Tom Buchanan is a dominating and sometimes overtly violent man, and there is evidence of this throughout the book. He manhandles Nick from a room, and we learn of his abuse of Daisy in the very first chapter. Later on, we see him manhandling Nick again and learn of his abuse of his mistress, Myrtle Wilson.
At the dinner to which Nick is invited, when dinner is announced, Nick relates,
...wedging his tense arm imperatively under mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square (16).
As everyone sits down to dinner, Daisy looks down at her little finger, which is "black and purple" (16). She tells Tom,
You did it, Tom.....I know you didn't mean to, but you did. That's what I get for marrying a brute of a man....(16).
In Chapter Two, Tom is insistent upon Nick meeting his mistress, Myrtle Wilson. Tom has had a great deal to drink, and Nick says, "...his determination to have my company bordered on violence" (28). At the apartment Tom has acquired for himself and Myrtle, everyone has a great deal more to drink, and when Tom and Myrtle get into an argument over Tom's not wanting Myrtle to even mention Daisy's name, "Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand" (41).
Tom Buchanan has an air of barely repressed violence throughout most of the book, and while he seems to bully males mostly psychologically, he clearly is physically violent to women.
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