Gatsby's parties are a bit gaudy and very crowded, full of vain and selfish people who only seem interested in having a good time, even if that good time includes gossiping about the very man who hosts the party. The fact that no one bothers to get to know their host, or to try to even meet him, tells us just how little they care for others. At Nick's first Gatsby party, he describes the...
Gatsby's parties are a bit gaudy and very crowded, full of vain and selfish people who only seem interested in having a good time, even if that good time includes gossiping about the very man who hosts the party. The fact that no one bothers to get to know their host, or to try to even meet him, tells us just how little they care for others. At Nick's first Gatsby party, he describes the "old men pushing young girls backward in eternal graceless circles, superior couples holding each other tortuously, fashionably," even young women, drunk, dancing crazily and trying to play instruments with the orchestra. Further, the "hilarity" only seems to continue to increase the more intoxicated everyone becomes. People do "'stunts'" in the garden and laugh hysterically and without control, while giant glasses of champagne are continually passed around. No one really seems to have control over themselves, except Gatsby, who does not drink. And Nick's choice of words—pushing, graceless, superior, tortuously—do not have positive connotations. The sense we get is that the parties are manic and almost savage. This is, perhaps, why Daisy fails to enjoy the party at Gatsby's that she attends later in the novel; to her more refined sensibilities, his parties feel gauche.
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