The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
This chapter has been extremely shocking to say the least. First, Tom recognizes the passionate love that exists between Gatsby and Daisy, when he caught them mid-stare. He immediately gets hot and tempered and demands that the whole party goes to town. What's even more pivotal in this chapter is that Tom stops to get gas on the way into town, and Mr. Wilson, Mrytle's husband, admits that he is aware of his wife's infidelity, and is moving west. I'm sure at this point Tom feels incredibly betrayed and alone. His wife is with Gatsby, and the woman he's been having an affair with is being dragged across the country, leaving Thomas Buchanon all alone and tempered. Once he meets back up with Gastby and Daisy, he confronts Gatsby initially about "all this 'old sport' business", making fun of him, but eventually he tries to dig up the lies Tom thinks Gatsby is telling about being an Oxford man. Tom asks one more question, why he's been messing with his and Daisy's marriage. I am overall repulsed by Tom's reaction to this affair, he all of a sudden was made into the victim, and obviously is applying some sort of "double standard" because of course his own affair "doesn't matter any more" (Fitzgerald, 132).
I also can't fathom why Daisy responds the way she does, she ultimately chooses Tom, and Tom sends them both away because he no longer feels threatened after Daisy denies Gatsby of their love. This is terrible, and this is certainly not going to end happily as I thought with the bad characters away and the good ones happily in love.
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