The Great Gatsby
Chapter 5
After returning from the city, Nick sees Gatsby’s house all lit up. This image furthers the mood that Gatsby’s mansion is
like a carnival. This makes us consider that, like a carnival, Gatsby or Gatsby’s money may not be stable, may not be real,
may be here today but gone tomorrow. Gatsby seems nervous, and asks if Nick would like to take a swim in his pool. Nick
realises that Gatsby's is trying to convince him to set up the meeting with Daisy. Nick tells Gatsby he'll do it. Gatsby then
offers Nick the chance to join a "confidential," probably illegal, business venture. Nick is offended at Gatsby trying to buy
him off, but continues to discuss with Gatsby the plans for how and when to arrange the meeting with Daisy.
Gatsby is nervous about Daisy’s visit, he is desperate to impress her. When he arrives at Nick’s house: ‘He was pale, and
there were dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes’.
Once reunited with Daisy, the change in Gatsby is visible: ‘He literally glowed’. Nick leaves them alone for a little while,
standing outside under a tree in the rain, and notices how radiant Gatsby appears to be on his return to the house.
Alone with Nick, Gatsby discloses that the money he bought his mansion with was made in just three years. This conflicts
with the version of events he gave Nick previously, that he inherited his money. His story doesn’t seem to add up even
though he explains he lost a lot of his inherited money during the war years and has been in business since it ended: ‘I was
in the drug business and then I was in the oil business …’.
Gatsby then gives them a guided tour of his house, displaying his possessions, especially his expensive, imported clothes.
Daisy is overwhelmed by his ‘beautiful shirts’. In reality, she is crying because she realises she could have had both love
and money in marriage. Perhaps she is overwhelmed at the thoughts of a dream she now cannot attain. We realise that
she is not fully yearning for the lost years she could have shared with Gatsby but is in fact sobbing over the lost wealth
and fortune she could have shared with him. Ultimately, she wants wealth and the stability and comfort that it provides.
Nick considers the nature of Gatsby’s desire for Daisy and remarks on the intensity of their relationship. Discussing the
impact that Daisy has made upon Gatsby during their reunion, Nick comments: ‘After his embarrassment and his
unreasoning joy he was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right
through to the end …’. However, there are hints in this chapter that Gatsby’s obsession is too much and Daisy won’t be
able to live up to the dream he has: ‘there must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his
dreams – not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion’. Often one dreams and builds up an
illusion but when the dream comes to fruition, it is often less than was hoped for. This is true for Gatsby. This statement
also reflects the sentiments of Americans as the elusive American Dream also fell far short for many people. The trajectory
of Gatsby's dream is such that the object of that dream – Daisy – falls short. This is part of Gatsby's tragedy – pursuing a
dream that he, himself, has made unattainable.
The dialogue between Daisy and Gatsby is kept to a minimum, even though we imagine they have a lot of catching up to
do. Their feelings for one another are communicated through their actions and through what remains unsaid. Words are
inadequate to express what Gatsby feels for Daisy. Unable to say what they really feel, Gatsby falls silent and then talks of
other things and Daisy cries. When Nick says that Gatsby at one point nearly falls down the stairs, he is showing a man
intoxicated with love. Gatsby is compared to ‘an overwound clock’.
Gatsby’s mansion is not a home but an extravagant prop in his dramatic representation of his love and desire. He has
designed it for Daisy Buchanan. The ‘boarder’, Ewing Klipspringer, plays the piano for Gatsby and Daisy. He is another
‘prop’ – there does not seem to be any sign of real friendship between him and Gatsby.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WEATHER
At 4pm, when Daisy arrives, the rain has ‘cooled to a damp mist’. The connections of ‘cool’ and ‘damp’ to Daisy’s character
are clear from the previous chapter, where we learned that her feelings for Gatsby faded as his letter became a damp pulp,
when she held it in her hand in the bath prior to her wedding to Tom.
At the height of Gatsby’s discomfort – when Nick finds the tensions too unbearable to remain indoors – it is again
‘pouring’.
When Nick returns, Daisy and Gatsby have happily reacquainted. Significantly, ‘the sun shone again’, there are ‘twinkle
bells of sunshine in the room’ and Gatsby is again ‘an ecstatic patron of recurring light’.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GREEN LIGHT
Nick makes particular reference to the light at the end of Daisy's dock, the ‘colossal significance’, of which, ‘has now
vanished forever’. For Gatsby, that light had been a tantalising, spiritual beacon to light his way to Daisy, now that he is
within his grasp, it has reverted back to the ordinary.