Instead of rambling, this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the countryside—East Egg condescending to West Egg and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gaiety.
Chapter 3 · Narrator
Context
Nick describes the East Egg contingent at Gatsby's party—Jordan's group—who maintain a separate, more restrained gathering as a form of social distinction.
Analysis
The word 'condescending' operates literally (coming down from a higher social position) and figuratively (showing patronizing superiority). 'Spectroscopic gaiety' is a brilliant metaphor suggesting that West Egg's joy, like light through a prism, is dazzlingly varied but ultimately insubstantial. The East Egg group's self-appointed role as 'staid nobility' reveals old money's need to define itself against new money's vitality—their restraint is itself a performance of class superiority.
How to Use in Essay
Essential for essays on the East Egg/West Egg divide, the novel's treatment of social class, or how old money maintains its sense of superiority over new wealth.