The Great Gatsby - Chapter 6
R.L.2 Key Ideas and Details: Determine two or more themes or
Common central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the
course of the text, including how they interact and build on
Core one another to produce a complex account; provide an
Standards objective summary of the text.
R.L.3 Key Ideas and Details: Analyze the impact of the author’s
choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a
story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is
ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
Essential Questions
What are the Overarching Themes in this chapter?
What is the importance of the ‘Sloane’ incident and
how does it convey some of the major themes?
What do Daisy’s feelings about Gatsby’s party tell us
about their relationship?
Objectives
• analyze character behavior and quotes and explain
what these reveal
• explain how Gatsby’s transformation in this chapter alters the perception of his character
• Setting & Character development:
The opening of the chapter indicates the air of suspicion as a reporter
arrives at Gatsby’s door and starts asking questions. Gatsby’s myth was
growing as he was entangled in many plots and schemes with many
rumors roaming around him, which provided Gatsby with a source of
satisfaction.
Nick finally fills the reader in with some background information about
the real James Gatz which completely contradicts the story that Gatsby
gave Nick on their way to New York. On three stages, Nick reveals the
true story about James Gatz:
Stage I: Nick describes Gatsby’s family as “shiftless and
unsuccessful”. “His imagination had never really accepted them as his
parents at all.” Gatsby’s choice of separation from his family shows
his commitment to the Dream. He is prepared to make any sacrifice
necessary to remain true to his ideal. His rejection to of his own name
(James Gatz) again reinforces his dedication to reinvent himself into
something more palatable and acceptable to the East Egg set to
which he was so desperate to belong.
Stage II: Gatsby increasingly becomes immersed in a fantasy world,
which spurs him on: “his heart was in a constant turbulent riot” and
“each night he added to the pattern of his fancies.” Gatsby truly
believes in the power of the imagination; he believes in the
impossible and extremely devoted to the Dream. It is this quality
which inspires Nick’s affection for him.
Stage III: Gatsby learns to identify and seize
opportunities to advance himself. This is evident when he
meets Dan Cody, who takes him on board his yacht as his
personal assistant: “he had probably discovered that people
liked him when he smiled.” He has learned to use his best
features to attract and please others and becomes a skillful and
perceptive manipulator. During his time with Dan Cody, he
learns an important lesson – that you don’t always get what
you deserve and integrity is not always rewarded. This is a
theme evident to in other characters like Jordan and Tom who
cheat and are unfaithful yet remain unpunished. This betrayal
of Gatsby also foreshadows Daisy’s treachery at the end.
Therefore, in this chapter we see how he transforms from James Gatz to the Gatsby we now
recognize, from humble mid-western boy to glamorous east coast celebrity. In the process, he
reinvents not only himself but also (and inaccurately) Daisy, who he fixates on as the epitome of his
distorted interpretation of the dream.
Gatsby finally achieves his goal of getting Daisy to one of his
party only to see that she is not impressed, but disgusted at
the lavishness and vulgarity of it. Daisy does not enjoy the
spectacle of the party. The orchestra, the mounds of food, the
champagne, the dancing, the drunkenness all disgust her. Gatsby
detects her disapproval and has difficulty covering his own
disappointment. The theatre of spectacle and indulgence has been
for nothing. The show will soon be over.
Main Events
Gatsby has become newsworthy after the numerous rumors that has been swirling around
him. The rumors are getting even harder to believe: that he is involved in a liquor pipeline to
Canada and that his mansion is actually a boat.
The narrative suddenly changes, and Fitzgerald uses flashback again to give us some new
and important background information about Gatsby. Jay Gatsby’s real name is James Gatz.
His parents were failed farmers. He is an entirely self-made man, so ambitious and
convinced of his own success that he transformed himself into his version of the perfect
man: Jay Gatsby. Before any of his eventual social and financial success, he spent his nights
fantasizing about his future.
Gatsby was fortunate enough to meet Dan Cody, a silver and gold mine millionaire, who
trusted Gatsby enough to hire him as his personal assistant in all the trades for 5 years.
Cody was the one who taught him how to be “Jay Gatsby” how to act in the manner of a
real old money gentleman. Cody’s attempt to leave Gatsby all of his money failed because
of Cody’s greedy mistress.
The narrative flips back to the summer of 1922. Tom and Daisy attend one of Gatsby’s
parties. Nick notes that with them there, the party suddenly seems oppressive and
unpleasant. Tom and especially Daisy are somewhat star-struck, but it’s clear that to them
this party is like a freak show – where they are coming to stare at the circus, and where they
are above what they are looking at. Daisy is clearly grossed out by the party and the people
there.
A couple of east eggers drop by Gatsby’s while horseback riding. The lady of the couple
insincerely invites him over to her dinner party instead. Gatsby agrees. Tom then comments
that Gatsby has misread the social cue and that he has no clue about the code of conduct of
the old money and naively accepted her offer, although the women was not really inviting
him for real.
At night when the Buchanan are leaving, Tom suggest that Gatsby must have made all of his
money from bootlegging. Daisy tries to stand up for Gatsby while Nick tells Tom that
Gatsby’s money comes from a chain of drug stores.
Later that night, Gatsby worries that Daisy didn’t like the party. His worry makes him tell
Nick his ultimate desire: Gatsby would like to recreate the past he and Daisy had together
five years ago. Gatsby is expecting too much of Daisy. He wants her to abandon her life with
Tom and erase all her emotions toward him; however, Nick tells him that he knows for sure
that this is not possible.
Gatsby admits to Nick that he is stuck in that magical moment when he and Daisy first kissed
five years ago and that he wants to recreate this moment, that all his dreams about the
future is fixated only on Daisy.
Key Quotes:
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.
Explanation: Nick makes a clear connection between Gatsby to the ideal of an independent
self-made man. He refers to him as the epitome of the American Dream. First, he refers to
him as Plato’s Philosophical construct of the ideal form “Platonic conception of himself”
which is a perfect object the exists only outside of the real world. Next, he refers to him as
Adam and Jesus who are called “son of God” linking Gatsby to mythic and larger than life
beings.
But the rest offended her--and inarguably, because it wasn't a gesture but an emotion.
She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented "place" that Broadway had begotten
upon a Long Island fishing village. She saw something awful in the very simplicity she
failed to understand.
Explanation: Daisy’s snobbery is deeply ingrained. Like Jordan, Daisy is judgmental and
critical. Daisy felt the West Egg inferior to her own life, she is clearly appalled by the guests
and their attitude of vulgarity, ironically, she finds them too materialistic. Gatsby still hopes
that somehow, she will be lured back to him, but Nick thinks that she will always find her life
with Tom superior to the West Egg and will always chose to be part of the East Egg.
"I wouldn't ask too much of her," I ventured. "You can't repeat the past."
"Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!"
Explanation: Gatsby has blind faith that Daisy would agree to abandon all her past life for
him. This is a clear indication of what a hopeless romantic he is and of his fixation to Daisy.
Themes and Symbols
The American Dream: Not We not only get to experience the
rebirth of James Gatz to Jay Gatsby, but we also see other
characters with the same ambition. For instance, Nick spends
time seeking Jordan’s aunt who controls her money. Everyone
in the story is aiming to reach higher. We also get to see the
social hierarchy (Tom and Daisy) whose noses are always
looking down at the American Dreamers which takes us back
to the snobbery of the East Egg.
Society and Class: A very awkward encounter between a
couple of West Egg, Tom, and Gatsby highlights the
difference between West Egg money and East Egg money.
They issue invitations that they hope will get declined,
while Gatsby not only naively accepts their offer, but
welcomes them into his home. This demonstrates Gatsby’s
inability to understand the East Egg code of conduct.
Although he became the GREAT Gatsby, yet he always fails to learn how to behave and react
as one of them.
Love, Desire, and Relationships: No real-life relationship as Gatsby’s love to Daisy could actually
exist. Gatsby’s fixation to Daisy makes him demand nothing less of her. He expects that she will
abandon her life with Tom and erase her emotional history towards him, which Nick knows is nearly
impossible.
