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Why Is The Great Gatsby Bad

Decent Essays

Taylor Miller
Fox, Dustin G.
Honors English 10
24 August, 2017
Are We All Villains?
A villain is also called the antagonist—defined as one who contends with or opposes another in a fight, conflict, or battle of wills. The true villains held within the pages between the two covers of The Great Gatsby could be classified as anyone and everyone. I believe the three main ones throughout the story, though, are Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan; they’ve hurt so many people. Some on purpose, some unconsciously were hurt. Jay Gatsby could be known as the most villainous, but to himself.
In a way, Jay Gatsby is his worst enemy: he advances after Daisy, a married woman. He is willing to give anything and everything for her, losing any sense of himself, before their encounter prewar. But he is also the poor son of migrant farmers. After the re-inventing of himself, this poor young man who once was still seeking acceptance, never truly finds Daisy. Perhaps he is a stupid and tragic figure, but not a villainous to others, whereas Tom was very much so. Tom Buchanan is a villain, there's too much he’s done to deny the name. He has a mistress, and Daisy knows it: she barely conceals her knowledge of it. Completely being hypocritical, he suspects that Daisy may have a novel that angers him. He is a supremacist, and a pompous “thug” who has more money than values. And Tom sends Wilson after Gatsby, accusing Jay of Myrtle’s death (when Gatsby was innocent), and Wright kills Gatsby.

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