"Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body-he seemed to fill those glistening botts until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage-a cruel body." pg 5
In this excerpt the reader is presented with a direct characterization of Tom Buchanan, described from the perspective of Nick Callaway. When I first read this I was struck by the way in which Tom was so directly described. I think it was to create a perfect picture of what Gatsby's "competitor" for Daisy's affections looks like. He is obviously a gruff and intimidating man so one would automatically assume no one would challenge him. I think the direct characterization provides not only the picture but the foreshadow of how this person will affect the outcome of the story. For when such a dynamic person in appearance is described it opens the doors to possibilities that this character may add to the plot. Also Tom's features not only describe him physically but when Nick talks about him "always leaning aggressively forward" that also seems to describe his personality of being confrontational. So not only can one gather the physical aspects of Tom but one can see the personality traits visible on his person.
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