Tom Buchanan In The Great Gatsby

Words: 803
Pages: 4
Open Document
A villain is defined as a cruelly malicious person who is involved or devoted to wickedness or crime. In the novel, “The Great Gatsby”, Tom Buchanan is the villain as the result of being a manipulative man whose careless and selfish decisions led to the demise of several characters. Tom is the symbol of carelessness and the shallowness of the wealthy. He constantly sees himself as so much better than everyone else, and is always believing the words of others over his own opinions.
Tom Buchanan had been cheating on his alluring wife, Daisy, with the auto-shop owner’s wife, Myrtle. He hadn't been secretive about it all, in fact, Daisy is assuredly aware of the issue along with her close friend Jordan. To add to all the obscurities, Tom takes Daisy’s cousin, Nick, along into town for him to meet Myrtle, and have a brief party.
Further into the book, Nick Carraway accompanies Daisy, Jay, and Tom, to their rendezvous at the city Plaza Hotel, where Tom is given the chance to confront Gatsby about his obsession with Daisy and alleged secret business activities. “And what's more, I love Daisy too.Once in a while 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," (131) In this quote, …show more content…
Overall, Tom was a total “brute” in Nick’s words, "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 messes they had made..." (191) Tom symbolizes the corruption of old money and how no matter how much money a person has, they would never be accepted in the upper society. He constantly went and had fun with his mistress, but apparently still loved Daisy. He misjudged many people in his world without even the exchange of one word with them. He was a racist who commonly thought they could not come up and take part in his word, besides working for
Show More

Related Documents: Tom Buchanan In The Great Gatsby

Tom Buchanan In The Great Gatsby

Tom Buchanan is a dynamic character in the book The Great Gatsby. He has a dominant personality which shows in his actions and words. Tom has a craving for power. This craving makes him seem domineering towards people. Tom clearly lets everyone know through what he says and does that he loves power and will do almost anything to attain it. Starting from the beginning of the novel the reader will notice that Tom is haughty. He has no problems asserting his authority. The reader should also notice…

Words 612 - Pages 3

Tom Buchanan Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

writing. Symbolism is a major part and makes up most of the story. “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel that focuses on symbolism and how it develops a modernist theme. This novel contains symbols that relate the theme, lies and deceit, to a modernist theme, rejection of traditional themes, subjects, and forms. One symbol that represents lies and deceit is Tom Buchanan’s personality. In the beginning of the novel, Tom talks very openly about his racial beliefs stating that the leading…

Words 1229 - Pages 5

Characteristics Of Tom Buchanan In The Great Gatsby

In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan is shown to be a man who is aggressive, impulsive and one who lies and cheats, but knows how to deal with all the chaos that goes on. These harsh and strong characteristic, categorize Tom Buchanan with the color orange. The color orange represents perfectly the aggressive, lying, cheating and impulsive person Tom Buchanan is. One of the main characteristics the color orange shows is aggression. Throughout the book it is evident…

Words 623 - Pages 3

Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And Tom Buchanan

“The Great Gatsby” George Wilson, and Tom Buchanan are far more alike than it seems, because of their attitudes toward women, their ways of showing violence, and their reactions to being cheated on. Tom Buchanan and George wilson have very similar attitudes toward women They are both very controlling. Neither one of them seem to care too much about women in general. George cries “oh my god” over and over when his wife is hit by a car, but its not because she was hit with the car, its because…

Words 529 - Pages 3

Tom Buchanan Quotes

quote by Tom Buchanan. It shows the relationship between Nick and Tom right there. The ending to the “The Great Gatsby” is certainly a wild one. But in a way, all of the characters had something to do with it, especially Tom. In “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan is short-tempered, arrogant, and an adulterer which leads to the outcome of the book. Tom is incredibly short-tempered. The biggest source of evidence for this is “Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her…

Words 418 - Pages 2

Love vs. Materialism in the Great Gatsby Essay

Materialism The Great Gatsby does not offer a definition of love, or a contrast between love and romance. Rather it suggests that what people believe to be love is normally only a dream. America in the 1920s was a country where moral values were slowly crumbling and Americans soon only had one dream and objective to achieve, success. Distorted love is one theme in the novel The Great Gatsby, present among all of the characters relationships; Daisy and Tom, Tom and Myrtle, Daisy and Gatsby, and Wilson…

Words 1147 - Pages 5

The Great Gatsby Essay

Tom Buchanan vs. Gatsby In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in chapter two Tom Buchanan throws a Manhattan party that is later juxtaposes the Gatsby party in West Egg. Fitzgerald uses this comparison to depict the 1920’s as a period, after the war, corrupted with social and moral values. Although both parties of Tom and Gatsby’s are filled with booze and drugs, the purpose behind the parties are very diverse. Gatsby has parties simply to attract the attention of Daisy Buchanan…

Words 938 - Pages 4

The Great Gatsby Research Paper

come from different economic backgrounds. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald successfully uses location to differentiate social status amongst his characters while the weather and seasons of those locations help guide them. Each character helps represent and support the differences of social class and the four main locations, The East Egg, the West Egg, the Valley of Ashes, and New York City. In The Great Gatsby…

Words 1222 - Pages 5

Corruption Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby and The Corrupted American Dream The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1920) covers several types of themes. For example a theme in the Great Gatsby is the American Dream. The American Dream is defined as someone, regardless of their race or social class, can achieve a successful life through hard work and determination. However, we see that many characters in the novel do not care about these beliefs. Throughout the book, characters such as Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan…

Words 1402 - Pages 6

Essay about Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in 1922, during the Roaring Twenties, a time of prosperity in the United States after World War I. The book received critical acclaim and is generally considered Fitzgerald's best work. It is also widely regarded as a "Great American Novel" and a literary classic, capturing the essence of an era. The Modern Library named it the second best English language novel of the 20th century.[1] 1-The main events of…

Words 1572 - Pages 7