Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Chapter 3 - The big Party (Tones (Irony / sarcasm and criticism (towards…
Chapter 3 -
The big Party
Important characters
Mr Gatsby
Beginning: he is described as mysterious (no one knows him and the rumours about his past are great in quantity) and generous (everyone used his cars, boats).
Has great significance in the chapter since the party takes place at his house, and it's there that Nick meets Gatsby for the first time. It is here where Jordan and him talk to arrange a future meeting between Daisy and Gatsby at Nick's house.
Jordan Baker
Frequently goes to Gatsby's parties and is the only person that Nick knows in the party. They mingle together and she introduces new faces to Nick. As the party goes on, they hear a lot of rumours about the host, Gatsby. After the party, during the summer, she and Nick started going out more.
She is important in the chapter because she is a main character in the story and it is in this chapter that Nick describes and gets more attached to her. During the summer Nick discovered that she is "incurably dishonest", since apparently she cheated in one of her golf tournaments.
Nick Carraway
Goes to Gatsby's party, and allows the reader to have an insight of what is happening, the magnitude and the extravaganza of Gatsby's parties (common in the 1920s). He describes everything that he finds strange and gives an impression of what Gatsby is really like (not the rumours).
Themes
Historical references
Reference to Joe Frisco, American vaudeville performer
"Moving her hands like Frisco"
Reference to Gilda Gray, actress and dancer, and to the Ziegfeld Follies, Broadway show in which she performed
"Erroneous news goes around that she is Gilda Gray's understudy from the Follies"
Reference to David Belasco, Broadway theatre producer
"This fella's a true Belasco."
Post-World War I scenario
"He was a German spy during the war"
"Weren't you in the First Division during the war?"
Social and cultural aspects
Extravaganza and luxury of the New York elite in the 20s
Employees at wealthy households, and their behaviour/posture
"A chauffeur in a uniform of robin's-egg blue crossed by lawn early that Saturday morning with a formal note from his employer"
"A butler hurried toward him with the information that Chicago was calling him on the wire."
Lifestyle in the
Roaring Twenties
"I was on my way to get roaring drunk"
"I never care what I do, so I always have a good time."
Social status determined by place of residence
"Assumed itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the countryside - East Egg condescending to West Egg"
Narrator
Biased recollection of facts that prevent the reader from knowing everything that is happening and how Gatsby really is.
First person narrator: Nick Carraway
Metalanguage
- the narrator reflects upon his writing
"Reading over what I have written so far, I see I have given the impression that the events of three nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me."
Metaphores
- used to enrich and embellish the descriptions of persons, scenarios and actions; use of comparisons and the figurative meaning (rather than literal meaning) of words and phrases.
Effect on the reader
: increases interest, as literary piece becomes more sophisticated, and makes it easier for the reader to picture what is written.
"Came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars"
"Pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold"
"The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun"
Metonymy
- used to emphasise a part of something rather than the thing itself.
Effect on the reader
: might perceive the brand of a good as being more important than the actual thing (device used by the author to reaffirm Gatsby's wealth) or directs its focus to the part mentioned disregarding the actual thing (actions are more important than who performs them).
"On weekends his Rolls Royce became an omnibus"
"The opera of voices pitches a key higher"
Main aim of the chapter
: use thorough descriptions to construct our images of the scenery and the characters
Description
The importance and magnitude of the party is only known by the large and specific details, such as the quantity of people and alcohol in the party, how they were behaving , the colours they were wearing.
Made according to Nick's point of view, portraits his admiration for the party, especially since its his first time attending one.
Thoughts
Appear in between the descriptions, mixed with his opinions, and are often only evident through his description of somehting
Change the perspective of the reader in relation to some aspects such as Jordan Baker, which in Nick's view is not an honest person, portraying her with an air of negativity.
Language
Polysyndetons
- used to emphasise each term in a list/enumeration of actions/things or to highlight the amount of terms included in a list. Often used in the chapter to reaffirm Gatsby's extravaganza or to smoothen the passage between one action and another in a series of actions (improve the flow of the story).
"A whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos, and low and high drums"
"The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher."
"I was sure that they were selling something: bonds or insurance or automobiles."
Verb tenses
- past tenses appear in the significant majority of the chapter. This tense is used for descriptions of the context and routine, introductions of a new aspect that will be described in the following parts of the chapter, and in the actual storytelling. Present tenses were used in the beginning of the chapter as a mean of exemplifying a common occurrence before and at Gatsby's parties.
"Sometimes they came and went without even knowing Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission"
"Most of the time I worked."
"The bar is in full swing"
Adverbs and adjectives
- appear very frequently in the chapter. The author uses these to enhance its descriptions by for instance, increasing its accuracy.
"Denied so vehemently any knowledge of his whereabouts"
"I was on my way from getting roaring drunk from sheer embarrassment"
Tones
Irony / sarcasm and criticism
(towards Gatsby's lifestyle or the behaviour and actions of his guests)
"Introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other's names."
"I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited"
"Most of the remaining women were now having fights with men said to be their husbands."
Passive-agressiveness
"Wasn't it for you, Lucille?"
"Whenever he sees I'm having a good time he wants to go home."
"You're lucky it was just a wheel."
Mystery / uncertainty
"Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once."
Command / advice
"Don't mention it. Don't give it another thought, old sport."
"Don't forget we're going up in the hydroplane tomorrow morning, at nine o'clock."
Hyperboles
- exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. Usually used appear in dialogues when the character is being overly dramatic.
"I've been drunk for about a week now."
"We're always the first ones to leave."
Symbolisms
- use of a word of phrase that have a deeper meaning or that represent something. Through these, the author constructs symbols that assist the reader's interpretation of certain facts or of the narrator's point of view.
Gastby's understanding smile
- the symbol of Gatsby's smile as he just became acquainted with Nick represented for the latter that Gatsby understood him and saw the best in him. The smile represented Gatsby's approval of Nick.
Antithesis
- contrasting words or phrases used in different parts of a sentence/argument to enhance the meaning of each part of the sentence, as they become more evident after a clear opposing term has been mentioned.
"And I like large parties. They are so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy."