The Great Gatsby: Key Quotes Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Key Quotes

Depictions of Setting:

“Sunday morning while church bells rang in the villages alongshore, the world and its mistress returned to Gatsby’s house and twinkled hilariously on his lawn.”: This description helps to establish the contrasting moralities in the novel. The ‘church bells’ represents traditional virtues and societal norms, while ‘the world and its mistress’ at Gatsby’s house illustrates the moral laxity of the Jazz Age.
“By seven o’clock the orchestra has arrived, no thin five-piece affair, but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos…“: This quote describes the opulence of Gatsby’s parties, reinforcing the theme of excess and extravagance prominent throughout this time period.

Development of Characters:

“He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way.” This quote about Gatsby’s self-creation highlights his remarkable determination to reinvent himself and realize his dream, despite the obstacles he had to face.
“His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people—his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.” These lines underscore Gatsby’s disillusionment with his humble beginnings and his attempt to dissociate from them. It also develops his character as a self-made man, representing the American Dream.

Emerging Themes:

“He was a son of God…and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty.” This passage effectively encapsulates one of the novel’s key themes: the pursuit of an unworthy goal. Gatsby’s misguided devotion to ‘meretricious beauty’ (a shallow materialistic ideal) leads to his downfall.
“His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy’s white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl…his mind would never romp again like the mind of God.” This quote represents the theme of desire versus reality. Once Gatsby attains his dream (Daisy), the ideal he has built up will be tainted by reality.

Employment of Symbolism:

“The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself.” This is symbolic of Gatsby’s transformation. The ‘Platonic conception’ suggests an ideal form that he strives to embody, representing his self-creation and pursuit of the American Dream.
“He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it …“ The ‘blue lawn’ symbolises the border between reality and fantasy, underlining the novel’s theme of disillusionment. The imagery of colour plays a significant part in portraying mood and atmosphere in the novel.