Summary Of Chapter 5 Of The Great Gatsby

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During the 1920’s, America was full of gilded appearances; glittering on the surface but decaying underneath. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, written in 1925, The Great Gatsby, is a paramount example of fabricated presentations. This is especially evident through the character that the novel receives its namesake: Mr. Jay Gatsby. According to an English critical scholarly article ‘the key feature of the narrative structure of Gatsby is the fragmentary, sporadic, and sometimes non-chronological way in which it releases information (and misinformation) about its title character’. This is evident throughout the glimpses of information in the chapters leading up to chapter five.
Jay Gatsby is portrayed as an exuberant in all sense of the word: …show more content…

Intoxicated partygoer’s utter rumours: tales of German spies, murders, and war. Yet, until chapter five nothing concrete emerges about Jay Gatsby’s past. Chapter five is a tale of revelations regarding his past and friendships – possible idealisations, specifically in the charter of Dan Cody. Gatsby’s brief, yet solemn, description of who Dan Cody was, is as follows: ‘‘He’s dead now. He used to be my best friend years ago’’. This first snippet of Gatsby’s past is realised in a mundane way; as if he would have told anyone who could possibly be listening. However, due to the sporadic way information about Gatsby is released, the readers know that this is not true. Simultaneously stimulating his nerves and yet calming them with her soft murmuring: Gatsby’s calm demeanour whilst releasing personal information is possibly due to the influence Daisy has over …show more content…

However, when Gatsby meets with Daisy for the first time in almost five years, he transforms in a crippling way. Nick, upon finding Gatsby hidden outside in the rain storm, describes him as ‘pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes’. The descriptions of Gatsby begin to truly reveal his inner persona and personality: Fitzgerald even beings to describe his heart as ‘ghostly’, whereas previously it has connotations of warmth and kindness. This change in Gatsby, whilst perhaps not inevitable, is unexpected due to the way he is previously described within ‘The Great

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