The Great Gatsby : Chapter IV and V

Chapter IV.

• Narrative style:

Written from Nick's point of view. Chapter IV is divided in five parts : first part consists of names of people who had visited Gatsby's parties that summer, in second part Gatsby meets Nick and reveals him some truth, but leaves Nick wondering what "this matter" is("But Miss Baker has kindly consented to speak to you about this matter." said by Gatsby), third part is about a lunch that Nick and Gatsby are having together, Nick also learns new things about Gatsby(those are told by Mr Wolfshiem), at the end of this part, Nick meets Tom and introduces Gatsby to him, not knowing that Gatsby already knows Tom. Fourth part is quite unusual, because the story is told by Jordan who's speaking through Nick. She tells how she became friends with Daisy and how Daisy and Gatsby are connected. The final part of this chapter Gatsby's plans are revealed, as Jordan tells Nick that Gatsby wants him to invite Daisy to tea and they could accidentally meet. Chapter IV ends with a romantic moment between Nick and Jordan.

• Characters:

There's a list of people who had visited Gatsby's parties that summer(written down by Nick) from page 67 to 69. We get to know more about Gatsby, as he tells about himself, he tried to die in the war, but "seemed to bear an enchanted life". Nick meets a man named Meyer Wolfshiem, who is "a small, flat-nosed Jew with two fine growths of hair in either nostril", as Gatsby later tells, he is the man who "fixed the World's Series back in 1919. There's a description of Daisy's past from Jordan's point of view. Jordan reflects to "one October day in nineteen-seventeen" when she "was walking from one place to another, half on the sidewalks and half on the lawns." She says that the largest of the lawns belonged to Daisy's house, who was just eighteen at the time and "by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville". "She dressed in white, and had a little white roadster", says Jordan. White colour could symbolise Daisy's innocence. Jordan also says that the telephone in Daisy's house rang all day long, and the first time she got drunk was before her wedding. Daisy had "an absolutely perfect reputation. Perhaps because she doesn't drink."

• Themes:

Gatsby's party guests, truth about Gatsby, Nick having a lunch with Gatsby and meeting Mr Wolfshiem and Tom Buchanan, Gatsby's years at war, relationship between Daisy and Gatsby, Nick's and Jordan's conversation.

• Settings:

There's a description of Gatsby's car - "one morning late in July, Gatsby's gorgeous car lurched up the rocky drive to my door and gave a burst of melody from its three-noted horn", "it was a rich cream colour, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns."

• Ideology:

The lives of the rich and the poor, with one having everything you can imagine and the others fighting to get it. Innocence married with dishonesty doesn't bring any happiness.

• Language:

Very poetic ways to describe things are seen, which is not the first time. A description of Gatsby's car is almost like a description of a woman. It's unusual that the fourth part of this chapter is written by Jordan who's speaking through Nick.

Chapter V.

• Narrative style:

Written from Nick's point of view. In chapter V Gatsby finally meets Daisy and finds out that they still have feelings for each other. The in Chapter V progresses in few days time starting from the day when Nick told Gatsby that he knows his plans. The next day Nick phoned Daisy and arranged a meeting.

• Characters:

Gatsby, "pale as death", feeling embarrassed when he meets Daisy, he says that "this is a terrible mistake" and even brakes Nick's clock, though he later completes all his plans by showing Daisy his house and belongings, so she knows what she has, perhaps, lost by marrying Tom. Daisy is feeling embarrassed, too, because she still has feelings for Gatsby and feels amazed by his life as it is now, she even started crying when Gatsby showed his shirts, "It makes me sad because I've never seen such - such beautiful shirts before" she says.

• Themes:

It's never enough for rich people. Daisy's and Gatsby's reunion. Gatsby wanting to impress Daisy so she leaves Tom.

• Settings:

It's raining all the time, showing that something is going to happen. This is also a pathetic fallacy, because the weather shows Gatsby's feelings and his emotional breakdown. There's a massive description on Gatsby's house and his belongings - "We went upstairs, through period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid with new flowers, through dressing-rooms and poolrooms, and bathrooms with sunken baths", he showed his "cabinets which held his massed suits and dressing gowns and ties, and his shirts, piled like bricks in stacks a dozen high". There were also grounds and a swimming pool and a hydroplane in his possessions.

• Ideology:

Idea of putting things in front of everyone and that everything has to be made up and done in a certain way. Gatsby is over-exposing his life, putting it on show so only few people know the truth about him.

• Language:

Language is used to describe the state of mind - Gatsby is having an emotional breakdown. He feels embarrassed all the time and does strange things. Very poetic words are used at the end of the chapter, again showing Nick's romanticism as a narrator. Daisy has a "voice as a deathless song", which probably means that Gatsby could listen to it over and over again and feels somehow relieved to meet her again and hear hear words of acceptance.