In Chapter 6, What Is Gatsby's Real History, And Where Is He From And ...

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HomeThe Great GatsbyQ & AIn Chapter 6, what is Gatsby's r...

in chapter 6, what is gatsbys real history and where is he from and his name?

Asked by trist d #425131 on 2/22/2015 7:00 PM Last updated by jill d #170087 on 2/22/2015 7:05 PM

Answers 1

Add Yours Answered by jill d #170087 on 2/22/2015 7:05 PM

His real name is James Gatz, and he was born to an impoverished farmer in North Dakota, rather than into wealth in San Francisco, as he claimed. He had his named legally changed to Jay Gatsby at the age of seventeen. Though he did attend St Olaf's, a small college in Minnesota, he dropped out after two weeks, as he could not bear working as a janitor in order to pay his tuition. Gatsby's dreams of self-improvement were only intensified by his relationship with Dan Cody, a man whom he met while working as a fisherman on Lake Superior. Cody was then fifty, a self-made millionaire who had made his fortune during the Yukon gold rush. Cody took Gatsby in and made the young man his personal assistant. On their subsequent voyages to the West Indies and the Barbary Coast, Gatsby became even more passionately covetous of wealth and privilege. When Cody died, Gatsby inherited $25,000; he was unable to claim it, however, due to the malicious intervention of Cody's mistress, Ella Kaye. Afterward, Gatsby vowed to become a success in his own right.