The Great Gatsby Ch. 6 Reading Journal

The Great Gatsby: Chapter 6 (pp. 97-111)

Summary:

Nick started off the chapter by telling us about Gatsby’s real past, something he doesn’t learn until later in the story but he wanted to settle the rumors.  Gatsby’s real name is James Gatz and he was born on a farm in North Dakota; Gatsby “sprang from his Platonic conception of himself,” (p. 98).  Dan Cody, Gatsby’s dead best friend, was a very rich man from the Nevada silver fields.  One day when Cody went out on his yacht and Gatz went after him in a rowboat to warn him about the wind, Cody asked him to be his steward for the next 5 years; from that day on Gatz called himself Jay Gatsby.  After not having seen Gatsby for weeks, Nick goes over to Gatsby’s house where he finds Tom Buchanan who came for a drink with the Sloanes.  That Saturday, Tom and Daisy go to Gatsby’s party at which Nick is looking at through Daisy’s eyes and not enjoying what he sees.  Daisy is not enjoying herself but is defending Gatsby and the party to Tom who is criticizing West Eggers and the newly rich.  At the end, Gatsby is depressed because Daisy didn’t like the party and is going crazy insisting that he can recreate the past.

Dan Cody:

“The transactions in Montana copper that made him many times a millionaire found him physically robust but on the verge of soft-mindedness, and, suspecting this, an infinite number of women tried to separate him from his money.” (p. 99)

Dan Cody was very rich man who made his money from metal transactions.  We first see Dan Cody in a giant portrait hanging in Gatsby’s bedroom so we knew he was important from the start.  Cody asked Gatsby years ago to be a steward on his yacht and they circled the continent 3 times over 5 years.  When Dan Cody died he left $25,000 to Gatsby of which he got nothing because Ella Kaye took it all, leaving Gatsby to gain wealth on his own.  Gatsby was very much influenced by Cody in that he learned from the effects that alcohol took on Cody not to drink as heavily as he.  He also got used to luxury and wealth from being with Dan Cody.  Cody’s “yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world” and Cody himself represented the absolute wealth and extravagance that Gatsby devoted the rest of his life to strive for, (p. 100).

Significant Quote:

“He knew thatt when he kissed this girl… his mind would never romp again like the mind of God… Then he kissed her.  At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.” (p. 111)

The moment Gatsby and Daisy first kissed was the moment Gatsby stopped living his life for his own purpose or to accomplish things for himself in the image of God.  He began devoting all his time, energy, and life to Daisy.  James Gatz completely and permanently became the Jay Gatsby.  It represented the full incarnation of Jay Gatsby and the full incarnation of his fairytale image of Daisy.