In the novel Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Tom Buchanan one of the main characters in this novel displays ignorance towards the other social classes and fails to follow the Transcendental Tenets of Basic Self- Reliance, Basic Simplicity, and Basic Self- Realization. After an interesting visit with his cousin Daisy and her cheating Husband Tom, Nick observes Tom and Daisy very carefully that they only speak highly of themselves, therefore, they do not care about others. While at their party, Nick understands and finds it interesting that how Tom and Daisy only care for each other, not their guests. “Their interest rather touched me and made them less remotely rich- nevertheless, I was confused and a little disgusted as I drove away.…show more content… Because Tom comes from a wealthy family, you can get the impression that he is an arrogant, Devil’s child, racist man who seeks Superiority of himself without realizing others value. Tom simply needs the basic Transcendental idea self- reliance to be in effect throughout his lifetime because he needs to realize what the displeasure of life sometimes causes. An Example of a displeasure that Tom Buchanan has faced is when he learns of Myrtle his secret loves death. Tom extravagantly gets upset because he determines that because a yellow car was driven, he assumes that the main character Jay Gatsby was driving the car because the car appeared to be his. Because of Tom’s defiance towards gatsby driving the car he says,“He broke off defiantly. "What if I did tell him? That fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy's, but he was a tough one. He ran over Myrtle like you'd run over a dog and never even stopped his car." This quote defines the main idea of Self- Reliance because you need to realize displeasure throughout your lifetime. All in all, Tom needs to be aware of his Self- Reliance in life so that he does not have
