The Great Gatsby, Chapter 5 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Gatsby send to Nick's house on the day of the reunion?

   • Cases of champagne and his party orchestra
   • His Rolls-Royce to fetch Daisy from East Egg
   • Klipspringer to play the piano during tea
   • Correct answer: A man to cut the lawn and a greenhouse of flowers

   Gatsby sends a man in a raincoat to mow Nick's ragged lawn and later has an enormous delivery of flowers sent from a greenhouse, trying to make everything perfect for Daisy's visit.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does Gatsby nearly knock over during the awkward first minutes of his reunion with Daisy?

   • A vase of flowers
   • Correct answer: A mantelpiece clock
   • A tray of tea cups
   • A framed photograph

   While trying to appear casual by leaning against the mantelpiece, Gatsby's head tilts a defunct clock. He catches it with trembling fingers, symbolizing his clumsy attempt to stop and reverse time.

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3. 3

   Question 3. How long has it been since Gatsby and Daisy last saw each other?

   • Ten years
   • Three years
   • Correct answer: Five years
   • Seven years

   When Daisy says they haven't met for many years, Gatsby automatically replies "Five years next November," revealing how precisely he has been counting the time.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What causes Daisy to cry during the tour of Gatsby's mansion?

   • Correct answer: Gatsby's collection of imported English shirts
   • Klipspringer playing a sad song on the piano
   • A photograph of Gatsby as a young man
   • The view of the green light across the bay

   When Gatsby throws piles of beautiful shirts—linen, silk, and flannel in coral, apple-green, lavender, and Indian blue—onto the table, Daisy buries her face in them and sobs, overwhelmed by a complex mix of emotion, regret, and awe at his material success.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What happens to the green light's symbolic significance in Chapter 5?

   • Daisy reveals she had it installed for Gatsby
   • It grows brighter and more meaningful
   • Correct answer: It loses its enchantment now that Daisy is present
   • Gatsby asks that it be turned off

   Nick observes that "the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever" because with Daisy beside him, Gatsby's yearning symbol becomes merely a green light on a dock. His "count of enchanted objects had diminished by one."

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6. 6

   Question 6. What song does Klipspringer play on the piano at the end of Chapter 5?

   • "Tea for Two" and "Someone to Watch Over Me"
   • Correct answer: "The Love Nest" and "Ain't We Got Fun"
   • "Beale Street Blues" and "The Sheik of Araby"
   • "Three O'Clock in the Morning"

   Klipspringer plays "The Love Nest" first, then "Ain't We Got Fun," whose ironic lyric about the rich getting richer and the poor getting children underscores the class tensions beneath the romantic scene.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What literary technique does Fitzgerald use when the rain stops precisely as Gatsby and Daisy reconnect?

   • Correct answer: Pathetic fallacy
   • Dramatic irony
   • Stream of consciousness
   • Foreshadowing

   Pathetic fallacy is the technique of mirroring characters' emotions through weather or nature. The rain matches Gatsby's anxiety, and the sunshine that appears when the couple reconnects reflects their renewed happiness.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Nick compare Gatsby to after observing him pass through three emotional states?

   • A soldier returning from war
   • A drowning man
   • A child at Christmas
   • Correct answer: An overwound clock

   Nick says Gatsby "was running down like an overwound clock," comparing his emotional exhaustion after the intense buildup of anticipation to a clock mechanism wound so tightly that it is losing its spring.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

   • Gatsby offers Nick a business opportunity as an implicit payment for arranging the reunion with Daisy.

     Happened

     Before the reunion, Gatsby awkwardly proposes a "confidential" side business, which Nick recognizes as a transparent attempt to compensate him for the favor and declines.

   • Daisy brings Tom Buchanan with her to the tea at Nick's cottage.

     Didn't happen

     Nick specifically warns Daisy not to bring Tom when he calls to invite her, and she comes alone, even joking "Who is Tom?" on the phone.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does "defunct" mean as used to describe the mantelpiece clock?

    • Recently purchased
    • Elaborately decorated
    • Extremely valuable
    • Correct answer: No longer functioning

    Defunct means no longer existing, functioning, or in use. The stopped clock reinforces the chapter's theme of frozen time and Gatsby's desire to recapture the past.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does "vestige" mean in the phrase "every vestige of embarrassment was gone"?

    • Correct answer: Trace or remnant
    • Display or expression
    • Memory or recollection
    • Cause or source

    A vestige is a trace or remnant of something that once existed. Nick uses it to emphasize that absolutely no residual awkwardness remains between Gatsby and Daisy after their half hour alone.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "abortive" mean in the phrase "an abortive attempt at a laugh"?

    • Genuine and heartfelt
    • Loud and uncontrolled
    • Correct answer: Failed and incomplete
    • Sarcastic and bitter

    Abortive means failing to achieve the intended result. Gatsby's attempt at a laugh is cut short by his nervousness, producing only an incomplete, unsuccessful sound.

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