The Great Gatsby reading journal: Chapter 3

Chapter 3; In which Nick attends one of Gatsby's parties and meets and talks to the man himself for the first time.

Reader's thoughts: The image that sticks with me from this chapter is that of the "five crates of oranges and lemons" arriving from New York and leaving as a pyramid of pulpless halves from Gatsby's house. Could this somehow sum up the chapter, with New Yorkers arriving as normal people, but leaving as drunkards/less than normal?

Images that stick in the mind:

• Gatsby's mansion being like a magnet, attracting the crowd at his parties
• The crowd at the party blurred together anyone in the crowd could easily be replaced by anyone else.
• Gatsby's understanding smile. A "rare" smile with a "quality of eternal reassurance in it". You "might come across four or five times in a lifetime".
• The drunkard "Owl eyes" being in the library to sober up being amazed by the books being real and convinced that if they were to be removed, the entire room would collapse. Could this be reflecting Jay Gatsby's character? If one part that made him were to be removed the whole act would collapse!
• The crowd actually being just parts of the scenery, like one of the pieces of machinery that Fitzgerald seems so fascinated by.

Sounds that stick in the mind:

• The background noise of crickets that you apparently get at night in America.
• Forced laughter of the party attenders.
• Jazz music being played by a full Orchestra.
• Silents after the party, possibly with the same "unquiet darkness that there was a the end of the first chapter.

Colours that stick in the mind:

• Gatsby's Chauffeur's uniform is "robin's egg blue". Could this have something to do with blue having the connotation of being trustworthy?
• Two women who talk to Jordan at the party are wearing yellow. Could this be because yellow represents optimism and energy, showing us that the crowd are enjoying themselves?
• The people attending the party have "blue gardens". This is because, like the phrase "blue blood", these people think that they are like royalty. 

Miscellaneous points:

• The crowd are superficial "introductions were instantly forgotten" and three crowd members called "Mr Mumble" being evidence of this.
• The crowd contrast with Gatsby. Gatsby is very intimate with his rare smile and his term of endearment "old sport" whereas the crowd moves around, talking to everybody and, indeed, anybody, forgetting introductions on the spot and getting more and more drunk.
• People at the party are very much characters played by themselves. Nobody seems to have a definite personality.
• Gatsby does not enjoy his own parties
• Nick is trying to create his own world like Gatsby. Gatsby has characters at his parties wile Nick goes to New York to see "attractive women" and imagine entering their lives. He doesn't know himself and he is definitely not the "well-rounded man" he aspires to be. Although he does consider the consequences of his actions before he does anything, unlike the other main characters.

Something to remember:

• The main theme for this chapter, and every other chapter for that matter, is that all of the main characters are outsiders even in their own home. Nick observes people but rarely talks to them and Gatsby invites people to his parties but does not himself participate in them.