[Music] the great gatsby by f scott fitzgerald chapter six about this time an ambitious young reporter from new york arrived one morning at gatsby's door and asked him if he had anything to say anything to say about what inquired gatsby politely why any statement to give out it transpired after a confused five minutes that the man had heard gatsby's name around his office in a connection which he either wouldn't reveal or didn't fully understand this was his day off and with laudable initiative he had hurried out to see it was a random shot and yet the reporter's instinct was right gaspi's notoriety spread about by the hundreds who had accepted his hospitality and so become authorities on his past had increased all summer until he fell just short of being news contemporary legends such as the underground pipeline to canada attached themselves to him and there was one persistent story that he didn't live in a house at all but in a boat that looked like a house and was moved secretly up and down the long island shore just why these inventions were a source of satisfaction to james gatz of north dakota isn't easy to say james gatz that was really or at least legally his name he changed it at the age of 17 and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career when he saw dan cody's yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on lake superior it was james gatz who had been loafing around on the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey and a pair of gray canvas pants but it was already jay gaspi who borrowed a rowboat pulled out to the ptolemy and informed cody that a wind might catch him and break him up in half an hour i suppose he had the name ready for a long time even then his parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all the truth was that jay gatsby of west egg long island sprang from his platonic conception of himself he was a son of god a phrase which if it means anything means just that and he must be about his father's business service of a vast vulgar meritious beauty so he invented just the sort of jay gatsby that a 17 year old boy would be likely to invent and to this conception he was faithful to the end for over a year he had been beating his way along the south shore of lake superior as a clam digger and a salmon fisher or in any other capacity that brought him food and bed his brown hardening body lived naturally through the half-fierce half-lazy work of the bracing days he knew women early and since they spoiled him he became contemptuous of them of young virgins because they were ignorant of the others because they were hysterical about things which in his overwhelming self-absorption he took for granted but his heart was in a constant turbulent riot the most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night the universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the wash stand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor each night he added to the pattern of his fancies until drowsiness closed down upon some vivid scene with an oblivious embrace for a while these referees provided an outlet for his imagination they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing an instinct towards his future glory had led him some months before to the small lutheran college of st olaf in southern minnesota he stayed there two weeks dismayed at its ferocious indifference to the drums of his destiny to destiny itself and despising the janitor's work with which he was to pay his way through then he drifted back to lake superior and he was still searching for something to do on the day that dan cody's yacht dropped anchor in the shallows along shore cody was 50 years old then a product of the nevada silver fields of the yukon of every rush for metal since 75 the transactions in montana copper that made him many times a millionaire found him physically robust but on the verge of soft-mindedness and suspecting this an infinite number of women tried to separate him from his money the non-two savory ramifications by which ella k the newspaper woman played madame dimentinen to his weakness and sent him to see in a yacht were common knowledge to the turgid journalism of 1902. he had been coasting along all too hospitable shorts for five years when he turned up as james gas's destiny at little girl bay to the young gats resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck the yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world i suppose he smiled at cody he had probably discovered that people liked him when he smiled at any rate cody asked him a few questions one of them excited the brand new name and found that he was quick and extravagantly ambitious a few days later he took him to duluth and brought him a blue coat six pair of white duck trousers and a yachting cap and when the tulumi left for the west indies and the barbary coast gaspi left too he was employed in a vague personal capacity while he remained with cody he was intern steward mate skipper secretary and even janitor predan cody sober knew what lavish doings dan cody drunk might soon be about and he provided for such contingencies by proposing more and more trust in gatsby the arrangement lasted for five years during which the boat went three times around the continent it might have lasted indefinitely except for the fact that ella k came on board one night in boston and a week later dan cody inhospitably died i remembered the portrait of him up in gatsby's bedroom a gray floored man with a hard empty face the pioneer de bache who during one phase of american life brought back to the eastern seaboard the savage violence of the frontier brothel and saloon it was incredibly due to cody that gatsby drank so little sometimes in the course of gay parties women used to rub champagne in his hair for himself he formed the habit of letting liquor alone and it was from cody that he inherited money a legacy of 25 000 he didn't get it he never understood the legal device that was used against him but what remained of the millions when intact to ella k he was left with his singularly appropriate education the vague contour of jay gatsby had filled out to the substantiality of a man he told me all this much later but i put it down here first with the idea of exploding those first wild rumors about his antecedents which weren't even fairly true moreover he told it to me at a time of confusion when i had reached the point of believing everything and nothing about him so i took advantage in this short haul while gatsby so to speak caught his breath to clear this set of misconceptions away it was a halt two in my association with his affairs for several weeks i didn't see him or hear his voice on the phone mostly i was in new york chatting around with jordan and trying to integrate myself with her senile aunt but finally i went over to his house one sunday afternoon i hadn't been there two minutes when somebody brought tom buchanan in for a drink i was startled naturally but the really surprising thing was that it hadn't happened before they were party of three on horseback tom and a man named salone and a pretty woman in brown riding habit who had been there previously i'm delighted to see said gatsby standing on his porch i'm delighted that you dropped in as though they cared sit right down have a cigarette or a cigar he walked around the room quickly ringing bells i have something to drink for you in a minute he was profoundly affected by the fact that tom was there but he would be uneasy anyhow until he had given them something realizing in a vague way that was all they came for mr sloane wanted nothing a lemonade no thank you a little champagne nothing at all thanks i'm sorry did you have a nice right very good roads around here i suppose the automobile yeah moved by an irresistible impulse gaspi turned to tom who had accepted the introduction as a stranger i believe we've met somewhere before mr buchanan oh yes said tom gruffly polite but obviously not remembering so we did i remember very well about two weeks ago that's right you were with nick here i know your wife continued gatsby almost aggressively that's so tom turn to me you live here nick next door that's so mr sloane didn't enter the conversation but lounged back hardly in his chair the woman said nothing either until unexpectedly after two high balls she became cordial we'll i'll come over to your next party mr gatsby she suggested what do you say certainly i'd be delighted to have you be very nice said mr sloane without gratitude well i think got to be starting home please don't hurry gatsby urged them he had control of himself now and he wanted to see more of tom why don't you why don't you say for supper i wouldn't be surprised if some other people dropped in from new york you come supper with me said the lady enthusiastically both of you this included me mr sloane got to his feet come along he said but only to her i mean it she insisted i'd love to have you lots of room i'm afraid i won't be able to i said well you come she urged concentrating on gatsby mr sloane murmured something close to her ear well we won't be late if we start now she insisted allowed i haven't got a horse said gatsby i used to ride in the army but i never bought a horse i'll have to follow you in my car excuse me for just a minute the rest of us walked out on the porch where sloan and lady began an impassioned conversation aside my god i believe the man's coming said tom doesn't he know she doesn't want him she says she does want him she has a big dinner party and he won't know a soul there he frowned i wonder where the devil he met daisy my god i may be old-fashioned in my ideas but women run around too much these days to suit me they meet all kinds of crazy fish suddenly mr sloane and the lady walked down the steps and mounted their horses come on said mr sloane to tom we're late we've got to go and then to me tell him we couldn't wait will you tom and i shook hands the rest of us exchanged a cool nod and then they trotted quickly down the drive disappearing under the august foliage just as gatsby with hat and light overcoat in hand came out of the front door tom was evidently perturbed daisy's running around alone for on the following saturday night he came with her to gatsby's party perhaps his presence gave the evening its peculiar quantity of oppressiveness it stands out in my memory from gatsby's other parties that summer they were the same people or at least the same sort of people the same profusion of champagne the same many colored many keyed commotion but i felt an unpleasantness in the air a pervading harshness that hadn't been there before or perhaps i had merely grown used to it grown to accept west egg as a world complete in itself with its own standards and its own figures second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so and now i was looking at it again through daisy's eyes it is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you've expended your own powers of adjustment they arrived at twilight and as we strolled out among the sparkling hundreds daisy's voice was playing murmurous tricks in her throat these things excite me oh she whispered but if you want to kiss me anytime during the evening nick just let me know and i'll be glad to arrange it for you just mention my name or present a green card i'm giving out green look around suggested gatsby i'm looking around i'm having a marvelous you must see the faces of many people you've heard about tom's arrogant eyes roamed the crowd we don't go out very much he said in fact i was just thinking i don't know a soul here perhaps you know that lady gaspy indicated a gorgeous scarcely human orchid of a woman who sat in state under a white plum tree tom and daisy stared with that peculiarly unreal feeling that accompanied the recognition of a hitherto ghostly celebrity of the movies she's lovely said daisy the man bending over her is a director he took them ceremoniously from group to group mrs buchanan and mr buchanan after an instant hesitation he added the polo player oh no objected tom quickly not me but evidently the sound of it pleased gatsby for tom remained the polo player for the rest of the evening i've never met so many celebrities daisy exclaimed i liked that man what was his name with the sort of blue nose gatsby identified him adding that he was a small producer well i liked him anyhow i'd rather not be the polo player said tom pleasantly i'd rather look at all these famous people in in oblivion daisy and gatsby danced i remember being surprised by his graceful conservative foxtrot had never seen him dance before then they sounded over to my house and sat on the steps for half an hour while at her request i remained watchfully in the garden in case there's a fire or a flood she explained or any act of god tom appeared from his oblivion as we were sitting down to supper together do you mind if i eat with some people over here he said a fellow's getting off some funny stuff go ahead answer daisy genially and if you want to take down any addresses here's my little gold pencil she looked around after a moment and told me the girl was common but pretty and i knew that except for the half hour she'd been alone with the gatsby she wasn't having a good time we were at a particularly tipsy table that was my fault gatsby had been called to the phone and i enjoyed these same people only two weeks before but what had amused me then turned septic on the air now how do you feel miss daybecker the girl addressed was trying unsuccessfully to slump against my shoulder at this inquiry she sat up and opened her eyes what a massive and lethargic woman who had been urging daisy to play golf with her at her local club tomorrow spoke in mrs bayduck's defense oh she's all right now when she's had five or six cocktails she always starts screaming like that i tell her she ought to leave it alone i do leave it alone affirmed the accused hollowly we heard you yelling so i said to doc civit here there's somebody that needs your help doc she's much obliged i'm sure said another friend without gratitude but you got her dress all wet when you got her head stuck in the pool anything i hate is to get my head stuck in the pool mumbled miss baydecker they almost drowned me once over in new jersey then you ought to leave it alone counter dr sivit speak for yourself cried miss baydecker violently your hand shakes i wouldn't let you operate on me it was like that almost the last thing i remember was standing with daisy and watching the movie picture director and his star they were still under the white plum tree and their faces were touching except for a pale thin ray of moonlight between it occurred to me that he had been very slowly bending towards her all evening to attain this proximity and even while i watched i saw him stoop one ultimate degree and kiss at her cheek i like her said daisy i think she's lovely but the rest offended her and inarguably because it wasn't a gesture but an emotion she was appalled by west egg this unprecedented place that broadway had begotten upon a long island fishing village appalled by its raw vigor that chafed on the old euphemisms and by the two obstructive fate that herded its inhabitants along a shortcut from nothing to nothing she saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand i sat on the front steps with them while they waited for their car it was dark here in front only the bright door sent 10 square feet of light following out onto the soft black morning sometimes a shadow moved against the dressing room blind above gave way to another shadow an indefinite procession of shadows who ruched and powdered in an invisible glass who is this gatsby anyhow demanded tom suddenly some big bootlegger where'd you hear that i inquired i didn't hear it i imagined it a lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers you know not gatsby i said shortly he was silent for a moment the pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet well he certainly must have strained himself to get this menagerie together a breeze stirred the gray haze of daisy's fur collar at least they're more interesting than the people we know she said with an effort you didn't look so interested well i was tom laughed and turned to me did you notice daisy's face when that girl asked her to put her under a cold shower daisy began to sing with the music in a husky rhythmic whisper bringing out a meaning in each word that it never had before and would never have again when the melody rose her voice broke up sweetly following it in a way contralto voices have and each change tipped out a little of her warm human magic upon the air lots of people come who haven't been invited she said suddenly that girl hadn't been invited they simply forced their way in and he's too polite to object i'd like to know who he is and what he does insisted tom and i think i'll make a point of finding out i can tell you right now she answered he owned some drugstores a lot of drugstores he built them up himself the dilatory limousine came rolling up the drive good night nick said daisy her glance left me and saw lighted tops of the steps or three o'clock in the morning a neat sad little waltz of the year was drifting out the open door after all in the very casualness of gatsby's party there were romantic possibilities totally absent from her world what was it up there in that song that seemed to be calling her back inside what would happen now in the dim incalculable hours perhaps some unbelievable guest would arrive a person infinitely rare and to be marveled at some authentically radiant young girl who with one fresh glance at gatsby one moment of magical encounter would blot out those five years of unwavering devotion i stayed late that night gaspy asked me to wait until he was free and i lingered in the garden until the inevitable swimming party had run up chilled and exhausted from the black beach until the lights were extinguished in the guest rooms overhead when he came down the steps at last the tent's skin was drawn unusually tight on his face and his eyes were bright and tired she didn't like it he said immediately of course she did she didn't like it he insisted she didn't have a good time he was silent and i guessed at his honorable depression i feel far away from her he said it's hard to make her understand you mean about the dance the dance he dismissed all the dances he had given with a snap of his fingers old sport the dance is unimportant he wanted nothing less of daisy than that she should go to tom and say i never loved you after she had obliterated three years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken one of them was that after she was free they would go back to louisville and be married from her house just as if it were five years ago and she doesn't understand he said she used to be able to understand we'd sit for hours he broke off and began to walk up and down a desolate path of fruit rinds and discarded flavors and crushed flowers i wouldn't ask too much of her i ventured you can't repeat the past can't repeat the past he cried incredulously why of course you can he looked around him wildly as if the past were lurking in the shadows of his house just out of reach of his hand i'm going to fix everything just the way it was before he said nodding determinantly she'll see he talked a lot about the past and i gathered that he wanted to recover something some idea of himself perhaps that had gone into loving daisy his life had been confused and disordered since then but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly he could find out what that thing was one autumn night five years before they had been walking down the streets when the leaves were falling and they came to a place where there were no trees and the sidewalk was white with moonlight they stopped here and turned towards each other now it was a cool night with that mysterious excitement in it which comes at the two changes of the year the quiet lights in the house were humming out in the darkness and there was a stir and a bustle among the stars out of the corner of his eye gatsby saw that the blocks of the sidewalk really formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees he could climb to it if he climbed alone and once there he could suck on the path of life gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder his heart beat faster and faster as daisy's white face came up to his own he knew that when he kissed this girl and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath his mind would never romp again like the mind of god so he waited listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon the stars then he kissed her and his lips touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete through all he said even through his appalling sentimentality i was reminded of something an elusive rhythm a fragment of lost words that i had heard somewhere a long time ago for a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man's as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air but they made no sound and what i had almost remembered was uncommunicable forever thank you so much for listening if you enjoyed please like comment share all that jazz and if you really enjoyed please subscribe as there's more to come the next chapter shall be released next wednesday as usual and until next time bye