How Is Tom Portrayed In The Great Gatsby

Nick, the narrator of the novel, introduces the reader(s) to Tom Buchanan, the husband of his cousin, Daisy, and explains how Nick has always known Tom as the annoying, egotistical, and the stereotypical rich white man, which is shown in his thoughts,

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

    Summary: The narrator of The Great Gatsby, Nick starts the novel by describing himself and introducing Gatsby, everything he scorns, but strives to be. Nick moves to the West Egg in New York to work in the bond business. Nick goes to Tom and Daisy’s house for dinner one night. Tom is a friends from college and Daisy is Nick’s cousin. Nick finds out about Tom’s lover, and sees Gatsby reaching off in the distance when he arrives home.

These characters live in the age of the “Hollow Men,” and are portrayed as empty and absent-minded people. In fact, Nick voices his grievances with this at the end of the story; after Nick meets Tom Buchanan a couple months following Gatsby’s death, he takes time to reflect, pondering, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” (179). Shaking Tom’s hand, he states that he feels like he “were talking to a child” (179). Nick feels a personal disdain for the carelessness of the characters in the book. Gatsby, however, acts with real thoughtfulness, as he exhibits his authenticity multiple times in the novel. Reflecting on Gatsby’s life, Nick proclaims that Gatsby’s heart “was in a constant, turbulent riot” (99). He then tells that “the most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted [Gatsby] in his bed at night” (99). These examples help validate that Gatsby, unlike the other characters, was genuine enough to feel passionate and convey emotion. While the readers dislike Tom and Daisy’s emptiness, they favor Gatsby’s compassionate and sincere personality, as they can relate to his

In The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway gradually grows annoyance with Daisy and Tom Buchanan and their selfish and luxurious life. Daisy, on the other hand finds Nick to be her “trustworthy genuine cousin”. Tom thinks of Nick as his old friend from college who is always there for him; however fraudulence lies between all of them. Thus, representing how each of the characters perceived their friendship differently. To begin, throughout the book Nick grows to become more and more disgusted with the actions Daisy and Tom fulfill; especially towards people. Nick represents this when he says, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them

We discover that Tom and Nick both attended Yale University together. Tom Buchanan is in a high elevated social position. In chapter 2, we see that Tom breaks Myrtle's nose, and this shows how sinister he truly is, he can also be considered a bully to his wife and Myrtle. We learn that he has a hypocritical mentality, Tom wants Daisy all for himself but Tom considers it “okay” for him to cheat. He is basically a bully who wants everything to go his way. Also Tom beats his wife and she only stays with him for the money, without Tom, Daisy is nothing. I guess we can say that this couple is all over the place. We also discover than Tom and Gatsby have a weak connection since Gatsby is disturbed at the presence of Gatsby. I would not be friends with him since he will probably threaten me for doing nothing wrong. In chapter 1, “He nodded sagely. "And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in awhile I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time." Just by this quote alone, we learn a lot about him. He cheats on his wife and admits he is a heartless

(Hook) An array of individuals have entered and exited the scene of the past few centuries, consisting of selfish, stuck-up, rich snobs who think that their wealth defines the amount of happiness and success they can obtain. (GDT) In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, husband of Daisy Buchanan, shows off distasteful personality traits such as hypocrisy, self-absorption, and disrespect to women. Throughout the story, his character develops into an extremely antagonistic individual. From cheating on his wife, to indirectly telling Wilson that Gatsby killed Myrtle, Tom Buchanan becomes the most hated man in the book. (Thesis) The theme “The Hollowness of the Upper Class” is quite evident in Tom for the duration of the story,

Tom’s foolish actions after drinking led to aggression and violence. He was supposed to be this flawless and prestigious guy, however, his foolish actions made people believe otherwise. While Nick and Tom were on a train, it stopped at the Valley of Ashes. Nick noticed that Tom “tanked up a good deal luncheon, and his determination to have my company bordered on violence”(Fitzgerald 24). Tom had been drinking on the train. When he told Nick to come with him to see Myrtle, he said it in an aggressive tone. When Tom became drunk, he came off as violent to Nick. Nick had noticed that the alcohol changed his character and actions in an ugly manner. Another example of alcohol making a fool of Tom was when Tom and Myrtle went to their apartment in

conflict in the story is Gatsby’s long lost love who is Nick’s cousin, Daisy, reunite

He learns how Tom, a wealthy man from a respectable family, cheats on his wife; how Gatsby, an assumed symbol of hard working America, deceived his way to the top through bootlegging; and even learns how other people of the wealthy class are deep down angry and sad, like when recalling women at one of Gatsby’s parties that was “not only singing [but] weeping too”

The next day Tom makes his way down to George Wilson's (Myrtle's husband) house and discovers that George has learned about his wife's infidelity but not with whom. Tom tells him that Gatsby was the driver of the car that killed his wife and George is led on to believe that the killer and the man his wife was sleeping with are one in the same. He breaks and enters into Gatsby's home and shoots him in his pool he then proceeds to kill himself.

He is Daisy’s wealthy, arrogant husband who never tries to live by the standards he enforces to other people. He has always had his suspicions about Gatsby’s love life with his wife, causing him to hold a huge grudge against him. Buchanan does not even think his ongoing affair with Myrtle is necessarily a negative fault on his behalf of being a husband and a

Nick Carraway introduces himself as an honest individual who is “ inclined to reserve all judgements” due to a lesson he learned from his father at a young age. His Father reminds him that he has the “advantages” that come with a comfortable life and he should always take this into consideration if he ever feels like “criticizing” someone else (Fitzgerald 5). By opening the novel this way, Fitzgerald establishes Nick’s credibility as the narrator because it is essential for reader to know that they can trust Nick as he unfolds the story of Gatsby. Tom Buchanan is presented as a rich, “sturdy, straw haired man of thirty” and having “two shining, arrogant eyes.” which had “established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward.”

Further into the novel Tom, along with his threatening physical presence, consistently attempts to dominate and mock the people around him with his “incredulous and insulting” words. For instance, when Gatsby responds to the Sloanes’ dinner invitation, Tom mocks him, “My God, I believe the man’s coming… doesn’t he know she doesn’t want him?” Tom talks about someone else, someone he views as a threat, as if Gatsby is inferior to him. When he says “doesn’t he know she doesn’t want him?” he is making fun of Gatsby's desperate need to fit in. Additionally, while Tom attends Gatsby’s party with Daisy in an overtly oppressive fashion, he notes Gatsby’s wealth: “I’d like to know who he is and what he does,” insisted Tom. “And I think I’ll make a

After Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom leave Tom’s house along with Nick and Jordan, they end up going to a suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City (Fitzgerald 178). Tom starts arguing with Gatsby about Gatsby’s bad habit of calling everyone “old sport.” This leads to him accusing Gatsby of lying about Gatsby actually attending Oxford. Gatsby gives him permission to ask him any question he would like after he informs Tom that he went to Oxford for five months because he was in an army program. Tom, angry about Gatsby’s reaction, asks him about his feelings for Daisy. He then tells Tom that Daisy loves him and that she never really loved Tom. Tom throws up Gatsby bootlegging in Gatsby’s face. When Daisy realized that Tom had out bested Gatsby as she observed the two argue, she then starts feeling closer to Tom. During the process, Nick all of a sudden realized that it was his thirtieth birthday (Fitzgerald 180). Nick is a veteran of World War I who graduated at Yale University. His family is from the Midwest. His dad taught him when he was young that he should never judge others (Baker).