Tom's violence is quick and unthinking, suggesting this is not the first time he's used physical force to get his way. Tom hits Myrtle because she refused to obey him, but also in defense of Daisy; he feels strongly about both women. Tom's outburst therefore shows that he has difficulty handling complex emotions.
To Tom, Myrtle is just another possession, and when she tries to assert her own will, he resorts to violence to put her in her place. Tom at once ensures and endangers her upwardly mobile desires.
Myrtle says she will say Daisy's name any time she wants, so Tom slaps her across the face and breaks her nose.
Upon mentioning Daisy's name, Myrtle becomes enraged, shouting "Daisy" at the top of her lungs. Tom, incensed by this outburst, lashes out with his open hand and breaks Myrtle's nose in one "short deft movement." The party enters into a downward spiral and the guests take their departure.
The party breaks up after Tom punches Myrtle in the face and breaks her nose. He does it because she mentions Daisy's name.
Tom hits Myrtle because she refused to obey him, but also in defense of Daisy; he feels strongly about both women. Tom's outburst therefore shows that he has difficulty handling complex emotions. He responds with violence to maintain control.
Myrtle sees the affair as romantic and a ticket out of her marriage, while Tom sees it as just another affair, and Myrtle as one of a string of mistresses. The pair has undeniable physical chemistry and attraction to each other, perhaps more than any other pairing in the book.
He breaks Myrtle's nose, Daisy complains he has hurt her little finger, and, in the past, he caused a chambermaid he was having an affair with to break her arm after crashing his car, while he himself, typically, was unscathed.
This scene shows Tom's wealth and power; Tom feel Myrtle had no right saying Daisy's name so he hit her to make her behave.
How does Tom react to Myrtle's death? Tom immediately establishes his alibi and states that he has no idea where the yellow car is and that it was not his. However, later on, during the ride home, he begins to cry.
Wilson believes that Gatsby killed Myrtle because Tom gave him intentionally misleading information. Earlier in the story, Tom stopped by Wilson's garage while driving Gatsby's yellow car, leading Wilson to believe that the car was Tom's.
Myrtle (and her husband George) represent the lower classes. They live in the 'valley of ashes', an area literally and symbolically impoverished, a great contrast to the luxury of the mansions of Long Island.
The narrative briefly switches to a court of inquest . At the garage in the valley of ashes, George and Myrtle Wilson argue and she runs out into the street where she is hit by a 'big yellow car'. The narrative switches back to Nick. Tom realises that it was Gatsby's car that struck and killed Myrtle.
Tom confesses that George first came to Tom's house that night. There, Tom told him that the yellow car was Gatsby's and insinuated that Gatsby was the one who killed Myrtle and the one who was sleeping with her (9.143).
Tom is involved with Myrtle because he is bored, and their affair offers him an exciting break from his normal life. He likes the idea of having a secret.
The fact that Tom sees Myrtle as disposable but Myrtle hopes for more in their relationship is painfully apparent at the end of Chapter 2, when she insists on bringing up Daisy, and Tom responds by breaking Myrtle's nose.
Myrtle's death symbolizes the death of the American Dream because she is someone who tried to achieve it and move up in life but was ultimately killed because of it. The repeated appearance of the green light motif is used to represent the American Dream. Once that light dies, the Dream dies with it.
Throughout the novel he commits adultery with Myrtle Wilson, a working-class woman married to a garage mechanic. Tom uses Myrtle in a cynical way, buying her presents but telling her lies, and when she drunkenly repeats Daisy's name he breaks her nose.
Daisy Buchannan is made to represent the lack of virtue and morality that was present during the 1920s. She is the absolute center of Gatsby's world right up to his death, but she is shown to be uncaring and fickle throughout the novel.
The relationship between Tom and Daisy is built more on money rather than love, however, there is little bits of love. Daisy marries Tom because of his wealth, but throughout their relationship she does, fall in love with Tom at least once.
Why did Daisy marry Tom? Even though she was still in love with Gatsby, Daisy most likely married Tom because she knew he could provide her with more material comforts. In Chapter 4 Jordan recounts how, the day before the wedding, she found Daisy drunk, sobbing, and clutching a letter.
In that novel, Nick loves Gatsby, the erstwhile James Gatz of North Dakota, for his capacity to dream Jay Gatsby into being and for his willingness to risk it all for the love of a beautiful woman. In a queer reading of Gatsby, Nick doesn't just love Gatsby, he's in love with him.
Daisy's finger has been hurt by her physically powerful husband Tom, although she says it was an accident. The novel contains several other accidents, and numerous allusions to the role of accidental occurrences in human life.
McKee did not sleep together or even if Fitzgerald did not mean to imply as much, the fact that Mr. McKee and Nick are together in their underwear is not typical for two heterosexual men in the 1920s.
Fido probably represents their morality and fidelity. Myrtle wants the dog because she thinks that it will complete the domestic illusion that she has with her lover. Fido also represents their values.