Monday, January 5, 2015

In The Great Gatsby, how is Gatsby's party in West Egg different from the first two parties?

Three parties occur in the novel, two at Gatsby's estate
in West Egg and one in the apartment in New York where Tom carries on his affair with
Myrtle. The party in Tom and Myrtle's apartment is detailed in Chapter II; Gatsby's
parties occur in Chapters III and VI. Gatsby's party in Chapter VI contrasts the two
earlier parties, but in different ways:


The party in Tom
and Myrtle's apartment takes place in a cramped, crowded, smoky setting among a
relatively small group of people; the tone is not festive, and the party ends with Tom's
breaking Myrtle's nose after a violent quarrel. In contrast, Gatsby's party in Chapter
VI is accomplished on a grand scale, under the stars, with orchestra music, dancing, and
fine buffets. It is characterized by beauty and excess. There is confict between
characters, but it is not overt or violent.


Gatsby's party
in Chapter VI is much like his earlier party, in terms of its setting and festivities,
but the tone is much different. The party in Chapter III is full of wild energy, filled
with the uninhibited and sometimes bizarre behavior of Gatsby's drunken guests. However,
his second party, in Nick's words, had a "peculiar quality of oppressiveness." Nick
remembers it most clearly:


readability="13">

There were the same people, or at least the same
sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same many-colored, many-keyed
commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn't
been there before.



The
difference, Nick surmises, was the presence of Tom Buchanan who had come with Daisy;
Tom's contempt for Gatsby had been quite apparent throughout the evening. Also, Nick had
seen Gatsby's party this time as Daisy had seen it, and through her eyes, it had taken
on a different aspect. No longer beautiful and exciting, Gatsby's party seemed cheap and
vulgar. Daisy had been "appalled" and "offended" by what she had witnessed at Gatsby's
party.

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