Tom Buchanan’s Search for Fulfillment
Since The Great Gatsby takes place among the wanton variety of the East, the fact that Tom Buchanan has a mistress does not surprise Nick or anyone else. However, what does appear perplexing is Tom’s continued attachment to Daisy, even when both Myrtle and Tom are dissatisfied with their respective spouses. In the words of Myrtle Wilson’s sister, Catherine, “[W]hy go on living with them if they can’t stand them?” (Fitzgerald 33). Catherine claims Daisy was a Catholic and that divorce was not possible, but the reader and Nick recognize this as a lie (33) which covers the unalterable reality explaining Tom’s contradictory relationships with Daisy and Myrtle.
Furthermore, Tom maintains a double standard regarding marital fidelity; though his mistress causes disturbance to the Buchanans’ lives by telephoning during dinnertime (15), Tom refuses to allow “Mr. Nobody from Nowhere to make love to...[his] wife” (130). The duplicity surrounding Tom’s relationships with Daisy and Myrtle reveals his …show more content…
The people of the Roaring Twenties and, specifically, the occupants of East Egg exhibited moral rebellion and independence. Immorality was prevalent among them, and divine power did not seem to exist. Promiscuity abounded: Tom, Daisy, Myrtle, and Gatsby carried on adulterous affairs while Daisy gave out green cards and kisses freely at debauched parties (104). Though the Prohibition amendment had been enacted, the crowds at Gatsby’s parties consumed gin as carelessly as ever (42), and Gatsby was involved with his drug-store business and other shady dealings (134). The characters in The Great Gatsby had become their own gods. Gatsby’s own “Platonic conception of himself” made him a “son of God” (98), and Daisy and Jordan are described as “silver idols” (115). Tom was one of many who seized control of one’s own world during confused and restless
Since The Great Gatsby takes place among the wanton variety of the East, the fact that Tom Buchanan has a mistress does not surprise Nick or anyone else. However, what does appear perplexing is Tom’s continued attachment to Daisy, even when both Myrtle and Tom are dissatisfied with their respective spouses. In the words of Myrtle Wilson’s sister, Catherine, “[W]hy go on living with them if they can’t stand them?” (Fitzgerald 33). Catherine claims Daisy was a Catholic and that divorce was not possible, but the reader and Nick recognize this as a lie (33) which covers the unalterable reality explaining Tom’s contradictory relationships with Daisy and Myrtle.
Furthermore, Tom maintains a double standard regarding marital fidelity; though his mistress causes disturbance to the Buchanans’ lives by telephoning during dinnertime (15), Tom refuses to allow “Mr. Nobody from Nowhere to make love to...[his] wife” (130). The duplicity surrounding Tom’s relationships with Daisy and Myrtle reveals his …show more content…
The people of the Roaring Twenties and, specifically, the occupants of East Egg exhibited moral rebellion and independence. Immorality was prevalent among them, and divine power did not seem to exist. Promiscuity abounded: Tom, Daisy, Myrtle, and Gatsby carried on adulterous affairs while Daisy gave out green cards and kisses freely at debauched parties (104). Though the Prohibition amendment had been enacted, the crowds at Gatsby’s parties consumed gin as carelessly as ever (42), and Gatsby was involved with his drug-store business and other shady dealings (134). The characters in The Great Gatsby had become their own gods. Gatsby’s own “Platonic conception of himself” made him a “son of God” (98), and Daisy and Jordan are described as “silver idols” (115). Tom was one of many who seized control of one’s own world during confused and restless