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
proving that he can have two women and still be successful with his marriage. Tom doesn’t care what Daisy knows or thinks, and is immoral about having an affair. To add on, Nick is having dinner with the Buchanan’s and Miss Baker, when the telephone rings for Tom. Miss Baker is tentatively talking to Nick, “‘Why-’ she said hesitantly, Tom’s got some woman in New York.’ ‘Got some woman?’ I repeated blankly. Miss Baker nodded. ‘She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don’t you think?’” (19). Jordan Baker thinks that it is quite obvious that Tom is having an affair. Tom will go out of his way to answer the phone in the middle of dinner. Nobody is more important to Tom, his is a characteristic of arrogance. He also doesn’t care that people know that he is speaking to his mistress, and seems to think that he is allowed to have this privilege. In brief, Tom’s affair with Myrtle is a loud characteristic that he is leading a supercilious life. Although Tom is married to Daisy, he doesn’t have much to do with her, this is all because of his supercilious manner. First, Nick, Myrtle, and Tom are at the Wilson’s apartment, along with sleeping Mr. Wilson, and Myrtle’s sister, Catherine. Tom and Mrs. Wilson are expressively discussing Daisy. “Daisy! Daisy! Daisy! Shouted Mrs. Wilson. ‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai-’ Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with an open hand” (41). Tom doesn’t want to be reminded on Daisy, while he is supposed to be enjoying his time with another woman. Tom doesn’t care about Daisy because this other woman is supposed to be much more exciting, than the woman he is tied down with. Tom is showing superiority as he hits Myrtle, this also, is a supercilious manner. Furthermore, Gatsby and Nick are visiting at the Buchanan’s home, Daisy suggests that they all go to town. Tom vehemently speaks to Gatsby, “Well, you take my coupe and let me drive your car to town’ The suggestion was distasteful to Gatsby” (127). Tom wants to take Gatsby’s car because Tom wants to take something away from Gatsby, since Gatsby took Daisy. Tom doesn’t care if Gatsby takes Daisy, he just wants to make Gatsby pay for taking some “possession” of Tom’s. This is showing arrogance because Tom feels the need to stay above everyone else. To sum, Tom’s relationship with Daisy portrays an image of dominance, not how a real marriage should be, this once again connects to the supercilious demeanor. Tom was one of the main reasons of the deaths of many people, he needs to have that feeling of superiority, which is a supercilious manner. To start, Mr. Wilson is deranged state after Myrtle died, he is desperately trying to find the “killer”, Tom and a police officer are with Wilson. ‘“I’m am a friend on his’ Tom turned his head but kept his hands firm on Wilson’s body. ‘He says he knows that car that did it….It was a yellow car.’ Some dim impulse moved to policeman to look suspiciously at Tom ‘And what color’s your car?’ ‘It’s a blue car, a coupe”’ (148). Tom tells the police and Wilson who’s car it was, even though it really was Daisy that hit Myrtle. From the start, Tom didn’t like Gatsby, basically Tom allowed Gatsby to die because he announced who’s car it was. All of these reasons connect to the feeling of superiority that Tom is having. Additionally, Wilson is irate and intends to track down Gatsby, he find Gatsby at his swimming pool, and shoots him. “It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off the grass, and the holocaust was complete” (170). Tom technically caused the death of Wilson and Gatsby because he was so proud and arrogant that he had to announce it was Gatsby that killed Wilson’s wife. To sum, the deaths of these people all relate back to Tom because of his supercilious manner and actions, yet he seems to skate around the reproach. To conclude, Tom’s affair, his wreaked relationship, and the death of many people, all are a result of Tom’s supercilious nature.
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
upon.