Supercilious Quotes In The Great Gatsby

Judge Reinhold once wisely said “I was spoiled and I was arrogant. I was very demanding, had an overblown image of who I was and got a reputation for being difficult, and rightfully so”. The word supercilious means, behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays a character that has a supercilious manner, Tom Buchanan. Tom is a wealthy man of old class money, living on East Egg, married to Daisy, and went to Yale. Tom has many immoral and careless actions, of betraying his wife, having an affair, and eventually leading to the deaths of many people. Tom’s supercilious nature leads him to his affair with a low-class woman, a ruined marriage, ultimately resulting in the death of many. Throughout the book, Tom’s affair with Myrtle Wilson, leads to a destiny that affects Tom many ways, characterizing him as an arrogant man. To begin, Tom and Nick are at Mr. Wilson’s car shop, Tom wants Nick to meet his girl. Tom is insistently saying to Myrtle, “‘I want to see you ,’ said Tom intently. ‘Get on the next train.’ ‘All right.’ ‘I’ll meet you at the news-stand on the lower level’” (30). Tom wants to meet up with his mistress at the news-stand, away from Mr. Wilson's eyes. Tom is clearly showing his supercilious nature because he is
Tom’s affair with Myrtle Wilson showed that he could still succeed with two women. Tom’s relationship with Daisy also shows that he is a careless man, and quite arrogant. The death of Gatsby, Mr. Wilson and even Myrtle are all because of Tom’s need to have superiority. All of this connects to the characterization of supercilious in Tom. During this era, it wasn’t unusual for excessive drinking, even though it was actually during the prohibition time, which made alcohol illegal. Immoral actions during this time weren’t odd or frowned