Two Sides of the Same Coin. An Analysis of Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby’s Masculinities in "The Great Gatsby"

Victoria Giambra

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9783389142066
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Seminar paper from the year 2024 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Hannover (American Department), course: Men & Masculinity, language: English, abstract: This paper analyzes the constructions and crises of masculinity in The Great Gatsby through the characters of Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Drawing on Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity alongside insights from masculinity studies by Connell and Buchbinder, it explores how both men perform gendered identities shaped by the social, cultural, and economic context of 1920s America. Tom embodies a hegemonic masculinity rooted in inherited wealth, dominance, and control, while Gatsby constructs a self-made, emotionally charged persona dependent on romantic idealism and class aspiration. The analysis demonstrates how both masculinities, despite their differences, rely on performative acts driven by social validation and power. Their confrontation in the hotel scene serves as a moment of crisis where both performances unravel—Tom's authority reveals its insecurity, and Gatsby's ideal collapses under the weight of social hierarchy and personal vulnerability. Ultimately, the study argues that Tom and Gatsby represent two sides of the same coin: competing expressions of masculinity that, while opposed in form, are equally fragile and contingent.