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Vivianna De Leon

Mrs. Wold

English 11 Period 5

7 May 2021

Prompt 4

Throughout life, we will find people who are careless, self-centered, and irresponsible.

Nothing can fix the way they think and act. Sometimes individuals do not notice the things they

are doing to make this happen. Being careless causes individuals to hurt others without even

thinking. Slow down and think about the destruction that will be causing others. Fitzgerald, the

writer of this novel created The Great Gatsby to get an understanding of each character and who

they are. Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway from the West Egg which symbolized “New Money”,

while Tom and Daisy Buchanan are from the East Egg symbolizing “Old Money”. The

Buchanans are “old money” wealth coming from old family connections, they are so deeply in

love with money and tend to break others. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald,

the characters of Tom and Daisy are displayed as careless individuals because they take

advantage of others, are reckless in their actions, and will do anything to maintain their position

in society.

Demonstrative of Daisy and Tom’s ethical shortcoming, their emotional immaturity

paints a picture of how they take advantage of people for their benefit. In addition, Daisy does

not care about the reunion with Gatsby and herself along with more for the wealth he has “It

makes me sad... I've never seen such beautiful shirts before”(Fitzgerald 92). Daisy was so

attractive to Gatsby’s materialism preferably than himself this addresses her as a careless and

insensitive person. Which displayed a lot of what kind of a character Daisy is because she was
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not emotional when seeing Gatsby for the first time in 5 years, but was quickly heartbroken

about how much of a wealthy person Jay Gatsby is. Fitzgerald demonstrates to the audience how

Daisy Buchanan quickly realizes she can use Gatsby to get back at Tom from all the affairs he

has been doing behind her back. Jay Gatsby was an easy target for Daisy to have an affair

because of Gatsby's desperation for her. Therefore, Tom Buchanan strikes Myrtle Wilson in the

face after she keeps repeating Daisy “Making a short deft movement, Tom broke her nose with

his open hand”(Fitzgerald 37). The author illustrates to the readers that Tom is someone who

treats his mistress as nothing more than just an object. Buchanan believes he can control and

walk over people as they are from a lower class. Taking advantage of somebody completely

makes individuals insensitive and thoughtless. This shows how Tom Buchanan views Myrtle

much differently than the way he views his wife on a social class level. Tom and Daisy

Buchanan are uncaring individuals who will destroy people because both know that their money

will defend them from any negative consequences. In addition, The Buchanans manage to lurk

behind their wealth not knowing what the outcome will be. Neither of them knows that they are

both ignorant of the destruction that they are provoking others.

Furthermore, when Tom and Daisy appear in the novel they are seen as irresponsible and

reckless in their behavior along with their actions because they don't think and care about the

negative effects that continue happening around their lives. They accordingly tend to leave

everything behind and hide away from reality. In addition, Tom and Daisy are so corrupted by

their wealth and don't seem to listen to others “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they

smashed up things and . . . then retreated back into their money . . . and let other people clean up

the mess they had made”(Fitzgerald 179). Fitzgerald reveals to the readers what kind of a couple

Tom and Daisy are, they are individuals who seem to not care about anything until it directly
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affects them. Both are defined as “smash” and “creatures” because they create issues and

provoke others to suffer as a result. Tom and Daisy do whatever they please and perform for their

enjoyment, but if things go wrong, they simply regroup and leave. The author presents to the

audience that they abandon their mess for someone else to deal with it. After the death of Myrtle

Wilson caused by a hit and run from Daisy Buchanan, she did not take responsibility “Was she

driving… Yes, he said after a moment, but of course, I'll say I was'' (Fitzgerald 143). This was

extremely foolish of Daisy to do, she was willing to accept Gatsby’s blame for the incident and

knew exactly how the consequences were going to turn out. Daisy had destroyed Gatsby’s life by

escaping when she could have easily taken an apology for her destruction. By the selfishness of

Daisy's actions, initially, Fitzgerlad shares to his audiences and quickly gasps that Daisy and Tom

left, not because they were afraid of people finding out about what she did, but because these two

individuals were terrified of being found guilty. They instantly vanished considering that they no

longer cared. Therefore, Tom and Daisy are observed as arrogant and reckless in their conduct

because they do not consider the negative ramification. As a result, they seem to disconnect from

life and run away with their money. They take no notice of how much harm they are causing

around them.

Ultimately the Buchanans will do anything to retain their social standing in their world.

Additionally, Daisy Buchanan explicates to Carraway how society at that time favored women's

beauty above their intellect “ I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this

world, a beautiful little fool”(Fitzgerald 17). The author expresses that to be able to escape the

tense problems like her unrequited love for Gatsby, she complies with the social stereotype of

American Femininity in the 1920s. Her way of retaining her social position in society is to have a

certain image that represents wealth and perfectionism. Daisy demonstrates this by wanting her
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daughter to represent femininity and what is expected in society during that time. Which was

being high class and depending on a man for wealth and security. The audience sees that since

Tom is rich and lives a privileged life, she feels secure in her marriage to him. Daisy is a

materialistic person and would much rather sacrifice her happiness to fit into societal norms.

Furthermore, Tom Buchanan finds out where Gatsby gets his wealth and tends to look into it

more “I've made a little investigation into your affairs—and I'll carry it further tomorrow”

(Fitzgerald 133). Fitzgerald makes this statement in his novel to demonstrate to the listeners that

Gatsby and his extravagant riches begin to make Tom feel threatened because he does not want

anyone to be higher and more wealthy than him. Although Tom is known and described as a

careless individual, the amount of wealth that Gatsby has triggers Buchanans ego, and needs to

make sure he knocks him down completely. It made him upset that someone who came from

nothing is considered one of the wealthiest when he was the one that was born into that social

class. This demonstrates how Tom thinks that everyone should stay where they belong within

society because that seems to be where his source of elitism and confidence arises from. With

that being said readers have identified that Tom and Daisy are the ones who want their life to be

perfect and better than everyone. They will sacrifice their loved ones in an instant to have money,

live a successful life, and keep their place in society. Additionally, this shows the careless side of

these characters.

To wrap this up, Fitzgerald demonstrates throughout his whole novel that Tom and Daisy

are portrayed as inconsiderate and careless characters who do not think about their actions and

are destructive along with wanting to be higher than anyone. The audience has seen how both the

couple ruin the lives of others, then ultimately always hide behind their wealth. They have

displayed innocence and irresponsibility. First, Tom and Daisy Buchanan believe that they are
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dominant compared to other people and have full control over others just for their gain.

Secondly, they emerge in the novel and show how they do not consider or care about the bad

consequences that continue to happen in their worlds. Lastly, the Buchanan's try every way

possible to fit into society, as both are materialistic individuals who rather compromise their

happiness to conform to society's norms. Ultimately, being careless people in this world does not

take others places, individuals are seen as unlikeable, unfriendly, and overall cruel. Readers have

learned throughout this novel how being relentless brings out the worst in anybody, observers

have seen this by the way Tom and Daisy perform during the entire novel.