Gatsby Flashback

Scene Analysis: End of Chapter 6

On page 110, Fitzgerald writes: "His [Gatsby's] 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." It is at this point that an sequence of back to back ellipses lead us into the sort of dream-like flashback. This is one of the most interesting scenes of the book up to this point. Fitzgerald essentially psycho-analyzes Gatsby and his motives for a brief moment before plunging the reader into the extremely abstract and intimate narrative that occupies the last page and a half of chapter six.

Perhaps the most startling portion of this sequence is when Gatsby notices that the sidewalk makes a ladder "mounted to a secret place above the trees." It is from this point that the scene becomes decidedly abstract as Fitzgerald writes, "he could climb to it, if he climbed alone, and once there he could suck on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder."

What this means in terms of literal imagery is open to wide interpretation, but the words definitely hint that Gatsby sees something wonderful but is unable to obtain it. Gatsby has put Daisy on such a high pedestal that no amount of intimacy with her will satisfy his hopes and dreams. The scene is a fleeting phenomenon, as that type of look into the character of Gatsby is extremely rare throughout the book. But at the end of chapter six, Fitzgerald utilizes his command of language and near-lyrical ambiguity to propel the character of Gatsby to a new level of familiarity with the reader--a minor revelation to lead into the chaos of chapter seven.