The rain and sunshine when Gatsby and Daisy first meet after five years reflect Gatsby’s nervousness at first and set the emotional tone of the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy from embarrassment to comfort in chapter 5. As a very crucial point in the novel, the setting of Gatsby and Daisy’s first meeting after five years of separation starts with a rainy day in early summer. Nick depicts the weather of that day as “the day agreed upon was pouring rain” (Fitzgerald 83). The rain and the coldness reflect Gatsby’s nervousness and anxiety about meeting …show more content…
Chapter 8, as the second to last paragraph in the novel, puts an end to the love between Gatsby and Daisy as well as Gatsby’s own life. Nick’s description of the day conveys a sense of coldness and stop to everything: “The night had made a sharp difference in the weather and there was an autumn flavor in the air” (Fitzgerald 153). Suddenly, summer is gone with the coming of autumn. Coldness in the autumn replaces the hotness in the summer. Now the fire in Gatsby’s life is gone with the summer and Daisy’s decision to remain with Tom. All of Gatsby’s hope and pursuit are suddenly put to an end. The change in season reflects a change in the emotional tone of Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy, from an intense climax to a mild end. The autumn flavor in the air corresponds with the autumn flavor in love between Gatsby and Daisy, one that is dying. Not only does Nick’s description of this particular day reflect the dying relationship, what Gatsby’s servant says to him reveals even more a sense of ending : “I’m going to drain the pool today, Mr. Gatsby. Leaves’ll start falling pretty soon, and then there’s always trouble with the pipes” (Fitzgerald 153). The setting of chapter 8 is in the autumn, leaves start to fall down, so are Gatsby’s life and his love with Daisy. In this autumn setting, Gatsby’s life and love with Daisy fade out with that hot summer. The falling leaves do not only set the emotional atmosphere in this chapter as sorrowful and gloomy, they also represent Gatsby and his feelings in a way. The same way as the leaves clog to the drain, Gatsby is clinging to the hope that Daisy will love him the same she has loved him before. He thus insists on swimming even though it is already autumn; he is actually insisting on rolling back to the past so that Daisy and he can be together like how they have