with excitement….‘ She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!’... ‘ Daisy’s leaving you.’ ‘ Nonsense.’ ‘ I am, though,’ she said with a visible effort”( Fitzgerald, 131 & 133). Gatsby is so close to completing his American Dream, and truly believes he can have it. As mentioned before, Gatsby was nervous when seeing Daisy again after five years. Now that he is facing Tom after spending time with Daisy, he is confident that Daisy is his and will go with him willingly. No longer is he the calm, collected Gatsby from the beginning, or the restless, nervous Gatsby shown when he sees Daisy again. Tom, however, rips that away from him by exposing how Gatsby accumulated all his wealth- he was a bootlegger. By doing this, Daisy no longer wants to be with Gatsby for the sake of her reputation, and she asks Tom to take her home, not Gatsby. This moment crushes Gatsby’s dream and puts him into a broken and depressed state of mind. “ I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn’t believe it would come, and perhaps he no longer cared. If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid at a high price for living too long with a single dream” ( Fitzgerald, 162). Tom exposed Gatsby, and Daisy realized that her reputation would be ruined if she went with Gatsby now. She tells Tom to take her home. Tom puts her in the car with Gatsby, and