The Great Gatsby Group

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chippppp
chippppp
Student

In Chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby, what does Gatsby want from Daisy?

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Posted by chippppp on Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 2:11 PM and tagged with chapter 6, characters, daisy, gatsby, the great gatsby.

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  1. mshurn
    mshurn Teacher
    College - Freshman

    Gatsby's "colossal" dream, as Nick referred to it, is to literally repeat the past. Gatsby lives with the illusion that through the force of his will, he can negate the previous five years and that he and Daisy can go back and begin their relationship again. Acting within his illusion, he wants Daisy to tell Tom she not only does not love him now, she never loved him at all. This passage from Chapter 6 explains Gatsby's thinking:

    After she had obliterated three years with that sentence [her marriage to Tom] they could decide upon the more practical measure to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house--just as if it were five years ago.

    When Nick tries to reason with Gatsby, telling him "You can't repeat the past," Gatsby is amazed and incredulous: "Why of course you can!"

     

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/chapter-6-summary-anal...
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/character-analysis
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/themes

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    Posted by mshurn on Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 2:14 PM