Transcript The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby
Chapter 5
 Chapter
5 takes place on the day
following Nick's revelations about Gatsby
and Daisy's previous involvement.
The Lights Are On…
 When
Nick returns home from his date in
the city with Jordan Baker, Gatsby's
house is ablaze with lights from tower to
cellar, but there is no party and no sound.
 “As my taxi groaned away I saw Gatsby
walking toward me across his lawn.”
 “Your place looks like the World's Fair,”
I said.
Gatsby is anxious
Gatsby
invites Nick for a swim… but
there is clearly something else on his
mind
Nick realises that he is waiting to
hear about Daisy
“I'm going to call up Daisy tomorrow and invite her over here to
tea.”
Nick Invites Daisy
Nick calls Daisy, and, without
mentioning Gatsby, invites her
over for tea under the condition
that she doesn't bring Tom.
 I called up Daisy from the
office next morning, and
invited her to come to tea.
“Don't bring Tom,” I warned her.
“What?”
“Don't bring Tom.”
“Who is 'Tom'?” she asked
innocently.

Preparing for Daisy
 On
the morning of Daisy's
visit, scheduled for 4:00 p.m.,
it is pouring rain, but a
gardener, sent by Gatsby, still
comes and cuts Nick's grass.
 At 2:00 p.m., a virtual
greenhouse of flowers,
complete with containers,
arrives from Gatsby.
Gatsby Waits
 At
3:00 p.m., Gatsby,
looking nervous and
tired, arrives, dressed in
a white flannel suit,
silver shirt, and gold tie.
 He tries unsuccessfully
to calm his nerves by
reading.
Daisy Arrives
 Under
the dripping bare
lilac-trees a large open car
was coming up the drive.
 It stopped. Daisy's face,
tipped sideways beneath a
three-cornered lavender
hat, looked out at me with
a bright ecstatic smile.
Where is Gatsby?
 When
Daisy and Nick enter the
house, Gatsby has disappeared.
 She turned her head as there was
a light dignified knocking at the
front door.
 I went out and opened it. Gatsby,
pale as death, with his hands
plunged like weights in his coat
pockets, was standing in a puddle
of water glaring tragically into
my eyes.
Awkward Moments
Nick
leaves them alone for a little
while.
Gatsby is reclining against the mantel
in a “strained counterfeit of perfect
ease or boredom...and his distraught
eyes stared down at Daisy, who was
sitting frightened but gracefully on
the edge of a stiff chair.”
Daisy
says that she has not seen
Gatsby for many years
Gatsby immediately adds that it has
been five years next November,
betraying his devotion to Daisy.
Fortunately, the
awkward moment is
broken with the
Finnish housekeeper
bringing in the tea.
“This is a terrible mistake”
 Gatsby
is nervous, and so is Daisy
 Gatsby tries to leave, but Nick
convinces him to stay
 Nick leaves them alone again
 When Nick rejoins the pair in the
living room, Daisy is wiping her
eyes, which are filled with tears
 Gatsby, on the other hand, is
glowing.
“I want you and Daisy to come over to my
house”
Gatsby
gives Nick
and Daisy a tour of
his home
dressing-rooms
poolrooms
bathrooms
Gatsby and Light
 Page
52: “blazing with light”
 Find more quotes associating Gatsby with
light
 “an ecstatic patron of recurrent light”
 “the house glowed full of light”
 Metaphor
 Makes him seem like a mythical figure,
who can bring light and happiness.
 Nick is hero worshipping him
The Green Light
 The
green light represents Gatsby’s aspirations
 Gatsby associates Daisy with the green light
 It is distant and full of hope.
 It is one way in which he has idealised the
thought of her- distant and perfect
 Analyse “seemed as close as a star to the
moon”
 The reality of Daisy cannot possibly live up to
the illusion: Now it was again a green light on
a dock. His count of enchanted objects had
diminished by one.
Loneliness
Despite
his wealth Gatsby seems
lonely:
It was strange to reach the marble
steps and find no stir of bright
dresses…and hear no sound…
Gatsby’s Bedroom
 His
bedroom was the simplest room of all except where the dresser was garnished with a
toilet set of pure dull gold.
Wardrobe
He
took out a pile of
shirts and began
throwing them, one by
one, before us
While we admired he
brought more and the
soft rich heap
mounted higher
Daisy Reacts
Words are not sufficient for
either Gatsby or Daisy to
express their feelings:
 Suddenly, Daisy bent her head
into the shirts and began to
cry.
 “They're such beautiful shirts,”
she sobbed, her voice muffled
in the thick folds.

Gatsby in Love
 Gatsby
seems to be stunned by Daisy’s
presence:
 “stared around…in a dazed way”
 He regresses into an awkward teenager
when he sees Daisy again.
 “he nearly toppled down a flight of
stairs”
 “…he was consumed with wonder”
Outside
After
the house, we
were to see the grounds
and the
swimming-pool
and the hydroplane
and the mid-summer
flowers
We'll have Klipspringer play the piano
 Klipspringer
is known
as “the boarder”
because he is always
at Gatsby’s parties
and seems to live at
the mansion
Nick Leaves
 They
had forgotten me,
but Daisy glanced up and
held out her hand
 Gatsby didn't know me
now at all.
 I looked once more at
them and they looked
back at me, remotely,
possessed by intense life
The end of the chapter
 Even
that afternoon when Daisy tumbled
short of his dreams…because of the
colossal vitality of his illusion.
 There is foreshadowing of the tragedy to
come:
 His ghostly heart.