F. Scott Fitzgerald
This part of the story, which revolves around Nick's first Gatsby Party, a sort of allegory forms. Specifically, alcohol and cars, two of the most stereotypical icons of the decade, bear Fitzgerald's critiques on his society.
What's a party without alcohol? Nick Caraway would probably answer that question with the word "sane". In fact, alcohol seems to symbolize an abandon of reason and logic. A famous singer in attendance "had drunk a quantity of champagne, and during the course of her song she had decided, ineptly, that everything was very, very sad- she was not only singing, she was weeping too" (Fitzgerald, 51). Tying in with the theme of distortion, alcohol, most likely drunk to fit in, skews perceptions. In the case of the singer, a song that should have been uplifting and entertaining, had a tragic representation: all because of alcohol. The only people who retained a logical view of things were those who refrained from becoming drunk: Nick, Gatsby, and Jordan. Alcohol's role as a symbol of abandon of reason suggests that any future heartache will be partly due to skewed perspectives.
Luckily for my permanent record, I am not out of ideas, professor (he's always the professor).
The alcohol symbolism spills over into another symbolism: cars.
Shut up! That was good imagery!
While alcohol symbolizes an abandon of reason, automobiles symbolize the direction of life, which, as everyone in our enlightened times knows, is very susceptible to the abandon of reason caused by alcohol. As Gatsby's party ends, the drunken guests attempt to drive away. Unsurprisingly, one of the cars ends up without a wheel, and the driver has no idea why the car stopped. This gala of stupidity signifies the common outcome when people embrace this lifestyle of non sequiturs instead of observing from the sidelines like Nick: ending up with your life in a ditch and having no idea how it got there.
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