Thursday, August 2, 2012

Questionable Relationships

The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
chap I, pgs 12-21

Ok, so I already strongly dislike Tom.  Daisy seems like a sweet and caring wife, but Toms actions in this section are described with adverbs like, "crossly," "violently," "impatiently," and "miserably."  The reader learns that Tom actually has "some woman in New York" (Fitzgerald, 15).  He's blatantly cheating on his wife and no one seems to care!  At this point, Tom seems like a flat character who thinks civilization is going to pieces, likes to travel, and doesn't seem to care about his wife.  I really hope his personality changes, but at this point, he is in sharp contrast to Nick, who seems very educated and caring.  Another contrast is that Nick lives in West Egg while the Buchanans live in the more affluent East Egg, and Nick even describes them as "remotely rich."
In this section I was mainly focused on Tom and how he was described.  "As for Tom, the fact that he "had some woman in New York" was really less surprising than that he had been depressed by a book.  Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart" (Fitzgerald, 20).  I'm interested to see how Tom develops as a character and also how his relationships with other characters develops.  Will Tom leave his wife for this other woman?  How will Tom and Daisy continue to relate with Nick?  How will Nick relate with Miss. Baker?  And the most pressing question- How will they relate to Gatsby?

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