The Great Gatsby Chapter 5 Analysis

Chapter five of Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby focusses on the afternoon tea in which Jay Gatsby is to reconnect with Daisy Buchanan as planned in chapter four. The chapter begins with Nick coming home to West Egg seeing his neighborhood in “ablaze” and leading him to fear his home had caught on fire (Fitzgerald 86). It turns out the “fire” was simply Gatsby’s monstrous mansion illuminating light which highlights the actual multitude that is the Gatsby estate. As the chapter progresses, the day comes where Daisy arrives at Nick’s humble abode and ultimately meets Gatsby sparking an immediate reconnection between the two lovers (90-91). Later, Gatsby invites Daisy and Nick to venture to his home next door where he woos Mrs. Buchanan by showing her all the immaculate aspects of his now life such as his
In my opinion, the book should have been named The Great Symbolism because literally every single page is seems has something symbolic imbedded in the palace of paragraphs. Chapter five follows suit with the symbols by the means of Gatsby’s clothes and the incident with Gatsby knocking over the clock in Nick’s house. At the afternoon tea, Gatsby is cited wearing a “white flannel suit (flannel in the summer; really?), silver shirt, and gold colored tie” (89). This ensemble symbolizes Gatsby as a person in that while yes is extravagantly wealthy and can afford colors such as silver and gold but also he is trying to portray a pure and innocent image to Gatsby as reflected through the white suit as most people parallel white with purity. Upon arriving at Nick’s home, Gatsby is extremely nervous and his nervousness causes him to knock over a clock located on the mantle (91). I believe the clock literally symbolizes time in that Gatsby and Daisy have been apart for five years and Gatsby is pushing aside time to reconnect with his lost love disregarding the damages he must