Tom's Intention In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

In the Great Gatsby Movie, the alteration of the scene where Wilson suspects Gatsby highlights how Tom knew the result of his actions which ultimately changes Tom’s interpreted intentions within the book.

Tom confessing Gatsby was the owner of the car led to the falling action in the novel which was the killing of Gatsby committed by Wilson. After the death of Myrtle, Wilson was mourning in his garage and when Michaelis mentions the car which hit her was a yellow custom car, Wilson realizes the car which hit Myrtle is the same car he saw Tom driving in when he needed gas. In an attempt to calm Wilson, Tom argues the yellow car wasn’t his and he just got back from NYC in his coupe which was blue and not yellow. Wilson asks Tom to explain himself

Maybe. Guy like that, who knows.” ( Luhrmann 115 ). Tom talking to Nick during the end of the book reveals he confessed to Wilson the real owner of the car after Gatsby’s death, but the scene in the book was only mentioned at the end of the book, not after the accident. The scene where Wilson & Tom are talking after the accident was never shown in the book, making the scene an alteration. All of the discussion hints as to how Tom intentionally agreed with Wilson’s conclusion in order to encourage him into getting rid of Gatsby, but since the discussion wasn’t included in the book, the alteration of the scene made Tom seem as if he wanted to delude Wilson into getting rid of Gatsby. Tom saying Gatsby is a crook is his method of deceiving Wilson in order to get out of trouble himself and possibly allow Wilson to act irrationally and take an action against Gatsby. When Tom says “He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car. His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute he was in the house —” (Fitzgerald 136), his affirmative response proves the possibility of him intentionally affirming Wilson and deluding him in order to make Wilson emotions rile up even more, hoping Wilson would

In the movie after Tom confessed the ownership of the custom yellow car to Wilson, Wilson started sobbing again because he still hadn’t comprehended the death of his wife. Tom, in order to direct Wilson into doing what he wants, starts to affirm Wilson’s suspicion of Gatsby having an affair with Myrtle by expressing his thoughts toward Gatsby. Tom rests Wilson’s head on his shoulder and then whispers, “‘Gatsby. Something outta be done about a fella like that. He’ll pay... Oh, he’ll pay…’” ( Luhrmann 115 ). The whispering of Tom’s thoughts proves how his intentions might have been hinted at because in the book, Tom never mentions Gatsby must pay, since he never expressed his thoughts. The addition of the tiny detail of Tom whispering his thoughts regarding Gatsby to Wilson changed Tom’s interpreted intentions within the movie in comparison to his interpreted intentions within the book because in the book, his only reasoning as to why Tom told Wilson about Gatsby is because the confession was the only way to defend himself, but in the movie, Tom wasn’t under any threat by Wilson, meaning his character intentionally directed Wilson into killing Gatsby causing the falling action in the movie which adds on to Tom’s character as the antagonist. In the book, Tom’s hostile intentions regarding Gatsby were hinted at when Wilson was traveling to Gatsby and “there