Tom Buchanan Materialism

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Words are important. Anyone can forge their own worlds out of nothing more than a pen and a thought; authors must pick their words deliberately as most words carry additional meaning. One of the easiest examples of this phenomenon to observe is the phrasing of a character’s first quotation, which often times hints at said character’s future. While many authors across many novels use this to strengthen their works, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses this tactic in his novel The Great Gatsby when introducing Jay Gatsby and his foil: Tom Buchanan. Tom Buchanan’s first words provide an insight into just how materialistic his world view is. In the novel, when Tom Buchanan first speaks, it is soon after Nick Carraway arrives at Buchanan’s house. Carraway …show more content…

When Gatsby is finally revealed in the fleeting moments of chapter 1, Carraway has just returned home from Tom Buchanan’s house. It is the middle of the night, and Carraway is resting in his car. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he sees who he can only assume is Gatsby. He struggles to decide whether or not to call out to Gatsby and introduce himself. He turns to gaze out over the bay, attempting to see what Gatsby was looking at. However, “When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness.” Gatsby’s first words, or lack thereof, is a hint towards Gatsby’s character, in more than him not speaking. Him not speaking, having no first words so to speak, helps to lay the groundwork for the mystery the character commands. Some in the novel aren’t even sure that Gatsby even exists. Nothing is known about him and contradictory rumors fly through the mouths and ears of New York’s elite in the quest to find out who, or what, Gatsby is. In Gatsby’s first appearance, Fitzgerald chooses to end the scene, and indeed the chapter, by mentioning the noises in the night. This hints at Gatsby as, throughout the novel, he is holding lavish, loud, flamboyant parties. These parties serve as little more than background noise and a mating call targeted

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