Timeline: Jay Gatsby Timeline

Jun 16, 1912

James Gatz meets Dan Cody

(99) "He was still searching for something to do on the day that Dan Cody's yacht dropped anchor in the shallows alongshore."

Jun 16, 1912

James Gatz changes his name to Jay Gatsby and works for Dan Cody on his yacht

(100) "At any rate Cody asked him a few questions (one of them elicited a brand new name)..." (100) " He was employed in a vague personal capacity--while he remained with Cody he was in turn steward, mate, skipper, secretary, and even jailor..."

Mar 10, 1917

Dan Cody dies and Jay Gatsby loses his inheritance

(100) "The arrangement lasted five years..." (100) "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." (100) "And it was from Cody that he inherited money--a legacy of twenty-five thousand dollars. He didn't get it. He never understood the legal device that was used against him, but what remained of the millions wen intact to Ella Kaye."

Oct 12, 1917

Jay Gatsby meets Daisy

(74) "...she was sitting in it with a lieutenant I had never seen before." (75) "His name was Jay Gatsby..."

Nov 14, 1917

Jay Gatsby leaves for the Army

(75) "Wild rumors were circulating about her--how her mother had found her packing her bag one winter night to go to New York and say good-bye to a soldier who was going overseas."