How Is Tom Buchanan Selfish

In “The Great Gatsby” Tom Buchanan had one of the despising personalities out of all the characters. Tom’s personality was a rude, impatient, and cruel type at the beginning. There were no reasons for him to act like that. At the very beginning Tom is one of the first characters that were introduced. His first impressions were that he always had to be in command or be the dominant one. “ Tom who had been hovering restlessly about the room, stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder” (Fitzgerald 10) Even though he is a tall, muscular and broad man he sure does his research and can’t stand the fact that other races can become more superior. “Civilization’s going to pieces,” broke out Tom violently. “It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things” (Fitzgerald 12-13) Tom still succeeds to being more dominant and controlling by throwing Nick out the car. “He jumped to his feet and, taking hold of my elbow, literally forced me out the car.” “Were getting off,” he insisted. “I want you to meet my girl.”(Fitzgerald 24) Being tall, muscular and with a bad personality, Tom couldn’t have treated Mrs. Wilson worse by hitting her in the nose and making her bleed. “Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.” (Fitzgerald 37) By proceeding to very end of the book Tom still shows no signs of changing nor does he plan to. For instance Tom was going to sell his car to a garage owner, but decided to change his mind angrily and kept the car. “ The voice in the hall rose high with annoyance: “Very well, then, I won’t sell you the car at all . . . I’m under no obligations to you at all . . . and as for your bothering me about it at lunch time, I won’t stand at all!” (Fitzgerald 116) Even though Tom care about something’s he sure doesn’t care about his old friend Walter Chase since he just left him to rot. “I guess your friend Walter Chase wasn’t too proud

The Great Gatsby is a classic novel which shows the American dream, as well as, the differences in the social classes. The novel tells the story of love and loss that teaches people the full extent of consequences on life decisions. Throughout the novel, the characters Tom Buchanan and George Wilson are portrayed as polar opposites but they are more similar than different. Tom being the adulterous husband, whereas, George is the devoted spouse. Although their morals are extremely diverse, the men are very alike in their attitudes toward women and violent incidents. Tom Buchanan and George Wilson are similar in the aspects of their treatment of women and violent actions. These similarities being their need for, and lack thereof, control

Tom Buchanan and George Wilson have plenty in common with their attitude to women in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald throughout the whole novel shows us his thought on the nature of man. He shows Men often treat women harshly throughout the novel. For example there are violent acts, a constant presence of dominance, and also ironically their over reactions to being cheated on.

In the age of the 'Roaring '20s', corrupt minds plagued the society of New York's elite and wealthy. In Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby", Daisy Buchanan serves as a prime example of living the bourgeois lifestyle that ignored moral values. By blindly treading back and forth over the boundary separating morally wrong and innocently justified, Daisy's actions can be depicted as a person of an indecisive mind. By loving two men, and committing a murder, she exhibits the prime traits of a criminal- but by attempting to escape her blatantly sinister husband, Daisy innocently reaches for the lustful romance she yearns. In the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays Daisy Buchanan as morally ambiguous through her speech, actions, and relationships with others.

Tom Buchanan is a villain, there's too much he’s done to deny the name. He has a mistress, and Daisy knows it: she barely conceals her knowledge of it. Completely being hypocritical, he suspects that Daisy may have a novel that angers him. He is a supremacist, and a pompous “thug” who has more money than values. And Tom sends Wilson after Gatsby, accusing Jay of Myrtle’s death (when Gatsby was innocent), and Wright kills Gatsby.

In the passage, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses pugnacious and arrogant tones to reflect Nick’s initial thoughts of Tom, first through Tom’s appearance, then through his actions. Nick’s tone, when he first sees Tom waiting for him in his riding clothes, shifts from one of curiosity to fear and aggression. When Tom begins to talk, all of Nick’s initial thoughts of him are verified through Tom’s abrupt arrogance. Although Nick does not directly acknowledge his hatred and envy of Tom, through Nick’s description of Tom’s appearance and condescending attitude towards him, the reader recognizes a rigid tension between the two.

Through the means of characterization, Fitzgerald expresses Tom Buchanan as another immoral character. Tom is portrayed as an egotistical, hypocrite who advocates white supremacy. His hypocrisy is shown when he speaks to Gatsby, he conduct himself as a “high” class citizen but dwells as a “low” class citizen. “I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.” “What about it?” said Gatsby politely. “I guess your friend Walter Chase

Daisy’s husband Tom Buchanan is a typical man of the twenties. At this time not many women were respected, or treated as equals in relationships. There are multiple times in the book that Tom mentally, and physically abuses the women he is in a relationship with. In the beginning of the story while Daisy has some guests over she makes it a point to state that Tom has bruised her finger. Daisy states, “You did it Tom...I know you didn’t mean to, but you did do it. That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man…” (Fitzgerald, 12). It is evident that Tom has done some physical harm to daisy if her knuckle has turned black and blue. This abusive nature Tom has with Daisy affects her overall view on life. Not only does Daisy accept the abuse like

Tom Buchanan is the person most dominantly representing these people. His actions are generally self-centered and depict him as racist. Tom’s self-centered nature is revealed in his actions in East Egg. For instance, Tom cares only for himself and his well-being. He mistreats his wife Daisy by hurting her physically. This is evident when Daisy says, “Look! ... You did it, Tom… I know you didn’t mean to but you did do it” (17). Daisy is trying to trigger Tom’s guilt, but fails as he disregards her complaining and changes the topic of the conversation, thus, proving his self-centered ideals that concern no one other than himself. Moreover, Tom’s racist nature reveals itself when he discusses with Nick on the topic of a new book that Tom has been reading; ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’. Tom says, “It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control over things” (18). Tom thinks that the white race is the supreme race and that all other coloured races are inferior, coupled with the belief that the supreme race should watch out or else they will end up losing their title. This ideal is common in the 1920’s and it correlates with the moral deterioration of the upper class in society since they are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the supremacy of the white race. Finally, Tom’s self-centered nature in East Egg best reveals itself when Tom excuses himself from the dinner table in order to talk to his mistress

The impact of prevailing social stratification is multi-dimensional in the novel. It is noted that social stratification has great effects on racism. We find that Tom is a racist, and his racist attitude is due to his high social status. He attacks Gatsby and questions about his fake claim of an Oxford graduate to break the intimacy between her wife Daisy and Gatsby. He knows that revealing the truth is the only way to create a negative impact on Daisy’s mind about Gatsby. Another interpretation can be taken from Tom’s behavior is that Tom shows his aristocratic, rude and arrogant attitude. Indicating Gatsby as a “bootlegger”, “Mr. Nobody”, he shows hardly any sympathy and courtesy to Gatsby. His attitude toward Gatsby in such way would be impossible if he belongs to an inferior class. Tom is also proud of his “Nordic race”. His intention is to neglect the inferior people for their skin color. He is not a man to take any change easily. He cannot think of “intermarriage between black and white” (Fitzgerald 103).

Sometimes it’s perceived easier, that is when you come across people like Tom Buchanan. The author presents him as an individual with high moral standards for those around him, however when it comes to him, the yardstick gets smaller. Tom represents the quintessence of a hypocrite, in fact, Fitzgerald uses him to refer especially to politicians, aristocrats and bureaucrats. As Tom, they make statements about how people should behave towards one another, yet in their lives, they terribly fail to fulfill their own standards. In The Great Gatsby, Tom has an affair that is fairly public, and he is not bothered about it, but when he finds out his wife has been cheating on him, he outrages about it. Not satisfied, he begins to talk about how the institution of family should be respected, when he is the one who is completely transgressing it. "Self-control!" Repeated Tom incredulously. "I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out […] Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions,” (Fitzgerald, 7, 229). Fitzgerald uses Tom, to depict the greatest example of a hypocrite, using examples from real life

According to Google, supercilious means “behaving or looking as though one is superior to others”. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan has an extremely supercilious manner. When the narrator Nick first mentioned him, Tom was described as “a straw haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner” (7). Tom lives in East Egg, went to Yale, and is from ‘old money’. He believes he is superior and elite to everyone around him. This shows through in his arrogant manner. Tom’s supercilious nature results in him having an affair and acting disrespectfully towards his wife and marriage. As a consequence, people in Tom’s life are negatively and tragically

One of Tom’s most prominent traits is his disloyalty, especially to his marriage. During the dinner party at Daisy’s house in the East Egg, the telephone receives a call, from Tom’s mistress, resulting in Daisy exclaiming “She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time, don’t you think?” (Fitzgerald 15). Daisy is frustrated that Tom is cheating on her, but not for the right reasons. Rather than being upset at Tom for having an affair, she is upset because the phone call is merely disrupting the dinner party. One of Tom’s proudest moments takes place at the dinner party when Daisy, Nick, and Jordan discuss races in America and his opinions on it. He mentions that “It’s up to us, the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things” (Fitzgerald 18). Tom upholds the white community in America to be at a higher standard than those that were not born/raised in America. He sees members of the white community as higher beings than those who are not, holding himself at an upper level.

Throughout the novel Tom is shown as someone very arrogant and abrupt in the way he talks to people and feels he has the authority to question others in an interrogatory manner. In his first meeting with Nick he

Tom Buchanan is one of the many colourful, intriguing and enigmatic characters of the masterpiece “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. He is the antagonist of the novel and rightly so. He is racist, a hypocrite, an immoral cheater, a short-tempered brute and misogynistic. Tom is also part of an old and out dated sort of world that is being swamped all-round the edges by a new and better society. That is the reason why he is acting so tough and also why he hates Jay Gatsby so much, it is because he is afraid, afraid that the world that he knows and all the old-fashioned values of love, wealth and masculinity will come crashing down on him. He dislikes Gatsby because he is part of the new generation and he got rich by a different way