Great Gatsby: Weddings and Social Occasions

Ruby DeFelice 11/14/12 Pd. 2 Mr Brennan Lavish parties are abundant all throughout the novel The Great Gatsby. Luxurious bashes thrown by Jay Gatsby attract the “foul dust” of East and West egg like moths to a lamp. Those in attendance at Gatsby’s parties tend to be the elite scum of the earth caring for no one and nothing except their own personal social reputations. Two occasions are particularly relevant to the development of the novel; the consistently present soirees and Gatsby’s funeral together illuminate the realities of the attendees values, develop the readers empathy towards Gatsby, and help uncover a deeper moral.

Hundreds of wealthy fools show up at Gatsby’s mansion prepared for a fun filled night of drinking and inebriated antics. Night after night people come to Gatsby’s, their generous host, trash his house, drink his alcohol and have a grand old time. One would think Gatsby is a well liked man with many friends and loved ones, at least thats what his popular parties allude. Yet no one in attendance seems to know who Gatsby really is at all. Guests in Gatsby’s house, not even knowing who the man is, twitter rumors about him all night never really knowing the truth, never really caring to know.

Gatsby’s life is full of people who use him, in other words his life is empty, a fact we don’t fully understand the severity of until his funeral. At Gatsby’s funeral we discover how alone he really was. Of all of the guests floating in and out of Gatsby’s parties, taking advantage of his hospitality, only one cares to show up at his funeral. Even Daisy the woman Gatsby had created his illusionary life for is to self absorbed to make an appearance.

The lack of company at Gatsby’s funeral infer the carelessness and self absorption of the elite East and West egg citizens. One man even has the audacity to call Nick, our protagonist, a day before Gatsby’s funeral looking for his tennis shoes! Of course he cant make it to the funeral of his once generous host because of prior picnic plans! The sad truth of Gatsby’s lonesomeness and the leeches that took advantage of him finalize their appearance during his funeral and cause the reader to succumb to a strong empathetic attitude toward the late Jay Gatsby.

Through Gatsby’s parties and his funeral emerges a deeper meaning of human hope. Gatsby believed in the green light of the future, the light that although you may never reach will always be there beckoning to you. Gatsby is alone from the start and in the end dies alone, even the one person he cares most about, his “green light”, doesn’t seem to care enough to show at his funeral. Gatsby’s dream fails, but even the terribly sad and lonely life he led couldn’t stop him from trying to reach his dream until the bitter end.