Tom Buchanan is easily one of the most unlikeable characters in The Great Gatsby due to his toxic masculinity and unattractive arrogance. Tom’s primary purpose in The Great Gatsby is to serve as Gatsby’s foil and the novel’s antagonist.
Gatsby’s primary objective for the novel is to be with Daisy. As Daisy’s husband, Tom is the one standing in the way of the couple being openly together, thus making Tom the novel’s antagonist since he is keeping Gatsby, the protagonist, from achieving his objective. Not only is Tom the clear antagonist since he is keeping Gatsby from Daisy since he is her husband, but he is also just an unlikeable character because he is not a good guy. Even though Tom claims that he is in love with Daisy he is still having an affair with Myrtle Wilson. How could somebody who is truly in love with another person justify cheating? The answer is simple. It is because he loves her as an object, not a human being.
Tom views Daisy as a pretty object that he has won. He does not truly love her for who she is as a person. Since he only loves her in a materialistic way he is capable of cheating on her because he is not truly in love with her. He only loves the idea of her. If he was truly in love with her he would not be able to cheat on her.
In addition to Tom being the novel’s antagonist he also serves as Gatsby’s foil because the two are opposites. Tom represents old money while Gatsby represents new money. Along with that, Tom is arrogant and unlikeable, while Gatsby is humble and well respected. It is ironic that Gatsby is the one that is popular and Tom is the one that is unpopular since people with old money look down on those with new money because they think they are better than them.