Monday, April 23, 2012

The Great Gatsby - Tom and Daisy

"...but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for he had found difficult to forget; a singing compulsion, a whispered "Listen", a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour." p. 14

I think there is a big difference between the characters of Tom and Daisy. Tom is characterized as being "a sturdy, straw haired man of 30 with a rather hard mouth and supercilious manner... appearance of always leaning aggressively forward" (p. 11). He is cheating on his wife, Daisy, with Myrtle Wilson. That didn't make much sense to me, because she is described as not being very attractive, while Daisy is nearing perfection in Nick's eyes. She is characterized as being "sad and lovely, [with] bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth" (p.13). She also semi cheats on her spouse, but in a different way. She had been in love with Gatsby prior to her marriage to Tom, whereas Tom is just escaping his marriage just because. Daisy seems to be a calm personality that would not hurt anyone whereas Tom seems to have little regard for the feelings of others (he must know that Daisy knows that he is cheating on her...).

1 comment:

  1. Although Daisy is less harmless than Tom, I think she's more passive aggressive. On pg. 18, Nick mentions how he felt the "basic insincerity of what she had said." She was scornful that night and then gave him "an absolute smirk," and "her eyes flashed around her in a defiant way, rather like Tom's." She's not blatantly rude and harsh like Tom, but she has subtle mannerisms that put her in the category of the rich that feel superior and act as such.

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