He also had a whole trajectory with him which made him powerful, since he was the best football player at New Haven. Besides, he belonged to a very wealthy family so he also had a power due to his great amount of money, since he is an egocentric who loves showing his belongings and is proud of his nordic ancestors.
But his wife Daisy reflected all the opposite: she seemed to be very soft and calmed. Her voice was “low and thrilling” and her face was sad but very lovely. Nick saw her as an angel, but she had her other side as well; she wasn’t as subdued as she seemed to be, since in one opportunity she dared to discuss with her husband, or at least to confront him just to annoy him. This situation is shown in the following quotation: “You did it, Tom, you didn’t mean to, but you did do it. That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking specimen…” then Tom told her he hated the word ‘hulking’ and as a mean to bother him, she insisted: “hulking”. So this gave me the first sign that Daisy was only reflecting what she wanted to be seen as, not what she really was. And she even recognizes this fact to Nick during their conversation in the veranda, she says: “Well, I’ve had a very bad time, Nick, and I’m pretty cynical about everything.”
But as well as differences, Tom and Daisy had something in common. They both loved travelling around the world chasing money; they loved their social status and that was what they only and really cared for. There is a quotation that shows their lust for money: “They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.”
It is also easy to see that they have a very poor communication, as it is shown in this quotation, when Tom is speaking about a book, then Daisy makes comments about what Tom says, but Tom doesn’t listen to what she says, he interrupts her and then just continues with his idea: “‘Well, it’s a fine book…it’s all scientific stuff, it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom´s getting very profound…He reads very profound books with long words in them. What was that word we-’ ‘Well, these books are all scientific…’ insisted Tom, glancing at her impatiently.”
Besides reflecting their problem of communication, this quotation shows once again how Tom disregards Daisy’s thoughts.
So if they were always worried about their money and social status, they never worried about communicating with each other nor about their life as a couple. Therefore they had a very poor marriage since Tom did not respect Daisy and Daisy did not make herself respected. She acted as a fool many times. This along with many other factors may have influenced Tom as to having a woman in New York…Daisy doesn’t seem to care about respect, but she acts sarcastically, which makes the environment even more dense.
Maybe in later chapters Daisy will react in the proper way, and I hope she does, because she should try to save her fake and unreliable marriage; after all, there is a child in between.
Javiera Uribe F. 3°B 02.04.01 – 693 words
