"With great power comes great responsibility"- Peter Parker's uncle Ben.
1) When people lack power, they know it right away. They get pushed around by the more dominant people around them, or are usually bullied more than they expect. They start to desire it. When a person abuses this power, it might not be apparent to the user, but it's crystal clear to the recipients. They start to fear the user as he establishes a sort of "alpha male" position(consciously or not)
2) In the marriage of Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan, It is Tom who is clearly the head honcho of the relationship. He's the prideful, obnoxious, racist, wealthy, and clear-cut "Right hand" to the more submissive Daisy who is clearly intimidated by tom, and knows/acknowledges her place in the relationship as nothing more than "trophy"(as hinted by her short conversation with her cousin.) Despite this, she knows that this is possibly the highest position she will get in life, as she already lives in a luxurious mansion with acres upon acres of land with polo ponies in her backyard.
3) The dominant-submissive relationship of Tom and Daisy translates very well into other divisions of humankind. At the personal level, the person of power in one's life is usually their self. Only Tom can control his life, as with Daisy(she COULD make her on decisions, but she's intimidated by Tom too much to do anything really) At the local level, it's a tie between the police and the mayor. Then the Governor at the state level, So on and so forth. Now, how these individuals assert their power affects the people "below" them. Like Hitler on the Germans, or Bernie Madoff and our tax dollars, the balance of power can be for the ultimate good, or for deceptive evil.
The two questions I pose upon you now is
1) Do you think the marriage of Tom and Daisy Buchanan will go on forever with Tom at the wheel? Or is there the slight chance that Daisy will say "Screw (edit) this, I'm out" and leave Tom outright?
2)If Daisy isn't to do something of this, what about the narrator? Will he stand by and watch in full knowledge that his distant cousin is in a domestically abusive relationship?
-Phillip.
i just agree very well put
ReplyDeleteI think Tom and Daisys relationship can go either way. Right now Daisy can change the outcome of the relationship if she wants but then again thats least likely to happen from what we read.
ReplyDeleteAt this point I don't think the narrator will do anything about the abusive relationship between Tom and his cousin because the narrator is intimidated by Tom and his wealth and also hes not really that close to his cousin to actually interfere with their relationship.
Very well said Philip. I also agree with Rehana's sentiments and feel that at this point, Nick is unwilling to call out Tom and his behavior.
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