Preview

How Does Fitzgerald Tell the Story in Chapter 5 of 'the Great Gatsby'?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
919 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Does Fitzgerald Tell the Story in Chapter 5 of 'the Great Gatsby'?
Nick Carraway is the primary voice in chapter 5 of Fitzgerald’s 20th century tragedy. This means that all opinions and points of view are portrayed through Carraway’s first person, retrospective and fallible narration. Carraway is presented as fallible in this chapter, as the gaps in the narrative reveals Nick as a fallible narrator. He states that ‘I don’t know whether or not Gatsby went to Coney island’ yet he speculates what Wilson is thinking at the end of Chapter 8 exposing his narration to be fallible as it shows that a lot of the narrative could be speculative and therefore unreliable. Nick also speculates at the end of the chapter, ‘there must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams’, however due to the sense desperation that starts to oose out of Gatsby as he states with ‘automatic quality’ that he and Daisy had been apart for ‘5 months next November’, we know this to be untrue proving Carraway’s speculation to be liable.
The voice of daisy is presented as beautiful and almost lyrical, which of course juxtaposes her dark and unfaithful personality. Her personality is fully revealed in chapter 5 as she denounces her husband – ‘who is tom’. This parallels her quote ‘Gatsby? What Gatsby?’ in chapter 1 showing that she doesn’t care about either; tom presents security for Daisy, and Gatsby is an affair to get revenge for Tom and Myrtle. Daisy is represented as a Siren throughout the Great Gatsby as ‘her voice was a wild tonic in the rain’, silencing nature. Her mythical presence in the novel draws Gatsby in, mainly through the use of the green light ‘that burns all night’. Gatsby is described as ‘absorbed in’ the green light, showing his obsession, and the fact that Daisy is slowly drawing him in. Gatsby of course replies with the ‘world’s fair’, and his ‘such beautiful shirts’ and other clothes. The fact that Gatsby wears a gold tie, reminiscent of wealth and an actual gold bar, against a white flannel suit (so the gold

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    One of the ways in which Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 1 is through the characterisation aspect of narrative, using symbolism in order to better exenterate character features. One of the ways Fitzgerald uses characterisation is through description of character appearance, as seen with the description of Daisy whom wears a white dress.…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Chapter 7 mirrors chapter 1 in setting and structure, of the travelling to New York and the necessity to pass through ‘The Valley of the Ashes’ symbolic of the mythological River Styx and “The Waste Land” by T.S. Elliot. Also, the many separated sections in chapter 7 are reminiscent of the structure of chapter 1, used as a key way for Fitzgerald to effectively and emotively convey the story, by framing the two chapters together. The tragic events in chapter 7; the climactic revelation of Daisy and Gatsby’s affair and Myrtle’s death; come to light. The theme of mistaken identity is crucial in chapter 7, from the first half of the chapter where the prolonged discussion of who is driving which car creates a confused flurry of who is travelling with who; vital for the confusion after Myrtle’s death. Fitzgerald continues to use various images throughout this chapter, filtered throughout structural points in order to tell the story in chapter 7 effectively.…

    • 3159 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    How does F Scott Fitzgerald tell the story in chapter two of ‘The Great Gatsby’?…

    • 1301 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In chapter 2 Tom takes Nick to meet Myrtle, his lover, in the Valley of Ashes, where her home is. They all then go to New York, to the apartment bought by Tom for Myrtle, and Myrtle organises a ‘party’, during which she argues with Tom, which ends with him punching her.…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, the narrator, Nick Carraway, introduces the character of Gatsby, and depicts him as an astounding human with a history and rumors that trail him. Throughout chapter 3, Nick goes to the party hosted by Gatsby, and a woman said “they thought he killed a man once,” the reader is able to perceive Gatsby as a circumspect man who is using his wealth to cover his true persona. Although, when Nick is formally introduced to the man but isn’t able to set him apart from the other guests present at the party, the reader’s perception of Gatsby is altered. Fitzgerald subtly described Nick Carraway as an arrogant character with a distorted sense of morality which is emphasized throughout the first chapters.…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fitzgerald made Nick Carraway the narrator of The Great Gatsby. By doing this he was able to successfully capture the essence of Gatsby, all of the other characters, and all of the events in the story from an outside view that is for the first time being experienced by Nick. This is important to the story because it helps the reader relate to Nick, the readers having never experienced a “Gatsby party” or meeting any of the characters, like Nick. Sharing first time experiences throughout the story connects readers even more to the book and narrator. Also, Fitzgerald makes Nick describe everything with lots of details, amazement, and other feelings that are true to those who experience new people and events that affect their lives. He truly persuades you into viewing everything through his eyes and opinions. In a summary of the question being asked Fitzgerald achieves a connection between the reader and Nick.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Although Nick Carraway, at times, has certain distinct attitudes towards Jay Gatsby, it becomes clear at the end of the novel that Carraway’s general attitude towards Gatsby is mixed, laden with ambiguity. Part of Nick feels sorry for Gatsby, and admires his “never-say-die” attitude. While the other side of Carraway, at certain points within the novel, disapproves of Gatsby’s position in terms of ethics, and how he tends to disregard the general code of manners. In addition, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, employs various rhetorical devices to develop Carraway’s attitude towards Gatsby, including imagery and metaphors among others.…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In chapter 3 Fitzgerald introduces us to the main character of his book, and we finally get an insight into what Gatsby is like (albeit through the eyes of Nick Carraway) during the party he throws. Even though we meet the character himself, Fitzgerald continues to entice us with rumours of Gatsby, which is significant because it shows just how artificial his entire life is – he couldn’t dispel the rumours even if he wanted to.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even though he is the narrator of the book he does not have too big of a role in the storyline. Fitzgerald chose a great way to tell the story by using Nick as an observer of the story and also taking place in it at times. Nick gives the readers a better view on the story. However, while Nick is a spectator, his role is needed. Nick begins his story with an important point; that he has no bias in the favor of Gatsby when he says, “Gatsby turned out all right at the end, and it was what preyed on Gatsby...” Later in the book he admits that he believes every man to be worthy of some virtue and that Gatsby’s is honesty. Fitzgerald starts the book by giving us Nick's thoughts on the summer that the story tells. About a half of page long explains how Nick's experience with Gatsby and Daisy has ended his curiosity in the "abortive sorrows and short winded elations of men." (Page…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fitzgerald portrays through Jay Gatsby’s illusion that building a life on a fantasy will only lead to an utter disappointment. Gatsby’s blind faith in his ability to “repeat the past” that he’s been dwelling on for “five years” that tribute to his romantic and idealistic nature and a clear indication that he just might be a completely delusional fantasist. So far in his life, everything that he's fantasizing about when he first imagining himself as Jay Gatsby has come true. But in that transformation, Gatsby now feels like he has lost a fundamental piece of himself, and “wanted to recover” from the past. Gatsby is telling Nick about his love for Daisy and how it all begins. For some time Gatsby has been in love with Daisy, and when this moment…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gastby

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gatsby says that her voice is “full of money” (-__-). For Gatsby, Daisy represents the wealth and elegance for which he has yearned all his life. It also shows that while Gatsby hesitates frequently, thinking before he speaks around these people because he was never really part of their world, Daisy, on the other hand, is free to do and say what she wishes, without worry, because she is so accustomed to living in this world. Nick realized that was the…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Scott Fitzgerald writes the narrator, Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner turned New Yorker, as Gatsby’s neighbor and the cousin of the woman Gatsby is in love with. Acting as a liaison, Nick is a witness of the two worlds in the 1920 society in which the story, The Great Gatsby, takes place. On one side, Nick is a bystander to the life and struggles of a self-made man who climbs up and up, never truly getting anywhere; on the reverse side, the lives of several people who have everything, but it is not enough or those who have little, but want more. Nick Carraway is more than just a narrator who doubles as a go-between of the worlds of the East and West Eggs; he is a witness to the unforgettable and irreparably damaging events in the lives of several people that took place in the span of six…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Great Gatsby

    • 3079 Words
    • 8 Pages

    There is a great deal of color symbolization within “The Great Gatsby,” and Daisy’s clothes are just one example of symbolically important color. In the beginning of the novel, Daisy is always dressed in white, which is a representation of her innocence and purity. Through Gatsby’s eyes, Daisy is void of any imperfections, and much like an angel, she glows white in his eyes. Fitzgerald uses this color to conceal Daisy’s corruption and selfishness that are later revealed in the book. When Daisy’s impurities are shown, her clothes change from white to a golden yellow.…

    • 3079 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In novels containing interweaving plot and varying scenes, the author's selection of point of view becomes a primary factor in its impact and effectiveness. The Great Gatsby is such a novel which demonstrates this point most evidently. While Fitzgerald's decision to view the plot through the eyes of Nick Carraway presents certain limitations, it provides the means to relate the tone and message of the novel as whole.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Presentation of Marriage

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “rush out of the house, child in arms” – melodramatic – giving the story an imaginary aspect…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays