Compare And Contrast Tom Buchandby In The Great Gatsby

How great was Gatsby?

Often in life, it is easy to make comparisons, whether it be comparing yourself to others or comparing two people to each other. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald makes such a comparison between Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Throughout the story these two men form an aggressive rivalry, due to the vastly different ways they found success, and fueled by their shared love for Daisy. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby reveals the tremendous differences found in Tom and Gatsby; Fitzgerald seems to find more value in Jay, here’s why. Gatsby has a rare quality in his ability to pick himself up by his bootstraps, so to speak. A phrase that is literally meant to represent an impossible task. There was a time in Gatsby’s life where he had nothing, and everything he got was something that he had earned. Gatsby, had nothing handed to him, and actually had some taken from him when he needed it most. “A legacy of twenty-five thousand dollars. He didn’t get it. He never understood the legal device that was used against him” (Fitzgerald 100). Considering the time period, this kind of money could have made him wealthy, or at least allow him to live comfortably, but instead his inheritance was denied to him, and from that point on he dedicated his life to acquiring wealth and luxury. Gatsby has shown himself to be an extremely determined individual, who finds a way to reach his goals. “He left, feeling that if he had searched harder, he might have found