- Position‹5 of 5
- The Great Gatsby is about social class
- Argument1 of 2›
Jay Gatsby's parties symbolize the shallowness of the upper class in The Great Gatsby
Gatsby's parties were the hub for upper-class society. He throws huge weekly parties with many upper-class attendees, but has next-to-no friends; no one knows anything about him or how he came by his money and he does not seem inclined to share this information with anyone. It shows the shallowness of the upper-class and the fact that they are obsessed with wealth.
The argument
Readers who take The Great Gatsby to be a novel about social class point first to the parties. Jay Gatsby's gatherings are decadent and expensive — alcohol, live music, dancing — and they function as the centre of upper-class nightlife rather than as private hospitality. On this reading the parties are not incidental colour but the novel's chief instrument for examining class, because they are the mechanism by which Gatsby converts money into standing. Throwing them is what makes him part of the elite class and what supplies him with powerful business connections; the extravagance is also the entry fee. The argument turns on who comes and why. People travel from all over New York City to Gatsby's house, drawn by rumours of how extravagant the parties are, and many of those who arrive are already wealthy members of the elite. That pattern matters to proponents of this reading because it shows attendance is not friendship. Guests are pulled by reputation rather than by any relationship with the host, which is why the parties can be crowded and still be empty: they assemble a class, not a community. From there the symbolic point follows. The sheer quantity of money and effort poured into a single night is offered as a measure of how excessive and outrageous the upper class can be — expenditure whose purpose is to be seen. The characters, on this view, are constantly using such occasions to flaunt their social status and wealth, so the parties dramatise a world in which display substitutes for substance. If Gatsby's parties symbolize the shallowness of the upper class, then what the novel is doing through them is anatomising class itself: how it is bought, performed, and recognised. That is why proponents read social class as the book's governing theme.
Context
At the end of the novel when Gatsby dies, there are exactly two people at his funeral, his father and Nick Carraway. This shows the shallowness that Fitzgerald found in people and how Gatsby was admired for his wealth and how almost no one actually cared about him. Also, the appearance of commodities, including clothing, cars and luxury goods show the rich lifestyle of the upper-class. This presents the idea that Gatsby was tolerated by the upper class because they enjoyed his parties, but that he was never fully accepted by them. Gatsby's parties are the hub of the upper-class, presenting the luxury lifestyle as well as the miniature of the shallowness of the upper-class.<ref=social/>
Premises
Counter-arguments
Gatsby's parties were only beneficial for entertainment, and not a place to establish wealth or class. Nick Carraway states multiple times how drunk and disorderly the guests were being. It is well-known that Gatsby is a bootlegger, so many attended parties for an opportunity to drink during prohibition. They served as a place for people to be themselves without the judgement of society.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] Gatsby's parties were a place for people to drink alcohol. [Rejecting P3] Only Gatbsy is excessive with his wealth.