Is The Relationship Between Tom Buchanan And Jay Gatsby Flawed

Nels Pierson

Ms. Brown

Rough Draft

21 March 2023

Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby:

An Examination of 1920’s Males and Their Relationships

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby illustrates through the characters Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, why males were physiologically flawed in the 1920’s. In examples through the story and awareness of the state of society we can tie Tom and Gatsbys behaviors together as social norms.

The typical 1920’s male was impatient and dishonest which caused relationships to fall apart. An article written by Yang Gao gives a view on what 1920’s males relationships were like:

“In the 1920’s marriage made men master and women slaves.”Men were seen and saw themselves as dominant leaders who could do what they wanted.

Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Fitzgeald shows how flawed relationships can be. F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates life where money and class define who you are. Gatsby has a group of friends and enemies that argue and strengthen relationships. The relationships between every marriage seen in this book is majorly flawed. The plot is set up and it unfolds in a dramatic chain of events and conversations. There is a series of murders including the death of Myrtle, George, and our main charecter Gatsby.

These deaths introduce us to Gatsbys father and lead to a lot of grief and sorrow. 1920’s males prioritized money and status over their relationships because that was what was important to them leading to failed relationships. An article breaks down what Gatsby likely did that made him his money.Gatsby was likely a front man for an illegal money making scheme like a mob or bootlegging (Brauer).

Gatsby made his money how he had to and that was his priority. Gatsby also had limitless ambitions and goals. Evidence Gatbys father thinks he reshaped American society and would have been influential in history (Brauer). Gatsby was a big deal and was more than just a rich bootlegger. Marriage was a public statement of status in the 1920’s so the true love connection was not always the

The traditional male in the 1920’s does not believe women should be part of social acts (Gao).Men do not respect women or their boundaries because of the flawed ideals of society. We see a common theme of marriages built on money and social stigmas.“She does care about her marriage and while Tom has an affair” (Gao). Marriage in the 20’s was not about the personal connection. Tom has a flawed and contriversial view on integration showing he is racist.Tom has racial issues which are hinted at early on in the novel. “The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be… will be utterlysubmerged” (Fitzgerald 12), Tom makes statements he thinks are okay. We see Tom continuously make statementements against blacks and whites being together. “They’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between blacks and whites” (Fitzgerald 138) This shows yet again that Tom is racist.

Gatsby was focused on money over relationships so he never formed a bond with Daisy.Many times in the book people mention Gatsby’s wealth and hsi mysterious nature. Tom says “A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers” (Fitzgerald 107). This shows that there were common illegal ways to get rich such as bootlegging Gatsby was accused of