Tom Buchanan is one of the main characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
He is portrayed as a selfish, arrogant man who is often prone to violence. Throughout the novel,
Tom demonstrates his selfishness by boasting to Nick about his wealth and evenly showing off his mistress just to make Nick jealous of him. However, while he was so focused on himself, he was unable to see the fact that the life he built around himself was crumbling apart bit by bit.
Through the actions and speech of Tom Buchanan, Fitzgerald makes the comment that when people are focused on solely themselves, they lose track of what goes on in their lives until it’s too late.
Tom demonstrates his selfish character all throughout the book. The first example of his …show more content…
He only saw how much better he can make his life and not how by improving the lives of those around him, his life would in turn improve. Tom’s inability to to think about others led him to commit violent acts of domestic abuse.
Tom’s final notable instance of selfishness was when he pushed Wilson to murder Jay
Gatsby as retribution for his crime of murdering Myrtle. When Tom heard from Michaelis that a big yellow car was responsible for Myrtle’s death, he immediately assumed it was Gatsby who drove the car and not Daisy. In Tom’s mind, Gatsby had already come close to taking his wife from him and so it wasn’t a stretch to think that Gatsby was getting back at him for ruining his chances with Daisy by killing his mistress. His train of thought would have been logical if
Gatsby actually knew that Myrtle was Tom’s mistress or if he knew that Tom had a mistress to begin with. Tom was so focused on Gatsby and how much he hated him due to his relationship with Daisy that he only thought of how to get even with Gatsby for his “crime.” When Tom and
Nick met up later, Tom talked about how sad he was and spoke nothing of Nick’s feelings. This situation almost mirrors the legendary Hatfield and McCoy feud that took place 30 years
He is portrayed as a selfish, arrogant man who is often prone to violence. Throughout the novel,
Tom demonstrates his selfishness by boasting to Nick about his wealth and evenly showing off his mistress just to make Nick jealous of him. However, while he was so focused on himself, he was unable to see the fact that the life he built around himself was crumbling apart bit by bit.
Through the actions and speech of Tom Buchanan, Fitzgerald makes the comment that when people are focused on solely themselves, they lose track of what goes on in their lives until it’s too late.
Tom demonstrates his selfish character all throughout the book. The first example of his …show more content…
He only saw how much better he can make his life and not how by improving the lives of those around him, his life would in turn improve. Tom’s inability to to think about others led him to commit violent acts of domestic abuse.
Tom’s final notable instance of selfishness was when he pushed Wilson to murder Jay
Gatsby as retribution for his crime of murdering Myrtle. When Tom heard from Michaelis that a big yellow car was responsible for Myrtle’s death, he immediately assumed it was Gatsby who drove the car and not Daisy. In Tom’s mind, Gatsby had already come close to taking his wife from him and so it wasn’t a stretch to think that Gatsby was getting back at him for ruining his chances with Daisy by killing his mistress. His train of thought would have been logical if
Gatsby actually knew that Myrtle was Tom’s mistress or if he knew that Tom had a mistress to begin with. Tom was so focused on Gatsby and how much he hated him due to his relationship with Daisy that he only thought of how to get even with Gatsby for his “crime.” When Tom and
Nick met up later, Tom talked about how sad he was and spoke nothing of Nick’s feelings. This situation almost mirrors the legendary Hatfield and McCoy feud that took place 30 years