Deciding to be a terrible person is an easy choice for some, and isn’t for others. In the book, “The Great Gatsby” two men with interconnecting lives both go down a rabbit hole of terrible choices, and these men are Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. These two men are different and similar in a multitude of ways, which includes the different lives they lead and the semi-similar experience they had with their wives. I will be focusing on the issues of the choices these men make and the way their lives turn out in the ending of the book, such as the cheating scandal with their wives, and the many unnecessary deaths that occurred in the book. To recap my main goals of this essay, I will be writing about the similarities and differences in the lives …show more content…
Both of these men experienced their wives cheating on them, little did George Wilson know that it was with someone he knew fairly well. “Your wife doesn’t love you,” said Gatsby. “She’s never loved you. She loves me.” (Gatsby 130). This evidence supports my thesis because it’s the moment where Gatsby confirms his affair with Daisy and the moment where Tom receives actual confirmation that Daisy was cheating on Tom with Gatsby. This improves my argument because it really shows the depth of the affair and how this took a toll on Tom. “I just wised up to something funny the last two days,” remarked Wilson. “That’s why I want to get away. That’s why I been bothering you about the car.” (Wilson 124). This evidence supports my thesis because it tells us that Wilso now knows about his wife's affair with Tom, although he doesn’t know it’s Tom. This strengthens my thesis because it shows the depth of the affair and it shows Wilson’s mental state. In my next paragraph I will be speaking about the differences between Tom and …show more content…
After the affair between Daisy and Gatsby, as well as Tom and Myrtle was discovered, Tom and George made different decisions in how they dealt with the affair. Tom and Daisy decided to move away with their daughter to avoid their problems and guilt and hide in their wealth, but George on the other hand made the terrible decision to take “justice” into his own hands. After Tom told George Gatsby was the one having the affair with Myrtle and is who ran Myrtle over, George decided to go to Gatsby’s house and shoot Gatsby which ended in his death, and proceeded to kill himself in the same fashion. “They’re a rotten crowd,” I shouted across the lawn. “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” (Carraway 154). This statement strengthens my thesis because it shows more differences between Tom and Wilson. It strengthens my argument because it shows that Tom and Daisy were cowards and just overall terrible people, and it shows how Tom led a different life than Wilson in the end. “It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.” (Carraway 162). This evidence strengthens my thesis because it shows that Wilson was mentally unstable toward the end and ended up killing an innocent man and himself. It shows
Nick describes the moment attempts to get Daisy to leave Tom, specifically the moment where both men are arguing about what Daisy wants, “‘Daisy’s leaving you.’ ‘Nonsense'’” (Fitzgerald 140). Both men seem to believe that they can decide what Daisy wants and use her to fulfill their dream however they want too. Nick frames this trait in Gatsby as romantic, Gatsby is in love with a woman and does whatever he must, makes friends with her friends, all to get back to her.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, the two main male characters, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, represent two vastly different social classes and attitudes towards life. Tom represents the old money aristocracy, while Gatsby represents the nouveau riche. The two men are also competing for the affections of Daisy, Tom's wife and Gatsby's former lover. In this essay, I will compare and contrast Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, highlighting their differences in personality, social class, and attitude towards life, while providing evidence and commentary from the novel. Tom Buchanan, a former college football star, comes from a wealthy, established family and is a member of the elite social class.
His extremity is accentuated by his determination to claim that “[he] [is]” the person that ran over Myrtle Wilson, when, in fact, it “[is] Daisy driving.” (154) Sacrificing himself serves as another means to advance and recommence the progression of his ambition, as well as determining the success of his plans. By shouldering Daisy’s problem, he assures her that he will be there for her and protect her when her life is in danger or at the threat that she will be besmirched. Moreover, he returns to “wait[ing]” for her, failing to acknowledge and grasp the reality that Daisy values her image more than her love for Gatsby, as well as the inability to erase the existence of her daughter, and the past four years she has spent loving Tom. (157) Their difference in status is astronomically wide, deeming it impossible to find a compromise that will appease both sides.
“‘She never loved you, do you hear?’ [Gatsby] cried. ‘She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!’” (130).
In the life of the well-known and successful Jay Gatsby, the core idea of love fueled his motivations. While the majority depicts him as a strong and independent man who lives a luxurious lifestyle with numerous parties and nights out, it becomes clear that his true character is not what he portrays. Furthermore, his infatuation with other characters became evident of not only romance, but also the loss he experiences within himself.. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gastby demonstrates the theme of love and loss through the analysis of his thoughts and actions, unrequited romance with Daisy Buchannan, and character development.
Reading The Great Gatsby has opened my eyes to see the truth behind people’s actions and how to see the characters beyond the page. Not only do we see Daisy transform from a cynical, depressed wife, to a life-loving women, we also see that your happiness can not depend on who you are around but it does affect your thoughts, words, and deeds. We learn throughout the novel that Daisy is a conniving, deceitful, cowardly woman afraid of her own shadow, but we also learn that she doesn’t know how to be anything else because of the way she was raised. Daisy incapability of learning to let go and be who she wants to be, is the reason why Gatsby, the man she loves, and Wilson, the husband of Myrtle, die. In the novel, Daisy is the villain, she takes people’s lives, turns them upside down, blames it on someone else, and walks away unharmed and unscathed.
For this purpose, Tom serves as an external factor and plays a huge role in creating conflict between Gatsby and Daisy. Tom is the catalyst for the downfall of Gatsby and creates conflict between Gatsby and Daisy. Tom’s goal is to serve as an interruption in Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship at any time he can. One way Tom is able to create conflict is by convincing Daisy to leave town with him following the murder of Myrtle Wilson: “But she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon, and taken baggage with them. ‘Left no address?’
George had become relentless in finding answers and eventually received them from Tom Buchanan which was told to George in a menace and lying manner. George had been told that Gatsby was the one driving the car and was confronted face-to-face with death. Lies had traveled around eventually coming back to take Gatsby down. “It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete” (Fitzgerald 162). The murder of Gatsby and the suicide of Wilson were the final stories of the novel.
‘Even that’s a lie,’ said Tom savagely. ‘She didn’t know you were alive. Why--there’re things between Daisy and me that you’ll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget.’ The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby”(132). Gatsby’s consent of Daisy’s love angered Tom causing him to accuse her love to be a lie.
Control issues and infidelity have ruined the lives of numerous due to just 2 men. Tom Buchanan and George Wilson were rich men with marital problems that eventually turned into more serious actions. The book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of the rich and how their lives precede on a normal basis. It talks of the countless controlling, unethical, and selfish decisions that are made by these higher classed people. These two men both had controlling aspects about them throughout the entire plot line, however, they sometimes showed contrasting characteristics from one other.
Fitzgerald is hinting that men have life easier than women do. Throughout “The Great Gatsby” the men act as if they have control and leverage over the women. The main male characters that are going to be compared and contrasted are going to be Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. These men have very similar characteristics when it comes to dealing with their attitudes toward women, their ways of showing violence, and their reactions to being cheated on. In this essay you will have an understanding from these characteristics.
Thesis: In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays Daisy as the classic American girl, thus Fitzgerald uses social expectations of white women to characterize Daisy as a two dimensional stereotype. In the beginning of the novel, Daisy is introduced as the wife of Tom, together creating the exemplar of American couples; however, these social expectations limit the identity of Daisy as she is served as a complimentary character to Tom. Daisy demonstrates Tom’s power and authority when by diminishing her dignity.
“Tom had frequently been unfaithful to her, the first time within the first three months of their marriage” (Parr). “Wilson tells Tom that he suspects “something funny” about his wife, and Tom realizes that Wilson has caught on that his wife is having an affair, although he does not know the affair is with Tom” (Lathbury 7). Tom not only strains his own marriage by being unfaithful to his wife, but he puts a large strain on the Wilson’s marriage. His deceitfulness causes tension and distance between George and Myrtle
“Gatsby vs. Buchanan” In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, there are several main characters that share numerous similarities and differences. These characteristics are what separate every character from each other to give them all their own personalities and to give the story different moods throughout. Two characters from this novel that are extremely alike, but extraordinarily different at the same time are Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. Three areas between these two main characters that can be easily compared and contrasted, and prove that Gatsby is a better person, are their wealth, their backgrounds, and their personalities.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, he depicts the downfall of Jay Gatsby’s dream to be with who he sees as flawless–Daisy Buchanan. Through Nick Carroway’s perspective, Daisy is the center of increasing tensions and conflict between characters in the novel. While some literary critics might argue that Tom Buchanan is the worst character in comparison to the idealism of Daisy, the reality is Daisy is the worst character because of her detrimental actions to relationships and because of her desire for wealth and status. Daisy destroys her relationship with Gatsby, Tom, and even her cousin Nick. After remeeting Gatsby, Daisy begins to go “over quite often–in the afternoons” to Gatsby’s home (114).