Revealing the Antagonist

There are always protagonist and antagonist in most stories. Protagonist is a hero in a story and he desires something or someone. Whereas, antagonist is a rival character of protagonist and he obstructs protagonist to achieve his goal. Therefore, there is a conflict between protagonist and antagonist, and that develops and leads the story. In a romance novel, the antagonist disrupts protagonist’s love and tries to take him apart from his lover. Antagonist is usually described as a wicked person. Sometimes the author describes him directly and sometimes he is decided by his behaviors. In Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel, “The Great Gatsby,” the author illustrates Tom Buchanan as antagonist indirectly through his interactions with the central characters: Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker and Tom Buchanan himself. 

First of all, Nick Carraway is a first-person narrator of the story and Daisy’s cousin. The way he describes and treats Tom Buchanan indicates Tom Buchanan is antagonist of the story. Nick is Tom’s college friend. Nick and Tom are not close friends, but Nick does not hate Tom. However, Nick describes him pretty negatively in the first meeting in a long time at Tom and Daisy’s house party. Nick states that Tom has a supercilious manner and he is dominant, aggressive and even his voice is fractious (Fitzgerald 9). That is not because Nick hates Tom, but as a narrator, Nick implies that Tom is not a good natured man and is going to play an evil role in the story. 

In addition to Nick, Daisy’s behaviors show that he is antagonist of the story. She describes Tom as a “brute” and “big hulking specimen” (Fitzgerald 15) Even when Tom is talking about the book, ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by Goddard, she makes a sarcastic comment that Tom’s getting very profound (Fitzgerald 16). Also when Tom gets phone call, she gets suspicious about that and goes into the house so that she can hear it. That implies Tom is seeing another woman and Daisy is suspicious about it. It is true that women’s social position started to go higher in 1920s. However, the way Daisy treats her husband is pretty unusual at that time. Detection of his dubious character was to be expected at this point. That makes Tom even more negative in the story and implies Tom is antagonist. 

Like Daisy, the way Jordan Baker act in the story support that Tom is antagonist. In the dining table with Tom and Daisy’s house, she tells Nick that Toms has some women in New York (Fitzgerald 18). Also, Jordan is the first one who meets Gatsby and tells Nick the fact that Gatsby is Daisy’s ex and he wants to have tea-time with Daisy. That is the root of the all conflicts in the story. Because of Jordan, Daisy meets Gatsby, and Tom finds out and interrupts them. 

Lastly, Tom Buchanan’s behaviors support that he is an opponent. His attitude toward other characters is arrogant and dominant. Tom acts like he got everything, and he knows everything. His behaviors toward other characters are disrespectful. For example, when Daisy mentions the word ‘hulking,’ Tom objected to Daisy right away (Fitzgerald 15). Furthermore, he cheats on his wife, and a friend of his wife and brother-in-law know that. That makes other characters hostile to him somehow. Moreover, it results in the situation that other characters connect to Gatsby. As a result, he becomes antagonist who disrupts Gatsby’s goal later.

In sum, the author does not say that Tom is a bad, evil character to the readers directly. Instead, he implies that indirectly through the characters’ behaviors. However, that way of saying approaches to the readers’ unconsciousness, so it is indirect but more effective.

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