Chapter 5

Chapter Summary Gatsby convinced Nick to host a tea party in order for Daisy and Gatsby to “coincidentally” reunite. When Gatsby arrived, his excessive nervousness showed, as did Daisy’s. Nick stepped out leaving the two alone, later coming back to inform them of the weather when he noticed Daisy had been crying and Gatsby “literally glowed.” Minutes later, Gatsby invited Daisy and Nick to tour his house. As Gatsby showed them everything he owned, Daisy realized that all of this time Gatsby had done these things for her, which made her emotional. Nick tried to leave, but they insisted he stay. After the air was light and things were going smoothly, Gatsby had Mr. Klipspringer to come play the piano for them. Eventually Gatsby and Daisy were so lost in each other, Nick was able to leave the two alone.

Syntax 1 “‘I keep it always full of interesting people, night and day. People who do interesting things. Celebrated people.’” pg 90 The use of repetition sends focus to the thing being repeated, which in this case is “people”. Repetition is used in a way that makes you think Gatsby is trying to use his guests as a step in the right direction towards impressing Daisy. It makes things seem as though there is something special about his guests, special enough to make Daisy want to become one.

Syntax 2 “He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel...shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, with monograms of Indian blue.” pg 92 By using polysyndeton, Fitzgerald shows movement. He adds to the tone of the scene by giving off a bit of excitement. Many different shirts in many different colors flying around the room makes readers believe the characters are being overwhelmed with joy.

Syntax 3 “He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way.” pg This example of a loose/cumulative sentence shows a build up of things. The sentence could have easily ended after “a creative passion,” but the author chose to keep adding to the sentence, piece by piece just as Gatsby had added more and more to his collections to try and impress Daisy. This particular sentence is structured in a way that gives readers insight into Gatsby’s life.

Diction example analysis Example: “ With enchanting murmurs Daisy admired the gardens, the sparkling odor of Jonquils and the frothy odor of hawthorn and plum blossoms and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate. It was strange to reach the marble steps and find no stir of bright dresses in and out the door, and hear no sound but bird voices in the tree.” page 90 Analysis: In this paragraph Fitzgerald gives the reader a sense of wealth by using the words “gold” and “kiss-me-at-the-gate” and “marble steps.” Daisy and the other people in this book find all this wealth very appealing. Fitzgerald tells us this by using the words “enchanting,” “sparkling,” and “bird voices.”

Chapter 5 Diction The whole book is written very formally with a lot of symbolism. In the beginning Fitzgerald uses words like “nervously,” “hurried,” “pale,” and “vacant,” to convey the anxiety that Gatsby had about Daisy coming over to Nick’s. Later on in the chapter, after Gatsby and Daisy get passed their awkwardness, Fitzgerald uses words like “twinkle,” “bells of sunshine,” and “bird voices” to convey the joy and happiness that Gatsby and Daisy are feeling. Fitzgerald also uses words (in example of the previous slide) to show that Gatsby is very wealthy and people like Daisy love wealth.

Figurative Lang. 1 pg. 81 Personification- “As my taxi groaned away” The author was giving human characteristics to a taxi. It makes the reader visualize an old car making noises and slowly moving away. It was setting a tone for this scene, it was already kind of creepy since Gatsby was in a weird and awkward mood and the taxi “groaning” added to the effect. Figurative Lang. 1

Figurative Lang. 2 & 3 pg. 88 Simile and Allusion- “Like Kant at his church steeple” The author was comparing Nick looking at Gatsby’s house to Kant looking at his church steeple. Kant, a German philosopher, developed his theories while gazing at a church steeple out his window. Nick was developing theories about Gatsby’s house, like he stated that a brewer has built.

Figurative Lang. 4 pg. 89 Imagery- “He literally glowed” When you hear the word glow you think of neon or a candle, which is what the reader would visualize. It was saying there was a change in Gatsby, he seemed to have a new happiness coming of him that seemed to fill the room.

Figurative Lang. 5 pg. 92 Simile- “ he was running down like an overwound clock.” An overwound clock you can imagine winding down quickly without a purpose. Nick was describing Gatsby as restless because he was nervous about whether Daisy’s feelings for him had changed. He seemed as though he was quickly shutting down with no longer a purpose.

Overall, Chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby was filled with many symbolic, descriptive words. It was written with a variety of sentence types that each contributed to the passage in a different way.