CHAPTER 6:
Overview:
- Nick explains that Gatsby is actually James Gatz from North Dakota who left home at a young age to seek his
fortune. Gatsby changed his name at seventeen when he met Dan Cody, a self-made millionaire.
- Tom is invited to one of Gatsby’s parties and arrives with Daisy. Daisy is offended by West Egg and the debauchery
of the party, while Tom gets the names and addresses of pretty women.
- Gatsby wants Daisy to say that she never loved Tom so they can ‘wipe out’ her marriage and start again.
Beginning of the chapter:
The chapter begins with an inquisitive reporter turning up on Gatsby’s doorstep who hopes that there must be some
truth in the rumours that will make a good story.
The rumours that have made Gatsby ‘just short of being news’, and expanded Gatsby’s identity beyond what he
could actually be.
Directly after this, Nick reveals information found out ‘very much later’ about Gatsby’s real history. This contrast
encourages the reader to draw comparisons between the man and the myth. Nick has rearranged the order of
events to help the reader understand who Gatsby is and who he might be now.
Fitzgerald establishes Gatsby as a timeless hero – he’s described as a ‘son of God’ and some critics have seen him as
a Christ-like figure.
A linking passage reinforces our awareness of Gatsby as a criminal. A reporter is exploring rumours that Gatsby is
linked to an underground pipeline bringing alcohol from Canada. Nick dismisses the rumours as ‘invention’, refusing
to see what must’ve been obvious.
Gatsby’s past is revealed:
This chapter raises the issue of why Gatsby really wants Daisy – his poor upbringing spurred him on to achieve the
American Dream, and Daisy represents the class and wealth that he aspires to.
It’s clear that Gatsby’s wealth does not mean he also has the manners and behaviours of an upper-class aristocrat.
The reader suspects that Daisy is unlikely to want to leave the security and respectability of being married to Tom.
Gatsby’s parents:
Nick describes Gatsby’s parents: ‘His parents were shiftless and successful farm people – his imagination had never
really accepted them as his parents at all’. The word ‘shiftless’ here means lacking in ambition, but it also suggests
they were unable to ‘shift’, stuck in one place, physically in terms of social advancement.
Earlier on, Nick writes, with biting irony in terms of class distinctions, ‘Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the
shiftlessness of the lower orders’. In that instance, ‘shiftlessness’ means ‘laziness’.
Dan Cody:
Nick’s description of Cody helps to explain the contrast between East and West. Dan Cody, a self-made millionaire,
was young Gatsby’s example of the American Dream. However, Cody had questionable morals – he ‘brought back to
the Eastern seaboard the savage violence of the frontier brothel and saloon’. Cody gave Gatsby a taste for wealth
and a dubious moral stance of how to obtain it. Gatsby followed Cody’s example, achieving his wealth through moral
means.
It’s significant that Cody’s death was apparently caused by the treachery of the woman he loved – this foreshadows
Daisy’s treachery and Gatsby’s death.
James Gatz breaks away from his past and becomes Jay Gatsby. You could compare this with the way the American
colonies broke away from the British Empire.
Overview:
- Nick explains that Gatsby is actually James Gatz from North Dakota who left home at a young age to seek his
fortune. Gatsby changed his name at seventeen when he met Dan Cody, a self-made millionaire.
- Tom is invited to one of Gatsby’s parties and arrives with Daisy. Daisy is offended by West Egg and the debauchery
of the party, while Tom gets the names and addresses of pretty women.
- Gatsby wants Daisy to say that she never loved Tom so they can ‘wipe out’ her marriage and start again.
Beginning of the chapter:
The chapter begins with an inquisitive reporter turning up on Gatsby’s doorstep who hopes that there must be some
truth in the rumours that will make a good story.
The rumours that have made Gatsby ‘just short of being news’, and expanded Gatsby’s identity beyond what he
could actually be.
Directly after this, Nick reveals information found out ‘very much later’ about Gatsby’s real history. This contrast
encourages the reader to draw comparisons between the man and the myth. Nick has rearranged the order of
events to help the reader understand who Gatsby is and who he might be now.
Fitzgerald establishes Gatsby as a timeless hero – he’s described as a ‘son of God’ and some critics have seen him as
a Christ-like figure.
A linking passage reinforces our awareness of Gatsby as a criminal. A reporter is exploring rumours that Gatsby is
linked to an underground pipeline bringing alcohol from Canada. Nick dismisses the rumours as ‘invention’, refusing
to see what must’ve been obvious.
Gatsby’s past is revealed:
This chapter raises the issue of why Gatsby really wants Daisy – his poor upbringing spurred him on to achieve the
American Dream, and Daisy represents the class and wealth that he aspires to.
It’s clear that Gatsby’s wealth does not mean he also has the manners and behaviours of an upper-class aristocrat.
The reader suspects that Daisy is unlikely to want to leave the security and respectability of being married to Tom.
Gatsby’s parents:
Nick describes Gatsby’s parents: ‘His parents were shiftless and successful farm people – his imagination had never
really accepted them as his parents at all’. The word ‘shiftless’ here means lacking in ambition, but it also suggests
they were unable to ‘shift’, stuck in one place, physically in terms of social advancement.
Earlier on, Nick writes, with biting irony in terms of class distinctions, ‘Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the
shiftlessness of the lower orders’. In that instance, ‘shiftlessness’ means ‘laziness’.
Dan Cody:
Nick’s description of Cody helps to explain the contrast between East and West. Dan Cody, a self-made millionaire,
was young Gatsby’s example of the American Dream. However, Cody had questionable morals – he ‘brought back to
the Eastern seaboard the savage violence of the frontier brothel and saloon’. Cody gave Gatsby a taste for wealth
and a dubious moral stance of how to obtain it. Gatsby followed Cody’s example, achieving his wealth through moral
means.
It’s significant that Cody’s death was apparently caused by the treachery of the woman he loved – this foreshadows
Daisy’s treachery and Gatsby’s death.
James Gatz breaks away from his past and becomes Jay Gatsby. You could compare this with the way the American
colonies broke away from the British Empire.
