Not only does Jay Gatsby create his personage as an Oxford man of great wealth, but he recreates his childhood by not acknowledging his parents, poor farmers, as his own. In fact, he changes his name from Gatz to Gatsby.
While Jay Gatz attends a Lutheran college in southern Minnesota where he must work as a janitor to put himself through school, he mets Dan Cody, who invites him onto his yacht, introducing him to the life of the wealthy. Jay lives with Dan Cody until the man dies. With some wealth of his own and his dreams, Jay, then, enters the army.
Near his army town, Jay meets his femme fatale, Daisy: "She was the first 'nice' girl he had ever known. Knowing that the "invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders," he takes advantage of what he can get, including Daisy, whom he deludes into believing that he is of the same socio-economic class as she; he assures her he can support her. As Nick puts it, Gatsby "had committed himself to the following of a grail." Gatsby becomes aware of the power of riches. As a dreamer, Gatsby's obsession becomes what he lives for, his "American Dream."
After completing his tour of duty in the Army, Gatsby attends Oxford and, later, returns to the U.S. where he becomes involved in a drug ring, acquiring great wealth in his criminal activity. After learning that Daisy lives on Long Island, in order to be near her, he purchases a mansion on the other side of the bay. When he discovers that his neighbor Nick is a cousin of Daisy's, he asks Nick to take him to the mansion of Daisy. From this point the present action of the plot takes place.
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