Up until this point in the book, Jay Gatsby's past has been nothing but rumors and gossip. The readers don't know what's true or false. Even though this isn't the turning point in the novel, I believe it's the turning point of how the audience sees him as a person. We can finally observe what influenced Gatsby to become the man he is today.
Jay Gatsby actually turns out to be a fake name he created in order to shake of his low social standing and to envision himself as a wealthy man. He rechristens himself from the name James Gatz in order to leave all his humiliation of his poor self behind. It's seems odd that the Gatsby in the present who throws lavish parties every night is the same person as the seventeen year old who had to do "janitor's work with which he was to pay his way through" (Fitzgerald 105) college. We also learn that Dan Cody is the epitome of what Gatsby wants to become. Dan is basically his "God" because after "he saw Dan Cody's yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior" (104), Gatsby began to avidly follow him. This moment in his life was essentially the chance he needed to achieve his dreams. The passage above emphasizes how social class was very important in this time period and how Gatsby's sensitivity towards status is his determination to succeed.
However as I read The Great Gatsby, I kept wondering why Gatsby allowed rumors like how "he killed a man once" (48) or how "he was a German spy during the war" (48) to circulate, because his status would surely have started to become damaged if people had start to believe these words. But after examining this part in the book, I feel like I have come to a conclusion: he let's those fake rumors spread and keep the citizens interested in order to hide his true past.
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