Chapter 6 - Gatsby's True Past

Finally we get some true information about the past of this mysterious character. Even though many people seem to think they know something about Gatsby, they do not. It was different from what I had expected. I would have thought Gatsby was always smart and indeed he had gone to Oxford. But this was not the case against all my expectations. On the contrary, Gatsby was a poor man at first who got rich after he met Dan Cody. It was also very interesting that he had changed his name for some reason. Gatsby turned out to be completely different from what I would expect him to be. I was amazed by how the author explains every strange thing that Gatsby does, but uses different sources for all of them. I was surprised to learn that Gatsby does not drink because he saw how Dan Cody was. After all, before he got rich, before he went to war, Gatsby was a normal person.

The second part of this chapter was quite different than normal. Normal we'd expect Daisy to visit Gatsby but this time, Nick finds Tom Buchanan in Gatsby's house. He is as shocked as we are. Next week, Tom visits Gatsby's party and starts to suspect his wife and Gatsby are having a relationship. This is the point where Nick, along with Gatsby knows that this will not work, even though Gatsby fails to admit it. Nick realizes that the dream Gatsby has and is trying to realize is already with Gatsby meeting Daisy again. This can relate closely to the theme of the American Dream. They both have failed because they were not really there in the first place. Gatsby could never go back to those times with Daisy a long time has passed between now and then. They weren't rich back then and Daisy didn't need to be pleased with money but now that has changed. And the fact that Gatsby has to get money to get Daisy on his side shows to me that this relationship is done before it has even begun. Yet, Gatsby rejects this and keeps on believing that Daisy will leave Tom and come running back into Gatsby's arms. Now for the confrontation between Tom Buchanan and Gatsby...