The Great Gatsby

Gatsby takes Nick to lunch in New York, revealing more about his past. He shows Nick a medal from the war and a photograph of himself at Oxford, trying to prove his legitimacy. He also introduces Nick to Meyer Wolfsheim, a shady business associate who reveals that Gatsby made his money through bootlegging. The chapter reveals Gatsby's dual identity—the man he was (James Gatz from North Dakota) and the man he became (Jay Gatsby). Rumors about Gatsby circulate—that he's a bootlegger, that he killed a man, that he's a German spy. The chapter also includes a flashback to Gatsby's first meeting with Daisy five years earlier, showing the moment that would define his entire life. The scene in the rose garden, with Gatsby watching the clock, shows his obsession with recapturing the past—a past that can never be recaptured. This chapter establishes Gatsby's central conflict: his attempt to reinvent himself and recapture a lost love, a dream that can never be realized.