CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES

CHAPTER V

Summary

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. At 3:00 p.m., Gatsby, looking nervous and tired, arrives, dressed in a white flannel suite, silver shirt, and gold tie. He tries unsuccessfully to calm his nerves by reading.

Finally, at a little before four o'clock, he announces that obviously no one is coming to tea, and he is going home. Before he can depart, Daisy's open car comes up the drive, and Nick goes out to greet her with her "bright ecstatic smile." She asks Nick in her rippling voice, "Is this absolutely where you live, my dearest one?" She is obviously amazed at the size and appearance of the small bungalow. When Daisy and Nick enter the house, Gatsby has disappeared. He soon, however, knocks at the front door, and Nick finds him outside "pale as death with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets and standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes." Gatsby comes inside to the living room, and Daisy, in a clear, artificial voice, tells him how glad she is to see him again. Nick can barely hear her voice above the pounding of his own heart. He wants this meeting at his house to be a success, so he leaves the two of them alone for awhile.

When Nick re-enters the living room, 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 explains to Nick that she has not seen Gatsby for many years, and 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. In the confusion of cups and cakes, Gatsby gets up, stands away in a shadow, and surveys the scene with tense, unhappy eyes. When Nick goes out to the kitchen, Gatsby follows and moans, "Oh, God! This is a terrible mistake." Nick tries to comfort his neighbor by telling him that Daisy is as embarrassed as he is. Nick then scolds Gatsby, saying he is acting like a little boy and being rude by leaving Daisy all alone. When Gatsby returns to the living room, Nick goes outside to the back yard, observes his neighbor's house for thirty minutes, and gives the history of the mansion.

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 with a new well-being. He insists that both Nick and Daisy come over to his house. While the men wait for Daisy to freshen up, Gatsby admires his house and tells Nick that it took him three years to earn the money to buy it. When Nick questions his neighbor about having inherited money to purchase the house, Gatsby covers up once again and says that he lost his inheritance in the big panic of the war. When Nick questions him further about what kind of business he is in, Gatsby, without thinking, says, " That's my affair," and then, realizing his rudeness, adds he has dabbled in the oil business and the drug business.

Daisy emerges from Nick's house to join them on the lawn and exclaims that she loves Gatsby's huge house, but does not see how he could possibly live there all alone. He responds by telling her that he keeps it filled with interesting and celebrated people both night and day. The three of them then enter the mansion through the front door with the gold kiss-me-nots at the gate. Inside, the trio wanders through the music rooms, the salons, and the library (where Nick recalls the owl-eyed visitor). Upstairs they visit the bedroom, poolrooms, and dressing rooms, finding Mr. Klipspringer, the "boarder," in one of them. Finally they come to Gatsby's own apartment, which is the simplest room in the whole house except for the solid gold toilet set. Nick, Gatsby, and Daisy sit down and have a drink.

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