In the 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the nature of man, and that, though characters may live complete opposite lives and be from different upbringings, even the most contrasting of people can have similarities. In the novel, the readers are introduced to two characters named Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. Tom Buchanan is introduced as an arrogant, wealthy east egg man who has never had to work for his money. George Wilson is introduced as a poor man, living in the Valley of Ashes, who owns an auto shop as a living. Although these men are in different social classes, if you were to strip these men of their wealth, they would have more similarities than differences. Fitzgerald shows through his writing that the nature of man is aggressive, contentious, and cowardly. From the beginning of the book, Tom is shown to be a contentious character. While Tom, Daisy, and Nick are all at dinner, Tom goes into a diatribe about the importance of the dominant race, going on to say “It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things” (17). Later in the text, the readers learn about an argument between George and Myrtle Wilson. During the fight, Myrtle screams at George, “Beat me! Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward” (144). This is one of the first signals to the reader that George may be more contentious than imperturbable. Both men throughout the book suppress their feelings for their wives until something goes wrong. At that point, both men are willing to fight for their wives and do what is necessary to get them back or avenge for their pain. We see this when Tom, Jordan, Nick, Gatsby, and Daisy are all at the apartment and Tom has just found... ... middle of paper ... ...y” and that he “has a way of finding out” (168). This gives the reader conclusions that George, similar to tom, turns to aggression to deal with unsettling situations. In conclusion, both men show characteristics that are similar despite their different upbringings. George and Tom can both be cowardly, selfish and controlling. Fitzgerald shows strongly that it does not matter what you have, or how much you have, but rather who you are underneath as a person. He shows that even the people that seem to have the most are the ones who have the least. Wealth and status is nothing without good character, and no matter how much you have, you can not fool people into believing you are a good person. Fitzgerald successfully portrayed the nature of man throughout all lifestyles. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1995. Print.
During Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, it is apparent to be an absurd time for the wealthy. The shallowness of money, riches, and a place in a higher social class were probably the most important components in most lives at that period of time. This is expressed clearly by Fitzgerald, especially through his characters, which include Myrtle Wilson, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and of course, Jay Gatsby. This novel was obviously written to criticize and condemn the ethics of the rich.
...nts of conversation with Nick, the characters remain on the levels of small talk and public knowledge. The only insight given to their lives is that they can easily be defined by a stereotype. Daisy is the Southern Belle/Easterner: rich, proper, and reckless. Gatsby is a Western Pioneer: continuously working toward his dreams. Tom is the Rich Easterner Jock: large, hypocritical, and ignorant. Fitzgerald used these common 1920's stereotypes to create the one-dimensional characters in this very multi-dimensional story, The Great Gatsby.
For most people, a certain colour may represent something meaningful to them. While in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many of the colours used in the novel are meant to represent something. The novel’s setting is in East and West Egg, two places in New York. Our narrator, Nick Carraway, lives in the West Egg. Along with living in West Egg is a friend of Nick’s, Jay Gatsby; a character that is in love with Daisy Buchanan. Unfortunately, Daisy is married to Tom. As the plot unravels, the reader notices the connection between certain colours and their importance to the novel. The use of colours within The Great Gatsby symbolizes actual themes, as grey symbolizes corruption, blue symbolizes reality, and green symbolizes jealousy and envy.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby was a remarkable book. Fitzgerald Made the characters of the book as real and as personal as possible. Three characteristics stood out in the novel to me. Tom’s Jealousy of Gatsby relationship with his wife, Gatsby’s lies about who he is and his life, and Daisy’s ways to tempt Gatsby to fall in love with her. The novel was inspired by the way he fell in love with his wife Zelda.
In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main characters Tom and Gatsby are both similar and different in their attitudes and their status. Both Tom and Gatsby have attained great wealth and live in very lavish conditions. They differ greatly, on the other hand, in the way that they acquired this wealth, and the way in which they treat other people. Even though both characters have great amounts of wealth, they are almost complete opposites due the way in which they acquired their wealth.
Tom Buchanan is a character that is very controlling and violent: he serves to show the authority the upper-class has over the lower social classes. As an example, when Tom, Nick, and Myrtle are having a party in the apartment, and Myrtle decides to upset Tom, the narrator details, “Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing…whether Mrs. Wilson has any right to mention Daisy’s name. ‘Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!’ shouting Mrs. Wilson. ‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai’— Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 41). As shown above, Nick recounts the affair between Tom and Myrtle to the reader. The purpose of this ordeal is to show how Tom symbolizes the controlling and cruel nature of the upper-class. On the other hand, George Wilson is hardworking and loyal to his spouse; these attributes make him lower-class to show how dedicated and devoted people typically are in his social class. Particularly, when Michaelis is talking to George for the first time in the story, the narrator defines, “Generally he is one of these worn-out men: when he wasn’t working he sits on a chair in the doorway and stares at the people and the cars that pass along the road. …He is his wife’s man and not his own” (Fitzgerald 146). As seen
There are many different types of people in this world. Apart from physical features, it is the characteristics of a person that makes him/her original. Nick Carraway the narrator of The Great Gatsby, has qualities which are the complete opposite of those of Tom Buchanan, his cousin-in-law. In the novel, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses the comparison between two cousins to show how their differing characteristics reflects the themes of morality and reality versus illusion.
Fitzgerald has shown this with the differences between Gatsby and Tom. Tom is all about representing old money and inheriting his fortune alongside the old dynamics of American society while Gatsby is representing the new money and the new change in society. Tom is in a relationship with Daisy however he has a mistress and both daisy and him aren’t particularly happy whereas with the new changes in society Gatsby is not in a relationship, his feelings for daisy do not become physical, however he is happy with his partying lifestyle and the lifestyle where they may not particularly be a need a relationship with one person due to people being around you all the time.
The color red defines Tom’s character and what type of man he really is. When Tom forced Nick to come with him to see Myrtle, Nick witnesses Tom slapping Myrtle on the nose, for which Nick describes Tom’s bloody hand and Myrtles bloodied nose. This shows in true graphic senses that Tom is a representation of great violence. Tom is also shown through red to be very passionate to the point that he believes what he wants is his and what is his is only his. Fitting in with Tom’s character, one of Tom’s rooms in his house is completely crimson red, hinting at who he is on the inside. This shows that Tom has likely been this way for a long time, backstabbing others is his way. Shows what Tom is like on the inside where know one can see, and that anyone who gets in Toms way is subject to pain. In the end Tom has proven to be a violent and dangerously passionate man.
Tom and George both show their treachery towards women on multiple occasions. Tom’s first physical violent act is towards Myrtle when she constantly says, “Daisy! Daisy! Daisy! I’ll say it whenever I want to!” Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke
Their reactions to this betrayal have some similarities and differences. Both husbands reacted simile in the way they tried to keep their wives anyway from the person they were cheating with. After learning about their wives discrepancies both men become more willing to fight for their wives affection. The two of them would do anything necessary to get their wives back. But Tom and George had different methods in separating their wives from that other person who they were cheating with. Tom did so by learning incriminating evidence about Gatsby just to exploit his false persona to Daisy. During his exploitation, Tom, “...picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him and wasn’t far wrong.”(133) These facts freighted Daisy and made her believe that she didn’t actually really know of Gatsby was. This lead to Daisy returning to her husband, Tom. Myrtle, his wife, by literally separating her from returning to the other man. He locks her in their upstairs bedroom and began preparing the couple to move west anyway from the man she was having an affair
Nick is astonished at this information. He finds it hard to believe that Tom, with a beautiful wife and child, would be having an affair with some woman in the city. Miss Baker thinks “everybody knew” about the affair, yet Daisy is still with Tom. Being too ignorant to make herself believe it’s true, Daisy is willing to stay in the marriage, even when she is presented with an opportunity from Gatsby to escape. Daisy is willing to stay with Tom just because he has “old money,” and that shows how important it is to her. Everyone else’s morals are just as bad as Tom’s because they know about what’s going on and know that it’s wrong, but they don’t say anything about it. Later in the story, when Wilson is looking for the driver of the yellow car that killed Myrtle, he also suspects that person of having an affair with...
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a superbly written and an intrinsically captivating novel that deals with the decline of the American Dream and how vapid the upper class is. To illustrate and capture the essence of these themes, Fitzgerald uses characters Gatsby, who epitomizes the actual American Dream, and Daisy, who is based on the ideal girl. Yet, as these characters grasp the topics Fitzgerald wants to convey, there is something inherently like missing from the story as a whole. To fill this void, Fitzgerald utilizes minor characters as a means to move the plot along, develop characters further, and build upon the themes present in the novel. One such character is George Wilson.
In the Great Gatsby, by F Scott Fitzgerald the novel does not reflect an autobiography, but several of Fitzgerald’s personal experiences are reflected in it. Similarities can be drawn between the novel and Scott Fitzgeralds own life. Similarities include Gatsby and Fitzgerald 's want for success through continuous failure, dreams of success, strong feelings towards alcohol, and their love life. Nick’s qualities that relate to Fitzgerald include his honesty as a man in relation to the liars surrounding him. Also his mid western values to not be judgemental makes him a perfect observer, but also makes him the perfect outsider, which is how Fitzgerald always felt in the company of rich people. The relation between Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby
himself caught in the midst of, and tries to escape from Tom and Myrtle. The overbearing Tom