Chapter 6 introduces the real Gatsby.
A journalist interviewed him due to his ‘notoriety’, not fame, emphasising the negative side of his popularity.
“Believing everything and nothing about him” Denying + confirming rumours. We are being warned to not fall for all the lies that these characters are making up.
Metta narrative moment? Nick Carraway is commenting on the fact that he is a narrator. Nick wants us to believe he is in complete control.
We get a lot of Gatsby’s upbringings, his influences and morals, but we don’t really believe it because we are getting fed up with all these lies.
Party in chapter 6 doesn’t work. One view is that a premonition of chaos/tragedy is introduced at this part of the story as the lies are beginning to speak up. However, others have felt that the chaos was sudden and unexpected, suggesting they bought into the illusion of the fun Jazz Age Fitzgerald represents, unaware of the dark undertone.
In various adaptations of the novel such as movies and plays, the main focus had been the lighthearted romantic aspect of this story, with singing, dancing, hedonism, etc. So when the tragedy does finally hit, it can be all the more painful and powerful
However, it is apparent that Fitzergald foreshadows the tragedy when focused. Gatsby’s dream of reliving the past, and winning Daisy, it’s pretty obvious it’s not going to work out.
Gatsby is trying to reclaim the past where he and Daisy had communication. Now, they are unable to communicate, one of the things this novel is about: miscommunication. This ties in with the unreliable narrator, they don’t know what they are saying to who or why.
“I wouldn’t ask too much of her,” I ventured. Ventured = cautious, self aware, polite
“Can’t repeat the past?” He cried incredulously = he doesn’t want to believe it
“Of course you can!” The highest point of his self belief, or self delusion.
The ideal world that Gatsby wishes to reclaim existed before the Great War. Gatsby is trying to stop the world, keep it from progressing, but that is impossible.
Nick doesn’t really judge him, until the last page in Chapter 6. It underscores the fruitfulness of Gatsby’s quest. It shows that NIck understands it but still does not want to say anything negative about it. “Appalling sentimentality” “A dumb man” – could be reffering to Nick himself as he has run out of things to say about Gatsby.
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