Question

Do you think George reacted reasonably to discovering Myrtle was cheating?

Answer 1

Tom Buchannan is a wealthy business man who comes from a well-to-do family from the MidWest. He is married to Daisy and has a daughter yet seems to care little for them due in large part to the fact that he cheats on his wife with Myrtle, is physically abusive to his wife, and barely shows affection toward his daughter. When Tom learned that Daisy was beginning a relationship with Gatsby, he found out as much information as he could about Gatsby and then called him out on all of the illegal things that he was into right in front of Daisy in order to ruin any possible relationship that Gatsby might have had with her.

George Wilson is a poor man who owns a gas station in the Valley of Ashes. He is described in the novel as being "anemic" looking and "barely alive". He seems to have no personality and does not even realize that his wife is having an affair until he finds a dog collar in her room. When George learns about this affair, he decides they are going to move out west and then when he thinks that she was having an affair with Gatsby (and thinks that Gatsby killed her) he walks all the way to Gatsby's house and shoots him and then kils himself.

These two men are similar in that they suppress their feelings for their wives until something goes wrong. At that point, both men are then willing to fight for their wives and do what is necessary to get them back or get back at someone for hurting her.