The Great Gatsby- Chapter Six PDF

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This is a summary of chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby with quotes and core themes and motifs explained....

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Chapter Six

Structure- Juxtaposition with chapter five which shows the American Dream and chapter six shows the harsh reality. This is shown through Gatsby’s true history with Dan Cody. Fitzgerald then continues with Tom and his friends from a new money background who talk to Gatsby. Structurally this is placed next to Gatsby’s truth to show that in a world where material and money success is everything, old money is more important that new money. This chapter really shows the differences between old and new money. =A lot of the mystery behind Gatsby is also cleared. Flashback about Dan Cody and Gatsby -There is a reference to Plato’s philosophical construct of an ideal form, something that exists outside of the real world. ‘The truth about Jay Gatsby…sprang from his Platonic conception of himself.’ Gatsby tried to turn himself into this fantastical figure who is of Daisy’s standard as Gatsby views her as this ‘enchanting object’ (chapter five). -Nick references biblical luminaries like Adam who is called the ‘son of God’ in the New Testament. This is again comparing Gatsby to larger than life and fantastical beings, he is creating a myth out of himself for the same reason as his conception of himself as something Platonic. Tom and Daisy attend Gatsby’s party -Both Daisy and Tom’s presence gives a ‘quality of oppressiveness’ to the party that is usually an exciting and luxurious experience for Nick. Their presence reminds the people of West Egg of their lower social standing, they are in a sense invaders. Nick has to ‘adjust’ his behaviour to the tense environment and is aware of the different ‘standards’ of behaviour that he has been around since he moved to the East. He realises that by hanging around with Gatsby, he has debased himself from the same social standing as Daisy and Tom. - We see Daisy’s view of the party as she becomes somewhat of a narrator. She is judgemental and doesn’t like that the new rich have not learnt to hide their wealth and are full of ‘raw vigour’ that causes them to show off their wealth, they are too materialistic. Their ‘simplicity’ is their single-minded devotion to money and materials. After Daisy and Tom have left the party -Gatsby expects Daisy to refute her entire relationship with Tom. ‘She should go to Tom and say ‘I never loved you.’ He wants her to do this so that she can show that she is just as dedicated and has been just as obsessed with Gatsby as he has been with her. He expects their mind-sets to be exactly the same which is unhealthy. -‘Why of course you can [repeat the past]’, Gatsby’s ability to recreate this quasi-fictional past is both a tribute to his romantic and idealistic nature (which is what Nick decides makes him so ‘great’) and an indication that he is a delusional fantasist. -Nick is a pragmatic man, quick to judge others. Just as Gatsby is searching for a part of himself, so is Nick. Yet he describes Gatsby’s search as an ‘appalling sentimentality’ and describes his own search as a simple ‘struggle.’ Nick is far more selfcentred than he realises....