F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Rise Of The Coloured Empires

Tom and Daisy‘s decadence is not calculated, but rather casual, normal, and a very ordinary part of life, like the air we breathe. Tom and Daisy, born into wealth, flaunt it almost unknowingly. Tom was known in university for his, “freedom with money,” and that freedom does not seem to have left him after school– he and Daisy go on a vacation in France for, “no particular reason,” and he brings down a, “string of polo ponies,” from Lake Forest, Illinois. Tom is often described as a, “brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen,” with a, “cruel body.” However, Tom’s arrogant and cruel demeanour isn’t calculated or purposeful– it’s simply part of his personality. When he breaks Myrtle Wilson’s nose, it is with a, “short, deft movement,” a careless flick of the hand. His violent and racist attitude is justified in his mind by his own faulty and ignorant interpretation of The Rise of the Coloured Empires. He proclaims that he belongs to the, “dominant race,” but if people like Tom Buchanan are the dominant race, there is little hope for the other races. Not only is Tom a violent bigot, but he is also a hypocrite. He flaunts his, “woman,” to what seems like all of New York, yet rants about how people have started, “sneering at family life and family institutions.” …show more content…
Tom and Daisy are the ultimate examples of bourgeoisie carelessness and materialism. Gatsby is a childish and immature dreamer who is crushed under the weight of his own ideals and follies. Wolfsheim is a criminal rat who thinks nothing of his own transgressions. However disgusting these nadirs of humanity might be, their decadence is not the fault of any conscious thought on their part. It is a natural result of the immoral and Godless society they inhabit–as natural as the air they