Greed And Carelessness In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story of dreams, greed, and carelessness. Two characters in the book are Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. These characters have an interesting relationship, as George Wilson’s wife, Myrtle, is Tom Buchanan’s mistress. It is surprising to see how they react similarly and differently with their attitudes toward women, their ways of showing violence, and their reactions to being cuckolded. Tom Buchanan comes from an old money family. This means that he is well respected in society because his family has had money for generations and generations. Tom is physically described as: “a sturdy, straw haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining, arrogant eyes had established …show more content…
Myrtle saying Daisy’s name over and over greatly angers Tom, and by “making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 41). Tom has major violence problems. If just saying a few words can provoke Tom to break someone’s nose, then he obviously needs some help. In today’s world people that display these tendencies end up in jail and/or with protection orders against them. Tom’s actions could be defined as domestic violence. “A mind-bogging one in three women (and one in four men) has been a victim of physical brutality by an intimate partner” (citation). Domestic violence is sadly more common than one might think.
George Wilson shows violence and responds to being cuckolded the same way. Like Tom, George Wilson is violent towards his wife. After he finds out that she has been cheating on him, he locks her in a room and keeps her there against her will. Myrtle says, “Beat me! Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward” (Fitzgerald 144)! George tells of what happened after by saying, “I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God. I took her to the window and said, “God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me but you can’t fool God” (Fitzgerald …show more content…
Daisy and Gatsby hit and kill Wilson’s wife Myrtle. This is not only a tragedy for Wilson, but for Tom as well. Tom uses his skills of manipulation to convince Wilson that Myrtle was Gatsby’s mistress. Wilson then uses the rage created by his wife’s murder to track down the man who owned the car that killed her. He somehow, with Tom’s help, finds out that Gatsby owns the car that killed Myrtle. Wilson then shoots and kills Gatsby, and then shoots himself. In the end George Wilson was ignorant and boring until he found out his wife was cheating, so he killed those that he thought were involved and