The Great Gatsby Group

Question:

papi
papi
Student
High School - 11th Grade

How does Jordan Baker relate to Tom Buchanan- similar or diff etc? Please use the novel to support your view.

Are they simply characters-or character foils maybe?

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Posted by papi on Wednesday March 25, 2009 at 4:00 PM and tagged with charactrer foils, jordan, the great gatsby, tom.

Answers:

  1. dneshan
    dneshan Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Jordan Baker and Tom Buchannan are much more alike than they are different.  Both are presented as careless, self-centered people who care much more about themselves than anyone else in their lives.  From the start it is clear that Tom lives a self-centered life – he is violent toward his wife; cheats on her; and shows little to no interest in his daughter.  Jordan is presented in a similar fashion.  Daisy, who seems to be her best friend, has a husband who is cheating on her and, in Chapter 1, Jordan tells Nick about this affair in an almost humorous way, as if it doesn’t even matter.  This definitely shows her careless nature.  At the end of the novel, Tom is completely uncaring and almost forgets completely about the death of Myrtle and attempts to mend the relationship that he has with Daisy, so that he has at least one woman in his life for the time being.  Jordan also shows a similar carelessness at this point when, after Myrtle’s death, she complains of how hungry she is; meanwhile, Nick totally shrugs her off when he realizes what type of person she is at this point.  In terms of their cheating – the two characters are similar in that Tom obviously cheats on his wife at every chance he gets while Jordan cheats in her profession.  At one of Gatsby’s parties it is revealed that Jordan was eliminated from a golf tournament because she was cheating. 

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    Posted by dneshan on Thursday March 26, 2009 at 12:14 PM