the great gatsby chapter 6 essay

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Best Summary and Analysis: The Great Gatsby, Chapter 6

Book Guides

Chapter 6 of The Great Gasby  is a major turning point in the novel: after the magical happiness of Gatsby and Daisy's reunion ins Chapter 5, we start too see the cracks that will unravel the whole story. Possibly because of this shift in tone from buildup to letdown, this chapter underwent substantial rewrites late in the editing process , meaning Fitzgerald worked really hard to get it just right because of how key this part of the book is.

So read on to see how it all starts to fall apart in our full The Great Gatsby Chapter 6 summary. Gatsby and Daisy each try to integrate into the other one’s life, and both attempts go terribly. Gatsby can’t hang with the upper crust because he doesn’t understand how to behave despite his years crewing a millionaire’s yacht, and Daisy is repulsed by the vulgar rabble at Gatsby’s latest party. Recipe for eventual disaster? Absolutely.

Quick Note on Our Citations

Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text.

The Great Gatsby : Chapter 6 Summary

A reporter shows up to interview Gatsby. He is becoming well known enough (and there are enough rumors swirling around him) to become newsworthy. The rumors are now even crazier: that he is involved with a liquor pipeline to Canada, that his mansion is actually a boat.

The narrative suddenly shifts timeframes, and future book-writing Nick interrupts the story to give us some new background details 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.

James Gatz met Dan Cody, a copper and silver mine millionaire, on Cody’s yacht on Lake Superior. Cody seemed glamorous, and Cody liked Gatz enough to hire him as a kind of jack-of-all-trades for five years. They sailed around, indulged Cody’s alcoholism, and Gatz learned how to be Jay Gatsby. Cody tried to leave him money in his will, but an estranged wife claimed it instead. Nick tells us that Gatsby told him all of these details later, but he wants to dispel the crazy rumors.

The narrative flips back to the summer of 1922. After a few weeks of trying to make nice with Jordan’s aunt (who controls her money and directs her life), Nick returns to Gatsby’s house. 

Tom Buchanan and an East Egg couple who has met Gatsby before stop by while horseback riding. It’s unclear why – for a quick drink maybe? Tom has no idea who Gatsby is, but Gatsby goes out of his way to remind him that they met at a restaurant a few weeks ago ( in Chapter 4 ), and to tell him that he knows Daisy. Gatsby invites them to stay for supper.

The lady of the couple disingenuously invites him over to her dinner party instead. Gatsby agrees. Nick follows the guests out and overhears Tom complaining that Gatsby has clearly misread the social cues – the woman wasn’t really inviting him for real, and in any case, Gatsby doesn’t have a horse to ride.

Tom also wonders how on earth Daisy could have met Gatsby. The three leave without Gatsby, despite the fact that he accepted the invitation to go with them.

The next Saturday, Tom comes with Daisy to Gatsby’s party. Nick notes that with them there, the party suddenly seems oppressive and unpleasant.

Gatsby takes them around and shows them the various celebrities and movie stars that are there. 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.

Gatsby and Daisy dance and talk. Tom makes see-through excuses to pursue other women at the party. Daisy is clearly miserable.

While Gatsby takes a phone call, Daisy and Nick sit at a table of drunk people squabbling about their drunkenness. Daisy is clearly grossed out by the party and the people there.

When the Buchanans are leaving, Tom guesses that Gatsby is a bootlegger, since where else could his money be coming from? Daisy tries to stick up for Gatsby, saying that most of the guests are just party crashers that he is too polite to turn away. Nick tells Tom that Gatsby’s money comes from a chain of drug stores. Daisy seems reluctant to go, worried that some magical party guest will sweep Gatsby off his feet while she’s not there.

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 an absolutist about Daisy: he wants her to say that she never loved Tom, to erase her emotional history with him (and with their daughter, probably!). Nick doesn't think that this is possible.

Gatsby tells Nicks about the magical past that he wants to recreate. It was encapsulated in the moment of Gatsby and Daisy’s first kiss. As soon as Gatsby kissed Daisy, all of his fantasies about himself and his future fixated solely on her.

Hearing this description of Gatsby’s love, Nick is close to remembering some related phrase or song, but he can’t quite reach the memory.

Key Chapter 6 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. (6.7)

Here is the clearest connection of Gatsby and the ideal of the independent, individualistic, self-made man – the ultimate symbol of the American Dream . It’s telling that in describing Gatsby this way, Nick also links him to other ideas of perfection.

• First, he references Plato’s philosophical construct of the ideal form – a completely inaccessible perfect object that exists outside of our real existence.
• Second, Nick references various Biblical luminaries like Adam and Jesus who are called “son of God” in the New Testament – again, linking Gatsby to mythic and larger than life beings who are far removed from lived experience. Gatsby’s self-mythologizing is in this way part of a grander tradition of myth-making.

Tom was evidently perturbed at Daisy's running around alone, for on the following Saturday night he came with her to Gatsby's party. Perhaps his presence gave the evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness--it stands out in my memory from Gatsby's other parties that summer. There were the same people, or at least the same sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same many-colored, many-keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn't been there before. Or perhaps I had merely grown used to it, grown to accept West Egg as 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, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy's eyes. It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment. (6.60)

What for Nick had been a center of excitement, celebrity, and luxury  is now suddenly a depressing spectacle. It’s interesting that partly this is because Daisy and Tom are in some sense invaders – their presence disturbs the enclosed world of West Egg because it reminds Nick of West Egg’s lower social standing. It’s also key to see that having Tom and Daisy there makes Nick self-aware of the psychic work he has had to do to “adjust” to the vulgarity and different “standards” of behavior he’s been around. Remember that he entered the novel on a social footing similar to that of Tom and Daisy. Now he’s suddenly reminded that by hanging around with Gatsby, he has debased himself.

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--appalled by its raw vigor that chafed under the old euphemisms and by the too obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a short cut from nothing to nothing. She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand. (6.96)

Just as earlier we were treated to Jordan as a narrator stand-in , now we have a new set of eyes through which to view the story – Daisy’s. Her snobbery is deeply ingrained, and she doesn’t do anything to hide it or overcome it (unlike Nick, for example). Like Jordan, Daisy is judgmental and critical. Unlike Jordan , Daisy expresses this through “emotion” rather than cynical mockery. Either way, what Daisy doesn’t like is that the nouveau riche haven’t learned to hide their wealth under a veneer of gentility – full of the “raw vigor” that has very recently gotten them to this station in life, they are too obviously materialistic. Their “simplicity” is their single-minded devotion to money and status, which in her mind makes the journey from birth to death (“from nothing to nothing”) meaningless.

He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: "I never loved you." (6.125)

Hang on to this piece of information – it will be important later. This is really symptomatic of Gatsby’s absolutist feelings towards Daisy . It’s not enough for her to leave Tom. Instead, Gatsby expects Daisy to repudiate her entire relationship with Tom in order to show that she has always been just as monomaniacally obsessed with him as he has been with her. The problem is that this robs her of her humanity and personhood – she is not exactly like him, and it’s unhealthy that he demands for her to be an identical reflection of his mindset.

"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!"

He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand.

"I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before," he said, nodding determinedly. "She'll see."

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. . .  (6.128-132)

This is one of the most famous quotations from the novel. Gatsby’s blind faith in his ability to recreate some quasi-fictional past that he’s been dwelling on for five years is both a tribute to his romantic and idealistic nature ( the thing that Nick eventually decides makes him “great” ) and a clear indication that he just might be a completely delusional fantasist. So far in his life, everything that he’s fantasized about when he first imagined himself as Jay Gatsby has come true. But in that transformation, Gatsby now feels like he has lost a fundamental piece of himself – the thing he “wanted to recover.”

Through all he said, even through his appalling sentimentality, I was reminded of something--an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that I had heard somewhere a long time ago. For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man's, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air. But they made no sound and what I had almost remembered was uncommunicable forever. (6.135)

Just as Gatsby is searching for an unrecoverable piece of himself, so Nick also has a moment of wanting to connect with something that seems familiar but is out of reach . In a nice bit of subtle snobbery, Nick dismisses Gatsby’s description of his love for Daisy as treacly nonsense (“appalling sentimentality”), but finds his own attempt to remember a snippet of a love song or poem as a mystically tragic bit of disconnection. This gives us a quick glimpse into Nick the character - a pragmatic man who is quick to judge others (much quicker than his self-assessment as an objective observer would have us believe) and who is far more self-centered than he realizes.

Chapter 6 Analysis

Let's work to connect this chapter to the larger strands of meaning in the novel as a whole.

Overarching Themes

The American Dream . It’s not a coincidence that in the same chapter where we learn about James Gatz’s rebirth as Jay Gatsby, we see several other versions of the same kind of ambition that propelled him:

• A reporter on the make follows a hunch that Gatsby might turn out to be a story.
• Nick spends weeks courting the aunt that controls Jordan’s life and money.
• And in the deep background of the party, a movie star’s producer tries to take their relationship from a professional to a personal level.

Motifs: Alcohol. Despite his idolizing of Dan Cody, Gatsby learns from his mentor’s alcoholism to stay away from drinking – this is why, to this day, he doesn’t participate in his own parties. For him, alcohol is a tool for making money and displaying his wealth and standing.

Society and Class. A very awkward encounter between a couple of West Egg, Tom, and Gatsby highlights the disparity between West Egg money and East Egg money. To Nick, the East Eggers are fundamentally different and mostly terrible:

• For fun, they ride horses, while Gatsby’s main vehicle is a car.
• They issue invitations that they hope will get declined, while Gatsby not only welcomes them into his home, but allows people to crash his parties and stay in his house indefinitely.
• They accept hospitality without so much as a thank you, while Gatsby feels such a sense of gratitude that his thanks are overwhelming (for example, when he offers to go into business with Nick when Nick agreed to ask Daisy to tea).

This also demonstrates the fundamental inability to read people and situations correctly that plagues Gatsby throughout the novel - he can never quite learn how to behave and react correctly.

Immutability of Identity. However far Gatsby has come from the 17-year-old James Gatz, his only way of hanging on to a coherent sense of self has been to fixate on his love for Daisy. Now that he has reached the pinnacle of realizing all his fantasies, Gatsby wants to recapture that past self – the one Daisy was in love with.

Love, Desire, Relationships .   No real life relationship could ever live up to Gatsby’s unrealistic, stylized, ultra-romantic, and absolutist conception of love in general, and his love of Daisy, in particular. Not only that, but he demands nothing less of Daisy as well. His condition for her to be with him is to entirely disavow Tom and any feelings she may have ever had for him. It’s this aspect of their affair that is used to defend Daisy  from the generally negative attitude most readers have towards her character.

Daisy Buchanan's Motivations . Daisy’s reaction to Gatsby’s party is fascinating - especially if we think that Gatsby has been trying to be the “gold-hatted bouncing lover”  for her. She is appalled by the empty, meaningless circus of luxury , snobbishly disgusted by the vulgarity of the people, and worried that Gatsby could be attracted to someone else there. Daisy enjoyed being alone in his mansion with him, but the more he displays what he has attained, the more she is repelled. The gold-hatted routine simply won’t work with her when the Gatsby she fell in love with was an idealistic dreamer who was overwhelmed by simply kissing her - not the seen-it-all keeper of a menagerie of celebrities and weirdos.

Crucial Character Beats

• We find out Gatsby’s real origin story! He was born James Gatz and created a whole new persona for the future successful version of himself. When he was 17, Gatsby met a millionaire named Dan Cody, who taught him how to actually be Jay Gatsby.
• Tom and Gatsby exchange words for the first time (they met once for a hot second in Chapter 3 , but didn’t speak)! They meet by coincidence when Tom’s friends bring him to Gatsby’s house in the middle of a horseback ride.
• Tom and Daisy come to one of Gatsby’s parties, where Daisy is disgusted by the vulgar excess and Tom goes off to womanize.
• Gatsby and Nick discuss the possibility of recreating the past, which Gatsby is apparently trying to do in order to be with Daisy. Gatsby thinks that reliving the past is definitely a completely real thing that normal people are able to do.

What’s Next?

Compare the description of this downer of a party with the much more fun-sounding one in Chapter 3 , and think about what changes when the party is seen through Daisy’s eyes rather than Nick and Jordan’s.

Check out  the novel’s timeline   to get the hang of what happens when in this chapter’s flashback.

Evaluate the Tom and Gatsby face to face matchup by contrasting these two seemingly opposite characters .

Move on to the summary of Chapter 7 , or revisit the summary of Chapter 5 .

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• The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Literature Notes
• The Great Gatsby at a Glance
• Book Summary
• About The Great Gatsby
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Character Analysis
• Nick Carraway
• Daisy Buchanan
• Character Map
• F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography
• Critical Essays
• Social Stratification: The Great Gatsby as Social Commentary
• In Praise of Comfort: Displaced Spirituality in The Great Gatsby
• Famous Quotes from The Great Gatsby
• Film Versions of The Great Gatsby
• Full Glossary for The Great Gatsby
• Essay Questions
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

Summary and Analysis Chapter 6

Chapter 6 opens with an air of suspicion as a reporter comes to Gatsby, asking him "if he had anything to say." The myth of Gatsby was becoming so great by summer's end that he was rumored to be embroiled in a variety of plots and schemes, inventions that provided a source of satisfaction to Gatsby, who was originally christened James Gatz and hails from North Dakota. Nick fills the reader in on Gatsby's real background, which is in sharp contrast to the fabricated antecedents Gatsby told Nick during their drive to New York. James Gatz became Jay Gatsby on the fateful day when, on the shores of Lake Superior, he saw Dan Cody drop anchor on his yacht. Prior to that time, Gatsby spent part of his young adulthood roaming parts of Minnesota shaping the aspects of the persona he would assume. Nick suspects he had the name ready prior to meeting Cody, but it was Cody who gave Gatsby the opportunity to hone the fiction that would define his life. Cody, fifty years old with a penchant for women, took Gatsby under his wing and prepared him for the yachting life, and they embarked for the West Indies and the Barbary Coast. During their five years together, Cody and Gatsby went around the continent three times; in the end, Cody was mysteriously undone by his lady love.

After many weeks of not seeing Gatsby (largely because Nick was too busy spending time with Jordan), Nick goes to visit. Shortly after his arrival, Tom Buchanan and two others out for a horseback ride show up for a drink. After exchanging social small talk wherein Gatsby is invited to dine with the group, the three riders abruptly leave without him, somewhat taken aback that he accepted what they deem to be a purely rhetorical invitation.

Tom, apparently concerned with Daisy's recent activities, accompanies her to one of Gatsby's parties. Gatsby tries to impress the Buchanans by pointing out all the celebrities present, then makes a point of introducing Tom, much to his unease, as "the polo player." Gatsby and Daisy dance, marking the only time Gatsby really gets involved with one of his own parties. Later, Daisy and Gatsby adjourn to Nick's steps for a half-hour of privacy. They head back to the party and when dinner arrives, Tom remarks he wishes to eat with another group. Daisy, always aware of what Tom is really up to, remarks the girl is "common but pretty" and offers a pencil in case he wants to take down an address. Daisy, aside from the half-hour she spends with Gatsby, finds the party unnerving and appalling. After the Buchanans leave and the party breaks up, Nick and Gatsby review the evening. Gatsby, fearing Daisy did not have a good time, worries about her. When Nick cautions Gatsby that "You can't repeat the past," Gatsby idealistically answers "Why of course you can!" words that strike Nick soundly because of their "appalling sentimentality," which both delights and disgusts him.

If Chapter 5 showed Gatsby achieving his dream, Chapter 6 demonstrates just how deeply his dream runs. Much of the mystery surrounding Gatsby is cleared away in this chapter and the reader learns more about who he really is, where he comes from, and what he believes. After seeing Gatsby and getting to know him, Nick presents the real story of his past. By holding the actual story until Chapter 6, Fitzgerald accomplishes two things: First and most obviously, he builds suspense and piques the reader's curiosity. Second, and of equal importance, Fitzgerald is able to undercut the image of Gatsby. Ever so subtly, Fitzgerald presents, in effect, an exposé. Much as Nick did, one feels led on — Gatsby is not at all the man he claims to be. Fitzgerald wants the readers to feel delighted, glad for someone to succeed by his own ingenuity, while also a little unnerved at the ease in which Gatsby has been able to pull off his charade.

The chapter opens with an increased flurry of suspicion surrounding Gatsby. Much to his delight, the rumors about him are flying as furiously as ever, even bringing a wayward reporter to investigate (although what, precisely, he was investigating he wouldn't say). Rumors about Gatsby's past abound by the end of the summer, making a perfect segue for Nick to tell the real story on his neighbor — James Gatz from North Dakota. Gatsby is, in reality, a creation, a fiction brought to life. He is the fabrication of a young Midwestern dreamer, the son of "shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" who spent his youth planning how he would escape the monotony of his everyday life — a life he never really accepted at all. He craved adventures and the embodiment of the romantic ideal, and so he voluntarily left his family to make his own way. In many senses, Gatsby's story is the rags-to-riches American dream. A young man from the middle of nowhere, through his own ingenuity and resourcefulness, makes it big.

But there is a decided downside to this American dream. For Gatsby, his life began at age seventeen when he met Dan Cody. In the years since, he has traveled the globe, gaining, losing, and regaining his fortune. All of his money, however, doesn't exactly place him within the social strata to which he aspires. His wealth may allow him to enter certain social circles otherwise forbidden, but he is unprepared to function fully in them (just as in Chapter 5 when Gatsby tries to thank Nick for his kindness by offering to bring him into a suspicious, yet lucrative, business arrangement). Although money is a large part of the American dream, through Gatsby one sees that just having money isn't enough. In this chapter in particular, Fitzgerald clearly points out the distinction between "new money" and "old money" and, regardless of the amount of wealth one accumulates, where the money comes from and how long it's been around matters just as much as how much of it there is.

Another downside to Gatsby's American dream is that it has, in essence, stunted his growth, intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally. As noted, James ("Jimmy") Gatz ceased to exist on the day Gatsby was born, the day he rowed out in Lake Superior to meet Dan Cody (whose name alone is meant to evoke images of Daniel Boone and "Buffalo Bill" Cody, two oftentimes romanticized frontier figures). Since that time, he has worked to flesh out a fully dimensional fiction. When the persona he created, Jay Gatsby, fell in love with Daisy Fay, his fate was, in essence, sealed. As Gatsby became fixed on winning Daisy, his whole life became ordered around that goal. And why not? After all, he had willed Jay Gatsby into existence, why couldn't he will Daisy to be with him. It is worth pointing out, too, that there is little growth on Gatsby's part from the time he is seventeen until his death. He remains inexorably tied to his dreams and blindly pursues them at all costs. In one sense, Gatsby's determination is commendable, but there comes a point where living in a fictive world is detrimental to one's self, as Gatsby will find out all too soon. Dreams and goals are good, but not when they consume the dreamer.

After filling in Gatsby's background, Nick tells of a day at Gatsby's when three riders (Tom, Mr. Sloane, and an unnamed young woman) stop in for a drink. Gatsby, ever the good host, receives them warmly, although he knows full well that Tom is Daisy's husband. Although in some sense this may seem a strange interlude lacking in development and purpose, it is, in effect, intricately tied to the story of Dan Cody and the evolution of Jay Gatsby. The riders' visit is in many ways akin to the observations Nick made in Chapter 3 when he experienced his first Gatsby party. Just as at the party Gatsby stood away from the crowd (many of whom didn't even know him), Gatsby stands alone in this smaller setting as well. The three drop by to drink his liquor and little else. Their concern for him is minimal and their purposes mercenary. Under the pretense of sociability, the young woman invites Gatsby to join them for dinner. The three riders know the invitation is rhetorical — just a formality that is not meant to be accepted. Gatsby, however, is unable to sense the invitation's hollowness and agrees to attend. The group, appalled at his behavior, sneaks out without him, marveling at his poor taste.

This scenario contains several valuable messages. First, it gives an example of how shallow and mean-spirited "old money" can be. The trio's behavior is nothing less than appalling. Second, Gatsby takes their words at face value, trusting them to mean what they say. While this is a commendable trait, reflective of Gatsby's good nature and dreamer disposition, it leads to a third realization: that no matter how much Gatsby is living the American dream, the "old money" crowd will never accept him. Try as he might, Gatsby remains outside the inner sanctum and nothing he can do will allow him full access. He will never be accepted by anyone but the nouveaux riches .

The final incident of the chapter is the party at its end, the first and only party Daisy attends, and is, in many ways, unlike any party Gatsby has hosted so far. Up to this point, the purpose of the parties was twofold: to get Daisy's attention or, failing that, to make contact with someone who knows her. Now, for the first time, she's in attendance (with Tom, no less), so the party's purpose must necessarily change. Daisy and Gatsby have become increasingly comfortable with each other and even Tom is beginning to feel somewhat threatened by Daisy's "running around alone." At the party, Gatsby tries his best to impress the Buchanans by pointing out all the famous guests. Tom and Daisy, however, are remarkably unimpressed, although Tom does seem to be having a better time after he finds a woman to pursue and Daisy, not surprisingly, is drawn to the luminescent quality of the movie star (who is, in many ways, a sister to Daisy). By and large, though, Tom and especially Daisy are unimpressed by the West Eggers. The "raw vigor" of the party disgusts them, offending their "old money" sensibilities, providing another example of how the Buchanans and the people they represent discriminate on the basis of social class.

After Tom and Daisy head home, Nick and Gatsby debrief the evening's events. Gatsby, worried that Daisy didn't have a good time (after all, the Daisy in his dream would have a good time), shares his concern with Nick. Carraway, always the gentle voice of reason, reminds his friend that the past is in the past and it can't be resurrected. Most would agree with this, which makes Gatsby's "Why of course you can!" even more striking. There is no mistaking Gatsby's personality: He's like an errant knight, seeking to capture the illusive grail. He is living in the past, something the reader may not have known, had he not realized his dream of reuniting with Daisy. Although it would be going too far to say Gatsby is weak in character, Fitzgerald creates a protagonist who is unable to function in the present. He must continually return to the past, revising it and modifying it until it takes on epic qualities which, sadly, can never be realized in the everyday world. Gatsby, just as he is at his parties and with the social elite, is once again marginalized, forced to the fringes by the vivacity of his dream.

meretricious alluring by false, showy charms; attractive in a flashy way; tawdry.

Madame de Maintenon (1635-1719); second wife of Louis XIV of France. She is often depicted as ambitious, greedy, evil, and narrow-minded.

dilatory inclined to delay; slow or late in doing things.

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The Great Gatsby

By f. scott fitzgerald, the great gatsby summary and analysis of chapter 6, chapter six.

A reporter, inspired by the feverish gossip about Gatsby circulating in New York, comes to West Egg in hopes of obtaining the true story of his past from him. Though Gatsby himself turns the man away, Nick interrupts the narrative to relate Gatsby's past (the truth of which he only learned much later) to the reader.

His real name is James Gatz, and he was born to an impoverished farmer in North Dakota, rather than into wealth in San Francisco, as he claimed. He had his named legally changed to Jay Gatsby at the age of seventeen. Though he did attend St Olaf's, a small college in Minnesota, he dropped out after two weeks, as he could not bear working as a janitor in order to pay his tuition. Gatsby's dreams of self-improvement were only intensified by his relationship with Dan Cody , a man whom he met while working as a fisherman on Lake Superior. Cody was then fifty, a self-made millionaire who had made his fortune during the Yukon gold rush. Cody took Gatsby in and made the young man his personal assistant. On their subsequent voyages to the West Indies and the Barbary Coast, Gatsby became even more passionately covetous of wealth and privilege. When Cody died, Gatsby inherited $25,000; he was unable to claim it, however, due to the malicious intervention of Cody's mistress, Ella Kaye. Afterward, Gatsby vowed to become a success in his own right.

Several weeks pass without Nick's seeing Gatsby. Upon visiting Gatsby at his mansion, Nick is shocked to find Tom Buchanan there. Tom has unexpectedly stopped for a drink at Gatsby's after an afternoon of horseback riding; he is accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Sloane, an insufferable East Egg couple who exemplify everything that is repellent about the "old rich." Gatsby invites the group to supper, but Mrs. Sloane hastily refuses; perhaps ashamed of her own rudeness, she then half-heartedly offers Gatsby and Nick an invitation to dine at her home. Nick, recognizing the insincerity of her offer, declines; Gatsby accepts, though it is unclear whether his gesture is truly oblivious or defiant.

Tom pointedly complains about the crazy people that Daisy meets, presumably referring to Gatsby. Throughout the awkward afternoon, he is contemptuous of Gatsby, ­ particularly mocking his acceptance of Mrs. Sloane's disingenuous invitation.

The following Saturday, Tom and Daisy attend one of Gatsby's parties. Tom, predictably, is unpleasant and rude throughout the evening. After the Buchanans leave, Gatsby is crestfallen at the thought that Daisy did not have a good time; he does not yet know that Tom badly upset her by telling her that Gatsby made his fortune in bootlegging.

Nick realizes that Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom that she has never loved him. Nick gently informs Gatsby that he cannot ask too much of Daisy, and says, "You can't repeat the past." Gatsby spiritedly replies: "Of course you can!"

Nick begins the story of Gatsby's past by saying that Gatsby "sprang from his Platonic conception of himself," which refers to that his ideal form. That is, the Platonic form of an object is the perfect form of that object. Therefore, Nick is suggesting that Gatsby has modeled himself on an idealized version of "Jay Gatsby": he is striving to be the man he envisions in his fondest dreams of himself. Gatsby is thus the novel's representative of the American Dream, and the story of his youth borrows on one of that dream's oldest myths: that of the self-made man. In changing his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby, he attempts to remake himself on his own terms; Gatsby wishes to be reborn as the aristocrat he feels himself to be.

It is significant that Gatsby leaves college because he finds his work as a janitor degrading. This seems a perverse decision, given the fact that a university education would dramatically improve his social standing. His decision to leave reveals Gatsby's extreme sensitivity to class, and to the fact of his own poverty; from his childhood onward, he longs for wealth and­ for the sophistication and elegance which he imagines that wealth will lend him. His work as a janitor is a gross humiliation because it is at odds with his ideal of himself; to protect that ideal, he is willing to damage his actual circumstances.

Fitzgerald uses the character of Dan Cody to subtly suggest that the America of the 1920s is no longer a place where self-made men can thrive. Cody, like Gatsby, transcended early hardship to become a millionaire. Like Gatsby, he is remarkably generous to his friends and subordinates. Cody takes to drinking because, despite his wealth, he remains unable to carve out a place for himself in the world of 1920s America. It is important to note that Cody's death is brought about, at least in part, through the treachery of the woman he loves; this foreshadows the circumstances of Gatsby's death in Chapter VIII.

The painfully awkward luncheon party at Gatsby's mansion underlines the hostility of the American 1920s toward the figure of the self-made man. Both the Sloanes and Tom Buchanan treat Gatsby with contempt and condescension, because he is not of the long-standing American upper class. Though Gatsby is fabulously wealthy, perhaps wealthier than Tom himself, he is still regarded as socially inferior. For Fitzgerald, nothing could be more inimical to the original ideals of America. The first Americans fought to escape the tyrannies of the European nobility; Tom Buchanan longs to reproduce them.

This chapter makes it clear that Daisy, too, is a part of the same narrow-minded aristocracy that produced her husband. For Gatsby, she became the symbol of everything that he wanted to possess: she is the epitome of wealth and sophistication. Though Gatsby loves this quality in Daisy, it is precisely because she is an aristocrat that she cannot possibly fulfill his dreams. She would never sacrifice her own class status in order to be with him. Her love for him pales in comparison to her love of privilege.

The Great Gatsby Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Great Gatsby is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

describe daisy and gatsby's new relationship

There are two points at which Daisy and Gatsby's relationship could be considered "new". First, it seems that their "new" relationship occurs as Tom has become enlightened about their affair. It seems as if they are happy...

Describe Daisy and Gatsby new relationship?

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What are some quotes in chapter 1 of the great gatsby that show the theme of violence?

I don't recall any violence in in chapter 1.

Study Guide for The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is typically considered F. Scott Fitzgerald's greatest novel. The Great Gatsby study guide contains a biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Great Gatsby
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Essays for The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

• Foreshadowing Destiny
• The Eulogy of a Dream
• Materialism Portrayed By Cars in The Great Gatsby
• Role of Narration in The Great Gatsby
• A Great American Dream

Lesson Plan for The Great Gatsby

• About the Author
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• Relationship to Other Books
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• The Great Gatsby Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Great Gatsby

• Introduction

The Great Gatsby (Chapter VI)

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This chapter begins with a pause in the narrative, during which “It was a halt… in my [Nick’s] association with his affairs. For several weeks I didn’t see him or hear his voice on the phone.” Prompted by a reporter asking after Gatsby, Nick relates Gatsby’s true biography (though Nick didn’t actually know any of this until “much later”).

After Tom visits Gatsby’s house, Daisy and Tom go to one of his parties.

This beginning of this chapter dives into the theme of the American Dream, and it develops Gatsby’s character by relating his ambitious beginnings in poverty.

The latter part of this chapter deals with the clash between “new money” and “old money” as the “old money” Tom visits one of Gatsby’s “new money” parties.

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• 1. The Great Gatsby (Chapter I)
• 2. The Great Gatsby (Chapter II)
• 3. The Great Gatsby (Chapter III)
• 4. The Great Gatsby (Chapter IV)
• 5. The Great Gatsby (Chapter V)
• 6. The Great Gatsby (Chapter VI)
• 7. The Great Gatsby (Chapter VII)
• 8. The Great Gatsby (Chapter VIII)
• 9. The Great Gatsby (Chapter IX)
• 10. The Great Gatsby Study Guide
• 12. Symbolism in The Great Gatsby

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A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

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Chapter 6 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 6 summary.

A reporter arrives at Gatsby’s and asks if he has any statement to give. Gatsby has no idea what he means. The reporter seems to be simply following up on vague rumors attached to Gatsby that even the reporter himself does not understand.

After recounting this “fishing expedition” by the reporter, Nick relates a story told to him by Gatsby about his origins. He says that Jay Gatsby’s real name is James Gatz. He took on the name Gatsby upon meeting Dan Cody on a yacht in Lake Superior.

Gatsby is originally from a good but unremarkable family in South Dakota. He always felt out of place there and left as soon as he could to seek a better future for himself. He wandered to Lake Superior and rowed his boat out on the pretense of giving boating advice to the captain of Cody’s magnificent yacht. He managed to ingratiate himself with Cody, even becoming a partial heir to the man’s fortune. As a self-made gold and silver magnate, Cody turned Gatsby into his unofficial assistant. Unfortunately, when Cody died, his mistress Ella Kaye prevents Gatsby from receiving his inheritance.

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• The Great Gatsby: Novel Summary: Chapter 1
• The Great Gatsby: Novel Summary: Chapter 2
• The Great Gatsby: Novel Summary: Chapter 3
• The Great Gatsby: Novel Summary: Chapter 4
• The Great Gatsby: Novel Summary: Chapter 5

The Great Gatsby: Novel Summary: Chapter 6

• The Great Gatsby: Novel Summary: Chapter 7
• The Great Gatsby: Novel Summary: Chapter 8
• The Great Gatsby: Novel Summary: Chapter 9
• The Great Gatsby: Character Profiles
• The Great Gatsby: Metaphor Analysis
• The Great Gatsby: Theme Analysis
• The Great Gatsby: Top Ten Quotes

In Fitzgerald's sixth chapter, Nick reveals Gatsby's true history, in an attempt to explode "those first wild rumors about his antecedents, which weren't even faintly true" (107). In reality, Jay Gatsby is James Gatz, son of unsuccessful farmers from the Midwest. In a chance encounter with Dan Cody -- a fifty year old ex-millionaire -- on Lake Superior, however, young Gatz had introduced himself as Gatsby. Thus, the ambitious Gatz birthed a newfound persona, "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). For more on Gatsby's history, please see the Character Profiles section.

After Nick's revelations, he relaxes at Gatsby's one summer afternoon when somebody brings Tom Buchanan in for a drink. Gatsby becomes increasingly confident in his interaction with Tom -- who remains oblivious to Gatsby's continued affair with Daisy -- even inviting him to stay for dinner. Although he refuses, Tom does accompany his wife to Gatsby's party that weekend. By the end of the awkward evening, Tom demands to know who Gatsby is and what he does, vowing ominously to "make a point of finding out" (115).

Nick lingers with his neighbor after Tom and Daisy leave, and discerns that Gatsby "wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: 'I never loved you'" (116). After destroying her past with Tom with that statement, Daisy would then marry Gatsby in Louisville, "just as if it were five years ago" (116). Gatsby, essentially, wishes to obliterate and re-write the past, and truly believes that he can, determining to "fix everything just the way it was before" (117).

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The Great Gatsby: Study Guide

The Great Gatsby study guide prepared by our editorial team is a complete collection of materials necessary for understanding the great American novel. Along with the summary and analysis of every chapter, there are short reviews of the main themes, symbols, and literary devices used in the book. Of course, there is a comprehensive analysis of all the characters as well.

🗺️ The Great Gatsby Study Guide: Navigation

Short summary.

A short novel’s summary with pictures and a timeline that contains the key events of The Great Gatsby .

Summary & Analysis Chapter 1

The detailed summary and analysis of the first novel’s chapter. Active characters and themes.

Summary & Analysis Chapter 2

The detailed summary and analysis of the second novel’s chapter. Active characters and themes.

Summary & Analysis Chapter 3

The detailed summary and analysis of the third novel’s chapter. Active characters and themes.

Summary & Analysis Chapter 4

The detailed summary and analysis of the fourth novel’s chapter. Active characters and themes.

Summary & Analysis Chapter 5

The detailed summary and analysis of the fifth novel’s chapter. Active characters and themes.

Summary & Analysis Chapter 6

The detailed summary and analysis of the sixth novel’s chapter. Active characters and themes.

Summary & Analysis Chapter 7

The detailed summary and analysis of the seventh novel’s chapter. Active characters and themes.

Summary & Analysis Chapter 8

The detailed summary and analysis of the eighth novel’s chapter. Active characters and themes.

Summary & Analysis Chapter 9

The detailed summary and analysis of the ninth novel’s chapter. Active characters and themes.

Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Tom and Daisy Buchanan – all the major and minor characters of the novel described on one page.

The major themes in The Great Gatsby : money & wealth, social class, American dream, love & marriage, gender.

Symbolism & Style

The key symbols and literary devices that Fitzgerald used to create the unique atmosphere of the novel.

Quotes Explained

All the important quotations from The Great Gatsby explained on one page.

Explanation of the symbolic meaning behind the setting of The Great Gatsby and a map with all the key novel’s locations.

Essay Examples & Topics

A heap of wonderful ideas for your Great Gatsby essay: absolutely free research paper and essay samples.

F.S. Fitzgerald: Biography

A timeline and a detailed biography of a famous American writer.

Questions & Answers

A list of the answers to the most pressing questions about the novel.

💁 All You Need to Know about The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is about the tragic life of Jay Gatsby, who dedicated all his time and efforts to win back his beloved Daisy Buchanan. The novel was finished and published at the beginning of 1925 and set in the historical context of the scandalous Roaring Twenties, also called the Jazz Age.

The Great Gatsby is a tragic novel by genre. It didn’t meet immediate success when it was published. However, in the 21st century, The Great Gatsby is a book that everyone recommends reading at least once. And it is not hard to tell why this story is so significant since it includes the most relevant issues nowadays. First is, of course, the unreachable American Dream since the dreamer’s demands are always rising. The next theme is repeating the past. Today, most people still make the same mistake of not letting the past go. And, finally, the hypocrisy of the upper class, which is the social issue of all times.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, inspired by his real-life events. Some of them were the parties he went to in Long Island. Even though he wrote around 150 pieces during his life, The Great Gatsby has become the most known. However, Fitzgerald’s life was far from the merrymaking described in the book, as he was struggling with alcoholism.

🔑 The Great Gatsby: Facts

📚 The Great Gatsby: Context

When was the great gatsby written.

The Great Gatsby was written in the 1920s , which is the period presented in the book. The Roaring Twenties can be characterized by the economic rise, new technology, the birth of jazz, the beginning of the feminist movement, and Prohibition.

When Was The Great Gatsby Published?

The Great Gatsby was published in April 1925 . F. Scott Fitzgerald completed the draft in 1924, but the editor felt like the story and characters were too vague. Just after the publication, the novel was way less successful than it is now. The number of copies sold was disastrous. Fitzgerald expected the numbers to hit 75 thousand. In reality, it was only bought 20 thousand times.

Fitzgerald was frustrated because people couldn’t understand the ideas of the novel. The book appeared to be too modernist for those times. Everyone considered it a temporary literary work. The critics were not impressed and only left mixed reviews. They were not satisfied with Fitzgerald’s ideas but quite appreciated his unique writing style.

The failure of his third novel hit F. Scott Fitzgerald hard, including his drinking issue and his wife’s mental disorder. It was not easy for him to earn money as a writer, even though he started writing at school. The first two novels he published, This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and the Damned (1922), were quite well-received. It wasn’t until his death when the novel was finally noticed. With every following year, The Great Gatsby would be selling better and better until The New York Times named it “a classic” in 1960. Fitzgerald’s short life in the Roaring Twenties brought the great American novel to this world. Even today, the ideas of The Great Gatsby are as relevant as they were back then. What is more, the book is included in most curricula at schools and colleges around the world.

The Great Gatsby: Historical Context

A significant theme of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work was the idea that the post-war world was hollow and pointless . It was supposed to be a time of limitless opportunities, but it turned out to be a disaster. After the wild merrymaking of the 1920s, the crisis arrived. It is also reflected by Gatsby’s failure to achieve his American Dream.

The Great Gatsby Era

The era of The Great Gatsby is famous for American economic prosperity and endless parties. People were trying to compensate for the dark days of the war and were taking everything from the unexpected opportunity. All aspects of life were changing then: the jazz revolution was walking side by side with the movement for women’s rights.

Jazz Age and The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is set in the 1920s, which is also known as the Jazz Age . The novel has become one of the best insights into that time. The elements of the social and economic questions of the Jazz Age in The Great Gatsby give a deeper understanding of the way of life back then.

🎥 Best Known Adaptations of The Great Gatsby

The great gatsby: 1949 movie.

Fitzgerald’s novel has become so popular that with the development of the technologies, it was impossible not to create a film adaptation of it. And even though watching a movie is an entirely different experience than reading a book, it yet remains a masterpiece on the screen. So far, there are four best-known adaptations of The Great Gatsby . The original movie is the 1949 film by Paramount Pictures . It is a low-budget creation, and maybe the main reason it has become a success is the excellent performance by Alan Ladd as Gatsby.

Even though The Great Gatsby 1949 movie did not fail in terms of profits, it received mixed reviews. First of all, the film does not precisely follow the novel’s plot but slightly changes the focus to Gatsby’s criminal activities and Jordan, who ends up marrying Nick. Moreover, except for Alan Ladd, the cast is weak as the actors, according to the reviews, did not do a good job.

Overall, this adaptation is not recommended as a studying material for students. The fans of the novel might find it amusing, though. However, since it is an old movie, it is not that easy to find. The most available might be the option of a DVD copy.

The Great Gatsby: 1974 Movie

The next followed The Great Gatsby 1974 movie. This time, the creators put much more money and effort into adapting the story correctly, at least compared to the previous film. To work on the screenplay, they invited Francis Ford Coppola , who also worked on the legendary The Godfather . It would be fair to say that this one is one of the best adaptations of The Great Gatsby .

Robert Redford is the lead, and his acting also met mixed reviews. He combined the charming Gatsby and the hardworking James Gatz, which appeared to be a bit clumsy and didn’t look as professional as the original Alan Ladd’s performance. And Mia Farrow ‘s portrayal of Daisy became almost iconic.

Theoni V. Aldredge’s work on costumes is beyond expectations. The budget allowed him to create stunning outfits, which reflected the novel’s description of the Jazz Age quite well. However, it was noticed that it might have become an obstacle to catch the story’s mood. For instance, it is supposed to rain during Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion, but supposedly the costumes were too expensive to be destroyed by water.

To sum up, this adaptation can be counted as one of the best-made The Great Gatsby movies with its great cast and costumes, even though it might lack the mood and energy of the novel.

The Great Gatsby: 2000 TV Film

The Great Gatsby : 2000 TV film is the first novel adaptation of the 21st century. Just like the original movie, this one does not strictly follow the novel’s plot. However, it can be explained by the fact that this film is one hour shorter than the 1974 movie. The plot is also changed in some places. For example, Daisy comes up with a new name for Gatsby instead of Dan Cody.

This version is made specifically for TV . The fact makes the variety of adaptation a bit wider, along with The Great Gatsby play that one can attend in London. However, the critical review notes that it lacks some specific features of the previous movies because it is a TV version. For example, the scenes of Gatsby’s parties are not long enough to reflect their lavishness.

Paul Rudd , who has become quite a famous Hollywood star since then, did a fantastic job of playing Nick Carraway. However, Toby Stephens as Gatsby is not that impressive and seems to be lifeless.

Therefore, the 2000 movie might be the right choice for those who have little time but need to review the most critical moments of the story.

The Great Gatsby: 2013 Movie

It is the movie that the younger generation is the most familiar with. The Great Gatsby 2013 movie cast, together with the most amazing visual effects, helped this adaptation win multiple awards. However, the number of prizes did not protect it from some negative reviews from both critics and the audience.

The Great Gatsby’s director Baz Luhrmann brought more festive energy and enthusiasm into this newest adaptation. Computer animation, also known as CGI , has become the best tool to recreate the breathtaking imagery of Fitzgerlad’s novel. The fantastic scenes of parties and the Valley of Ashes gives the movie a dreamy look. Moreover, every soundtrack from the list of this 2013 movie has helped to create the mood. No doubts, it beats any effects created for the older movies.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, and Elizabeth Debicki are unquestionably the best actors for The Great Gatsby . However, the critics left average reviews on their playing. It seems like the creators were mostly counting on actors and CGI to do the job. Some say that the movie does not present any of the ideas Fitzerald put in the story.

It would be quite fair to note that the characters are changed to some extent. For example, Tom Buchanan is represented as a top villain, leaving no space for DiCaprio to play on Gatsby’s duality. And Nick is shown as a sarcastic party guy with a drinking problem rather than someone who got drunk only once in life before.

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The Great Gatsby

F. scott fitzgerald.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Great Gatsby: Introduction

The great gatsby: plot summary, the great gatsby: detailed summary & analysis, the great gatsby: themes, the great gatsby: quotes, the great gatsby: characters, the great gatsby: symbols, the great gatsby: literary devices, the great gatsby: quizzes, the great gatsby: theme wheel, brief biography of f. scott fitzgerald.

Historical Context of The Great Gatsby

Other books related to the great gatsby.

• Full Title: The Great Gatsby
• Where Written: Paris and the US, in 1924
• When Published: 1925
• Literary Period: Modernism
• Genre: Novel
• Setting: Long Island, Queens, and Manhattan, New York in the summer of 1922
• Climax: The showdown between Gatsby and Tom over Daisy
• Point of View: First person

Extra Credit for The Great Gatsby

Puttin' on the Fitz. Fitzgerald spent most of his adult life in debt, often relying on loans from his publisher, and even his editor, Maxwell Perkins, in order to pay the bills. The money he made from his novels could not support the high-flying cosmopolitan life his wife desired, so Fitzgerald turned to more lucrative short story writing for magazines like Esquire. Fitzgerald spent his final three years writing screenplays in Hollywood.

Another Failed Screenwriter. Fitzgerald was an alcoholic and his wife Zelda suffered from serious mental illness. In the final years of their marriage as their debts piled up, Zelda stayed in a series of mental institutions on the East coast while Fitzgerald tried, and largely failed, to make money writing movie scripts in Hollywood.

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