The Great Gatsby Commentary

The purpose of the narrator is to set up a grand entrance for Gatsby by creating a sense of eminence as well as merit. He portrays him as the best there is—the cream of his crop—plain and simple. In the narrator’s astounded eyes, Gatsby wakes up in the morning to release excellence. The excerpt has no theme; instead describes with great stalker-like detail Gatsby’s lifestyle and eggstravagance (get it? West and East Egg?). Words like “dark gold,” “full swing,” “earth lurches away from the sun” imply a positive denotation that portrays the parties as absolutely fabulous. The language in question is successful in doing precisely what the narrator wants it to; it serves as a tool for him/her to convey Gatsby’s character in great depths. The phrase “laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word” gives the reader a somewhat clear idea of how the people Gatsby associates with are like. As the guests drink more, they become more social and outgoing and on one hand, the narrator seems to like that, but the word “prodigality” implies that on the other hand, he finds their lifestyle grotesque and damaging.

The narrator gives implicit hints of the time period whilst describing, and perhaps envying Gatsby’s party-filled lifestyle. Observing one of Gatsby’s parties, Nick “suddenly [sees] one of the gypsies, in trembling opal, seiz[ing] a cocktail out of the air, dump[ing] it down for courage and, moving her hands like Frisco.” Joe Frisco was a 1920’s dancer/performer who became known for his jazz dancing during the so-called Jazz Age. Another slight reference to the time period is the mention of the “Follies,” which was a well-known stage show during the Twenties. The Follies represented how a lot of young people behaved at that time: fun-loving, foolish and lacking sobriety.

In the excerpt presented, the narrator’s choice of words conveyed a great deal. The author wrote in a manner that any typical adult could understand and relate to. This suggests that the indented audience is the general public—people who are, or have known someone as extravagantly wasteful as Gatsby. The word choice created a tone that was highly critical—it gave the story a light-spirited feel. Throughout the vivid descriptions, the narrator used a wistful and slightly melancholic tone.

Even though neither the reader nor the narrator have met Gatsby, the narrator sets up this out-of-this-world image of him leading the reader to believe that he is indeed “Great.” In the readers’ eyes, Gatsby is just another wasteful rich man, but to the narrator, Gatsby is the life of the party, the beacon of glamour, gold and ultimately hope.