Chapter 6 (p. 97-111)

Summary:
In this chapter, we learn the confusing truth about Gatsby's past. His name was James Gatz and he met Dan Cody, a rich millionaire, in a chance coincidence encounter on his yacht and it seems to be where Gatsby got a taste of the upper class. Dan Cody died a mysterious death and Gatsby was supposed to inherit all of his money, but he never did. This information doesn't give us too much detail on who Gatsby really is because it's vague and very confusing. Also in this chapter, Daisy and Tom both attend a party at Gatsby's and Tom begins to question who Gatsby is and why he has so much money.

Character:
Tom Buchanan
"Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body- he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage- a cruel body." (FITZGERALD 7)
- Tom is an arrogant, racist, and selfish man.
- Daisy describes him as being "a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen[...]" (FITZGERALD 12)
- He collects objects; that's why his house is so big and fancy and why he spends so much money. Daisy, their child, and Myrtle are all just more objects for his collection.
- In this chapter, Tom repeatedly questions how Gatsby has acquired all of his money and accuses him of being a "bootlegger".

-Tom Buchanan is a character that we as readers immediately don't like as soon as we read about him. He's full of himself, he's a racist, he doesn't respect women or his 'friends', his main focus in life is to be better than everyone else, and he uses his money to collect objects that he can show off. Basically, he's an annoying jerk. However, when he and Daisy first got married, she was absolutely in love with him. Jordan Baker says, "I thought I'd never seen a girl so mad about her husband... It was touching to seem them together-it made you laugh in a hushed, fascinated way." (FITZGERALD 77) Now, Tom is having an affair, Daisy is aware of it, and there love is completely gone. When Gatsby tells Tom that he knows Daisy, Tom wonders how they met and then the next weekend accompanies Daisy to his party. Because of the type of guy he is, we know that he is probably jealous of Gatsby and worried of losing Daisy, not that he loves her, but because she's a possession. Tom will continue to be an important character because of his marriage to Daisy and his interest in Gatsby's life.

Meaningful Quote:
"[...] I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn't been there before. Or perhaps I had merely grown used to it, grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy's eyes. It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment." (FITZGERALD 104)
- I chose this quote because it was Nick's view on the West Egg and then how he thought Daisy viewed it. It stood out to me because it's always interesting to think of how someone else views something that you have strong opinions on. I love my house, but if some other person came and looked at it for the first time, they might notice all the chips in the paint, the warped floors, the mold on the bathroom ceiling, the mismatching blinds, and regard it with disgust rather than love. But you never know what someone else is truly thinking, so it's always interesting to think about it.