forget the details but he obviously didn't fit in and was sort of wandering around shocked

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3022633&forum_id=2#29010373)

the earlier party scene was meant to show the "comprehensible" face of the same wealthy elites depicted later on. cruise believed himself to be equal in measure to those people, but in fact he was merely just a medical functionary who was nowhere close to the actual workings of high society.

he was "found out" by the fact that he arrived by taxi and also that he simply did not fit in, because he was unfamiliar with the customs and manners of the community which he attempted to infiltrate.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3022633&forum_id=2#29010379)

It has to do with his overall feelings of inadequacy in general, and especially regarding sex

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3022633&forum_id=2#29010396)

I forget if he's aware of this or not, but at least for the viewer (especially the male viewer, who is more likely to identify with Cruise) it makes his whole orgy excursion seem like a riposte to Kidman dreaming about CHAD the sailor.

But he isn't a stud, he's a sham--in that sense, the orgy scene is really like a nightmare of anxiety and humiliation.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3022633&forum_id=2#29010429)

UHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3022633&forum_id=2#29010445)

that was done in two main ways - the first was the fact that even though he shelled out money for costume and taxi (something that the street bros who harassed him probably couldn't have afforded), he was revealed as a fraud at the party by the fact that he hadn't spent nearly enough.

then, when it is implied that the shopkeeper sold his dotter to those creepy asians rather than going to the cops. EVERYTHING of the shopkeeper's was available for a price, and in that sense he was merely a cheap pimp, which exposed the pathetic nature of cruise's attempt to buy himself into the world of the elites.

for all of his supposed success, he was nowhere near successful enough to be regarded as an elite, nor was he enough of a man to keep his wife from discussing her fantasies about other men. when he breaks down sobbing toward the end and confesses everything, he has basically given up on his quest to become a real man/a real success, etc.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3022633&forum_id=2#29010495)

It's about Jews as nouveau-riche interlopers who will never be considered real elites despite their crass use of money. In the novella the bros shout anti-Semitic abuse at the Bill character. And he just takes it like a snivelling beta Jew.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3022633&forum_id=2#35488296)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=86s8b7PlEW0

It's a metaphor for the earlier Xmas party he Cruise and Kidman attended but with no false pretenses of high society manners. Just the base psychology and power dynamics of the elites laid bare.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3022633&forum_id=2#29010543)