The Great Gatsby Scene

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, the first time Daisy and Gatsby see each other in five years proves to be a very powerful scene through the nerves of Gatsby and clock symbolism. The recent movie adaptation really emphasized all of the key elements that made up this scene from the novel.

The picture of the scene by F. Scott Fitzgerald began with only one groundskeeper getting Nick’s yard ready for Daisy’s arrival, whereas in the movie over ten men were preparing the yard. Also they did not only cut the grass as in the novel, but they seemed to landscape the entire yard to mere perfection. This grandiose adaptation shows the importance of this first encounter between Daisy and Gatsby to Gatsby. Inside the cottage, the book explains that a “greenhouse arrived”, but the movie really brought life to this short description with enormous bouquets of white flowers. This highlighted the scene and also emphasized its importance.

The movie dramatized the scene in a very applicable way to convert the tone of the narration to the movie. The anxiety and tension created within the scene really showed up through the characters and setting of the room. In the novel, Gatsby’s nerves towards Daisy’s arrival were shown through him peering through the window and blankly reading a magazine. In the movie, those nerves appeared through the beads of sweat on Gatsby’s forehead and the ticking of the clock getting louder and louder. Instead of only giving visual aid to Gatsby’s nerves, the film could also add sounds that amplified the tension found within the room.

When Gatsby and Daisy first see each other, the camera was able to zoom in on each of their faces. The zoom showed the importance and intimateness of this awkward moment so the viewer can infer a connection. In the novel, this moment was not actually seen, but rather heard by Nick in the hallway listening from the door. He, at one point, notes a pause that makes him walk into the room. The scene in the movie was set perfectly because it showed the awkwardness from the perspective of Gatsby and Daisy when it would not have been so apparent from Nick’s point of view without narration.

Later the clock reappeared in both the novel and movie showing a symbol found in both. Gatsby leans into a mantelpiece clock and knocks it over then right after Daisy brings up how long it has been since they have seen each other. The clock represented the placing of time and the fact that it falls showed that the time waiting for each other is finally over. One difference was that in the movie Gatsby actually breaks the clock instead of rescuing it just in time. The clock actually noticeably stopped ticking at that point, to dramatize the time spent waiting as over for the viewers.

The scene’s adaptation into movie-form tended to change certain parts, but they all seemed to emphasize the scene or help the audience understand what was going on. Without these adaptations, the audience might have felt lost as to the importance of things like the yard work, the meeting of Daisy and Gatsby, and the clock.