Troy High Presents DJay Gatsby

If you're the least bit cool, you went to Snow Glow this weekend. Similar to Gatsby's exuberant parties, the dance attracts large flocks of social butterflies ready to mingle and have a good time. The characters in The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, upon a closer look, highly resemble personalities you may have noticed if you decided to be cool for a weekend and attend the school gathering.

Gatsby is the DJ who plays just barely tolerable music that nobody has ever heard of (no offense to DJ Ryan Richards). Although he initiates the party, he lacks the information about his guests to match the music to the atmosphere. In the novel, Gatsby is the mysterious observer who stays to the side of the room. Secluding himself as a DJ does behind a computer and detaching himself from the world as DJ's do beneath oversized pairs of headphones, Jay Gatsby might as well be called DJay.

Daisy is the girl who gets asked by five different guys even though Snow Glow isn't a "date dance".  She's that desirable to the male population, receiving ten candy grams and sharing them with her classmates not because she truly wants to be generous, but so she can flaunt her admirers to the world.

Nick is a teacher with a flashlight, an observer of all the chaos, involuntarily thrown amid the mess of undeveloped relationships and confused, love-stuck teenagers who don't know how to express their feelings for each other through the artform of dancing.

Widely known throughout the school as "Haughty Taughty Tom", one can find Tom Buchanan in the dead center of the floor, dancing with any and every girl he can get his hands on. Surrounding himself with numerous options, he need not be worried about never having a dance partner.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Owl Eyes is the freshman who is astonished that when they said "Snow Glow", they really meant it. He would marvel at the black lights and the plethora of glowing white teeth. Too distracted to dance, Owl Eyes steps back, tilts his head slightly to the right, mouth parted, staring at the wondrous neon rainbows flying across the gymnasium walls like shooting stars.

If you're the least bit cool, you not only went to Snow Glow, but you observed these dance-room personalities as well.