Similarities Between Tom And Gatsby

“If you love two people at the same time, choose the second one, because if you really loved the first one you wouldn 't have fallen for the second” (Johnny Depp). F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby emphasizes the similarities of the characters Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby despite their different backgrounds. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Tom and Gatsby are alike because of their extreme wealth, mutual desire for Daisy’s love, and lack of morals. Firstly, Tom and Gatsby both live opulent lives in Long Island, New York. Tom lives in East Egg, while Gatsby lives in West Egg. East Egg is the area where the old monied, upper-class, and highly respected people live. Whereas, West Egg is a community where the nouveau riche and self-made people

It was hard to realize that a man in my own generation was wealthy enough to do that (Fitzgerald, Page 6). Fitzgerald uses the image of the polo ponies to describe Tom’s wealth. Polo is the sport of the upper-class. The fact that Tom owns a string of polo ponies is decadent. Only the extremely rich can afford such a luxury. In contrast, Gatsby earns his money through organized crime and illegal operations. When depicting Gatsby’s wealth, Fitzgerald says, “On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains.” (Fitzgerald, 41). Fitzgerald utilizes the image of Gatsby’s flashy Rolls-Royce as a bus to shuttle his party guests, as a way to demonstrate Gatsby’s need to show off his fortune. In addition, Fitzgerald uses a simile to compare Gatsby’s station wagon to a bug. He is intimating that the people attending Gatsby’s parties are infesting his home like parasites. They are leeches that use Gatsby and his lifestyle for their own advancement and pleasure. The reader is made aware of the shallowness of the people in Gatsby’s life when the only

Ultimately, Daisy’s choice is not to choose between the two men who need her love in order to confirm their own self worth. They are both similar in their desire to possess her. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald affirms Johnny Depp’s idea that when one moves on in their life, there is no such thing as a true