Tuesday, February 1, 2011

What are three facts that Gatsby reveals about his life in Chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby?

Three "facts" about Gatsby that are revealed in Chapter Four of The Great Gatsby are the following:


  1. His family "all died" and he inherited "a good deal" of money.

  2. Gatsby was educated at Oxford University.

  3. He was a major in the military and every Allied government gave him a decoration.

Of course, not all these "facts" are true.
For instance, his family is not all dead because his father, Henry C. Gatz, appears from a small town in Minnesota for Gatsby's funeral.


Gatsby did not graduate from Oxford; he simply attended for a while. In Chapter Seven, he later reveals that he only stayed five months:



"[i]t was an opportunity they gave to some of the officers after the Armistice."



Other obvious fabrications occur with some of Gatsby's war stories. Also, when Gatsby says that he lived like a rajah in all the capitals of Europe--"Paris, Venice, Rome"--adding trite phrases such as "hunting big game," "collecting jewels," and "trying to forget something very sad," such statements are false. 


After listening to everything, Nick narrates that he managed to restrain his "incredulous laughter."

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