The Great Gatsby - Francis Scott Fitzgerald

The great Gatsby is an american novel written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald during the jazz age in 1925,the period wa caracterized by excessive partying,excessive materialism. The genre of this novel is the modernism because the construction of the novel is experimental and revolutionary.

Gatsby is an iconic character, indeed he embodies the American Dream the began his life poor and obscures and became rich and famous.

The text sutied in class is an extract from the chapter 3. The texte evokes mainly the preparation for one of Gatsby's famous parties. The scene is related by the intra-diegetic narrator, Nick Carraway, Gatsby's neighbour, who receives a formal invitation to a party.

Nick describes how was reparated the damnages of the party and he says « eight servants » « gardener » was present to « repairing the ravages of the night before » this sentence reveal so much that the parties during the jazz age were incredible and

Fitzgerald in this extract shed light on the extravagance of the parties in this period, for example the fact that Gatsby posseses a « machine in the kitchen which could extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour », this shows how the people consumed during the parties. And it's a way to show his fortune to Gatsby.

Moreover the enumeration of the food on the buffet is a proof of the colossal average to succeed the party and betrays the enormous quantity of money for the food this is testify to the Gatsby success in his profesional life, he's a proof to the American dream success and the perfect iconic character who wants that people see is money (L20/23).

(L53/54) Nick Carraway says he thinks is one of the rare people to be really invited this sentence illustrate the social hipocrisy of the jazz age beacuse people who doesn't know Gatsby were going in his house for the party only to profit of the alcohol of the buffet …

(L64) « little party » is an ironic device because the party was enormous, Fitzgerald Mocks the bourgeois class at this period which organized « little parties » in fact is the contrary.

To conclude The Great Gatsby is a really criticm of the bourgeois during the jazz age who wants to show her money with big parties, a lot of alcohol …