Why does gatsby throw parties for strangers

Chris wrote: "He loves Daisy and he believes that Daisy was attrated by Tom's wealth, so he spent large amount money to hold amazing parties to get her attraction. There is another reason that he wants to get in..."The idea that Gatsby had lavish parties every weekend "solely to attract Daisy" (per Yale's Harold Bloom) is widely held, but it is not supported in the text. In fact, Fitzgerald provides evidence in the novel of a perfectly logical reason for his parties: so that his sales team could prospect among the partygoers to sell illicit bonds.Though tantalizingly romantic, the notion that the parties were for Daisy's benefit is a grossly overstated interpretation of a off-hand speculation by Jordan, cited below. There's no evidence that Gatsby said anything to such effect. It is Jordan's uncorroborated (and unsubstantiated) speculation, not an established fact. This romantic notion was glommed onto by Hollywood to sell movie tickets and by at least one prominent literature professor, Yale's Harold Bloom--perhaps his way of pandering to Yale's capitalist benefactors. The result is the perpetuation of a distorted view of what Fitzgerald's actually wrote.

See items #2 and #7 (in block quotes below) in my article on Proof of Gatsby's Criminality : https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

2--Ch. 3, p.42 (Nick notices the sales team at the party, strongly suggesting that purpose of the parties was to attract the affluent targets for fleecing) Nick, narrating:

I was immediately struck by the number of young Englishmen dotted about; all well dressed, all looking a little hungry and all talking in low, earnest voices to solid and prosperous Americans. I was sure that they were selling something, bonds or insurance or automobiles. They were at least agonizingly aware of the easy money in the vicinity and convinced that it was theirs for a few words in the right key.

Gatsby isn't throwing a party for strangers in the middle of a wealthy neighborhood just for the fun of it; he wants their money, and that's his sales team, cruising the crowd for suckers to buy his worthless bonds.

7--Ch. IV, p.79 (The only reference in the entire book as to a purpose for the parties is an offhand speculation by Jordan on the last page of Chapter IV after her private conference with Gatsby.) Jordan:

"I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night," went on Jordan, "but she never did."

Jordan's "I think" is a surmise at best, and "half-expected" is anything but Harold Bloom's)"solely."

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, gives an image of how large and extravagant the parties they endured affected and was a part of the lives of the people in the 1920 's. The way the opulent lifestyle of the 1920 's varies is shown in different sources such as in chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby, The Great Gatsby movie film trailer, as well as in The Garden of Earthly Delights. All of these different forms of art explore the extravagant parties in the book The Great Gatsby. The parties shown in the different sources show excitement, extravagance, a care free attitude, a lack of morals, and an almost forced feeling to be grandiose. While all the sources explore the way the people came in like a swarm, it is better demonstrated in chapter…show more content…
Nick describes the people arriving at the party in saying, “People were not invited—they went there.” (Fitzgerald 41). This shows that “swirls and eddies” of people were not coming to meet or communicate, they were there to see the fantastic sights and drink the alcohol given out (Fitzgerald 42). Nick shows his the lack of personal connection with these swarms in saying, “...people I didn 't know...” (Fitzgerald 42) This gives an idea of how the people gather from the to see Gatsby 's demonstration of power, money, and style. A party filled with strangers the only thing they have in common is having a good time. One of the guests at Gatsby party gives her real attention in saying, “I don 't care what I do, so I always have a good time.” (Fitzgerald 43). People attended these parties with such a high goal of having the best time they could they gave little to no care about the person throwing the party. This even went to the point…show more content…
The trailer opens with a party accompanied with high beat music and the narrator describes New York as taken a sharp turn with the “parties bigger.” By calling the parties bigger, the narrator describes how the times have been changed and being large and eccentric were now the normal behavior in how you attend and host a party. The narrator then goes on to show the confusion and excitement of the party in describing it with diction such as hysteria. This shows how the people were in a constant movement in enjoyment with the entertainment which was far over the top. The trailer continues in showing people in bright clothes, entertainers gliding in all ways on the roofs, drinks moving back and forth, and people dancing filling up the room making it seem small whereas it was quite big. This gives an idea of the fast pace congregation of people. This also shows the extent one who is throwing the party would have to go to impress all of his guests. Although The Great Gatsby trailer gave insightful evidence in showing the lack of moral in the great parties, yet The Garden of Delights gives a greater insight on how the lack of morals and the forced feeling to be

One of the reasons that Gatsby has become so famous around New York is that he throws elaborate parties every weekend at his mansion, lavish spectacles to which people long to be invited. One day, Gatsby’s chauffeur brings Nick an invitation to one of these parties. At the appointed time, Nick makes the short walk to Gatsby’s house and joins the festivities, feeling somewhat out of place amid the throng of jubilant strangers. Guests mill around exchanging rumors about their host—no one seems to know the truth about Gatsby’s wealth or personal history. Nick runs into Jordan Baker, whose friend, Lucille, speculates that Gatsby was a German spy during the war. Nick also hears that Gatsby is a graduate of Oxford and that he once killed a man in cold blood.

Gatsby’s party is almost unbelievably luxurious: guests marvel over his Rolls-Royce, his swimming pool, his beach, crates of fresh oranges and lemons, buffet tents in the gardens overflowing with a feast, and a live orchestra playing under the stars. Liquor flows freely, and the crowd grows rowdier and louder as more and more guests get drunk. In this atmosphere of opulence and revelry, Nick and Jordan, curious about their host, set out to find Gatsby. Instead, they run into a middle-aged man with huge, owl-eyed spectacles (whom Nick dubs Owl Eyes) who sits poring over the unread books in Gatsby’s library.

At midnight, Nick and Jordan go outside to watch the entertainment. They sit at a table with a handsome young man who says that Nick looks familiar to him; they realize that they served in the same division during the war. The man introduces himself as none other than Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s speech is elaborate and formal, and he has a habit of calling everyone “old sport.” As the party progresses, Nick becomes increasingly fascinated with Gatsby. He notices that Gatsby does not drink and that he keeps himself separate from the party, standing alone on the marble steps, watching his guests in silence.

At two o’clock in the morning, as husbands and wives argue over whether to leave, a butler tells Jordan that Gatsby would like to see her. Jordan emerges from her meeting with Gatsby saying that she has just heard something extraordinary. Nick says goodbye to Gatsby, who goes inside to take a phone call from Philadelphia. Nick starts to walk home. On his way, he sees Owl Eyes struggling to get his car out of a ditch. Owl Eyes and another man climb out of the wrecked automobile, and Owl Eyes drunkenly declares that he washes his hands of the whole business.

Nick then proceeds to describe his everyday life, to prove that he does more with his time than simply attend parties. He works in New York City, through which he also takes long walks, and he meets women. After a brief relationship with a girl from Jersey City, Nick follows the advice of Daisy and Tom and begins seeing Jordan Baker. Nick says that Jordan is fundamentally a dishonest person; he even knows that she cheated in her first golf tournament. Nick feels attracted to her despite her dishonesty, even though he himself claims to be one of the few honest people he has ever known.

He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.

See Important Quotes Explained

Analysis

At the beginning of this chapter, Gatsby’s party brings 1920s wealth and glamour into full focus, showing the upper class at its most lavishly opulent. The rich, both socialites from East Egg and their coarser counterparts from West Egg, cavort without restraint. As his depiction of the differences between East Egg and West Egg shows, Fitzgerald is fascinated with the social hierarchy and mood of America in the 1920s, when a large group of industrialists, speculators, and businessmen with brand-new fortunes joined the old, aristocratic families at the top of the economic ladder. The “new rich” lack the refinement, manners, and taste of the “old rich” but long to break into the polite society of the East Eggers. In this scenario, Gatsby is again an enigma—though he lives in a garishly ostentatious West Egg mansion, East Eggers freely attend his parties. Despite the tensions between the two groups, the blend of East and West Egg creates a distinctly American mood. While the Americans at the party possess a rough vitality, the Englishmen there are set off dramatically, seeming desperate and predatory, hoping to make connections that will make them rich.

Read an essay on Gatsby and the Jazz Age.

Fitzgerald has delayed the introduction of the novel’s most important figure—Gatsby himself—until the beginning of Chapter 3. The reader has seen Gatsby from a distance, heard other characters talk about him, and listened to Nick’s thoughts about him, but has not actually met him (nor has Nick). Chapter 3 is devoted to the introduction of Gatsby and the lavish, showy world he inhabits. Fitzgerald gives Gatsby a suitably grand entrance as the aloof host of a spectacularly decadent party. Despite this introduction, this chapter continues to heighten the sense of mystery and enigma that surrounds Gatsby, as the low profile he maintains seems curiously out of place with his lavish expenditures. Just as he stood alone on his lawn in Chapter 1, he now stands outside the throng of pleasure-seekers. In his first direct contact with Gatsby, Nick notices his extraordinary smile—“one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it.” Nick’s impression of Gatsby emphasizes his optimism and vitality—something about him seems remarkably hopeful, and this belief in the brilliance of the future impresses Nick, even before he knows what future Gatsby envisions.

Read more about how Nick Carraway first meets Jay Gatsby.

Many aspects of Gatsby’s world are intriguing because they are slightly amiss—for instance, he seems to throw parties at which he knows none of his guests. His accent seems affected, and his habit of calling people “old sport” is hard to place. One of his guests, Owl Eyes, is surprised to find that his books are real and not just empty covers designed to create the appearance of a great library. The tone of Nick’s narration suggests that many of the inhabitants of East Egg and West Egg use an outward show of opulence to cover up their inner corruption and moral decay, but Gatsby seems to use his opulence to mask something entirely different and perhaps more profound. From this chapter forward, the mystery of Jay Gatsby becomes the motivating question of the book, and the unraveling of Gatsby’s character becomes one of its central mechanisms. One early clue to Gatsby’s character in this chapter is his mysterious conversation with Jordan Baker. Though Nick does not know what Gatsby says to her, the fact that Jordan now knows something “remarkable” about Gatsby means that a part of the solution to the enigma of Gatsby is now loose among Nick’s circle of acquaintances.

Read more about the importance of Owl Eyes in the novel.

Chapter 3 also focuses on the gap between perception and reality. At the party, as he looks through Gatsby’s books, Owl Eyes states that Gatsby has captured the effect of theater, a kind of mingling of honesty and dishonesty that characterizes Gatsby’s approach to this dimension of his life. The party itself is a kind of elaborate theatrical presentation, and Owl Eyes suggests that Gatsby’s whole life is merely a show, believing that even his books might not be real. The novel’s title itself—The Great Gatsby—is suggestive of the sort of vaudeville billing for a performer or magician like “The Great Houdini,” subtly emphasizing the theatrical and perhaps illusory quality of Gatsby’s life.

Nick’s description of his life in New York likewise calls attention to the difference between substance and appearance, as it emphasizes both the colorful allure of the city and its dangerous lack of balance: he says that the city has an “adventurous feel,” but he also calls it “racy,” a word with negative moral connotations. Nick feels similarly conflicted about Jordan. He realizes that she is dishonest, selfish, and cynical, but he is attracted to her vitality nevertheless. Their budding relationship emphasizes the extent to which Nick becomes acclimated to life in the East, abandoning his Midwestern values and concerns in order to take advantage of the excitement of his new surroundings.

Read more about the hollowness of the upper class as a theme.