Great Divide

The Great Divide

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's book, The Great Gatsby, Daisy is torn between two men, Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. Jay being her past lover and Tom her husband. Although both these men had many in common, including being in love with the same woman, they had there share of differences.

To begin with, their similarities. Tom and Jay are both very similar in the way they think and act. In chapter eight when the confrontation occurs at the Hotel Plaza, both men act very conceited towards each other. They both had the thought that Daisy's heart was full of love for themselves, and only themselves. Such as in the beginning of the argument Jay thought that Daisy had gone to his side, and was going to break up with Tom for him. He made her admit that she never loved Tom. After Daisy told Tom how she thought she felt, Tom knew that she did not mean it and felt that she was still in love with him. To show how vain he was he told Daisy, "You two start on home Daisy, in Gatsby's car. Go on, he won't annoy you. I think he realizes his presumptuous little flirtation is over." Another similarity that the two men shared was that they were both very careless people. For example, after Daisy hit Myrtle Wilson in the car, Jay could care less about the dead woman, instead he was only focused on the well-being of Daisy. As for Tom he was just about careless about everything he did. From having an affair with Myrtle to giving George Wilson information on Gatsby were all very careless actions that Tom did. Although both these men had very similar traits, they also had their share of differences.

Like their similarities their differences also played a big role in the book. Firstly, unlike Jay, Tom was a very blunt person. He wasn't really trying to hide anything. Everyone knew about his affair and Tom really did not seem to care. As for Jay he was a extremely mysterious person.