The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main character, Gatsby is the server of many elaborate parties at his home in West Egg. In the morning the lawn crew would come and pamper the yard, in the evening the cooks would begin to effect the meals, and as dusk approached, the guests would pile out of their taxis, labour cars, and boats (36). Some invited and some not, all were coming in search of a pleasant evening among people. Fitzgeralds parties unveiled a fun-loving, lazy side of most people in the 1920s.Fitzgerald wrote in his novel that the guests would begin to arrive all at once, stepping out of their motor cars, adorned in their finest evening formal wear (36). The women of the story attend Gatsbys parties in their newest gowns. The biggest concern on the minds of the attendants was their own appearance, and the appearance of others. One womanish guest indicated a total lack of concern over the shape of her snip off at the end of the evening, for after t he last discrepancy, Gatsby sponsored a new dress for her immediately (39). In his novel, the apparent scrutinization of modern society is prominent in his descriptive paragraphs, which do not reveal a characters name. Fitzgerald writes of his guests nigh the time that they are present at the party, he does not write of their family, or occupational life, leading it to look like their lives were only important cod to the party (39). The girls in lily-livered are a prime example where characterization shadows name and title. The most important thing about the girls in yellow is not where they came from, but what they have to say about Gatsby.Gossiping at a party was Fitzgeralds way to characterize his modern society as gullible. His own party attendants would have the ill manners to discuss his own background. The hushing circle would marvel over the Kaiser Wilhelm theory, then at the murderer theory (40).