Dan Cody

Dan is a somewhat coarse man who became immensely wealthy during the Gold Rush. He mentored Gatsby when he was a young man and gave him a taste of elite society. Though he left Gatsby a sum of money after his death, it was later seized by his ex-wife.



Another one of Gatsby’s goals in life was to be an extremely successful, just like his model Dan Cody, but that plan ends up failing as well. As a part of what Dan Cody taught him, Gatsby attempted to go into business with a man named Meyer Wolfsheim,
but failed at that also. For such a long time Gatsby has had his eye on Daisy and has been in love with her, but this does not.

The Green Light

Located at the end of the Buchanans' dock, this green light represents Gatsby's ultimate aspiration: to win Daisy's love. Nick's first vision of Gatsby is of his neighbor's trembling arms stretched out toward the green light (26). Later, after Daisy and Gatsby's successful reunion, a mist conceals the green light, visibly affecting Gatsby. Nick observes, "Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever....Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one" (98). This image suggests Gatsby realizes he must face the reality of Daisy, rather than the ideal he created for her.

http://www.novelguide.com/thegreatgatsby/metaphoranalysis.html





The green light is probably one of the most important symbols in The Great Gatsby. Green is the color of hope and it first appears when Gatsby stares across the bay towards a green light at the end of a dock (21,8ff.). Later the reader finds out that this light stands on Daisy Buchanan’s dock. In the context of the novel this green light represents Gatsby’s hope to meet Daisy again and a chance to win her back. “Gatsby believed in the green light”(128, 26).
http://www.ovtg.de/3_arbeit/englisch/gatsby/Symbols.html

The Men Of Gatsby

Nick provides the voice of the novel, documenting his companions exploits in the summer. of 1922. Raised in a wealthy
middle-western family, Nick graduates from New Haven, the college he attended with Tom Buchanan. After serving in World War I, Nick -- at age 29 -- moves east to learn the bond business, and becomes involved with the affairs comprising The Great Gatsby. Eventually, Nick acts as a liaison between Gatsby and Daisy, setting up the infamous first reunion at his house. Despite repeatedly insisting that he prides himself on his own honesty, Nick continually aligns himself with next-door-neighbor Gatsby -- whose entire existence is a fabrication -- remaining loyal to his friend throughout the second half of the novel.
http://www.novelguide.com/thegreatgatsby/characterprofiles.html







The invented identity of James Gatz, born the son of poor middle-western farmers, Gatsby "sprang from his Platonic conception of himself" (104). Gatsby's beginnings occurred when the 17-year-old Gatz -- a clam digger and salmon fisher -- sees millionaire Dan Cody's yacht drop anchor on a dangerous stretch of Lake Superior. After rowing out to Cody on a borrowed row-boat and warning him that a coming wind might wreck his yacht, Cody employs Jay Gatsby in a "vague personal capacity" (106) for several years. Later, Gatsby says he worked in the drugstore and oil businesses, omitting the fact that he was involved in illegal bootlegging. Gatsby keeps his criminal activities mysterious throughout the novel, preferring to play the role of perpetually gracious host.Gatsby buys his West Egg mansion with the sole intention of being across the bay from Daisy Buchanan's green light at the end of her dock, a fantasy which becomes Gatsby's personal version of the American Dream. With an Oxford education as part of his invented persona, Gatsby ceaselessly uses his favorite phrase, "Old sport," throughout the novel.
http://www.novelguide.com/thegreatgatsby/characterprofiles.html