.
But, apparently, Gatsby doesn't quite succeed in his acting. His poor acting tells mockingly that he is in effect not what he is playing. Gatsby the poor player is crystallized when he tries to clarify all the wild speculation about him to Nick. Nick inquires him about which part of the Midwest he is from. Gatsby's answer is San Francisco. Brief as it is, the answer lays bare not only Gatsby's poor geographical knowledge, but also his futile effort to attach to himself the polish of being a member of the highbrow. .
Ironically, Gatsby himself is so blinded by his creative passion that he fails to recognize the awkwardness of his playing. In order to approach his imaginary heroine, he needs to find himself an agent, or a confidence man that is indispensable in the accomplishment of the hero's end in a play. Nick, cousin of Daisy, comes into his sight. In order to win Nick over, Gatsby lavishes both his money and his creativity to produce a series of orgy-like parties so that he can invite Nick over and impart to him his purpose. However, Gatsby's creativity comes prematurely to its crest at this stage, when he can "dispense starlight to casual moths"(83). Everything at the party, either the general circumstance or food, seems unreal. One finds buffet table glistening with every conceivable food which is bewitched into a color of dark gold. Gatsby cannot only bewitch the food, he can bewilder the people just as well. People talk in an "unnaturally loud"(47) voice. They pick up cocktails that "float (to them) through the twilight"(47) or "out of the air"(45). The whole party is a mixture of "sea-change of faces and voices and color under the constantly changing lights"(45). In such a dreamlike atmosphere, people like the owl-eyed man even become suspicious of the authenticity of what they find at the party. .
The extravagance of the play marks the height of Gatsby's manipulation over the evolution of his play.
