Tom's Motivations

Though I think that Myrtle's motivation for her affair with Tom is a little more obvious, I have to ask myself why Tom would would be involved with Myrtle. He has a beautiful, charming wife, a three year old daughter, an exquisite house and no want for money. After thinking about it for a while, I've decided that those people who appear to "have it all" are never quite satisfied. Tom has a safe, stable life. For someone who doesn't have a life like that, safe and stable is all that person wants. That person might consider Tom the luckiest man in the world. But Tom is bored. However, when he met Myrtle, he found excitement in doing something wrong. He created a whole new life that is completely opposite from the one he has with Daisy. The fact that the text suggests he lied to Mytle about his reaosns for not getting divorced shows that he enjoys his life with Daisy too. Myrtle and Daisy are very different, essentially creating options for Tom. He can choose to be in one life or another, depending on what he feels like at a particular time. Instead of having one great life, he has two. He's made it possible for himself to have the best of both worlds (Hannah Montana reference not intended).