Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner bondsman, rents a cottage in West Egg next to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby. Drawn into the world of his cousin Daisy and her brutish husband Tom, Nick becomes the confidant for Gatsby's singular, five-year obsession: to win back Daisy and recreate a perfect past, a dream that ultimately collides with reality and ends in violence.
Returning to West Egg late at night, Nick is startled to find Gatsby’s house lit from top to bottom, a silent blaze against the dark. Instead of a party, he discovers Gatsby himself pacing the lawn, restless and eager. Gatsby makes strained small talk about Coney Island and the swimming pool, his real purpose emerging when Nick confirms he has called Daisy to invite her for tea. Gatsby immediately takes control, obsessing over the day and time and fretting about the state of Nick’s lawn. In a transparent effort to bind Nick to him or perhaps compensate for the trouble, Gatsby proposes a confidential business venture involving bonds and Meyer Wolfsheim. Nick declines firmly, sensing the criminal edge, and Gatsby withdraws, leaving Nick to sleep while the mansion continues to glow like a lonely beacon.
The day of the meeting is drenched in rain. Gatsby’s anxiety manifests in overpreparation: he sends a gardener to mow Nick’s lawn and later a greenhouse full of flowers, overwhelming the modest cottage. Gatsby arrives at two o’clock, pale and drawn in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold tie. He is too tense to notice the flowers or the lemon cakes, staring blankly at the downpour and offering hollow praise. As four o’clock approaches, his nerve fails. Convinced Daisy will not come, he declares he must leave, but Nick physically restrains him—the exact moment a car turns into the lane.
Daisy arrives laughing, her voice a bright, tipsy ripple in the wet air. She jokes about love and gasoline, her vivacity a stark contrast to Gatsby’s frozen posture. The initial reunion is a study in failure. Gatsby, ashen, leans against the mantel, nearly toppling a clock in his attempt at casualness—a physical metaphor for his desire to stop time. Their exchange is stiff and formal until Nick, desperate, proposes they make tea in the kitchen. The crisis deepens when Gatsby follows Nick, whispering that the meeting is a terrible mistake, a child’s panic. Nick rebukes him for his rudeness and sends him back to Daisy, then retreats outside to wait under a tree.
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