No Fear The Great Gatsby Chapter 5
Water and time references are everywhere in this chapter. Chapter 5 is also when Fitzgerald really lets his readers know
that he’s got jokes. From actual quips to awkward moments, the chapter is filled with chuckle-inducing moments.
Some amusing moments throughout the chapter:
Gatsby tells Nick he “wants to get the grass cut” before Daisy comes to see him. What he really means is that he
wants a servant to cut Nick’s grass because it’s atrocious and ragged.
Daisy, when told not to bring Tom, responds in an “innocent” manner, “Who is Tom?” Even Daisy has jokes.
Nick makes an attempt at a joke, but it seems to fall fairly flat. Good one Nick. Remembering the story from the
first chapter, where her butler got his nose all screwed up because polishing silver takes a toll on one’s sinuses, Nick asks
if the gasoline affects the driver’s nose. Daisy “innocently” responds, “I don’t think so, why?” Which means she’s either
being coy, or Nick’s joke has flown over her head.
Gatsby, in a moment of panic, goes back outside Nick’s house so that he can “stop by,” and since it’s raining out,
by the time he comes back inside he is absolutely sopping wet. Gatsby, you awkward fool! Let us all cringe and giggle at
his stupid decision.
Gatsby, who is no doubt feeling outrageously nervous, also hits his head against a clock and scrambles to catch it
and set it back up on the mantle. While this certainly has symbolic meaning as well (being literally punched in the face by
time? The one aspect of life he seems entirely obsessed with? I mean, other than Daisy), it’s fairly amusing. Poor guy. The
way they deal with the clock situation also serves to show us how painfully awkward this tea party is.
There are some other amusing moments as well, but I’ll leave that for the summary section. 
A tip of the hat to Elodie from Sparknotes for much of this summary.
We’re diving right back into the world of disaster, debauchery, and emotional suffocation that is The Great
Gatsby. Minus the disaster, actually. At the start of chapter 5, Nick thinks Gatsby’s house is on fire, but it turns out that’s
just what it looks like when Gatsby has all the lights on. Nick tells Gatsby he’ll call Daisy and get this whole thing rolling.
Here’s roughly what Gatsby says in response: "I don’t want you to go to any trouble, old sport. But can you maybe do
something about the rancid doom landscape you call a front lawn before she comes over? Maybe cut the grass? Also, it
might rain. Do you think it’ll rain? If it rains, that’ll ruin everything.”
Gatsby then tries to seduce Nick into joining his secret underground money-world, but Nick says "hell" and "no."
He thinks, however, that under "different circumstances" this proposition might have been "one of the crises of [his] life."
Either this is because the source of Gatsby’s riches is starting to sound fishier and fishier and high-horse Nick can’t
stomach the moral decay of America, or it’s because Nick was this-close to becoming partners in crime with the love of
his life. It’s one or the other.
This part is also important because it shows you the types of people Gatsby normally has to work with. Not
people who will simply do someone a favor, but someone who will do something only if it also benefits them. I think
Gatsby finds it endearing that Nick is just willing to do him a favor.
Nick invites Daisy over and tells her not to bring Tom. Daisy doesn’t question this, and instead makes her quippy
little joke about not knowing who Tom is. On the agreed upon day, Nick goes to the store to buy things like flowers,
lemons, and cups, because I guess he’s just been drinking out of his hands this whole time. Gatsby arrives wearing a white
suit and gold-colored tie. He inspects Nick’s pantry and makes sure Nick has tea. Nick neglects to tell him that he only
just recently bought cups.
Daisy is set to arrive at 4:00 PM. At precisely 3:58, Gatsby decides she’s probably not even coming and that love
is a waste in the vast chaos of an unfeeling universe. Nick tells him to sit tight, and Daisy shows up. Nick leads her
inside—only to find that Gatsby has disappeared. Nick’s baffled by this until they hear a knock at the door. It’s Gatsby.
Apparently he realized he didn’t look soggy enough for this encounter, so he panic-climbed out an open window and
Mission Impossible-d his way around the house so he could stand on the porch in the rain before making his grand
entrance. Nick says this whole thing "wasn’t a bit funny," but I disagree. I’m having a really good time right now.
Daisy and Gatsby are reunited at last, but it’s so painful that I’m going to paraphrase the entire scene to spare you.
DAISY: I certainly am awfully glad to see you again.
[EXCRUCIATINGLY LONG PAUSE.]
GATSBY: We’ve met before.
DAISY: That’s—well, yeah. That’s sort of what I meant by "again," but sure.
[Gatsby hits his head up against the clock (the universe’s reminder to not mess around with time), and struggles to set it
back up right]
DAISY: What is even happening?
NICK: Don’t worry about it. The clock was old.
DAISY: What do you mean, the clock was old? It didn’t even break. It’s fine. Look, he’s putting it back.
NICK: The clock was old, Daisy. It lived a good life. Let it go.
DAISY: So, Gatsby. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, hasn’t it?
GATSBY: Sure has. Four years, ten months, three weeks, and seventeen hours, to be exact.
DAISY: That’s… wow. That’s certainly information. Yikes.
NICK: I’m here, by the way. In the room. Just hanging out. You know, third wheeling it.
So Nick exits the room, and Gatsby chases him down in the hallway. He whisper-yells that this whole thing was a
mistake; Nick tells him to get his head in the game. He then leaves them alone so that he can go outside and stare at a tree
for half an hour. As someone who’s been a third wheel a few times, if not most times, I can confirm that this sounds about
right. Eventually Nick meanders back into the living room, making as much noise as possible to announce his arrival so
he doesn’t interrupt the two of them. The awkwardness has thankfully passed, and because of this they hardly even notice
Nick, regardless all the racket he’s making. Daisy is now crying tears of happiness. Since Nick is contractually obligated
to make weird, hyperbolical remarks about Gatsby’s smile at least once per chapter, he notes that Gatsby is smiling "like
an ecstatic patron of recurrent light."
Gatsby wants to give them both a tour of his house. Nick asks if Gatsby’s sure he wants him to come along, and
Gatsby says yes, because someone’s got to chaperone this extramarital affair, dammit. Daisy goes to wash her face, and
Nick thinks "with humiliation" of his towels. What is wrong with the man’s towels? I pride myself on picking out every
aspect of Nick’s sad life, from his runaway dog to his lack of cups. I need to know about the towels.
The magical mystery tour involves two things of note, including 1) Gatsby almost falling down the stairs and 2)
Gatsby forgetting how to speak English right before our very eyes:
"It’s the funniest thing, old sport," he said hilariously. "I can’t—when I try to—"
At one point he starts throwing his shirts everywhere, which I guess is a winning gambit in their courtship
because Daisy starts crying happy tears again. However, there is certainly a lot of discussion between readers trying to
understand why she’s crying. Is it because she realizes Gatsby is just as rich as Tom, and so she made the wrong choice
when she married him? Is it because part of her is saddened to find that Gatsby is now just as materialistic as Tom? Is it
because she’s allergic to silk? (Kidding.)
It’s also important to make a note here about how many times Daisy has said something petty and materialistic,
such as “that huge place there?” Completely delighted at Gatsby’s mansion, she also later says “you never told me you
had a pompadour—or a yacht.” Yeah, yeah, Daisy. He’s a rich guy. Don’t you have any type of depth to you girl? Oh, you
don’t? Carry on then. Gatsby then shows her a bunch of news clippings he’s collected about her. If this were an episode
of Criminal Minds, I’d take that to mean Nick and Daisy are about to be murdered in this house of horrors.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen. Instead Gatsby gets the hobo who lives in his house to play the piano for
them, and that concludes the hot nonsense that is Jay Gatsby’s attempt at wooing a lady. I’m starting to feel bad for Daisy.
(Eh.) There’s no way she can live up to all the hype. Even Nick sees it; he says Gatsby’s living in "the colossal vitality of
his illusion."
On top of this, Nick notes that the green light which Gatsby reaches out to must have lost its colossal significance
now that Daisy is by his side. Now his enchanted objects had diminished by one. Nick also seems to mention that as he
keeps staring at Gatsby’s face (seriously Nick, be a little more subtle) he notices Gatsby seems to have an expression of
“faint doubt” at times. Gatsby’s dream has finally come true, and this is the joy and the danger of concentrating too long
on a single dream. When you spend so much time looking forward to something without taking the time to appreciate
everything else you’ve got going on in your life, it becomes easy to feel almost let down by the time your dream unfolds
itself to you. This can become especially more dangerous if you decide that you can still remedy that bummer feeling by
demanding more of the people around you—but I’m sure Gatsby has a level head and wouldn’t do anything like that.
Nick ends the chapter by lamenting that now that Gatsby is fixated on Daisy, “Gatsby didn’t know [him] now at
all.” So Nick leaves them there alone together.
Old sports in this chapter: 12, which is an old sport record.
Old sports overall: 25.