Gatsby's true identity was James Gatz, the son of poor farmers in North Dakota. However, he reinvented himself as Jay Gatsby in hopes of connecting with wealth. He was inspired by Dan Cody's lavish lifestyle and wealth. After observing Cody's exploits, Gatsby learned how the wealthy lived and began throwing extravagant parties in an attempt to fit in with high society. His obsession with reliving the past with Daisy stems from wanting to validate his status and dream of wealth, though that dream is unrealistic and cannot capture the past.

1. Chapter 6
Who is Jay Gatsby?

2. IDENTITY CHANGE
“It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that
afternoon …but it was already Jay Gatsby who borrowed a row
boat…”
Symbolises his desire to forget his lower class
identity and recast himself as the wealthy man he
envisions.

3. • James Gatz of North Dakota is the true identity of Jay
Gatsby – son of poor farmers, whom he disowns
• Gatz was a loafer - out of work –
• In an effort to connect with the grandeur that he saw in
Dan Cody, James disconnects from his heritage and
becomes Jay, borrowing a boat to inform Cody of the
treacherous winds.
• Gatz was drawn to money and reinvented himself and
altered his identity - reborn, fake, superficial to fit in

5. What does Gatsby’s transformation tell
us about the type of person he is?
What do we admire about him?

6. GATSBY AND WOMEN
“He knew women early, and since they spoiled him he
became contemptuous of them.” (98)
• cocky attitude in Jay - attractive enough to get attention from
many women
• spoiled him and made him over-confident
• When Daisy rejects him - even if it is because of her parents
- it is a blow to the ego that he cannot get over.
• He obsesses over Daisy as the one that got away and the one
that turned him down. He was not used to rejection from
women.
• Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy may be merely an attempt to
save his ego; quest to conquer rejection.

8. POWER TO DREAM
“his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The
most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him
in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable
gaudiness spun itself out in his brain...Each night
he added to the pattern of his fancies. For a while
these reveries provided an outlet for his
imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of
unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the
world was founded securely on a fairy‟s wing.” (99)

9. DREAMER
• fantasies of wealth and splendor that haunted his
mind
• fantasies were a necessary part of his reality; an
escape from his own dreary world.
• He founded his dreams on this unreality – dreams
have to be based in reality to come true.
• He never had a chance when his foundation was
constructed of “fairy wings,” not practical stone.

11. DAN CODY
• 50 years old
• Millionaire
• physically robust
• soft-minded
• entangled with a number of women that tried to
separate him from his money
• the yacht represent “all the beauty and glamour in
the world” (100)

13. WEALTH CAN BE DANGEROUS
“Ella Kaye came on board one night in Boston and a
week later Dan Cody inhospitably died.”
• The text suggests that Ella murdered Cody for his
money, since it was she that inherited all of the
money, even though it was meant to go to Gatsby.
• money is a magnet for danger and dishonesty
• Dan Cody was a heavy drinker - and perhaps his
insobriety contributed to his downfall - it is because of
Cody that Gatsby drank so little.

14. GATSBY‟S NEW BEHAVIOR
• Having followed Cody in his exploits and observed
his behavior, Gatsby’s education prepared him for the
lifestyles of the rich.
• The idea of a wealthy gentleman was no longer just a
dream, now he knew how to behave and fit in - how
to enjoy life and throw crazy parties for attention, like
Cody
• He never got the $ that Cody meant for him, he made
it himself – what does that tell us about Gatsby?

16. TOM ON WOMEN
“I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much
these days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish.”
• Tom criticizes the freedom that women are beginning to
have in this age.
• Prefers a woman that is at home, under his watch, and
that is subservient to his whims.
• Beginning to suspect that Daisy’s adventures can lead to
infidelity, since he himself uses excursions to meet with
Myrtle and he is aware that Myrtle lies to her husband
about where she is going.

18. PARTY
• unlike Gatsby’s other parties; it had an aura of
oppressiveness - with Tom’s
vigilance, unpleasantness and pervading
harshness.
• Tom’s brutality infuses the party
atmosphere, altering the dynamic

19. TOM AT THE PARTY
• Tom asks for permission to eat with a different group
of people
• Daisy knows that he is separating himself from her
to hit on women
• Seeing Tom at his games, Daisy did not have a good
time at the party, aside from the half hour she was
able to sneak off with Gatsby.

21. DRINKING AND DANGER
• Miss Baedeker is extremely drunk and needs the
assistance of several other people.
• drunkenness is not amusing anymore - points out the
lack of control that some people have - especially
when it comes to money and alcohol.
• Once again, danger and chaos lurk underneath the
surface.

22. DAISY
“She was appalled by the 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.”

23. DAISY‟S OPINION
• Daisy is uncomfortable with the reality of the life she
sees around her - no one is trying to hide their vices
or flaws, they succumb to them with wild abandon
• The norm in the East Egg is that people put on masks
to hide their unhappiness and bad behavior. She is
used to fake politeness, not the raw honesty of West
Egg.
• Too violent and obtrusive for the delicate Daisy

25. GUESTS
“Sometimes a shadow moved against a dressing-room
blind above, gave way to another shadow, an indefinite
procession of shadows, that rouged and powdered in
an invisible glass.” (107)
• the guests are shadows - empty people with no
depth, soul or life; they are interchangeable and
concerned with appearances - powdering themselves and
making up their masks.
• They seem to have little purpose, just go through
routines.

26. “MENAGERIE”
• Tom is using the word in a derogatory manner.
• Ménagerie is a collection of wild animals kept
in captivity for display.
• Tom is making fun of the guests and their
behavior as well as Gatsby, wanting to show
off his wealth and popularity

28. DREAMS…
“After all, in the very casualness of Gatsby‟s party
there were romantic possibilities totally absent from
her world. What was it up there in the song that
seemed to be calling her back inside?” (108)

29. • Daisy looks back on the mansion before she leaves -
the party is full of possibilities that her world no
longer offers.
• Since she has made her decision to marry
Tom, nothing exciting or romantic could ever happen
to her in her world - her life is defined and set out for
her.
• Gatsby’s place takes her back to the past, recreates the
feeling of romance and potential she shared with the
young soldier - dreams are still possible in the past.

31. DAISY IS ALL THAT MATTERS
“He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she
should go to Tom and say: „I never loved you.‟ After
she had obliterated four years with that sentence
they could decide upon the more practical measures
to be taken. One of them was that, after she was
free, they were to go back to Louisville and be
married from her house - just as if it were five years
ago.” (109)

32. • Gatsby’s desire is to erase the past Daisy had without him.
• He wants to marry Daisy in her old house, with the approval of her
family - this would validate his status in the wealthy class.
• The dream is completely unrealistic, no one can relive the past.
• He can never get the young Daisy back - wishing for the past will
only lead to disappointment - he doesn’t know this version of
Daisy, suggested by the fact that he says “She used to be able to
understand.”
• She is not the same person, neither is he

34. RELIVING THE PAST
“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.‟” (110)
• A tragic delusion
• If he returned to the way things were he would be
poor, and Daisy wouldn’t want him. He wants a
combination of the past and the present, but you can’t
pick and choose.

35. “Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of
course you can!”
• This illustrates his capacity to delude himself
• Also illustrates his boundless capacity for hope
Does the quote influence our feelings
towards Gatsby?

37. MEMORY FROM THE PAST
A memory from the past, symbolic of the changes in life...During his walk with
Daisy five years before he saw...”a ladder mounted to a secret place above the
trees - he could climb to it, if he climbed alone, and once there he could suck
on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder.” (111)
• He knew that he could be successful alone; his desire for
Daisy is holding him back.
• He gave it all up to be with Daisy and dedicated his life to
her, knowing that he would be sacrificing the wonder and
wealth and happiness that solitary life would provide.

38. • She changed him and took away all the imagination that his life
had potential for; all that was left was Gatsby’s drive for material
wealth that prove to Daisy his worth.
• The tragedy of Gatsby is that the dreamer and romantic were
sacrificed to create the charming and glamorous socialite -
appearance became important, not the heart.
• Again, he is a man with the wrong dream and the wrong means
of reaching the dream – can’t win pure love with a life of crime.
• Not only can Daisy not go back to the past, Gatsby himself
cannot recover the depth of feeling he had for life and for Daisy.