The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes place during the wild years of the 1920’s, where the world of wasteful entertainment, greed and pride of the swelling ranks of the rich and powerful, seem driven simply and solely by man’s desire for money. But although, on the surface, money and prestige are powerful influences and men will strive to great lengths for it, truly deep inside, love is the most powerful influence and desire of human life. Tom is a stereotypical millionaire, seemingly driven exclusively by wealth and pride, whose character is further exposed in the added scene. Gatsby is also a millionaire and has extravagant parties which appear to be elaborate wasteful and egotistic ways of him showing off his wealth and increasing his status among his counterpart millionaires. But this is discovered to be an elaborate plan for his desire for Daisy, showing the lengths he will go for love, as shown in the movie poster.

In my added scene, Tom’s character as an egotistic, racist, and prideful millionaire is exposed. Firstly, his distrust and distaste towards those who he sees as intruders to the prestigious world of the rich is shown in his comments as he passes Gatsby’s house, “He's not like you and me you see, Nick. Gatsby didn't come from traditional family, he made his money too fast to be legit, he's a crook I tell you, a bootlegger of some sorts (pg. 2)”. This shows how Tom is arrogant, has an inferior opinion of the newly rich and he disdains them as robbers attempting to swipe away his glory. Secondly, Tom’s racist views are exposed in this scene, as he calls a driver that passes him and showers him in dust, “Stupid negros! They don't have the decency of a white man (pg.2)”. This shows his atrocious view of black people and his belief in his superior position in the social class system. Thirdly, Tom’s love of horses and luxurious goods is a symbol of his pride in his status as he is willing to spend vast amounts of money on the horses that “cost me [Tom] almost a million dollars each! (pg.1)”. This establishes Tom as prideful and egotistic, willing to show off his wealth and buy expensive things such as horses, simply to improve his own status and prestige. In conclusion, this added scene undoubtedly develops Tom, as it gives us further concrete evidence of his character as prideful, egotistic, racist and his adhesion to his traditional values.

The movie poster shows the main theme that on the surface money and prestige are powerful influences and men will strive to great lengths for it, yet truly deep inside, love is the most powerful influence and desire of human life. Firstly, love has immense power over Gatsby, who goes to extensive lengths, including achieving great fortunes, using this newfound wealth to hold gargantuan parties and buy an extravagant house, in hopes of recapturing the love of his life, Daisy. Love is therefore the main