The Great Gatsby - Chapter Five

• First sentence, sets tension for the first half of the chapter: 'When I came home to West Egg that night I was afraid for a moment that my house was on fire'
• Gatsby's dialogue is quite inconsistent, constantly changes subject.
• Emotive language to describe Gatsby's movements, first time he's been seen as a vulnerable character: 'Gatsby, 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'
• Daisy and Gatsby's dialogue is all one liners, very blunt, shows they have a past and shows their current relationship.
• Chapter almost in two halves, the weather represents this. Begins sunny and warm, changes to cold and rainy.
• Daisy chases money? Only wants Gatsby now that he's rich, cries into his shirts, only interested in what he has.
• Knocks over the clock and 'catches it with trembling hands', sense of stopping time, once again time is a key feature of Fitzgerald's writing.