Daisy describes Tom Buchanan as a brute. To what extent does your reading of the novel lead you to agree with this view?

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Daisy describes Tom Buchanan as a “brute”. To what extent does your reading of the novel lead you to agree with this view?

Tom Buchanan, the incredibly wealthy husband to Daisy, is undoubtedly portrayed as a selfish and violent man in the novel and comes to represent the immorality and materialism of the ‘Jazz Age’. Tom had great sporting success at college, but now, having stopped, everything else feels like an “anti-climax”. Tom is prejudiced and not very intelligent and for this reason I believe that Daisy’s description of him is an accurate portrayal of Tom.

Tom Buchannan inherited his wealth and because of this he feels like he is better than everybody else. His wealth and sense of superiority makes him “careless” and uncaring. Tom shows a disregard for money which lets him dominate the lower classes. When buying Myrtle’s dog, he insults the salesman by implying that the dog is overpriced while at the same time showing that he’s so rich that it doesn’t matter, “Here’s your money. Go and buy ten more dogs”. Tom also enjoys the power that he has over Mr Wilson as he promised to sell George a car, although he seems to have no intention of doing this as he puts him off until “next week”. Toms repetition of the personal pronoun “I”, for example when he tells Nick “I’ve got a nice place here” excludes Daisy from this, therefore showing the power he has over her as well.
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Tom bullies people both verbally and physically throughout the novel. Tom frequently interrupts and talks over other people, showing again that he is supercilious. In his first appearance, he interrupts both Daisy and Jordan so he can make his point, “Well, these books are all scientific”. Also, when Nick meets Tom for the first time, Tom orders him around by “turning [Nick] around by one arm” and telling him “We’ll go inside”. Tom also has a violent streak which really comes across when we see him break Myrtle’s nose with the “short, deft movement” of his hand. The ...

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