On the face of it, the two men don't seem to have much in common. Tom Buchanan is a rich, upper-class male from an established old money family. George Wilson is a struggling small business owner toiling away for little reward in the Valley of Ashes.
Yet there is one marked similarity between them: they both think it's acceptable to use violence towards women. In both cases it's the same woman, Myrtle Wilson. Though their respective motives are different. Tom is a control freak; he hits Myrtle to maintain his dominance over her; whereas George uses physical violence because he's scared that his wife is going to leave him. Violence is always there in both characters, but it takes a long time for George to express his inner rage openly, and even then it's a sign of mental derangement rather than an innate aspect of his personality, as it is with Tom.
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