Gatsby 1

This past week we covered three amazing chapters from the book, The Great Gatsby. In each chapter we were presented with a different party that Nick, our narrator, attended. I will be starting this blog with the first party we were introduced to, Daisy's party.

In chapter one Nick attends Daisy's "party," where Nick is reunited with Tom, Daisy, and Jordan. This party takes place at Tom and Daisy's house, which is described as, "a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay." This color choice makes the house stick out a bit more than others, and shows how the family has much more wealth and power over the others in the area. Moving past the house we need to further analyze the characters who were presented to us. Starting with Daisy we can see from her white dress and pleasant description that she is a beautiful and charming woman, but certain details like her unwillingness to move from the couch and nonchalant behavior concerning her child show her to be a more shallow and uncaring person. Tom, although he is described as handsome and successful, can easily be seen as arrogant and condescending considering his attitude towards Nick. Finally, Jordan Baker, who seems to be framed as the perfect opposite to Daisy, represents the new generation of women in the 1920's. She is considered boyish and self-centered.

In chapter two Nick attends his second party, Myrtle's party. This party involves a lot more action then the previous one. A few more characters are introduced in this chapter. The first two new characters are George and Myrtle, George is introduced as Myrtle's husband, he is a seemingly exhausted, lifeless, man who lives on the edge of the valley of ashes. Myrtle on the other hand has a large amount of vitality, but she also seems to show resentment for the place she is living in. The next named character is Catherine, who is introduced as a tall, slender, red-haired woman, we also can imply that Catherine is aware of Myrtle's affair. Finally we have Mr. and Mrs. McKee, who seem to be much more technical people who want to better fit in with high class society.

The final chapter we read took place at Gatsby's house, the "factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool." The main character that we have to analyze in this chapter is Jay Gatsby himself. Considering just the party itself, his house and food selection shows the sheer amount of wealth and standing that Gatsby has, and judging from character interaction before the introduction of Gatsby, it seems that no one really knows what Gatsby does. When we do meet Gatsby we find out that he was part of the military like Nick. But on multiple occasions Gatsby was called away, on all occasions his butler said the name of a state that was calling him, this shows that he has some kind of importance, but his character is still very mysterious.

In conclusion, if I were to attend any of these parties, I think it would have to be Gatsby's. I know that the option will be a given to most, but I don't see myself having fun attending any of the parties. At Gatsby's party you can kind of do what you want because of the sheer size of the event. At the other parties you are stuck in a house or an apartment and don't have much room to move around and you are stuck watching all of the drama that transpires. I would much rather prefer some distance from the crowd.