Character

There are many traits and stereotypical aspects that are associated to the male gender. Men in the novel such as Tom Buchanan are given such qualities. He is presented with gender -specific physical and mental attributes. Traditionally, men are depicted as the stronger of the sexes who prefer to be the authority figure over females.

Tom Buchanan, a former college football player, is given stereotypical, physical character traits. These traits relate to Tom’s large manly body with lots of muscle mass.  For example, in the first chapter, Nick describes how Tom physically looks “Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body — he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage — a cruel body.”(Fitzgerald p.9). Fitzgerald wants to convey the idea that Tom is a very masculine character through his physical appearance. Tom is associated with multiple females and is a fairly wealthy man. These physical attributes contribute to his overall impression of the “manly man”.

Also, Tom shows dominance over any female who attempts to contradict or show any form of control over him. This idea is conveyed when Tom punches Myrtle, breaking her nose “Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy’s name.

“Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!” shouted Mrs. Wilson. “I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai ——”

Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.”(Fitzgerald p.41). Through this example, we see that Tom does not put up with any women trying to aggravate him or show any form of power over him and therefore quickly puts it to an end.