ReadingTask5

Azi

阅读书目: The Great Gatsby
阅读者: 石希羽
时间: 2025.12.6
章节: Chapter 5
This chapter chronicles the long-awaited and meticulously orchestrated reunion between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, facilitated by Nick at his cottage.
The encounter is initially steeped in palpable anxiety and pouring rain, mirroring the emotional turbulence. Gatsby, uncharacteristically awkward, embodies Fitzgerald’s core idea here: the collision between an idealized dream and its tangible reality can be profoundly anticlimactic. As Nick observes, “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.” The pivotal moment arrives when Gatsby showcases his mansion and his vast collection of shirts—a cascade of fine fabric that moves Daisy to tears, more through its proof of material success than sentiment. This scene serves as the novel's emotional climax and turning point. For character development, it transforms Gatsby from a distant, mysterious host into a palpably vulnerable and hopeful lover, while Daisy is revealed as essentially materialistic, her voice “full of money.” Fitzgerald masterfully uses symbolism (the clearing weather mirroring eased tension), symbolic imagery (the shirts representing Gatsby’s material pursuit), and foreshadowing (Gatsby nearly breaking the clock, symbolizing his futile desire to stop time)