The Great Gatsby

Tom Buchanan is Daisy Buchanan’s husband and one of the clearest embodiments of wealth, power, and entitlement in the novel. He comes from an extremely rich “old money” family, meaning his wealth is inherited and tied to long-standing social status rather than recently earned fortune.

Tom is physically imposing and carries himself with the confidence of someone used to dominance. He was once a star football player at Yale, but his life since then feels like an anticlimax—he drifts from place to place, restless and unsatisfied, always chasing some lost sense of excitement. That restless energy shows up as aggression and control. Beneath his polished manners is a selfish, bigoted, and violent personality that repeatedly surfaces in his behavior.

His marriage to Daisy is marked by hypocrisy. While he expects loyalty from her, he cheats on her with Myrtle Wilson, even going so far as to keep an apartment in New York for the affair. And when Myrtle drunkenly mocks Daisy in front of Tom, he responds with sudden violence, breaking her nose. This moment reveals how quickly his charm gives way to brutality.

Tom also plays a central role in the novel’s major conflict. When he realizes Daisy and Gatsby are in love, he confronts Gatsby and works to destroy him, exposing Gatsby’s criminal ties and reminding Daisy of the life and status she shares with him. His power lies not just in money, but in his ability to manipulate situations and avoid consequences. After Myrtle is killed in a car accident, he directs blame toward Gatsby, helping set in motion Gatsby’s murder. Yet he and Daisy simply leave town after Gatsby is killed, untouched by the destruction around them.

By the end of the novel, Tom represents a particular kind of moral emptiness tied to inherited privilege. He and Daisy “smash up things and creatures and then retreat back into their money,” leaving others to deal with the consequences. Tom’s character shows how power without accountability allows cruelty to persist unchecked.