In Chapter Six of The Great Gatsby,
Nick Carraway continues his narrative of Gatsby's past and background. While Gatsby
worked as a clam digger and a salmon fisherman, or anything else he could do, he met
fifty-year-old Dan Cody when his yacht dropped anchor near the shore, a symbol of
glamour and beauty to young Jay. Cody had a relationship with a newspaperwoman named
Ella Kaye, who managed to ingratiate herself with Cody, having "played Madame de
Maintenon to his weakness"; that is, she became a favorite mistress like the famous
mistress of Louis XIV.
The arrangement [between Gatsby and Dan
Cody]lasted five years....It might have lasted indefinitely except for the fact that
Ella Kaye came on board one night in Boston and a week later Dan Cody inhospitably
died.
This is what Gatsby
tells Nick, at any rate. Then, Nick says that he was told these things by Gatsby at a
time at which he was at the point "of believing everything and nothing about him." So,
there may no truth to this tale of Dan Cody other than that Gatsby did receive some
financial benefits from Cody.
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