Ballinas, Nguyen 1

Alejandro Ballinas, Vincent Nguyen

Ms.Osman

English 3P, Period 1

3 June 2019

Who is ACTUALLY the “good guy” and the “bad guy” of the novel?

Character Analysis LRA

A common theme shed to light by the “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is

violence. Main parts of violence come from Tom Buchanan, an ex-football player and Daisy's

husband, who uses his strength to intimidate people; making him the antagonist of this book. Jay

Gatsby on the other hand, is known for being the hero of the book as Nick describes him as the

definition of perfection. To many Tom Buchanan is known as the villain in Fitzgerald's novel,

and for various reasons. For example Nick Carraway states, “Making a short deft movement,

Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand”(Fitzgerald 37); which helps imply that

Buchanan will go to whatever lengths to get things his own way. This portrays him as a villain

because he beat his very own mistress for talking about his wife, and that is not something that a

“good guy” would do. He thus undermines Myrtle’s self-worth, by using his strength to show her

who is boss. Many might also place him as the villain because he gets in the way of his wifes’,

Daisy Buchanan, love with Gatsby. This is evident when Tom Buchanan states, “She’s not

leaving me! Certainly not for a common swindler who’d have to steal the ring he put on her

finger”(Fitzgerald 133); which further supports the idea of his intervention of the love between

Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. This further draws him down the path of the antagonist because he
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is purposefully making Daisy Buchanan have second thoughts about her love with Gatbsy to

keep her in his house, whether he truly loves her or not. On the contrary, Gatsby represents the

hero of this book who sweeps up Daisy and saves her from all the horrors her husband is placing

her through. This is shown when Daisy states, “They’re such beautiful shirts.. It makes me sad

because I’ve never seen such - such beautiful shirts before”(Fitzgerald 92); which shows that

Daisy is so in love with Gatsby that she cannot even handle being around all his shirts. Furthur

showing how Gatsby has managed to rid Daisy of her lustful home, and into this perfect world

when she is around him; thus placing him as the good guy of the book. Overall, the antagonist of

the book would be Tom Buchanan due his masculinity how he uses it to intimidate people and

get things is way. The good guy in this book is Gatsby because he saves Daisy of the horrors that

plague her by living with Tom and is willing to go to great lengths to keep her protected.
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Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. ​The Great Gatsby​. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.