We are guided through the first half of the extract by Nick as a third person narrator, and thus the reader is given a view of what takes place before the guests arrive ‘at least once a fortnight several corps of caterers came down’. Nick gives the feeling of repetition of the rituals described ‘every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived’ and by using this narrative technique, creates a tired ritualistic atmosphere of routine labour ‘on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day’. The tense changes, however, to the first person when people begin to enter the party, and the previously felt negative atmosphere slowly disappear. The reader feels as if they are on Nick’s level, seeing what he sees. The reader’s interpretation of the party is coloured by Nick’s almost poetic description and sometimes, ironic views on the event itself and its inhabitants. Two distinct types of people are represented here: those who work for their money and those who don’t. During this extract these two groups are not shown to make contact with each other. Chris Fitter explains this and describes how the novel ‘offers a detailed social picture of the stresses of an advanced capitalist culture in the early 1920s’. The party is full of the latter type of people and the image ‘brisk yellow bug’ suggests a parasitic quality about those who are using Gatsby for the luxury he offers, without giving anything in return. The colour yellow is also used to describe such a vehicle because it represents imitation and superficiality throughout the novel and the people it is carrying to the party are exactly that. ‘Yellow’ and ‘brass’ are mentioned in the extract and could be said to be substitutes for gold: the real thing. Nick also describes primary colours such as yellow as ‘gaudy’ and this shows the excessiveness of the party. This is reflective of the fact that Gatsby’s party is not in fact the “real thing” either and is merely a show to display the wealth he has unfairly gained. Fitzgerald also stresses the idea of excessiveness by his repetitive use of the word ‘and’, when describing the ‘glistening hors-d’oeuvre’s’and other foods on the ‘buffet tables’. There is an underlying tone of deceit and illegality within it all and this creates an uncomfortable setting. This is enhanced by the constant flow of illegal alcohol available throughout the party and the guest’s abuse of it ‘she seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for courage’. The damage done by the party and the rich who attend it is represented in the idea of the orange and lemon peal ending up out of ‘the back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves’ and this image adds to the destructive atmosphere of opulence and revelry, it also represents the idea that with consumption always comes waste, and in this case the rich will eventually feel the consequences of there greed. The ever changing social groups also described in this extract add to the artificial setting of the evening and represent the pecuniary intents of the guests ‘The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath’ The language Fitzgerald uses here is almost personified and represents the reality of the people beneath the façade they are putting up in these social groups.
Nature also plays a large role in this passage both in the physical setting of the event and used in the language to represent the control the rich believed to have over it’ the lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun’ shows how the rich are moving further and further away from the genuine represented by the sun, and nearer to the artificial reality: the lights, as the party proceeds. The sun is also used in this image ‘sun on the hot sand of the beach’ and it creates an almost luxurious paradise setting which is ironic, because in fact that is what Gatsby’s party is unsuccessfully trying to be. Fitzgerald also incorporates the senses in his description to allow the reader to closely relate to what was being experienced at the party. Sounds are frequently mentioned in both a musical sense ‘the orchestra’ and in a conversational sense ‘the air is alive with laughter and chatter’. A rich variety of colours are also used ‘coloured lights’ ‘primary colours’ and this creates an exuberant and almost theatrical atmosphere. The whole of the passage is very much like a performance in the way it is divided into preparations and show time, however there is a mysterious air to it all because of the absence and lack of reference to the main actor, who in this case is ‘Gatsby’ himself. The prolonged arrival of such a main player creates tension and mystery in this passage.
Fitzgerald’s rich use of metaphorical and symbolic language in the passage strangely contrasts with the underlying tone of death deceit and tragedy, particularly throughout this extract, and successfully creates a superficial setting which lacks control and reality, whilst at the same time allows the reader to experience the atmosphere that would have been felt as a guest. This idea is clearly expressed by Cyril Connolly who summarised that Fitzgerald’s ‘style sings of hope. His message is despair’.