Fitzgerald also attempts to express the story and links to the destination through voice. In any instances of direct and attributed speech during Chapter 6, Fitzgerald describes (through Nick) how the person is speaking very deliberately and consciously, to emphasise the characteristics of the people speaking, thereby linking them to their role in conveying the destination of the novel. For example, Gatsby’s statement to Tom that he “knows his wife” is described as being “almost aggressive” by Nick. This shows Gatsby to be uneasy and hostile in the face of the person he believes to be obstructing his dream of attaining Daisy to complete his transition from lower class to upper class. Another example of reflective description of speech is Daisy’s whispering (“’These things excite me so,’ she whispered”) which, as afore mentioned, is typical of her amoral nature and the similar nature of the upper echelons of society in general. Moreover, after the revelation that Gatsby knows Daisy, Tom becomes noticeably more worried: Fitzgerald portrays this through Tom’s repetition of the phrase “That so?” The fact that this phrase is free and direct speech makes Tom’s tone seem snappy and apprehensive, as the phrase is free-standing. This uneasiness on Tom’s part is the start of his suspicions that there is something between Gatsby and Daisy, leading him to attend Gatsby’s party the following Saturday night. Repetition is also used to highlight Gatsby’s depression at the fact that Daisy did not enjoy his party (“’She didn’t like it’ he said immediately”, “’She didn’t like it,’ he insisted”). Furthermore, Fitzgerald employs free and indirect speech when describing the rumours concerning Gatsby, which lends the rumours a universal tone, reflecting that the rumours are the beliefs of many people who are suspicious of the ‘nouveau riche’, a social group of which Gatsby is the most prominent. So, Fitzgerald uses voice to show the inner thoughts of the characters and to hint at their roles in society, allowing the reader to see the qualities in people of this time and make a judgement about the society as a whole.
In Chapter 6, some characters are introduced for the very first time, and others who have been earlier introduced are re-enforced, with the character and history of Jay Gatsby being the focus for the majority of the chapter. The chapter begins with an “ambitious young reporter” who had come to ask Gatsby for a statement concerning the rumours that he has heard about Gatsby’s past. Although this reporter is a minor character, he gives the reader an insight into the character of Gatsby, with his mysterious and shadowy past, his “notoriety”. After this insight into how society looks upon Gatsby at the present time (that is, with a great deal of suspicion), Nick describes Gatsby’s past to the reader, also giving his own thoughts on his past (i.e. external characterisation of Gatsby through his past actions and internal characterisation of Gatsby through Nick’s thoughts). An example of Nick thoughts on Gatsby’s past is Nick assumption that “he (Gatsby) had had the (new) name ready for a long time”, showing the level of discontent that he thought that Gatsby had previously, before his transformation .The reader learns that Gatsby came from a relatively impoverished background, having to pay his way through school with “janitor work” which he “despised”. This shows the reader that Gatsby has transcended his roots to become as wealthy as he is, rather than inheriting his riches. This passage describing Gatsby’s roots shows the reader that Gatsby (or Gatz, as he was) used to dream of being rich and powerful (“The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain...”). A picture of a poor James Gatz who dreams of re-inventing himself as the fabulously extravagant Jay Gatsby through any means necessary has now formed in the reader’s mind. In addition to this, Gatsby’s true reason for Chasing after Daisy is questioned: he apparently became “contemptuous” of women during this underprivileged period of his life. This may lead readers to believe that Gatsby merely desires Daisy to complete his great transformation from Gatz to Gatsby. This passage outlines Gatsby’s first taste of higher class aboard Cody’s boat. After Cody’s death, “the vague contour of Jay Gatsby had filled out to the substantiality of a man” (i.e. the transformation had begun). This explanation of Gatsby’s past tempers everything which occurs afterwards. For example, when Gatsby explains that he used to “ride in the army”, the reader knows he is lying and it becomes very apparent that Gatsby is literally living a lie, which is a recurring theme in the novel (illusion versus reality). Later, at Gatsby’s party, Gatsby enjoys holding a more important role than Tom, signified by his constant belittling of Tom by referring to him as a “polo player”. Gatsby is mainly characterised predominantly through Nick’s recounting of Gatsby’s past (i.e. external characterisation of Gatsby married with Nick’s internal thoughts). Other characters are also characterised in this Chapter by Fitzgerald, albeit to a lesser extent. Tom is portrayed to be an arrogant, detached and suspicious man. His external actions portray this explicitly (e.g. his repetition of “’That so?’” when he learns of Gatsby’s acquaintance with Daisy). Tom and the Sloanes represent the disdain for ‘nouveau riche’ that the ‘old money’ upper class hold: Mr Sloane’s blatant dislike of Gatsby is showed externally by his eagerness to leave Gatsby’s house and his reluctance to let Gatsby come to supper with him. Even Mrs Sloane, who invites Gatsby to dinner, only does so “after two highballs”, and even then, Gatsby doesn’t notice the insincerity of the invitation. This episode epitomises one of the central recurring themes of the novel: that people like Gatsby and Nick, who have not inherited any wealth and high status, will never be able to break into the elite social circles of the aristocracy – that social mobility is rendered impossible by a strict social hierarchy (i.e. that the American dream is unachievable, fanciful). The character of Daisy is not added to by Fitzgerald in Chapter 6: her external actions still show her to be rather meretricious (e.g. “’If you want to kiss me any time during the evening, Nick, just let me know and I’ll be glad to arrange it for you.’”. The image of Daisy projected by Fitzgerald is nearly always slightly negative, including in this chapter. This helps the reader to understand that Gatsby may want Daisy for reasons other than love of her as a person. This chapter shows the power of Gatsby to make dreams into reality, shown explicitly by his transformation from Gatz to Gatsby: it may be the case that Fitzgerald is hinting that Gatsby only desires Daisy to complete this great transformation, to complete his life, merely as a symbolic possession rather than as a person he loves. In this way, the role of Daisy becomes more advanced. Other minor characters (i.e. the guests of Gatsby’s party at Nick’s “tipsy” table, like Miss Baedeker) are introduced, mainly to show Nick the somewhat disgusting and oppressive nature of the excessive party. Fitzgerald uses both external and internal characterisation (the internal usually taking the form of Nick’s thoughts) to place each character into a mould which they conform to for the duration of the novel, or (in the case of already introduced characters) to emphasise their roles and introduce new qualities and motives. This characterisation also serves to clarify the roles in society the characters symbolise.
The first setting portrayed to the reader in Chapter 6 the “insidious flat on Lake Superior”, which is where James Gatz first met Dan Cody. This seems to be a rather desolate place, no doubt indicative of the desolate and ‘unimportant’ life which Gatz leads. He is described as “drifting back” there and “searching for something to do”, adding to the feeling that it is a place utterly without hope. This represents the lowest point of Gatsby’s life so far known by the reader. The locations Gatsby is taken to by the boat (e.g. the West Indies and the Barbary Coast) represent the type of exotic luxury that Gatz will aspire to attain through inventing Jay Gatsby. The next setting which is described in any detail is West Egg, from the perspective of Daisy, an East Egger, as described by Nick. West Egg “offended” Daisy, no doubt because she felt it to be vulgar and representative of everything common and lower/middle class (“She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented ‘place’ that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village – appalled by its raw vigour that chafed under the old euphemisms and a short-cut from nothing to nothing. She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand.”). This description portrays West Egg (still a relatively prosperous and affluent place) as a place with desolation comparable to the previously described Lake Superior, which is quite clearly an exaggeration: the “short-cut from nothing to nothing” is the route that Gatsby has taken to his riches in the eyes of the upper classes (most notably Tom), which eventually results in Daisy leaving him after her initial uncertainty. Fitzgerald does not use setting as a narrative device extensively in Chapter 6, but on the two occasions where he does, they are both effective in relating to the destination of the novel.
Chapter 6 moves through time in a slightly haphazard manner: it begins where the previous chapter left off, with Gatsby triumphant in his reunion with Daisy, before Nick’s decision to take the reader back to the childhood of James Gatz. Nick justifies this look back at the past by telling the reader he is trying to dispel “those first wild rumours about (Gatsby’s) antecedents”. This recollection of Gatsby’s past also serves to finally show the reader where Gatsby came from and shows the reader his raison d’être, his motivations: this passage helps the reader to empathise with gatsby and understand him. This passage (as well as another one later in the novel) portrays Gatsby’s past, essential in realising one of the key destinations of the novel (indeed, the final, resounding note of melancholy on which the novel ends) – that the past is inescapable. This is shown by the time period directly after this flashback (i.e. the present) where, even though Gatsby has now attained the riches he desired after the death of Cody, the Sloanes and Tom still treat him with a high level of condescension. After the meeting of Tom and the Sloanes with Gatsby, time then jumps to Gatsby’s party ‘the following Saturday”, where the party takes its course. After the party, Gatsby (clearly unhappy that Daisy did not enjoy herself) begins reminiscing, wishing that his relationship with Daisy could be as it was when he first met her. He is adamant that he can ‘repeat the past’, showing Gatsby’s desire to relive the past and attempt to restructure it until perfection rather than accept what his past actually had been and for that matter accept his life as it was. This is yet another example of Gatsby attempting to re-engineer and re-invent his identity to an unrealistic level of flawlessness. After describing the “disorder” in his life in the five years since his relationship with Daisy, Fitzgerald then introduces another flashback, this time one of those happier times. This memory is most likely what Gatsby is thinking about in the aftermath of the party, and it is therefore indicative of his ironic yearning for one aspect of his past life: a relationship with Daisy with no complications (i.e. Tom). Fitzgerald’s use of time in Chapter 6 allows the reader to access more of the background of the story, thereby allowing a higher level of understanding of the chronological story (mainly the motivations of Gatsby and his history).
Fitzgerald uses a wide range of literary tools in the Chapter 6 to not only continue the story, but also emphasise many of its themes, as well the history of Gatsby, who had thus far been somewhat of a mystery.
