The Great Gatsby

In the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the narrator, Nick, portrays the characters living in a world full of corruption, materialism, and carelessness. Nick describes Daisy and Tom, two of the main characters of the novel as inconsiderate people who cause many problems yet do not deal with their consequences. By the end of the novel Nick states, "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retracted back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up their mess they had made.." (179). Tom and Daisy are two characters lost in a world where money, class, and reputation are highly valued. Although they carry out a relationship through lies and unfaithfulness, they still stay together due to their child and money. The conflicts that both Daisy and Tom create do not only affect them, but they also affect every other character that comes through their path. At times of conflict, Daisy and Tom do not take consequences or clean up their mess; as they are known to be the characters that leave the scene when things get complicated. By the end of the novel, not only do they contribute to a corrupt society that is based on wealth, lies, and betrayal, but they also overpower everything and everyone leading to greater conflicts and even deaths.

The characters of this novel are filled with vain personalities and are involved in many unhealthy relationships. Tom Buchanan is an arrogant and self-centered character with extreme power. His personality could be described in many ways, but according to Nick “It was a body capable of enormous leverage- a cruel body” (7). Tom is a graduate from Yale and is married to Daisy, Nick’s cousin from Louisville, Kentucky, who is known for her charming appearance, wealth and social popularity. Through out Tom and Daisy’s relationship, Tom acts possessive and dominant over her and at times treats her almost as if she were an object. Not only does Tom have an affair with Myrtle, a women from New York, but on top of that he hypocritically gets frustrated when suspecting an affair between his wife, Daisy, and Gatsby. While their child and money keep them together, Daisy and Tom both attempt to create an easy way out of their arguments and fights by trying to isolate them selves from each other in two completely different worlds. Daisy tends to leave her conflicts untouched because she believes that ignorance is bliss; and behaves superficially to cover the pain from her husbands disloyalty, while Tom Buchanan uses Myrtle to create his own little world and to get away from his normal life once in a while. Unlike Daisy, Myrtle is not as wealthy or socially popular and Tom’s egotism takes advantage of her weaknesses. Tom feels that he is better than Myrtle and more powerful than her in every aspect due to his higher wealth and status in the society. On the side, Daisy is certainly aware of Tom’s affair with Myrtle, but she does not try to put an end to it, she just puts on a phony smile and pretends that everything is perfect. Daisy even hopes for her little girl to be unaware of all the problems she may have to face in the future because according to her, “ That‘s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool ” (17). Because of Daisy’s and Tom’s incompetent morals and carelessness, more conflicts appear and all are left for someone else to take care of.

The major conflicts of this complex society start when Tom gets aggravated as a result of Gatsby’s noticeable affection toward Daisy at the luncheon at Tom’s own house. Although Tom himself is involved in an affair, he becomes tremendously outraged by the thought of his wife being unfaithful towards him. At this point, reality strikes him as he finds out how it feels to have your spouse fall in love with another person. As the suspicion of Daisy’s and Gatsby’s affair keeps on growing, Tom’s temper increases and becomes uncontrollable. Both men believe that they deserve the love of Daisy, and without hesitation they begin to put words into her mouth without letting her think through her own feelings. Trying to defend