Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby both love Daisy Buchanan and want her to be with them, but they differ significantly in their backgrounds, personalities, and how they pursue her. Tom comes from old money while Gatsby came from poverty and made his fortune through questionable means like bootlegging. Tom uses his wealth and status to keep Daisy, while the kind but unrealistic Gatsby strives to recreate the past. Their rivalry over Daisy culminates in an argument and Gatsby's eventual murder, highlighting how their differences led to tragic consequences.

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Brian Pastuzyn
Dr. Chewning
November 21, 2013
English Paper 3 Final Draft
Tom and Gatsby Compare/Contrast
The plot of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby revolves around Daisy Buchanan’s
relationship with Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Tom and Gatsby both have very different ways
in which they love Daisy. However, they demonstrate their love similar in ways, as they both
want Daisy to be their very own. Both Gatsby and Tom share many similarities while at the same
time having an even greater amount of differences between them.
Some of the similarities between Tom and Gatsby include being wealthy, wanting Daisy
to be their own, and having hostile feelings towards one another. Both Gatsby and Tom strive to
be financially successful. As well, both of them find their high status in society to be of great
importance. Tom went to Yale and likes to show off his expensive sports cars; whereas Gatsby
shows his need for wealth when he quits his old janitorial job and goes into organized crime. As
Tom describes Gatsby as “a man of about my age” and both of them, it turns out, have moved to
New York from the Midwest (Fitzgerald 5). Both are reaching for the same goal of being
successful, not only in the sense of money, but also in the approval of a girl.
As well both Tom and Gatsby have in common is Daisy. Gatsby strives for Daisy’s
affection and even uses criminal means to obtain her. One criminal scheme he uses is
bootlegging which has made him very wealthy; this ultimately makes him desirable to Daisy. He
loves her so much that he does not mind taking the blame for her when she kills Myrtle Wilson
in his car. Such as when Gatsby says, “It takes two to make an accident.” (Fitzgerald 59).This
implies that Gatsby does indeed take responsibility for Myrtle’s death. Tom uses his great wealth

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and loud personality to keep Daisy interested in him. Their hostility and dislike for one another
demonstrates another similarity that both of them share.
Tom and Gatsby show their dislike for one another when they get into an argument at the
Plaza Hotel, both bringing up each other’s faults and revealing them to their surrounding friends.
On top of that both start throwing insults at one another adding fuel to argument fire. For
example, Tom yells, “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere
make love to your wife” (Fitzgerald 137).This demonstrates Tom’s hatred for Gatsby and his
anger towards Gatsby for being with his wife Daisy, who is just as much as fault as he is.
Another difference that these two men share is the view of Old Money and New Money.
Tom is lives in East Egg which holds people that have old money. During his younger years,
Tom attended Yale and did not work when he was younger because of his wealth. He buys
extravagant items for him to show off to others, and is somewhat of a cold hearted man who does
not really care about what happens to others. Tom’s carless nature is demonstrated when he goes
and “Smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into [his] money.”(2) (Fitzgerald
187-188). When he is with Daisy, he usually does not act in a romantic fashion, but seems to be
more obsessed with greed then she is.
Gatsby, on the other hand, differs from Tom in many ways. One is that his attributes
consist of a kind personality, and he shows that he is passionate. One example of this is that he
invites people over his house that he has never met before for parties. He also lives in West Egg
which contains people of new money. Ironically, Gatsby came from poor family, “his parents
were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people” (Fitzgerald 104) from North Dakota and he
struggles with obtaining money. Gatsby is a loyal man who wants true love and is willing to do

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whatever it takes to win Daisy’s heart. Her love is actually one of the reasons he strived to
become rich, seeing how Daisy goes after rich men. Gatsby even referred to Daisy as the Holy
Grail, “committed himself to the following of a grail” (Fitzgerald 156). Meaning that Gatsby has
a dream that has become the quest of almost a knight following his dream to find the Holy Grail,
only in this sense the Holy Grail is Daisy. Yet we also know that there has never been a knight
that accomplished that goal.
At the same time, though Gatsby shows that he is more of a romantic dreamer than an
actual go getter of Daisy. He has unrealistic approaches to life which often cause him
disappointment. For example while he and Nick are speaking he cries, “Can’t repeat the past? …
‘Why of course you can!” (Fitzgerald 116). This shows Gatsby’s unrealistic attitude to the fact
that his and Daisy’s relationship has changed for good, and that it is never going to be like it was.
Believing in that he actually might be able to get Daisy and that she might love him back is the
ultimate unrealistic example of Gatsby failing belief that he has a chance with her.
The single green light that Gatsby would gaze at from his house was located across the
water at Daisy’s house. It represents the hazy future that is forever elusive to Gatsby. He
describes is as a future that recedes before us year by year. That every day we try to reach out
our arms just a little bit further to try and catch it. That green light is Daisy for Gatsby because
no matter how much he tries to get Daisy, she is always just out of his reach and yet always in
front of him.
Myrtles death affected both Gatsby and Tom but in dramatically different ways. Tom’s
reaction to Myrtle’s death was to leave town with Daisy. His intention was not to be found since
he left no forwarding address. Gatsby ending up suffering the worst out of this situation as

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George thought that it was him who had killed his wife. Ironically Gatsby planned on taking
responsibility for the accident and ended up dying anyways. Myrtles death also resolved the
conflict between Tom and Gatsby because Tom left town with Daisy, getting as far away from
Gatsby as he could. Gatsby got shot by Wilson which takes him completely out of Daisy’s life as
Tom wanted.
Both Gatsby and Tom have qualities that are both different from one another, and yet
they are both alike. Many of the qualities that both of them share almost overlap each other in
some respect and make them almost one. On the other had is the difference that both of these
men share. The differences of these two men lead to their final battle, ending with the destruction
of Gatsby’s life dream. This is a clear demonstration of how the differences between the two,
that had driven them to the negative consequences of their actions.

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Work Cited
1. Fitzgerald, Scott F. The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.
2. The English Review, 2007. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.