As the narrator of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway tells the reader Tom Buchanan was a powerful football player while at Yale and that he comes from an extremely wealthy family.
Nick says Tom, who is from the Midwest like he is, went East "in a fashion that rather took your breath away." Coming from Lake Forest, the upscale suburb of Chicago, Tom brought with him several polo ponies, among other luxury possessions. He drifts wherever people play polo and are "rich together." Even before coming to the East, Tom Buchanan and his new wife Daisy seemed to have "drifted" as they spent a year in France "for no particular reason." They now live in the very fashionable East Egg. When Daisy talks with Tom on the phone, she declares their move is permanent, but Nick doubts this is true. Instead, he feels that Tom will "drift on forever," seeking the "dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game."
Overall, Nick characterizes Tom Buchanan's as a man among the idle rich who used to play football. Tom seeks excitement to relieve his luxurious ennui.
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