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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Gatsby</strong> Chapter Five<br />
TASK 46<br />
A pivotal chapter – nearly halfway through the book, <strong>Gatsby</strong> and Daisy<br />
actually come face to face! By now we are more familiar with <strong>Gatsby</strong><br />
though there are still contradictions about him, enough to intrigue us<br />
even if, after having met his sinister associate, we cannot find him<br />
exactly likeable. In this chapter, he appears at his most sympathetic<br />
and we come closer than we do perhaps anywhere else in the book to<br />
sharing his doomed vision and wanting his cause to prosper.<br />
Make notes on the way Nick seems to become complicit in <strong>Gatsby</strong>’s<br />
plans.<br />
Preoccupied with his date with Jordan, Nick comes home to discover<br />
<strong>Gatsby</strong>’s mansion ‘lit from tower to cellar’. Is there another party ‘with<br />
all the house thrown open to the game’? But no, <strong>Gatsby</strong> has been<br />
inspecting the house, doubtless with Daisy’s eyes in mind. He is<br />
restless and tries to persuade Nick to do something with him to divert<br />
him but Nick is exhausted. However, sensing <strong>Gatsby</strong>’s ‘suppressed<br />
eagerness’, he does reassure him that he will make the appointment<br />
with Daisy. <strong>Gatsby</strong> professes an incongruous indifference, speaking<br />
‘carelessly’ and reiterating that he does not ‘want to put [Nick] to any<br />
trouble’, only ‘with reluctance’ impressing on Nick that his lawn needs<br />
some attention. <strong>The</strong>re is a curious politeness here, which sits oddly<br />
www.wessexpublications.co.uk - 45 -<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Gatsby</strong> – Chapter Five
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