College Essay on Paper on Point of view of Great Gatsby

 

 

On one hot summer’s day, Daisy invites Gatsby, Nick and Jordan to lunch. Daisy has already told the nanny to show her baby daughter, who is dressed in white, to the assembled guests. Gatsby emerges nearly confused by the child ¬ he has seen, until this moment, totally unable to visualize Daisy as a mother. Tom is full of his usual harangue, remarking that he had read that the sun is growing hotter; soon, the earth will fall into it, and that will be the end of the world. During the luncheon, Tom realizes that Gatsby and his wife are lovingly involved. Gatsby stares at Daisy with unconcealed ardor, and Daisy thoughtlessly remarks, within audible range of Tom, that she loves Gatsby. Tom, disturbed, goes inside to get a drink, and in his absence Nick remarks that Daisy has a reckless voice. When Nick goes on to say that Daisy's voice also has an extremely seductive quality, Gatsby exclaims that her voice is "full of money." Tom thinks that everybody present already knows about his wife’s affair, he feels like a fool, abandon by his wife, and he is desperate to pick a fight with Gatsby.

Now Tom realizes the reason, why Gatsby is deeply changed and why he has stopped throwing his lavish parties and, for the first time, showing concern for his public reputation. In the past, Gatsby has just disregarded the nasty rumors circulating about him; so now Tom thinks that for Daisy's sake, Gatsby is applying some prudence.  Tom mind’s eye sees Daisy as awfully reckless with regard to her romance with Gatsby. As inviting Gatsby to lunch with Tom was a daring, unwise move under any circumstances, when one takes Tom's arrogance and deep suspiciousness into account, Daisy's decision seems to build on insanity. Tom is deeply unsure of himself, obsessed with both his own expected downfall and the downfall of civilization itself. It is essential to recognize that, for Tom, they are the identical things: he believes that he, as a rich white male member of the aristocracy, is Western civilization's best achievement. This detestable attitude is borne out by his choice of reading material, which considers the end of the world and interracial marriage as being equally disastrous.

For Tom, the affair between Gatsby and Daisy is proof of the decline of civilization; he seems less bothered by his wife's unfaithfulness than by the fact that she is involved with a man of a lower social class. Tom's disgusting women hating and double standards affirm themselves here, he clearly does not regard his affair with the lower-class Myrtle Wilson in the same apocalyptic light.
 

Order Your Custom Term Papers and Research Papers Now!