In chapter 5, the true anxiety and loneliness of Gatsby is revealed. When Nick comes home, he finds Gatsby’s house ablaze with lights. He believes for a second that his house is on fire but later Gatsby walks over to his yard and explains that he was “glancing into some rooms” The fact that Gatsby has shed some light on his dark house represents his reflection on his life. He seems to comprehend on this night that he is extremely lonely, and therefor he attempts to go to Coney Island or for a dip in the pool with Nick. He longs for company, and wishes to attain it by meeting with Daisy Buchannan. It seems that Gatsby is not really in love with Daisy, no matter how much he claims to be. He instead is in love with the concept of Daisy, the concept of a beautiful companion for him to share his amassed wealth with. The next day, at Gatsby’s humble request, Nick invites Daisy over to tea so that Gatsby may finally speak to her. According to Gatsby, the rain had been predicted to end at four, but when Daisy arrived it was still raining. When Daisy rings the doorbell and comes in, a transformation occurs. At this moment, Gatsby slips outside through the back door and gets soaked. This drenched state symbolizes his rebirth. After he slips into the house, he begins a new phase of his life. He moves from a phase of longing and chasing into a newfound state where Daisy is right within his reach and he needs to hold on. To Gatsby, the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock that he would long at into the night represented his pursuit of the unattainable Daisy. Now that Gatsby has gone into this second phase where he is almost in possession of Daisy, the light at the end of the dock is no longer significant: “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever.”
In chapter 6, we finally get a look at what Nick Carraway claims to be the “authentic” Gatsby. Apparently Gatsby had not come from a wealthy family after all and he inherited money after the death of his friend Dan Cody, who he had cruised around the world with. In fact, Gatsby’s name was not Jay Gatsby at all but rather James Gatz. Gatsby had in essence created an idealistic persona of himself and took on the role after meeting Dan Cody. After he created Jay Gatsby, he forgot all about his past, creating a new identity for himself and denying the existence of his roots. As the relationship with Daisy grew, Gatsby loathed Tom Buchannan even more. Tom came to Gatsby’s party with some friends one evening and Gatsby shook his hand, looked him right in the eye and said rather aggressively, “I know your wife.” At a later party, where Tom had brought Daisy, Gatsby referred to Tom all night as “the polo player” in a mocking way. I believe that he meant this in a sexual sort of way because Gatsby most likely knew about Tom’s affair and was indirectly stating that Tom likes to “mount horses” and “play games while mounting horses”. Obviously in chapter 6, tension begins to heat up between Tom and Gatsby, as Gatsby gets drawn even further into his delusion of grandeur.
My only question would be why when told by Nick that he cannot repeat the past, Gatsby responded “Of course you can.” Is he really this delusional?
In chapter 6, we finally get a look at what Nick Carraway claims to be the “authentic” Gatsby. Apparently Gatsby had not come from a wealthy family after all and he inherited money after the death of his friend Dan Cody, who he had cruised around the world with. In fact, Gatsby’s name was not Jay Gatsby at all but rather James Gatz. Gatsby had in essence created an idealistic persona of himself and took on the role after meeting Dan Cody. After he created Jay Gatsby, he forgot all about his past, creating a new identity for himself and denying the existence of his roots. As the relationship with Daisy grew, Gatsby loathed Tom Buchannan even more. Tom came to Gatsby’s party with some friends one evening and Gatsby shook his hand, looked him right in the eye and said rather aggressively, “I know your wife.” At a later party, where Tom had brought Daisy, Gatsby referred to Tom all night as “the polo player” in a mocking way. I believe that he meant this in a sexual sort of way because Gatsby most likely knew about Tom’s affair and was indirectly stating that Tom likes to “mount horses” and “play games while mounting horses”. Obviously in chapter 6, tension begins to heat up between Tom and Gatsby, as Gatsby gets drawn even further into his delusion of grandeur.
My only question would be why when told by Nick that he cannot repeat the past, Gatsby responded “Of course you can.” Is he really this delusional?