How Does Tom Buchanan Represent 1920's Society in the Great Gatsby?

In the Great Gatsby Tom is an unlikeable character. How does Fitzgerald use language to portray him like this?

In “The Great Gatsby” Tom Buchanan had one of the despising personalities out of all the characters. Tom’s personality was a rude, impatient, and cruel type at the beginning. There were no reasons for him to act like that. At the very beginning Tom is one of the first characters that were introduced. His first impressions were that he always had to be in command or be the dominant one. “ Tom who had been hovering restlessly about the room, stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder” (Fitzgerald 10) Even though he is a tall, muscular and broad man he sure does his research and can’t stand the fact that other races can become more superior. “Civilization’s going to pieces,” broke out Tom violently. “It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things” (Fitzgerald 12-13) Tom still succeeds to being more dominant and controlling by throwing Nick out the car. “He jumped to his feet and, taking hold of my elbow, literally forced me out the car.” “Were getting off,” he insisted. “I want you to meet my girl.”(Fitzgerald 24) Being tall, muscular and with a bad personality, Tom couldn’t have treated Mrs. Wilson worse by hitting her in the nose and making her bleed. “Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.” (Fitzgerald 37) By proceeding to very end of the book Tom still shows no signs of changing nor does he plan to. For instance Tom was going to sell his car to a garage owner, but decided to change his mind angrily and kept the car. “ The voice in the hall rose high with annoyance: “Very well, then, I won’t sell you the car at all . . . I’m under no obligations to you at all . . . and as for your bothering me about it at lunch time, I won’t stand at all!” (Fitzgerald 116) Even though Tom care about something’s he sure doesn’t care about his old friend Walter Chase since he just left him to rot. “I guess your friend Walter Chase wasn’t too proud

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story filled with lust, bloodshed, and greed. In the story many charters act immoral and greedy. The reason for this is because they have been corrupted by money and power. A prime example of this corruption is Tom Buchanan. In the story “The Great Gatsby” it is evident that Tom Buchanan was corrupted by both money and power when he only cared about other people’s stature, demonstrated that he was very ignorant, and lacked any type of moral values.

In the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan lacks the intelligence of a normal high class member, but he has a very good eye at seeing through lies. Our first introduction to Tom establishes him as a “hulking”(12) figure with “a cruel body” (7) with “two shining arrogant eyes” and “a supercilious manner” to show his dominance over others. Tom is from a wealthy family and takes great pride in his college days as a star football player. Although it seems like he has it all, money and a trophy wife, Tom is not satisfied with himself so any remarks to him angers him greatly.

Tom Buchanan is one of the many colourful, intriguing and enigmatic characters of the masterpiece “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. He is the antagonist of the novel and rightly so. He is racist, a hypocrite, an immoral cheater, a short-tempered brute and misogynistic. Tom is also part of an old and out dated sort of world that is being swamped all-round the edges by a new and better society. That is the reason why he is acting so tough and also why he hates Jay Gatsby so much, it is because he is afraid, afraid that the world that he knows and all the old-fashioned values of love, wealth and masculinity will come crashing down on him. He dislikes Gatsby because he is part of the new generation and he got rich by a different way

Tom Buchanan, a crucial character to the events of The Great Gatsby, is how Fitzgerald presents a symbol of greed and immoral acts to the reader, a character whom is corrupted by sin and iniquity. Fitzgerald uses Tom Buchanan, a disloyal and proud character, in order to suggest some of the traits that may cause one to lose their sense of morality.

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.

During the 1920’s, wealth and extravagance followed the economic boost provided by WWI. Men determined to gain financial and social status by entering the stock market, bond sales, or illegal methods of getting rich began to mix amongst those of ‘old money’ and those of extreme poverty. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby features characters like the Buchanans, who were raised in wealth, as well as those who live in persistent poverty, like the

Through the means of characterization, Fitzgerald expresses Tom Buchanan as another immoral character. Tom is portrayed as an egotistical, hypocrite who advocates white supremacy. His hypocrisy is shown when he speaks to Gatsby, he conduct himself as a “high” class citizen but dwells as a “low” class citizen. “I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.” “What about it?” said Gatsby politely. “I guess your friend Walter Chase

Gatsby realizes that life of the high-class demands wealth to become priority; wealth becomes his superficial goal overshadowing his quest for love. He establishes his necessity to acquire wealth, which allows him to be with Daisy. The social elite of Gatsby?s time sacrifice morality in order to attain wealth. Tom Buchanan, a man from an enormously wealthy family, ?seems to Nick to have lost all sense of being kind.?(Lehan, pg.60) Nick describes Tom?s physical attributes as a metaphor for his true character when remarking that Tom had a ?hard mouth and a supercilious manner?arrogant eyes has established dominance over his face?always leaning aggressively forward?a cruel body?his speaking voice?added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed? (Lehan, p.61)

Tom Buchanan is arguably the worst character in The Great Gatsby. He is selfish, morally corrupt, dishonest, and hypocritical. Even though Tom displays all these characteristics throughout the novel he is barely punished. Tom is a terrible person. He is morally atrocious, and does whatever he wants. He is childish and gets what he wants

The imperfect characters that exist within The Great Gatsby highlight Fitzgerald’s already fantastic writing the most since it displays his characters from a jaded perspective. This is exemplified in the development of Tom Buchanan and Daisy’s relationship is toxic in the sense that both parties seem to be missing fundamental emotional components. One of these missing components can be broken down into the observation that Daisy must only love money and herself which is why she is an egoist. On the other hand, Tom can also be considered an egoist due to his arrogant attitude in assuming everything belongs to him. In fact, Tom doesn’t care about Daisy at all, he only cares about possessing his trophy wife, which is an extremely sinister trait in any relationship. Hence, the most unhealthy relationship within the book is Tom and Daisy’s because they possess several malicious character traits that debilitate them as couple which are: Tom’s belief that everything belongs to him, Daisy’s inherently materialistic nature, and both of their total unconcern toward each other’s extramarital antics.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Tom Buchanan is portrayed as a bully who is snobbish, physically and mentally abusive, and ridiculously wealthy. He is good at covering his lack of self-esteem by talking bigger and better about himself than how he truly feels. Tom is a large powerful man therefore he is always ready for a fight if somebody dare to disagree with him. Nick observes, “I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrevocable football game.” (Fitzgerald 17) Nick’s speculation about Buchanan and the irrevocable football game presents Tom as someone whose needs can never fully be met. Buchanan through his many outburst of aggression. Fitzgerald assures that readers

The purpose of this chapter is to show what Tom Buchanan is like, and how he acts towards other people and his money. Also, the reader is prepared to meet Gatsby as the party scene continues to build an aura of mystery and excitement around Gatsby, who has yet to make a full appearance in the novel. Here, Gatsby emerges as a mysterious subject of gossip. He is extremely well known, but no one seems to have any

Tom Buchanan is a strong, powerful, and forceful picture of a man who cares only about himself. He first meets Gatsby in the second half of the book because Gatsby is trying to steal daisy from him. Although Tom is a powerful rich man he is also a coward. He told George “The yellow car that I was driving this afternoon wasn't mine”(Fitzgerald, 140). There were many more ways for tom to give out the information, from turning it to the police or for waiting for george to ask him. Even though Tom offers George false information, eventually leading him to Gatsby's home, he is still less culpable than others. Tom's actions were unwarranted and could have been avoided. This is because his wife was the person who tempted Gatsby first.