The Great Gatsby Chapter 6 Summary

We are gathered here today to celebrate and give thanks for the life of a truly remarkable man. Gatsby was born James Gatz in North Dakota. At 17, he had his family name changed from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby. I think he changed his name because of the war, he felt that when he got back from the war that he wanted to be known as a different man, start a new life. Jay was a good goal setter and always dreamt of doing something new. He loved seeing other people happy, and he loved to be the reason for their happiness, and every chance he had to help someone, he did it without hesitation!

“The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself”(Fitzgerald 104). Previously known as James Gatz, Gatsby was born to poor, unsuccessful farmers in North Dakota, growing up he knew that he was destined for greatness. He is a man who was able to rise above his humble beginnings, leaving his past behind to recreate himself in the image he has always desired. “At the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career- when he saw Dan Cody’s yacht drop anchor over the insidious flat on Lake Superior”(Fitzgerald 104). Gatsby saved Dan Cody’s life and became his personal assistant due to Cody finding him to be smart and ambitious, they traveled the world and Gatsby learned many lessons.

When Tom finds out about this, he is furious, and Daisy is forced to choose between Gatsby or Tom. She ends up picking Tom, which later breaks Gatsby’s heart. Once Gatsby is faced with this rejection, Nick Carraway describes Gatsby’s emotions as, “It passed, and he began to talk excitedly to Daisy, denying everything, defending his name against accusations that had not been

Nick does not think Tom and Myrtle really loves each other (Hays, “Fitzgerald”). Everyone knew about Tom’s affair with Myrtle expect Myrtle’s husband. Nick left Tom and Myrtle at his house when he went to the store. Nick buys some cigarettes and finds Tom and Myrtle in his bedroom (Hays, “Fitzgerald”).

Another hope that Jay Gatsby had when he was young, was to be like Dan Cody. Dan Cody is the one who introduced Gatsby to the life of the wealthy. His huge mansion and the exquisite car

At the hotel, Tom noticed that Gatsby and Daisy had been acting close, as if they had known each other for years before this newly founded friendship. Nick and Jordan had not been acting as if anything was out of the ordinary. Tom realizes that Gatsby and Daisy knew each other from long before and used to be in love. After some conflict in the hotel room, Tom attempts to reveal all of Gatsby’s secrets to win back Daisy. While Nick and Jordan observed the arguing occur as Daisy attempted to calm them down, Tom shouted, “But all the rest of that’s a God damned lie.

He even changed his name “James Gatz—that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen”(104) as Nick says. Following this nature James Gatz was trying his best to fulfill his American dream. By a lucky accident he met Dan Cody in the beginning of chapter six. This is when James Gatz became Jay Gatsby.

Gatsby was employed by Dan Cody doing various jobs and during that time, became close friends with one another, and each had a trust with one another (Fitzgerald 100). Cody showed Gatsby the lavish things in life, and Gatsby held a tight grip on them and made them his lifelong aspirations. Dan Cody evokes in Jay Gatsby the appreciation for wealth. “To young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world” (Fitzgerald 100). Jay Gatsby stares in amazement at Cody’s possessions, in Gatsby eyes, being corpulent in wealth and power causes bigger and better things for one’s self. The greatness of Gatsby comes through the willingness he has to make his dreams a success. Jay Gatsby’s dreams are the reason for his existence, and his purpose in life.

Gatsby grew up alone fishing and gathering resources to survive all by himself after he ran away from the family farm to find a better life. It was hard at first, but then he found Dan Cody, the man that made Gatsby exactly who he is, or was. Gatsby was a personal aid for Cody, he would do anything for him while he stayed on Dan’s boat. Eventually Mr. Cody died and Gatsby was supposed to get money from his will, but he didn't receive a dime of it because Cody’s spouse took all the money. Gatsby was also a war hero, he has been awarded and noticed several times as such too.

The experiences with Cody however, helped Gatsby to later pursue a job in business. We

After five years however Dan Cody died. "It was indirectly due to him that Gatsby drank so little" for he had seen what happened to people who drank. He inherited 25,000 dollars from Cody but he never got the money and all he was left with was "his singularly appropriate

In the book, there is a self-made millionaire named Dan Cody who has an intimate relationship with Gatsby. While in the movie, this character has been left out. As a matter of fact, the importance of Dan Cody to Gatsby’s life cannot be exaggerated. He is like Gatsby’s father, teaching Gatsby skills and becoming a paragon of Gatsby’s life.

Gatsby was a man who did not wish to live his family's life, a man who wanted to go above the level of his parents. Jay Gatsby's legal names was James Gatz, "he had it changed at the age of seventeen at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career"(Fitzgerald 104). By doing this Gatsby was trying to put as much space between him and his parents who were shiftless and unsuccessful farmers. To escape his family’s life of poverty hr became the right hand man of Dan Cody. He managed to accomplish this feature by earning his trust slowly throughout the five years that Gatsby was with Cody. Dan Cody was a man made of money. His family was there for every metal rush since the seventy- five, and from him Gatsby learned the proper education of a high society man. Gatsby by doing this left his parents behind to become a new

Jay Gatsby or as he was originally known as, James Gatz of North Dakota changed his name at the age of seventeen, when he started his career. James Gatz was a boy who spent his time loafing along the beach in the afternoons in a pair of canvas pants and a torn green jersey. But it was Jay Gatsby who borrowed a row boat making a start on his way to a new life.

Skipping ahead of where we left off last chapter, chapter 6 starts by giving us more background on Gatsby through Nick. We find out that Jay Gatsby is actually a made up persona from James Gatz, and his actual background seems to be in sharp contrast with that of Jay Gatsby’s. He spent his childhood in Minnesota where he met who seems to have played a major impact on Gatsby’s character, and older man named Cody, who took Gatsby under his wing and essentially brought Jay Gatsby to life. Another downside to Gatsby's American dream is that it has, in essence, stunted his growth, intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally.