PEA

Point

Evidence

Analysis

Focus: Gatsby’s parties

Evidence #1: “young lady from a famous chorus, engaged in song. She had drunk a
quantity of champagne, and during the course of her song she had decided, ineptly,
that everything was very, very sad—she was not only singing, she was weeping too.”
(51)

PARTIES

Throughout The Great Gatsby, Parties are a symbol that represent short highs. The fun
in the party has to end sometime, easiness is very temporary because parties are fun,
yet their existence is very temporary since they will eventually end and then people
will have to go back to reality quickly. This is evident when a singer in Gatsby’s party
started crying when she was singing. This could mean that life is not as happy as it is
shown and that fun etc eventually ends and returns to reality (like the singer crying
and the parties eventually ending

Additionally, Gatsby's extravagant parties are part of the image he wishes to project,
and are staged in the hope of impressing Daisy, who lives across the bay. 'People were
not invited – they went there' (p. 43), Nick tells us, and Gatsby does not mix with his
guests or drink and dance as they do.

Page 51 Page 49
Gatsby’s parties
Singer cry on performance
How life is not as happy as it is showed (sad stuff)

Gatsby’s parties’ symbolism

- As extravagant as Gatsby’s parties are showed it could be almost blinding,
represent
The parties symbolize the glamourous lifestyle of the Roaring Twenties, the flashy
spending of someone with "new money" seeking to impress those who will never
accept him, and the corruption of the American Dream.

What is the purpose of the parties at Gatsby’s mansion?

Gatsby's extravagant parties are part of the image he wishes to project, and are staged
in the hope of impressing Daisy, who lives across the bay. 'People were not invited –
they went there' (p. 43), Nick tells us, and Gatsby does not mix with his guests or
drink and dance as they do.

Higher level question

Why do people really go to the parties in The Great Gatsby