The Great Gatsby Chapter 5 Journal

George Angelopoulos 4˚

1. The Great Gatsby: Chapter 5, Pg. 81-96

2. After arriving home from a date with Jordan, Nick gets bombarded by Gatsby, who tries everything to convince Nick to set up the date with Daisy. Nick effortlessly agrees, and invites Daisy over for tee. It is raining when Daisy arrives, and Gatsby enters to meet her. At first their meeting is not successful, but after a while they warm up, and have a great time. Gatsby invites Daisy and Nick back to his mansion to admire his various possessions, and instructs Klipspringer to play a song on the piano, when Nick decides to give leave, and give them some privacy.

3.             a. Daisy Buchanan

            b. “The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain. I had to follow the sound of it for a moment, up and down, with my ear alone, before any words came through. A damp streak of hair lay like a dash of blue paint across her cheek, and her hand was wet with glistening drops as I took it to help her from the car.” (85)

            c. Daisy is a person of great beauty and desire. Her presence brings everyone to her. Despite her outward appearance and happiness, she is sad inside. She has a whole left by the absence of love. Her husband, Tom, doesn’t care for her, and she doesn’t really care for him either. Her life has been dominated by a lie, the lie of her marriage, happiness, and love. She has tried to fill this hole with material objects and “friends” for her social status, but it doesn’t seem to work. This emptiness drives her to re-kindle the relationship with Gatsby.

            d. Daisy is the object of desire and passion for Gatsby. Daisy has dominated Gatsby’s life for the past couple of years, and has dictated his every action, including moving to his current mansion. Gatsby holds Daisy on a high pedestal, so high, that she may not be able to fulfill his desires. His original love for her has developed into a love for the idea of her. Gatsby has let his imagination fill in the blanks, which is really just setting himself up for disappointment. Daisy has become corrupt by Tom, and his life style. She didn’t become truly emotional with Gatsby until she saw all of his processions. This corruption, this disappointment will remind Gatsby of the reality of life, and hopefully ground him to the real world, instead of this wild goose chase for love.

4. “Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry.” (88) The American Dream has always been one of passion and desire. This challenge to achieve one’s dreams is a key factor for all characters in this novel. Tom tries to achieve the most wealth, Daisy tries to find love, Gatsby wants to have Daisy, and Nick tries to find himself. These individual pursuits dictate the actions and decisions of every character. Like Fitzgerald says, we are willing to sacrifice, but we are never willing to give up our dreams. This sentiment is why Gatsby bought a mansion across the bay. Gatsby invites Daisy over to restart their relationship because he will never give up. This passion to chase one’s dream is not only a key theme in this chapter and novel, but in America itself. This quote stood out for me because it so beautifully summarized the American Dream. The dream is not always achieved, but constantly fought for, just as Gatsby never gave up on Daisy, we must never give up on our dreams.