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 death. HS

Mr. Tom Buchanan and Mr. Jay Gatsby, were two totally opposite men. They

were from different places, had different backgrounds, different morals, and different

behaviors. But what had got them in trouble was that they both had loved the same

woman, Daisy. And even though it obvious that Gatsby's love for her was more special

and genuine, Tom had won in the end.