Great Gatsby Post 3

The central conflict in this book is difficult to pin down and is very much open to interpretation, but I think that it revolves around Tom. Tom was very much the center of this, he married Daisy, he had an affair with Myrtle under Wilson’s nose, and he had a rivalry with Gatsby. All of this points to an external conflict with a minor antagonist who is completely justified in their later actions. It all stems from one mistake, the affair with Myrtle. This affair would come to justify much of the hatred towards Tom in the novel, as well as set the unfortunate events in motion. His affair was made known to Daisy, who subsequently had an affair with Gatsby, leading Gatsby to confront Tom in their visit. This then led to Daisy driving with Gatsby, running over Myrtle whilst escaping her husband, who found out her affair and began to act cruelly. This led to Wilson, in maddening worship of the gold spectacled deity, to kill Gatsby (at least that’s what the book seemed to say, I’m still confused on this matter), whose car he saw speeding down the road. Tom Buchanan’s bad decision started these conflicts, culminating in Gatsby’s death.