Summary and Analysis Chapter 5
Resume
When Nick returns home to West Egg that night, he finds Gatsby's house lit up from head to toe with no party in sight, and Gatsby goes to see him. Nick assures Gatsby that he will call Daisy the next day and ask her out for tea. Gatsby, knowing that Nick doesn't make a lot of money, offers to see that he "makes a good amount of money". Nick, however, refuses.
The next day, Nick calls Daisy and extends his invitation with the stipulation "Don't bring Tom". She accepts the invitation, agreeing to one day. The agreed day arrives and Gatsby, wanting everything to be perfect, sends a man to mow Nick's lawn and then sends flowers to him. Arriving an hour before Daisy, Gatsby is nervous and, for the first time in the novel, a little unsure of himself. At the agreed time, Daisy arrives. Nick takes Daisy into the house and discovers that Gatsby has disappeared, only to reappear at the front door, pale and tragic. Gatsby goes into the living room and joins Daisy. The meeting is initially stilted and artificially polite, making the three people somewhat uncomfortable, but amidst the tea preparations, a greater sense of ease comes over the group. Apologizing, Nick tries to give Gatsby and Daisy some privacy, but Gatsby, nervous as a young man, follows him. Nick sends Gatsby back to Daisy, while he himself sneaks out the back and wanders around the house for half an hour.
Upon his return, Nick discovers that Gatsby has completely changed. You've gone from the embarrassment of your initial appearance to boundless delight, radiating a new sense of well-being. Daisy also reflects "unexpected joy" in his voice. At Gatsby's request, the three leave Nick's doghouse and go to Gatsby's mansion. Daisy, just as Gatsby intended, is enthralled by the magnificence of his estate. Together they go from one room to another, each decorated with taste and care to create a particular atmosphere. On the way, they meet Klipspringer, "the guest", who was busy exercising like he didn't have a care in the world. At the house, Gatsby moves into a third phase: marveling at Daisy's presence in his home. Daisy, seeing Gatsby's array of shirts, buries her head in them crying at their beauty. Late in the afternoon, Gatsby has shown Daisy what material stability he has, but Nick suggests that Daisy may not measure up, not because of any fault on her part, but because of the magnitude of Gatsby's dream. built in the last five years. At the end of the episode, Nick walks away, leaving Gatsby and Daisy alone.
Analyze
Chapter 5 presents the crux of the matter: Gatsby's dream of Daisy. Through Nick, Gatsby comes face-to-face with the realization of a dream he has relentlessly pursued for the last five years of his life. Everything he did was, in some way, tied to his search for Daisy. In a way, Daisy and Gatsby's meeting marks the climax of the book: the dream comes true. What happens after a dream is realized? Unlike other novels where the characters work to overcome adversity only to see their dreams come true at the end of the book and live happily ever after (or so the implication goes), Gatsby finds his dream realized early on, hinting to astute readers that this will happen. not be possible. It won't be your typical rags-to-riches story. The second half of the book describes what happens when you pursue and fulfill your dream. The ending doesn't have to be "happily ever after".
The chapter begins with Nick returning home, only to find Gatsby's house "lit from tower to basement", with no party in sight, just Gatsby "looking into some of the rooms". In an attempt to assuage Gatsby's apparent uneasiness, Nick tells him that he will call Daisy and invite her to tea. Gatsby, still trying to look cool, casually remarks "Oh, that's fine." Nick, who now knows a lot more about how Gatsby works (and the fact that he has spent the last five years of his life chasing a dream), insists on setting Gatsby up on a date. Gatsby, trying to show his appreciation, suggests that he put Nick in touch with some of his business contacts to "raise a good amount of money" on the side. Of course, Gatsby is referring to his underworld connections, but what's perhaps most striking about Gatsby's gesture is the seeming tactlessness of it all. Despite his great wealth, his generosity takes on curious and non-traditional forms that show how far he really is from the "old money" world he wants to enter.
On the day appointed for the visit, Gatsby arrives an hour early, giving us our first glimpse of his vulnerability. Wanting to make sure every detail of their meeting is perfect (which means it lives up to his dream), Gatsby has Nick's lawn cut and "a hothouse" of flowers delivered to him before Daisy arrives. Gatsby dresses for the event in a "white flannel suit, silver shirt, gold tie". Your clothes, as well as your parties, your house and your car, are a clear reminder of your newfound wealth. It's as if he wants to make sure Daisy doesn't miss the fact that she now has something that previously eluded her: money.
When Gatsby arrives, for the first time he shows his vulnerability and uncertainty. So far, he's been cool in every situation, but when he's faced with the biggest challenge he's faced in years, his brooding, shy temper is almost embarrassing: the usually elegant man stutters in fright, not unlike a child. 🇧🇷 For the first time, Jay Gatsby looks unsure.
At one point, in his nervousness, he knocks a broken clock off the mantelpiece, catching it just before it hits the floor. The symbolic nature of this act cannot be overlooked. While on one level it's just another embarrassing incident caused by Gatsby's nervousness, it goes further. The fact that the clock is stopped is significant. In a way, the clock stopped at a specific point in time, stopped there forever, just as Gatsby's life, in many ways, stopped when he realized that although he was poor, he could never have money. for Daisy. Gatsby is, in essence, trapped by his dreams of ideal love with Daisy, just as the clock is stopped at the exact moment it stopped ticking. Following this analysis to its final conclusion, one has to wonder whether Fitzgerald isn't also trying to say that Gatsby's dream stunted his growth in some respects (specifically emotionally); you've been so busy chasing a dream instead of enjoying reality that, like the clock, you're frozen in time.
As the afternoon progresses, Jay and Daisy become more comfortable in each other's presence. After apologizing, allowing Daisy and Gatsby to be alone, Nick returns to find a glowing Gatsby; "Without a word or gesture of joy, a new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room." Daisy also seems equally moved by the reunion and (unsurprisingly) her voice, "full of a painful, sad beauty" betrays her happiness at the reunion. As Gatsby approaches the height of his comfort, he suggests that the group retire to his home.
As the three people make their way upstairs and through Gatsby's mansion, Gatsby revels in the impact his belongings make on Daisy. In essence, they accomplished what he intended: to impress her. Indeed, Gatsby is capable of "[revaluing] everything in his house according to the measure of the response he has gotten from his beloved eyes". Notice this image during chapter 9 when it is reversed when Gatsby's father re-evaluates his son based on the beauty and amount of his worldly possessions. In another of the book's memorable images, Gatsby pulls out a pile of T-shirts and throws them in the air. The shirts keep coming and Gatsby keeps throwing them away. Shirts of all colors, styles and textures are scattered around the room in an obvious demonstration of their wealth. How can a man who isn't rich afford to have such a wide variety of shirts? The impact of the T-shirts is not lost on Daisy, who always appreciates a great show of materialism. Indeed, the excess and bounty of Gatsby's shirts makes her put her face in them and cry, sad that "I never saw shirts so beautiful before." Although it is a seemingly absurd claim, it is actually a good indication of its true nature. She's not crying over lost love; instead, she is weeping at the open display of wealth before her.
When the trio tries to go down to the boardwalk, the rain stops them, giving Gatsby the chance to make a revealing statement. He informs Daisy, who clearly has no idea, that her house is across the strait from where they are. He then goes on to inform him, "You always have a green light that goes on all night at the end of your dock." Gatsby's admission of this secret did not go unnoticed by either Nick or Gatsby himself (according to Nick). Daisy, however, remains oblivious to its meaning. She fails to understand that, in telling Gatsby this, he has shared one of his most sacred rituals. Before that day, the green light (representing many things: hope, youth, forward momentum, money) represented a dream for him, and achieving it brought him closer to his love. Now that she was standing over him, her arm in his, the light would no longer have the same meaning. His dream, the goal towards which he modeled most of his adult life, must now change.
Gatsby and Daisy are, as evidenced in this chapter, generally a good match. Gatsby's dreamlike nature nicely complements Daisy's ethereal qualities. Gatsby, the collector of "haunted objects", as Nick puts it, seems to be the perfect match for the otherworldly Daisy, who relies solely on emotional responses. As if trapped in Gatsby's dream vision, Daisy calls him to the window to look out at the "pink and gold wave of foamy clouds", telling Gatsby that "you wish you had one of those pink clouds and put it on and push it around." it".
At the end of the chapter, Nick, the trusted voice of reason, offers an astute reading of the entire situation. He interprets an expression on Gatsby's face to indicate that he might not be happy about the whole thing. What occurs to Nick, and perhaps to Gatsby, is that once a dream is fulfilled, life must still go on. How does one go about reordering one's life after giving life to an invention, a fantasy? For Gatsby, who has spent the last five years dreaming of Daisy, it is questionable whether during those five years he was in love with Daisy, or with theideadaisy. His relentless pursuit of her dream has given him ample opportunity to build scenarios in his head and imagine her not necessarily as she is, but as he perceives her. As Gatsby gazes into Daisy's eyes and listens to her enchanting voice, he falls more and more in love with the vision she evokes before him. When the chapter ends, Daisy and Gatsby are so lost in each other that Nick ceases to exist for them. In response, Nick silently withdraws, leaving the lovers alone.
Glossary
kantEmmanuel Kant (1724-1804); German philosopher.