Tom Buchanan Characteristics

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Tom Buchanan from the book The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a spontaneous, competitive, uncontrollable man who has no regard for those around him. A wealthy man who puts respect aside and replaces it with pride and selfishness. Tom Buchanan is the Donald Trump of the 1920’s only a little less famous. Tom Buchanan’s spontaneous spirit is both a curse and a blessing. It’s a blessing in that his wife Daisy is able to see the world because Tom is restless when it comes to settling down. “They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully,” because Tom’s spontaneous attitude couldn’t take the idea of staying in one place for very long (6). However, this spontaneous attitude couldn’t rest easy with the idea of staying loyal to his wife, Daisy, either. “Tom’s got some woman in New York,” named Myrtle who is also married (15). Although Tom tries to keep it a secret he couldn’t stop Daisy from figuring it out. He may think that he’s sly like a fox, but really everyone knows about his dirty deeds. His spontaneous attitude combined with his pride fits him perfectly as a man who cheats on his wife. …show more content…

Tom had as much competitiveness in him as a winning high school football team. This competitiveness really came to light when Tom and Gatsby were arguing over Daisy on the hot Summer day in the city. In an attempt to denounce Gatsby’s rise to wealth Tom accused him of being “...a bootlegger the first time [he] saw him…” (133). This made it seem as if Gatsby’s wealth had been nothing but a scam. Denouncing Gatsby’s wealth shows that Tom can’t stand not being the top dog and making it seem as if he earned his money even though all he did was grow up in a rich

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