The Great Gatsby
Chapter 6
pp 103-118
Summary
Because of Gatsby's popularity and famous parties, a reporter comes to his door one morning to inquire about Gatsby's background. Through the narration of Nick does the reader learn about Gatsby's past. As a young boy of North Dakota, Gatsby went by his real name, James Gatz. He had an ambitious heart and high expectations for the future. When James Gatz turned seventeen, he borrowed a rowboat and pulled out into Lake Superior where he had seen the luxurious yacht of Dan Cody. To James Gatz of North Dakota, this yacht represented everything beautiful that he wanted from the world. For a year, James dug for clams and fished for salmon in return for a bed and food. One fateful day, Gatsby went to Cody's yacht and informed him of a forceful wind that was coming in half an hour. Due to his helpfulness, Gatsby became Dan's right-hand man. He served as Cody's steward, mate, skipper, secretary, and even his jailer. For five years, Cody's yacht sailed around the continent three times until the day when Cody died. From his death, the majority of Cody's wealth went to his latest mistress.
The day after the reporter's visit, Nick decides to go and visit Gatsby. To his surprise, Tom Buchanan drops by for a drink, along with his two friends. Although they are introduced as if they were strangers, Tom and Gatsby eventually confront each other about their acquaintance. In a tense, awkward moment, Gatsby informs Tom that he knows his wife, Daisy. Failing to mention that they used to be lovers, Gatsby quickly lightens the atmosphere by inviting Tom and his company to dinner that evening. The woman that Tom has brought along politely invites Gatsby to her dinner party. Tom, and the other man think that this is a bad idea and drag the woman away before Gatsby has a chance to grab his coat.
Despite the contempt between the two, Tom decides to come to Gatsby's next party. Daisy comes as Tom's date but sees more of Gatsby during the party than of her husband. To draw Daisy away from Tom, Gatsby strategically introduces Tom to all the famous people that have shown up at his party. Gatsby and Daisy then slip away to Nick's house to be alone.
Although Gatsby and Daisy spend a considerable time alone, Gatsby still feels like the evening was a disaster. He expects nothing less of Daisy than for her to tell her husband that she never loved him. Unfortunately, Daisy has too large of a life to just forget everything as Gatsby wants her to do. She was once understanding and naive, but Gatsby disappointedly realizes that she has grown up.
Setting
In the first part of Chapter Six, the reader drifts back through many settings in Gatsby's past. After several flashbacks, the story occurs in Gatsby's home as well as Nick's home.
Characters
Gatsby -
His past is revealed through Nick's narration. Gatsby's birth name, James Gatz is revealed, along with the story of how he inherited his wealth.
Nick -
narrates Gatsby's past, providing his own insights on Gatsby's life.
Tom
- visits Gatsby with his friend Sloane and a woman friend. He is disturbed that Gatsby knows his wife and attends Gatsby's party only to keep an eye on Daisy.
Daisy -
pursues Gatsby at his party, despite the presence of her husband, Tom. Although she flirts with Gatsby, she has no intention of going further.
Sloane -
appears one afternoon at Gatsby's home with a woman friend, and Tom. He dislikes Gatsby as well, and when the woman invites Gatsby to dinner, Sloane rushes her out of the door before Gatsby has a chance to join them.
Motifs
The fact that West Egg is the upper-class section of New York remains as a strong theme in this chapter. West Egg was a "world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so..." The reader is reminded of this high class neighborhood when Daisy and Tom attend Gatsby's party. Movie stars surround them, exuding beauty and elegance.
Quotations
"The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that--and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end" (104).
From a young age, Gatsby had an image of who he wanted to be. He created an ideal man and became him through the years.
"He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: 'I never loved you.' After she had obliterated three years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. ... 'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'"(116)
Gatsby dreams every day about how he wants things to be in his life. He never lives in the present moment, which justifies his belief that anyone can return to the past. After a life of wanting better things, it is not surprising that he still wants more.
"He talked a lot about the past and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was" (117).
Gatsby must have lived a past that he wanted to change in some way. Even during his early years he wanted to be someone different. Now that he has reached that status, he misses the pleasures in life that passed him by. Daisy is the love of his life, and the fact that he did not win her heart many years ago makes him yearn for the past.
Thematic Elements
Gatsby is so blinded by his dream that he cannot really see who Daisy is. Thinking that things can be exactly the same as they were, Gatsby pursues Daisy as if it were five years earlier. What he does not realize is that Daisy has grown up and does not want to relive the past. The past is so important to Gatsby's present life that it is all he thinks about. Daisy lingers in his everyday thoughts.
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Page last updated on March 5, 1999.
Curator: Megan Findley