Gatsby's Party — The Great Gatsby

Gatsby's parties run like a private amusement park through the summer nights: crates of oranges fed into a kitchen machine that can juice two hundred fruits an hour, an orchestra in the blue gardens, a Rolls-Royce turned into an omnibus for weekend runs to the city, and guests who were never invited but simply showed up like moths among the champagne and whisperings. Caterers erect canvas and coloured lights until the garden looks like a Christmas tree, then vanish Monday with the pulpless lemon halves. Nick is one of the few who receives a formal note from Gatsby's chauffeur. Dressed in white flannels he wanders the lawn ill at ease, attaches himself to Jordan Baker, and listens to rumors that Gatsby killed a man or spied for Germany while Lucille brags that Gatsby replaced her torn gown after a previous party.

Jordan drags him through the spectacle to find the host. In the Gothic library they meet Owl Eyes, drunk and marveling that the books are real but uncut, proof that Gatsby's props go all the way down. Back outside Nick finally talks to the man he came to find: a stranger who turns out to be Gatsby himself, awkwardly admitting he is a bad host. They discover they served in the same infantry division in France. Gatsby's smile makes Nick feel specially understood, then vanishes into formality when servants interrupt with calls from Chicago and Philadelphia. Jordan is summoned for a private hour in the library that Nick never learns about that night.

After midnight the party curdles: a weeping singer, married couples fighting, wives dragged out kicking. Nick finds Jordan and Gatsby emerging from the library looking oddly formal, as if the secret talk has changed the temperature of the room. He never learns what Gatsby asked her to do in that hour. Outside, Owl Eyes drives a car into a ditch and insists he was not even trying to drive while another man climbs out asking for a gas station. Nick cuts across the lawn and looks back at Gatsby standing alone on the porch, hand raised in farewell, while emptiness seems to flow from the glowing windows and the crowd has already moved on to the next spectacle.

Nick then steps back and admits the party was only one crowded event in a summer mostly spent working at the Probity Trust, dining at the Yale Club, and drifting through New York at twilight. He takes up with Jordan again, learns she cheated at golf and lied about leaving a car out in the rain, and listens to her say it takes two to make an accident while calling herself careful. Nick decides he is one of the few honest people he has ever known, a verdict he delivers just after showing how easily he forgives her dishonesty and how quickly spectacle replaces real scrutiny.