After reading chapter 1

[Mariel]

People in this group
Valeria Mancinelli
Lorena Mendoza
Cintia Ojeda
José Eduardo Perez
Agustín Pérez Malandra
Nicolás Prevosti
Luz Prunotto
Franco Rucci
Alberto Wasinger

Brenda Fabro
Carolina Fantasia
María Florencia Lapaz
Melisa Marchetti
Emeli Belen Parola
Maria Belen Richardi
María Macarena Serroels
Antonela Tercetti

Talking about Tom, Nick says "the fact that he “had some woman in New York.” was really less surprising than that he had been depressed by a book. Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart."

What does this tell you about Tom? What does this tell you about society?


Then say whether your Voicethread predictions have been confirmed so far, or, if you had already read the book, if so far you have found things you didn't remember

Remember to link your contributions to the ones before, to use your own words as far as possible, and to check for grammar and spelling.

[Macarena]

This statement about Tom tells me that he is a person who is boasting all the time about his achievements, and he also seems to be an arrogant man. Apart from that, it shows me the kind of thinking behind the society of those times. To show off your impressive accomplishments as a wealthy man was more important than your own feelings.
As regards my Voicethread predictions, I think that they have been confirmed. As I said before, "to be someone" at that time meant luxury and showing your possessions, even if other people had known you before being a "new rich"

[Florencia]

To my point of view, Tom is well described in this fragment of the novel. He is the real representation of
people who belong to a society that just want to boast about their possesions, not only material things but also other persons as it is the case of Daisy and his lover. Most of the time this type of people try to demonstrate that they are more powerful or intelligent just because of their wealthy possesions,but, the real fact is that they lack of true feelings or values because they spend most of the time showing off or pretending to be the perfect people that society of that time claims that are the most successful

[Franco]

In my opinion, the fact Tom is having an affair is not surprising because it was seen as something natural and of little importance. This shows Tom is selfish and takes Daisy for granted. Appearances are more important than relationships or values and true feelings are left aside. Besides, he is arrogant and needs to be seen as superior. Probably, these may be some of the characteristics shared by a great percentage of the members belonging to the same social class.
I didn’t remember Tom and Daisy had a daughter, the conversation about the book Tom had read and which of the two eggs the characters lived in.

[Alberto]

I definitely agree with my classmates'opinion
about Tom. From Nick's perspective, Tom seems
to be a very shallow person. He is full of himself
and has an inflated ego. This image that we get of Tom
serves as the stereotype of rich men during the Roaring
20s. It shows just a fragment of society in those times. My prediction of what the novel was going to be about has been pretty accurate so far.

[Mariel]

Interesting contributions so far! Most of you mention the importance of wealth in this society.
I'm not quite sure this quotation refers to Tom's boastful nature - even though he is a boastful man no doubt.
Why is he depressed by a book? What sort of book is it?
How does Daisy feel about her husband?
Looking forward to reading new contributions

[Lorena]

Tom had been so successful in his twenties that afterwards life seemed to have lost its savour for him. I think that is the reason why he is not only boastful but also superficial. His life became monotonous but he pretended to be proud of himself. So his belief of being superior due to his wealth and his family origins was the only thing left for him to feel this way. However, the book "The Rise of the Coloured Empires" scientifically proved that the dominant race, as Tom called it, was about to being submerged. He got depressed by this book since it caused instability in the way he felt about his life.
In my opinion Daisy is a very smart woman pretending to be a fool. She showed her feeling of emptiness and loneliness when talking to Nick about Tom.

[Jose]

In my humble opinion what the author tried to do with this reflection about Tom from Nick is setting a background about Tom’s personality and how some things never change, like the fact that Tom was and will ever be a "lady's man", and other personality characteristics mutates with the years, like the fact that Nick read a book about politics and that affects his behaviour.

[Thiago]

I agree with my classmates. In this chapter we can see how the author tried to show us a wealthy society and, the way Tom acted - which is not surprising to me because is common in high-society people, it's caratheristic of rich and selfish men. So the fact that he was having an affair is, as I said, not surprising. I'd describe Tom as an immature.

I've already read the book, and I've found new details or descriptions about the characters

[María]

I completely agree with all the contributions. The idea that in those days it was important to be part of a wealth society is highly developed. Apparently, the more you had, the better you were. Besides, from
Nick´s point of view, Tom was all the time boasting about his impressive accomplishments.
As regards Daisy, as Lorena and Meli said, she felt lonely and deeply unhappy because of her relationship. She pretended to be a silly person instead of a smart one.
Finally, I didn´t understand at all why is Tom depressed by a book.

[Mariel]

What is the book about? What are the "stale ideas" mentioned? What do you infer from the phrase "peremptory heart"?

[Luz]

I agree with my classmates´contributions. I also believe that by this description, Nick is telling us how common it was at that time to have a mistress and that Tom does not care everybody knows he has one. This confirms my prediction that people at that time did not care about the others´ feelings.

[Carolina]

About Tom that phrase that Mariel have mentioned before (and according what I read) tells me that Tom is a powerful and wealthy man with arrogance and ostentation who lived in a high social position. He is boasting all the time. He is dishonest with him and also with his wife who he deceived with a lover in New York.
I’m glad that my Voicethread predictions are confirmed and also I’m surprised to found things that I didn’t take into account before.
As regards the book "The Rise of the Coloured Empires" Tom had racist thought and attitudes but I don’t know why Tom was depressed about it, maybe I have to read those lines again.