Tom Buchanan Is A Villain

Tom, the true Oppressor
Order in the court! There has been a murder in the town of West Egg, and the purpose of this meeting is to discuss the person responsible for the death of Jay Gatsby. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, many characters take questionable actions that hurt their reputations; furthermore, there are several literary perspectives which one can compose their argument upon. Gatsby, as a man whose most valuable possession was his ability to dream, redirected his life in pursuance of the American dream. For this reason alone, Gatsby deserves a justified death. This being said, Tom Buchanan, of East Egg, is the only person admissible to this sort of crime. Tom is a wealthy, educated, and powerful man; however, despite

From a historical perspective, Tom Buchanan is the true villain of The Great Gatsby. A historical literary critic sees the text within its historical context, which gives the reader information about when the text is set, and the ways in which people of this historical period saw and thought about the world in which they lived. Tom valued materialism more than he did common morals: for example, Daisy claims, that Tom uses his “hulking” (Fitzgerald 12) physique to bruise her finger. Instantly, the reader can infer that Tom and Daisy’s relationship has a dark and abusive side despite the initial fondness between them. This is evident when Daisy states, “I hope she’s a fool - that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 17). In other words, the way women were viewed during this time may have given them more freedom, but they were still set apart from males and were portrayed as the less important “fool” (Fitzgerald 17) of society. Daisy is not literally a fool; however, she is surrounded by the constant sexist and degrading presence of her husband, Tom. In addition, Tom states, “Civilization’s going to pieces” (Fitzgerald 12) while referencing

A biographical literary critic uses the text to gain insight into the authors work, which can provide the reader a better understanding of themes, historical references, social oppositions or movements, and the creation of fictional characters. At the same time, this information may not correctly reflect the author's true intentions. Gatsby and Fitzgerald have many parallels between their lifestyles. Fitzgerald, as a 17-year old, fell in love with a woman named Zelda Sayre; ultimately, using his charming personality to get her to marry him. Similarly, Gatsby became fixated on a woman named Daisy. From a young age, a man named Dan Cody mentored Gatsby and taught him how to use his pompous nature to attain everything he wanted. For example, Gatsby used these skills to gain the friendship of Nick Carraway. Nick describes his smile as, “one of those rare smiles with a quality of reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life” (Fitzgerald 48). This shows he had one ambition he was seeking to fulfill: the American dream. This being said, Tom was Gatsby’s main opponent, and the only person stopping him from achieving his own manifest destiny. Nonetheless, one can infer that the thing making Gatsby great is the power to imagine himself better than his actual circumstances, which is how he became so powerful and wealthy. This goes back to the