The Great Gatsby Tom Buchanan Character Analysis

756 Words4 Pages
“The American Dream is a term that is often used but also misunderstood. It isn't really about becoming rich or famous. It is about things much simpler and more fundamental than that” Marco Rubio. Tom Buchanan strives for his ideal image of the American Dream: the perfect job, the perfect house, and the perfect family in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. From the outside perspective it may look like he has fulfilled this dream. But in reality, his life is deeply flawed. Toms failure of not achieving his goals is due to the moral decay in his social life, the death of his mistress Myrtle, and his unstable relationship with his wife Daisy. Tom Buchanan is known for his old money status and his unpleasant characterization. Tom enjoys his social power and since he lacks moral concern towards others he fears the decline of his social status. He has the idea of Social Darwinism, a term used in the late 19th century to describe the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’. Tom believes that old money people where the strongest and best of the…show more content…
Both of them have second lovers but do not seem to keen to do or say anything about it to each other. At first, when they were married they felt strongly about each other, but as the years went by their marriage developed into boredom. Tom and Daisy are afraid of losing each other. Tom shows an example of this fear in Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby, “‘She’s not leaving me!’ Tom’s words suddenly leaned down over Gatsby. ‘Certainly not for a common swindler who’d have to steal the ring he put on her finger’ (Fitzgerald, Ch 7).” Tom is scared of losing Daisy because she is like a possession to him, and she is part of Tom's American Dream. He expects a lot more from Daisy then he does from himself. He sees their marriage as an economic exchange. He has “bought” her in an honorable way and Gatsby, Daisy’s second love, would have to “buy” her in a deceitful

More about The Great Gatsby Tom Buchanan Character Analysis

Open Document