When Nick is riding in Gatsby's big roadster in the opening pages of Chapter IV, Gatsby seems determined to make a favorable impression and to dispel any of the dark rumors that have been circulating about him. Gatsby knows that his biggest weakness is in his shady background.
"Look here, old sport," he broke out surprisingly, "what's your opinion of me anyhow?"
In a couple of pages, Gatsby tells Nick an obviously made-up story about his life. He claims to be the son of wealthy parents in the Midwest. But when Nick, who is from that region, asks, "What part of the Middle West?", Gatsby answers, "San Francisco." This answer in itself shows that Gatsby is telling him a bunch of lies. San Francisco is as far west as anyone can go in the Far West.
In one paragraph of fanciful dialogue Gatsby tells Nick about his life after he says his family all died and he came into a good deal of money.
"After that I lived like a young rajah in all the capitals of Europe--Paris, Venice, Rome--collecting jewels, chiefly rubies, hunting big game, painting a little, things for myself only, and trying to forget something very sad that had happened to me long ago."
Nick almost laughs at this story because it sounds like something out of a cheap novel. Venice, of course, is not a capital of any European country, and it would be hard to hunt lions and elephants in Europe. Nick is baffled when Gatsby supports his story with two pieces of evidence: a war medal from Montenegro and a photo of himself with a group of friends at Oxford.
The truth about Gatsby doesn't really come out until Tom Buchanan exposes him in front of Daisy at the Plaza Hotel in Chapter VII. What Tom has to say about Gatsby is completely incompatible with the story Gatsby has told Nick about himself in the car. All that remains unshattered is that Gatsby really did go to Oxford--but only for five months after World War I ended. Tom's uncontested exposure of Gatsby as a criminal is the climax of the novel, the death of Gatsby's dream.
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