CHAPTER 5:
Overview:
- The turning point of the novel where the former lovers meet.
- Nick and Gatsby arrange a date to invite Daisy for tea. Nick tells her not to bring Tom.
- The reunion between Gatsby and Daisy is awkward and uncomfortable so Nick leaves the room. After a brief tour of
the mansion Nick leaves Daisy and Gatsby alone together.
Imagery of light throughout the chapter:
At the beginning Gatsby’s house is ‘blazing with light’. Nick describes the scene in a dramatic tone, reflecting his fear
that his house was ‘on fire’. In contrast, Gatsby’s response is casual and distracted: ‘I have been glancing into some
of the rooms’. Gatsby is preoccupied with the idea of finally proving his worth to Daisy.
The chapter ends with another image of electrical lighting: ‘All the lights were going on in West Egg now’.
In the central part of this chapter, the two lovers provide a different sort of light – Gatsby ‘literally glowed’ and the
room fills with ‘twinkle-bells of sunshine’. The contrast between electrical and natural lighting emphasises the lovers’
joy and gentle innocence at this point in the novel.
Nick describes Gatsby, glowing after his conversation with Daisy, as ‘an ecstatic patron of recurrent light’. This is
poetic language, rich with meaning. It makes Gatsby seem an extraordinary figure, with an almost god-like capacity
to dispense light or restore sunshine after the rain. Earlier, on a more mundane level, we have witnessed Gatsby’s
extravagant use of electric lighting in his house and at his parties.
We might choose to read the blazing lights of Gatsby’s house as an image of his blazing love for Daisy. Or it mat be
seen as a form of display, using electricity as he uses his cars and clothes in the hope of attracting Daisy’s attention
and drawing her to him. Note that, later in this chapter. In sunshine following a spell of rain, Gatsby remarks to Nick:
‘My house looks well, doesn’t it?’ ‘See how the whole front of it catches the light?’.
Fitzgerald also uses pathetic fallacy to suggest that their reunion will not have a happy fate – it’s married by ‘pouring
rain’ and a ‘damp mist’. It only rains twice in the novel – now and Gatsby’s funeral.
Nick returning home:
Nick returns to West Egg at 2 in the morning. Gatsby is waiting to know whether Nick will invite Daisy to visit. He
tries to appear nonchalant. As if to reinforce the message that his dream is not pure, the house seems to be winking
conspiratorially as he tries to persuade Nick to act as a go-between.
Fitzgerald questions Nick’s morality:
The chapter begins with a conversation between Nick and Gatsby, and Gatsby makes Nick a business proposition.
Nick turns down the proposition, which he seems to suspect is illegal, but his main reason for doing so is that he
feels Gatsby is trying to pay him for a ‘service to be rendered’. Nick seems to care less that the business is probably
illegal than that Gatsby is only offering it to him out of a sense of duty.
Nick is a moral character – The two men are positioned at the boundary of their gardens, where Gatsby’s neatly
mown ‘expanse’ of grass meets Nick’s ‘ragged lawn’. The pristine appearance of Gatsby’s garden symbolises the way
his glossy lifestyle covers up the less respectable ‘little business on the side’. Nick’s unkempt garden suggests that he
is less concerned with appearances and is a more honest character.
However, Nick’s sense of morality is not consistent. In Chapter 1 Nick explains that his tolerance has a limit, but in
this chapter, it’s suggested that his morality also has a limit. Nick’s feelings of disgust for the hedonistic behaviour of
the East have been overcome by his fascination with it.
Nick is morally corrupt – In Chapter 2 he witnesses Tom and Myrtle’s affair even though he claims he doesn’t want
to. In Chapter 5, Nick helps Gatsby arrange a private meeting with Daisy, which makes him complicit in their affair.
Overview:
- The turning point of the novel where the former lovers meet.
- Nick and Gatsby arrange a date to invite Daisy for tea. Nick tells her not to bring Tom.
- The reunion between Gatsby and Daisy is awkward and uncomfortable so Nick leaves the room. After a brief tour of
the mansion Nick leaves Daisy and Gatsby alone together.
Imagery of light throughout the chapter:
At the beginning Gatsby’s house is ‘blazing with light’. Nick describes the scene in a dramatic tone, reflecting his fear
that his house was ‘on fire’. In contrast, Gatsby’s response is casual and distracted: ‘I have been glancing into some
of the rooms’. Gatsby is preoccupied with the idea of finally proving his worth to Daisy.
The chapter ends with another image of electrical lighting: ‘All the lights were going on in West Egg now’.
In the central part of this chapter, the two lovers provide a different sort of light – Gatsby ‘literally glowed’ and the
room fills with ‘twinkle-bells of sunshine’. The contrast between electrical and natural lighting emphasises the lovers’
joy and gentle innocence at this point in the novel.
Nick describes Gatsby, glowing after his conversation with Daisy, as ‘an ecstatic patron of recurrent light’. This is
poetic language, rich with meaning. It makes Gatsby seem an extraordinary figure, with an almost god-like capacity
to dispense light or restore sunshine after the rain. Earlier, on a more mundane level, we have witnessed Gatsby’s
extravagant use of electric lighting in his house and at his parties.
We might choose to read the blazing lights of Gatsby’s house as an image of his blazing love for Daisy. Or it mat be
seen as a form of display, using electricity as he uses his cars and clothes in the hope of attracting Daisy’s attention
and drawing her to him. Note that, later in this chapter. In sunshine following a spell of rain, Gatsby remarks to Nick:
‘My house looks well, doesn’t it?’ ‘See how the whole front of it catches the light?’.
Fitzgerald also uses pathetic fallacy to suggest that their reunion will not have a happy fate – it’s married by ‘pouring
rain’ and a ‘damp mist’. It only rains twice in the novel – now and Gatsby’s funeral.
Nick returning home:
Nick returns to West Egg at 2 in the morning. Gatsby is waiting to know whether Nick will invite Daisy to visit. He
tries to appear nonchalant. As if to reinforce the message that his dream is not pure, the house seems to be winking
conspiratorially as he tries to persuade Nick to act as a go-between.
Fitzgerald questions Nick’s morality:
The chapter begins with a conversation between Nick and Gatsby, and Gatsby makes Nick a business proposition.
Nick turns down the proposition, which he seems to suspect is illegal, but his main reason for doing so is that he
feels Gatsby is trying to pay him for a ‘service to be rendered’. Nick seems to care less that the business is probably
illegal than that Gatsby is only offering it to him out of a sense of duty.
Nick is a moral character – The two men are positioned at the boundary of their gardens, where Gatsby’s neatly
mown ‘expanse’ of grass meets Nick’s ‘ragged lawn’. The pristine appearance of Gatsby’s garden symbolises the way
his glossy lifestyle covers up the less respectable ‘little business on the side’. Nick’s unkempt garden suggests that he
is less concerned with appearances and is a more honest character.
However, Nick’s sense of morality is not consistent. In Chapter 1 Nick explains that his tolerance has a limit, but in
this chapter, it’s suggested that his morality also has a limit. Nick’s feelings of disgust for the hedonistic behaviour of
the East have been overcome by his fascination with it.
Nick is morally corrupt – In Chapter 2 he witnesses Tom and Myrtle’s affair even though he claims he doesn’t want
to. In Chapter 5, Nick helps Gatsby arrange a private meeting with Daisy, which makes him complicit in their affair.
