Parties In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Gatsby has the reputation for throwing numerous parties, weekend after weekend. These decadent parties, filled with entertainment, alcohol, and food represent the indulgent excesses and vanity of the Roaring Twenties. Nick, the narrator of the novel along with Fitzgerald’s alter-ego gets invited to one of Gatsby’s parties and sees “buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors d’oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold” and “enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden” (40). Gatsby’s parties sure do a great job at revealing the luxurious lifestyle of the “new money” but the way that he purposely does everything he can do show off …show more content…

Though most people at Gatsby’s parties are wealthy, they seem to be very unhappy. We can conclude this because of the violence, and excessive drinking. It is well known that people drink to make themselves feel better but drinking should not be the only way to become better. Nick notices that, “Suddenly one of the gypsies, in trembling opal, seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for courage and, moving her hands like Frisco, dances out alone on the canvas platform” (41). In this example, alcohol changes the gypsies personality. She uses it to give her courage to dance. In addition, Nick refers to this women as a gypsy most likely implying that she is seeking attention. Even Nick, who has informed us that he has only been drunk very few times in his life falls into the trend of the party. He claims, “I was enjoying myself now. I had taken two finger-bowls of champagne, and the scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental, and profound” (32). What Nick once saw as an excessive, superficial party, he now sees as something important. This really emphasizes the effect alcohol had on Gatsby’s parties and even the era as a whole. In addition, When Nick goes into Gatsby’s house to look for Gatsby, he sees an old man who says, “I have been drunk for about a week now and I thought it would sober me up if I sat in the library” (50). Owl Eyes isn't made a big character in the novel but he

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