Almost immediately after seeing Nick, Tom says, “If it’s light enough after dinner, I want to take you down to the stables” (Fitzgerald 15). Tom almost immediately feels the need to usher Nick towards his stables, which is a sign of his own personal wealth. Tom’s desire to display his materialistic belongings as a show of his superiority is evident very clearly through this line. Though it’s essentially an offhand comment, Fitzgerald uses this remark to establish Tom’s character. Tom employs his wealth to demonstrate his higher standing on the social ladder.
After eleven years of an unhappy marriage Myrtle sees her affair with Tom as an escape from the awful like she is living in. The fact that she knows so little about the upper class men and the poor judgement of her character makes her an easy target for Tom to take advantage of her. Although she finally buys everything that she desired for, she never could have Tom’s heart all to herself. Tom would rather not leave Daisy because their marriage represents a larger meaning than only love it almost a symbol that show their social status. "Daisy!
Everything around Tom is destructive. These qualities were accepted in the nineteen twenties as the standard for a man, with enormous wealth. Mr. Fitzgerald wrote Toms character with no light of hope. Tom is the bad guy and no sliver of empathy can be given to Tom, because of his reckless behavior. Mr. Fitzgerald 's description of Tom is of a big powerful man. "
“She smiled slowly and walking through her husband as if he were a ghost and shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye.” We can see the disinterest she has for George by comparing her attraction towards Tom. Even beyond George and Myrtle’s relationship, Tom and Myrtle’s relationship is just a shallow. Myrtle is attracted to wealth, which is why she married George to begin with. Although she might feel some deeper level of attraction towards Tom, perhaps even love, he has no intent of loving Myrtle. She is just another mistress to Tom, and he is willing to give her the lavish lifestyle that she so desperately wants so that he can get what he wants,
In the novel, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the female characters, Jordan Baker, Daisy Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson, throughout the whole novel, all have the same motive which is achieving their desired social position through cheating. Jordan Baker is a very wealthy and famous golfer who will do anything to achieve her goal which is very beneficial to her social position. Like Jordan, Daisy Buchanan is very wealthy as well and married to one of the richest men in East Egg, Tom Buchanan. However, when she finds real love, Gatsby, she denies it because she wants to keep her social position. Like Daisy, Myrtle cheats on her husband and had an affair with another man who is Tom Buchanan.
Emphasizing their different values, Nick’s discomfort with meeting Myrtle for the first time showed through in an attempt to distance himself, ‘“Hold on,” I said, “I have to leave you here.” “No you don’t,” interposed Tom quickly. “Myrtle’ll be hurt if you don’t come up to the apartment.” (28). “Well, i’d like to, but----” (28). Nick claims to be one of the few honest people he knows, and his honesty shows through with his distaste for Tom’s dishonest relationship with Myrtle. Nick realizes that he is different, and comes to dislike the people he is surrounded by, like Tom, Jordan and Daisy, but believes Gatsby is different.
For instance, when Tom gets furious at Myrtle, his mistress, for speaking Daisy’s name(Tom’s wife), Tom, “making a short deft movement, [...] breaks [Myrtle 's] nose with his open hand(37).” This scene, without doubt, portrays Tom’s lack of respect for women and it shows that Tom views Myrtle as nothing more than an object that is meant to please his sexual desires. Tom sees himself as a superior to Myrtle and feels that he has the right to punish and put her back into her submissive role when she steps out of line. Similarly, Wilson is also prompted to violence by
The quote also show to us the double standard the Tom exists in as tom was too commenting the very same sin of adultery. He chooses to ignore his own wrongdoing in order to protect the weakening of his achieve american dream. Tom talks about the traditional nuclear family but is actively taking a part in taking said
In college, Tom was very friendly and was wonderful to be around. Nick realized, when they met again, that Tom had changed from friendly to cruel in the years after Tom and Nick graduated from Yale. Tom shows his cruelty by abusing Daisy. Tom does not abuse Daisy by hitting her, but merely more by causing emotional abuse. He mistreats and uses Daisy without caring about her feelings.
Myrtle Wilson’s husband is named George Wilson, unfortunately, she is miserable being married with him. She is having an affair with Tom, “There is always a halt there of at least a minute and it was because of this that I first met Tom Buchanan’s mistress.” (Fitzgerald ## ) Nick Carraway implies that Myrtle is having an affair with Tom. Myrtle married George Wilson because she thought that he had money so she married him, later she discovered that he is not wealthy and married Myrtle with a borrowed suit. She feels better that she cheats on him with Tom Buchanan. Her motivation to do this is because she wants people to think she is rich just like Daisy’s motivation.