Compare and Contrast Gatsby and Tom

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses on Daisy Buchanan’s relationship with Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Tom and Gatsby both love Daisy in different ways, but the fact that they both want Daisy as their own makes them similar. Both Tom and Gatsby share many similarities while having even a greater amount of differences. While differences are good, they sometimes lead to unhappiness, jealousy, and grief. Being wealthy is one of the things that Tom and Gatsby have in common. For both of them, maintaining a high social status is a priority. They strive to be financially successful. Tom went to a wealthy school and he flaunts his money with expensive sports cars. Gatsby, on the other hand, shows his need for wealth when he quits his maintenance job because of his humiliation and pursues a career that would allow him to have more money.
These characters also show similarity in their want for Daisy to be theirs, and theirs only. Gatsby strives for Daisy's affection and tries to become wealthy in order for him to be more desirable to her. Tom uses his great wealth and loud personality to keep Daisy interested in him.
The hostility and hatred that Tom and Gatsby have for one another is another characteristic that these characters share. Tom and Gatsby get in an argument at a hotel and their dislike for one another is clearly shown. They both insult each other and bring up each other's faults and reveal them to their surrounding friends. 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).
Although Tom and Gatsby share many similarities, Tom differs from Gatsby in many ways too. First, Tom's personality consists of being a strong athlete and having a very strong attitude. Also, he lives in East Egg which contains people that have old money. He attended Yale and never had to do much work when he was younger due to this wealth. He shows his money off by buying