The Great Gatsby Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis | LitCharts

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• Here, Gatsby fails to understand the "old money" behavior of insincere politeness; he mistakes it for actual politeness. "Old Money" hides its cruelty, and calls it good manners.

• She became an idealized dream for Gatsby and the center of his life.

• Nick calls Gatsby's sentimentality appalling because it has made Daisy into a symbol of perfection, an idealized vision to which Gatsby has sacrificed his identity.

• born James Gatz on a farm in North Dakota around 1900; changed his name to Jay Gatsby at age seventeen;

• meets Dan Cody, a fifty year-old multimillionaire expert in mining and precious metals, and ends up as his assistant for five years aboard the Tuolomee, Cody's boat;

• Cody dies and leaves Gatsby $25,000, which he never receives due to a legal technicality; Gatsby dedicates himself to becoming rich and successful.

• He literally created himself, even changing his name in order to become a "success."

• Gatsby tells Tom that he knows his wife, and invites Tom and his friends to stay for dinner. They say they can't stay, but invite Gatsby to dinner. Gatsby doesn't realize that the invitation was just to be polite, and accepts.

• Gatsby fails to understand the "old money" behavior of insincere politeness; he mistakes it for actual politeness. "Old Money" hides its cruelty, and calls it good manners.

• though Daisy and Gatsby dance together she also seems to have a bad time.

• Daisy says Gatsby made his money from drug stores that he built up himself.

• But that Daisy has a bad time suggests that Gatsby might not so easily be able to recreate their love. There may be too many obstacles.

• Gatsby believes in the future and the American Dream, and believes that money can buy both.

• He suspects that Daisy neither enjoyed the party nor understands the depth of his feelings for her. Nick reminds him that the past is impossible to repeat, but Gatsby disagrees. He says he will return everything to the way it was before.