Compare and contrast gatsby and tom

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald there are two men named Gatsby and Tom. They are both main characters and have great influence on the story. Gatsby and Tom have many similarities but also have many differences as well. These are two characters that have conflicts thought out the novel because of conflicting personalities and disputes over many situations. In this literary analysis of The Great Gatsby we will be comparing and contrasting Gatsby and Tom.

Although Tom and Gatsby share many similarities, Tom differs from Gatsby in many ways. First, Tom’s main attributes consist of being a strong athlete and having a brute personality. Also, he lives in East Egg which contains people that have old money. He attended Yale and never had to do much work when he was younger due to this wealth. He shows his money off by buying extravagant things for him to show off to others. He is a cold-hearted, shallow man who doesn’t really care about what happens to others. Tom’s careless nature gets illustrated when he “Smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into money.” (Fitzgerald 187) He likes Daisy not for true love but rather for a possession-type relationship. He cheats on her and is proud of that and doesn’t strive for her love because he knows his wealth will keep her with him. When with Daisy, he rarely acts romantic as he always is preoccupied with his greed. His realistic approach to life causes him to be rarely disappointed. As a reader can see, Tom has his own set of unique characteristics differing from those of Gatsby.

Gatsby differs from Tom in many ways. First his attributes consists of a passionate and kind personality. For example, he lets people he has never meet before attend parties at his house. Gatsby lives in west egg which contains people who have new money. He came from a poor family, “his parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people,” (Fitzgerald 104) from North Dakota and struggled with obtaining enough money to make it through college. He is a loyal and good-hearted man who loves Daisy and really wants her true love. He is willing to do whatever it takes to win her love. Her love becomes one of the prime reasons he desires to be rich. Gatsby considers Daisy so precious to him that she often gets referred to as the Holy Grail.

He tries to win her by having “committed himself to the following of a grail” (Fitzgerald 156) and only loving her. However, Daisy cares solely about net-wealth and therefore, chooses Tom. Throughout the novel, Gatsby shows how he is a romantic dreamer by always dreaming of Daisy truly falling for him. His unrealistic approach to life causes him to be often disappointed. While speaking to Daisy, Gatsby once cried, ‘”Can’t repeat the past?’ ‘Why of course you can!'” (Fitzgerald 116). This shows his unrealistic attitude as the circumstances of Daisy’s and his relationship has changed and will never be like it once was. For example, he believes that he actually might be able to win her love when he really as no chance with her. Gatsby differs from Tom in many ways.

Overall Gatsby and Tom share ways that they are both alike and quite a lot ways they are different. These differences led to their final fight which leads to the downfall of Gatsby’s life dream. This demonstrates how differences between one another can lead to negative consequence.