Summary and Analysis Chapter 5
Summary
When Nick returns to West Egg that night, he finds Gatsby's house lit up from top to bottom with no party in sight, and Gatsby walks up to him. Nick assures Gatsby that he will call Daisy the next day and invite her to tea. Gatsby, knowing that Nick doesn't make much money, offers to make sure that he "makes good money". However, Nick refuses.
The next day, Nick calls Daisy and hands over his invitation on the condition that she "don't bring Tom." She accepts the invitation and arranges a meeting. The appointed day arrives and Gatsby, wanting everything to be perfect, sends a man to mow Nick's lawn, then orders flowers to be delivered. Arriving an hour before Daisy, Gatsby is nervous and, for the first time in the novel, a little unsure. Daisy arrives at the agreed time. Nick leads Daisy inside and finds that Gatsby is gone, only to reappear at the front door looking pale and tragic. Gatsby heads to the living room and joins Daisy. The meeting is stilted and unusually polite at first, making the three people feel a little awkward, but halfway through the preparation of the tea, the group is overwhelmed with a greater sense of ease. Nick apologizes and tries to give Gatsby and Daisy some privacy, but Gatsby, nervous as a boy, follows him outside. Nick sends Gatsby back to Daisy while he sneaks out the back himself and wanders the house for half an hour.
When Nick returns, he finds Gatsby completely changed. He went from the discomfort of his first appearance to boundless joy, emanating a new sense of well-being. Daisy also radiates an "unexpected joy" in her voice. At Gatsby's request, the three move out of Nick's country house onto Gatsby's estate. Just as Gatsby intended, Daisy is in awe of the splendor of her mansion. Together they wander from room to room, each decorated with taste and care to create a special atmosphere. Along the way, they meet Klipspringer, the "pensioner", who is busy exercising like he doesn't care. Inside the house, Gatsby enters a third phase: marveling at Daisy's presence in his home. Seeing Gatsby's choice of shirts, Daisy buries her head and weeps at her beauty. Late in the afternoon, Gatsby shows Daisy all the material stability he has, but Nick hints that maybe Daisy isn't up to the task, not because of any shortcoming on her part, but because of the size of the dream Gatsby has been building. . . in the last five years. At the end of the episode, Nick leaves, leaving Gatsby and Daisy alone.
Analyze
Chapter 5 presents the crux of the matter: Gatsby's dream about Daisy. Through Nick, Gatsby is faced with the realization of a dream that he has relentlessly pursued for the last five years of his life. Everything he did was somehow related to his search for Daisy. In a way, Daisy and Gatsby's meeting marks the climax of the book: the dream come true. What happens after a dream comes true? Unlike other novels where the characters work to overcome adversity only to achieve their dreams at the end of the book and live happily ever after (or so it is implied), Gatsby made his dream come true from the beginning, which suggests to the discerning readers that this is what will happen. Be the case. This was not supposed to be your typical rags-to-riches story. The second half of the book describes what happens when you pursue your dream and achieve it. The ending doesn't have to be "happily ever after."
The episode begins with Nick returning home to find Gatsby's house "lit from tower to cellar" with no party in sight, just Gatsby "taking a look at some of the rooms". In an attempt to assuage Gatsby's apparent unease, Nick tells him that he will call Daisy and invite her to tea. Gatsby, still trying to keep his cool, casually comments, "Oh, that's cool." Nick, who now knows much more about how Gatsby works (and who 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 Nick find some of his business contacts to "raise a lot of extra money". Of course, Gatsby is referring to his underworld connections, but what is perhaps so surprising about Gatsby's gesture is the apparent tactlessness of it all. Despite his great wealth, his generosity takes on strange and unconventional forms that show how far removed he really is from the world of "old money" he hopes to enter.
On the day of the arranged visit, Gatsby arrives an hour early and shows us his vulnerability for the first time. To make sure every detail of his date is perfect (which means it's his dream), Gatsby has Nicks mow the lawn and deliver "a greenhouse" of flowers before Daisy arrives. Gatsby wears a "white flannel suit, silver shirt, gold tie" to the event. Your clothes, as well as your parties, your house and your car are an obvious reminder of your new wealth. It's like he wants to make sure Daisy doesn't miss out on the fact that she now has the one thing she's missed before: money.
When Gatsby arrives, he shows his vulnerability and insecurity for the first time. Up to this point, he's been in control in all situations, but when faced with the biggest challenge he's faced in years, his angry, confident demeanor is almost embarrassing: the usually good-looking man wavers in fear, not unlike children. . For the first time, Jay Gatsby seems insecure.
Once, in her nervousness, she knocks a broken clock off the mantelpiece, catching it just before it hits the floor. The symbolic nature of this action cannot be overlooked. While on one level it's just another freak incident caused by Gatsby's nervousness, it goes beyond that. The fact that the clock is stopped is significant. In a sense, the clock stopped at a certain point and got stuck there forever, just like Gatsby's life in many ways ended when he realized that, even though he was poor, he could never have Daisy. Gatsby is essentially stuck in his ideal love dreams with Daisy, just as the clock is stuck at the precise moment it stopped ticking. Taking this analysis to its final conclusion, one has to wonder if Fitzgerald isn't also trying to say that somehow (particularly emotionally) Gatsby's dream stunted his growth; He was so busy chasing a dream instead of enjoying reality that he was frozen in time like clockwork.
As the afternoon progresses, Jay and Daisy grow more comfortable with each other. After apologizing and giving Daisy and Gatsby a chance to be alone, Nick returns to find a beaming Gatsby; "Without a word or gesture of elation, a new sense of well-being radiated from him and filled the small room." Daisy also seems equally moved by the meeting, and (unsurprisingly) her voice, "full of pain, sad beauty", betrays her joy at the meeting. As Gatsby approaches the peak of his well-being, he suggests postponing the party at his house.
As the three people walk through Gatsby's mansion, Gatsby delights in the effect his belongings have on Daisy. You basically got what you intended: you're impressing them. In fact, Gatsby is able to "value everything in his house to the extent of the reaction it has aroused in his beloved eyes." Remember this image in Chapter 9, when it is reversed when Gatsby's father re-evaluates his daughter based on beauty and the number of his worldly possessions. In another memorable image from the book, Gatsby picks up a stack of T-shirts and tosses them into the air. T-shirts keep coming and Gatsby keeps dropping them. Shirts of all colors, styles, and textures are scattered around the room, visibly showing off its wealth. How can a man who is not rich afford such a variety of shirts? The impact of the T-shirts is not lost on Daisy, who always appreciates a great display of materialism. In fact, the excess and abundance of Gatsby's shirts makes her want to stick her face in them and cry, sad that she "never saw such-so beautiful shirts." While it's a seemingly nonsensical statement, it's actually a pretty good indication of her true nature. She's not crying over lost love; instead, he weeps at the blatant display of wealth he sees before her.
As the trio try to walk towards the water, they are stopped by the rain, giving Gatsby the opportunity to make a revealing statement. He informs Daisy, who obviously has no idea, that her house is across the strait from where they are. He then proceeds to inform them, "At the end of your dock, they always have a green light that stays on all night." Gatsby's admission of this secret does not escape Nick or Gatsby himself (according to Nick). However, Daisy is unaware of its importance. She can't understand that by telling her this, Gatsby has shared in one of his most sacred rituals. Before that day, the green light (which represented many things: hope, youth, urgency, money) was a dream for him, and by achieving it, he grew closer to his love. Now that she was at his side, his arm in his, the light would not have the same meaning. His dream, the goal he has focused on for most of his adult life, must now change.
As shown in this chapter, Gatsby and Daisy often make a good couple. Gatsby's dreamlike nature beautifully complements Daisy's ethereal qualities. Gatsby, the collector of "haunted objects," as Nick puts it, seems like the perfect match for the supernatural Daisy, who thrives entirely on emotional response. As if caught in Gatsby's dream vision, Daisy calls him to the window to look at the "pink and gold wave of frothy clouds" and tells Gatsby that she "would like to take one of those pink clouds and climb into it." ." ."
At the end of the chapter, Nick, the trusted voice of reason, offers a wise reading of the whole situation. He interprets an expression on Gatsby's face to mean that he might be unhappy with the whole thing. What comes to mind for Nick, and perhaps Gatsby as well, is that once a dream is fulfilled, life must go on. How do you reorganize your life after giving life to an invention, a fantasy? For Gatsby, who has spent the last five years dreaming of Daisy, one wonders whether or not he has been in love with Daisy for the last five years.Ideaof daisies His tireless search for his dream has given him ample opportunities to build scenarios in his head, imagining them not necessarily as they are but as he perceives them. As Gatsby looks into Daisy's eyes and listens to her enchanting voice, he falls more and more in love with the vision she has evoked before him. By the end of the episode, Daisy and Gatsby are so absorbed in each other that Nick no longer exists for them. In response, Nick quietly withdraws, leaving the lovers alone.
glossary
kantEmmanuel Kant (1724-1804); German philosopher.