Jay Gatsby’s elaborate mansion in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby symbolizes the theme that the upper class is permanently afflicted with emotional emptiness. Fitzgerald uses the mansion’s exterior, interior, and atmosphere to reflect how the upper class expresses their importance, their obsession with material wealth, and their empty and unsatisfied feelings. The beginning of Nick, Jordan, Daisy, and Tom’s interactions with Gatsby results from his impressive mansion and the parties that occur there. It is a pivotal location in the novel as it is the scene of parties, the place of most of Gatsby and Daisy’s meetings, and the location of Gatsby’s death. When Nick first comes to West Egg, he calls Gatsby’s mansion a “colossal affair by …show more content…
One night after a party, the mansion reveals a feeling of emptiness, a stark contrast to the chaotic, energetic mood of the parties. “A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host who stood on the porch” (Fitzgerald, 55). Just as the mansion feels empty despite being full of lavish decoration and copious servants, the people of the upper class feel empty even though their lives are filled with material wealth and many acquaintances. The mansion symbolizes the theme of the chronic, emotional emptiness of the upper class. The rich exhibit no depth in any of the relationships they make. Hundreds repeatedly attend Gatsby’s parties, yet only one person comes to Gatsby’s funeral showing the superficiality of their relationship with Gatsby. Every relationship the people of the upper class make is only to benefit themselves. When faced with problems in a relationship, they run from them. Nick sees this in Tom and Daisy after Gatsby’s death and remarks, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money” (Fitzgerald,