The Great Gatsby - Comparison Of Gatsby And Tom Buchanan Essays

The Great Gatsby - Comparison of Gatsby and Tom Buchanan The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby, a wonderful novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about a man by the name of Jay Gatsby, and Jay's dream is that through wealth and power, one can acquire happiness. To get to this happiness Jay must reach into the past and relive an old dream. In the past, Jay had a love affair with the affluent Daisy, knowing he could not marry her because he was poor at the time he left her and went to fight in the war. But once he had became rich five years later, he hunted her down and moved close to her, and her new husband Tom Buchanan. Overall, Tom Buchanan and Mr. Gatsby are completely two different types of men, in my opinion. Although there are limited examples of how they are similar. Both of the men had a fondness for Nick Carraway, cousin to Daisy and neighbor to Gatsby. ? ? This is just a friend...? ? (page 71.) Gatsby explains to Meyer Wolfsheim about young Nick Carraway. ? ? When I said you were a particular friend of Tom's, he started to abandon the whole idea. ? ? (page 80.) Jordan Baker told Nick about her conversation with Mr. Gatsby one evening. Gatsby loved Daisy so much more than Tom had, but Tom still confessed his love for Daisy. ? ? And whats more, I love Daisy too. ? ? (page 132.) Tom tried to defend himself as Gatsby accused him of not treating his wife right, and stating that Daisy had never loved Tom. ? ?...Well, there I was, ?way of my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn't care. ? ? (page 150.) Tom tried to explain to Nick of his love for Daisy. Also, one more similarity between Tom and Mr. Gatsby, is the fact that they both had won over Daisy's love. Daisy had loved them both. ? ? I did love him once - but I loved you too.? ? (page 133.) As Daisy had to explain her love for her husband Tom, and her love for Mr. Gatsby, in front of Nick, Jordan, Tom, and Gatsby. There were many differences between Tom and Gatsby. First off, Tom lived in East egg, the more wealthier part, while Gatsby had lived in West egg, where people hadn't inherited all their money, but mostly earned it through illegal matters. ? I lived at West egg, the - well, the less fashionable of the two...the one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard...It was Gatsby's mansion. ? (page 5.) ? Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans. ? (page 5.) Tom told of how he and Mr. Gatsby lived in West egg, and Tom lived in East egg with his wife Daisy. Also, Tom had inherited his money, it was all passed down, from generation to generation. When he was a young boy, his parents were rich. Although, Gatsby had a very different background. He had inherited money from his mentor Dan Cody, well he never really seen the money, but he was suppose to get it from him. He had though, picked up his habits of bootlegging and getting money through illegal matters from Dan Cody. And that is how he got all his money, from illegal business. ? ? A lot of these newly rich people are just bootleggers, you know. ? ? (page 109.) Tom was describing Gatsby to Nick. ? His family were enormously wealthy - even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach. ? (page 6.) Nick dictates the facts about Toms childhood and current state of wealth. One major difference in the end, is Nick's final opinion of the two men. At the end of the novel, Nick finds he loves Gatsby and hates Tom. ? I found myself on Gatsby's side, and alone. ? (page 165.) Nick tells it the way it is. ? ? I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I had saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. ? ? (page 180.) Nick explains his feelings toward Tom after he had last seen him after Gatsby's