The Great Gatsby

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 11th grade April 2001

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In the story The Great Gatsby there is two characters that come from two completely different social classes one being Tom Buchanan and the other being Jay Gatsby. There are several differences that separate these two characters. The two characters also raise some good questions, who is noble? And who is Idealistic? There are several differences between Jay and Tom. Jay was poor and was raised on a farm and didn't gain his wealth till the later days in life. Tom was wealthy from Start his parents were rich and then he inherited his rich from his parents because of this Daisy married Tom because at the time Girls didn't marry poor people such as Jay Gatsby at the time. Jay gained his wealth in a more illegal way during the time he gained his fortune by being a bootlegger and then also being connected with the mob. He also paid off the cops for example when he was driving and got pulled over he waived a card and nick and him were released with no questions asked.

Although Tom was married he still was not pure to his wife like a husband should be.

Even though people are married to each other they see it as a social standing and don't always stay pure to the person they marry. Tom was married to Daisy but still he had an affair with Myrtle Wilson. When he should have been pure to his wife Daisy. As for Jay he had loved Daisy for a long time but do to his financial situation the marriage would not happen. Later on in the book he ends up having an affair with Daisy when that is something that should not have been done because she was a married woman. With this said the question about who is noble comes up.

With the definition of noble being someone Possessing hereditary rank in a political system or social class derived from a feudalistic stage of a country's development.

Neither Jay Gatsby or Tom Buchanan where more noble than the other, each person did something different to destroy there nobility. Tom had an affair with Myrtle while married to Daisy. He did nothing that I know of to make him self an honorable person. If he did do something it was destroyed when he had the affair with Myrtle. As for Jay Gatsby he ran a life of criminal activity to be come rich and possible killed a couple of people. He bought the cops off as shown when Nick and him were stopped and he waived a card and was let go like nothing ever happened. If I had to choose one over the other I would have to choose Tom because he cheated on his wife. HE didn't Buy off the cops or gain his wealth with illegal actions. The other question that was asked who was Idealistic? One of the definitions of idealistic is of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style. I think Gatsby fits this category best because he was able to make his wealth on Illegal actions and not get caught. He was also able to buy off the cops, which was a big win for him. To me that shows that he is smart because he was able to outsmart the cops in doing the crimes and buy them off at the same time and keep the rumors down so he wouldn't get caught or killed. Although yes it says high moral value but Tom destroys it when he has the affair with daisy and is not smart enough to do it so Daisy doesn't find out.

In conclusion I have found out that when people want something so bad they will go to all extents to get it. For example Jay Gatsby wanted to wealthy so he could marry Daisy. He went so far it lead him to doing illegal crimes to gain his wealth and destroyed his moral values and lead a life of lies and forget about were he originally come from.