The Link Between Self-Focus And Empathy In The Great Gatsby

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

Tom buchanan is an extremely wealthy man, that comes from a wealthy family. He likes to flaunt his wealth around to those around him. He is an arrogant, hypocritical bully and his social attitudes are laced with racism and sexism. George Wilson is a poor, hardworking man that owns a run down garage in The Valley of Ashes. He is married to Myrtle Wilson, a full figured women who later in the novel has an affair with Tom Buchanan. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan and George Wilson have some similarities and differences when it comes to their attitude towards women, how they show violence, and their reactions to betrayal.

His voice faded off and Tom glanced impatiently around the garage. Then I heard footsteps on a stairs, and in a moment the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door”(Fitzgerald 25). As for Tom he is described in the book as, “Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining

Steinbeck and Fitzgerald show us two sides of loneliness. In the Great Gatsby, the characters have so much, yet truly have so little. While Daisy’s material possessions were vast, she had no real relationships with those around her. In Of Mice and Men the

Since Tom was born into a family that was fortunately blessed with an abundance of money, he always enjoyedobtained privilege. He became a shallow human being who only feltfeels empathy for himself. Tom supposes that he is the only human in the world. Voegeli interpreted in his work, “Tom Buchanan uses his inherited fortune for low motives that reflect his negligible concern for other people” (Voegeli 3). In Tom’s case, money could simply purchase him happiness-a wife, alcohol, a mistress- and so, there is he saw no need to be kind to others. Tom did not possess exceptional morals and motives: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” (Fitzgerald 179). Both Daisy and Tom, on the surface, appear as wonderful people and as an idol material until they exhibit the corruption that wealth can bring an

Tom Buchanan is a man who has achieved any achievement you could possibly ask for by the age of twenty one. He has accomplished anything he wants to accomplish in his life, lots of awards, lots of money, a beautiful wife a child, he has worked long, hard and honestly for what he has, however, he has what to live for now? While that is very impressive and something he will remember the rest of his life, it can also be depressing.In consequence, Tom wants to find some excitement in life or simply something to do to fill a empty space in his life, that person is Myrtle Wilson. Although Tom seems to be a respectful gentlemen, we learn that he has little respect for women. When Nick visits Tom and Daisy’s house for the first time, Jordan tells Nick in private, “‘You mean to say you don't know?" said Miss Baker, honestly surprised. "I thought everybody knew." "I don't." "Why−." she said hesitantly,

Tom's wealth and social status provide him with temporary pleasures but fail to bring him lasting happiness. His unhappiness is evident in his volatile temper, his abusive treatment of others, and his inability to form genuine connections with those around him. "Now he was a sturdy, straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward" (Fitzgerald 7). Daisy Buchanan is the embodiment of the American Dream for many of the characters in the novel.

Being the husband of Daisy Fey, Tom Buchanan is shown to have psychological issues himself, despite the image he likes to paint of his superiority compared to others. When one analyzes Tom Buchanan, he unlike Jay Gatsby, has no traumatized past to influence the motives behind his actions. Instead, Buchanan is shown to have problems with his ego, similar to that of Daisy’s feeling of inferiority. This is best shown when Tom invites Nick Carraway to his home. While there Tom feels the need to brag about his riches and horse stables to Carraway.

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

     In the text, The Great Gatsby, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald leads us to sympathize with the central character of the text, Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald evokes our sympathy using non-linear narrative and extended flashbacks as well as imagery, characterization and theme. Through these mediums, Fitzgerald is able to reveal Gatsby as a character who is in an unrelenting pursuit of an unattainable dream. While narrative and imagery reveal him to be a mysterious character, Gatsby's flaw is his ultimate dream which makes him a tragic figure and one with which we sympathize.

According to Nick, Tom Buchanan is a “sturdy, straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner” (13). Tom shows careless and arrogance multiple times

Tom Buchanan’s high social rank illustrates his personalities and actions in the novel. Tom is born in a “enormously wealthy” (Fitzgerald 6) and well-to-do family. Tom is considered old money and lives in the East Egg. Tom does not have to work for his money in which he enjoys very much. Tom is very arrogant in a way that he thinks that is “stronger and more of a man”

Sometimes it’s perceived easier, that is when you come across people like Tom Buchanan. The author presents him as an individual with high moral standards for those around him, however when it comes to him, the yardstick gets smaller. Tom represents the quintessence of a hypocrite, in fact, Fitzgerald uses him to refer especially to politicians, aristocrats and bureaucrats. As Tom, they make statements about how people should behave towards one another, yet in their lives, they terribly fail to fulfill their own standards. In The Great Gatsby, Tom has an affair that is fairly public, and he is not bothered about it, but when he finds out his wife has been cheating on him, he outrages about it. Not satisfied, he begins to talk about how the institution of family should be respected, when he is the one who is completely transgressing it. "Self-control!" Repeated Tom incredulously. "I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out […] Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions,” (Fitzgerald, 7, 229). Fitzgerald uses Tom, to depict the greatest example of a hypocrite, using examples from real life

Kneeling helplessly on the streets of a busy city in broad daylight an elderly homeless man. Growing up in an extremely impoverished family, he has struggled his entire life to survive in a harsh world. Everyday he leaves a jar open for money on the street, while countless rich businessmen pass him without a slight glance every day. As they walk to their high paying job in big skyscrapers, the men pay no attention to this unfortunate man living on the side of the street. While spending another monotonous day kneeling on the street, the homeless man hears a clang. Looking over to see spare change in his jar, he glances up to see a set of kind eyes staring back at him. This kind man looked to be a construction worker just off of work, he

Tom Buchanan, Daisy?s husband, was a man from an enormously wealthy family. Nick, described Tom's physical attributes as having a "hard mouth and a supercilious manner?arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face?always leaning aggressively forward?a cruel body?his speaking voice?added to the impression of