The Great Gatsby, Chapter 6 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What is Gatsby's real name?

   • James Cody
   • John Gatsby
   • Jay West
   • Correct answer: James Gatz

   Nick reveals that Gatsby was born James Gatz in North Dakota and changed his name at age seventeen.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Where does James Gatz first encounter Dan Cody?

   • At a clothing shop in Duluth
   • In the silver fields of Nevada
   • Correct answer: On the shore of Lake Superior
   • At St. Olaf college in Minnesota

   Gatz was working as a clam digger along Lake Superior when he spotted Cody's yacht anchored in dangerous shallows and rowed out to warn him.

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3. 3

   Question 3. How long did Gatsby work for Dan Cody?

   • Three years
   • Correct answer: Five years
   • Ten years
   • One year

   The arrangement lasted five years, during which the boat went three times around the continent.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Why did Gatsby never receive the twenty-five thousand dollars Cody left him?

   • Correct answer: Ella Kaye used a legal device to seize it
   • Gatsby lost it all in the panic of the war
   • Gatsby refused to accept it
   • Cody changed his will the week before he died

   Ella Kaye, a newspaper woman who had attached herself to Cody, used a legal maneuver to capture the entire fortune after Cody's death.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How does Gatsby introduce Tom Buchanan at his party?

   • As a friend of Daisy's
   • As a banker from East Egg
   • As Nick's cousin
   • Correct answer: As the polo player

   Gatsby introduces him as "Mr. Buchanan—the polo player." Tom objects, but Gatsby keeps using the label all evening.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Nick mean when he says Gatsby sprang from his "Platonic conception of himself"?

   • Correct answer: Gatsby's identity was an idealized self-image he invented
   • Gatsby had a platonic friendship with Cody
   • Gatsby was born into an aristocratic family
   • Gatsby was inspired by Greek philosophy

   The phrase means Gatsby created an ideal version of himself—a perfect form—and then committed his life to making that ideal real, rejecting his actual origins entirely.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Gatsby want Daisy to do after she leaves Tom?

   • Go west to live until the scandal blows over
   • Correct answer: Go back to Louisville and marry him from her house
   • Live with him in the capitals of Europe
   • Move into his mansion and host his parties

   Gatsby's plan is for them to return to Louisville and be married from her house—"just as if it were five years ago."​

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8. 8

   Question 8. Why does Daisy dislike Gatsby's party?

   • She is offended when the director kisses his star
   • She is bored because she knows none of the guests
   • Correct answer: She finds West Egg's vulgarity and rawness appalling
   • She is upset when Tom is called the polo player

   Nick says Daisy was "appalled by West Egg" and its "raw vigor that chafed under the old euphemisms."​ Her old-money sensibility clashes with the new-money excess.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

   • Gatsby attended St. Olaf college in Minnesota before meeting Dan Cody.

     Happened

     Gatsby enrolled at St. Olaf but stayed only two weeks, dismayed by the college's indifference to his ambitions and despising the janitor's work he had to do to pay his way.

   • Tom and Daisy arrive together at Gatsby's party for the first time in Chapter 6.

     Happened

     Tom came with Daisy to Gatsby's party the Saturday after his earlier visit on horseback, "evidently perturbed at Daisy's running around alone."

   • Gatsby successfully joins Tom, Mr. Sloane, and the woman for dinner at her home.

     Didn't happen

     Gatsby goes inside to get his coat and hat, but Mr. Sloane, the woman, and Tom ride off before he returns. Nick is left to tell Gatsby they couldn't wait.

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10. 10

    Question 10. In the phrase "the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty," what does "meretricious" mean?

    • Extremely beautiful beyond description
    • Having to do with merchants, commerce or trade
    • Deserving praise and reward because of genuine merit
    • Correct answer: Superficially attractive but having no real value

    Meretricious means flashy and alluring on the surface but lacking genuine worth—describing the hollow glamor Gatsby dedicated himself to.

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11. 11

    Question 11. When Nick says "what had amused me then turned septic on the air now," what does "septic" mean figuratively?

    • Correct answer: Infected and poisonous
    • Exciting and energetic
    • Quiet and subdued
    • Clean and sterile

    Septic literally means infected with bacteria. Nick uses it figuratively to describe how the party atmosphere that once amused him now felt toxic and corrupted when seen through Daisy's eyes.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "dilatory" mean in "The dilatory limousine came rolling up the drive"?

    • Luxurious and expensive
    • Correct answer: Slow and unhurried
    • Brightly illuminated
    • Newly purchased

    Dilatory means slow to act or causing delay. The limousine arrives sluggishly, reflecting the drawn-out awkwardness of the evening's end.

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