Daisy In The Great Gatsby

The dialog in The Great Gatsby referring to the titular character as a “platonic idea” seems suggest that Jay Gatsby is a fictional persona that James Gatz puts on for the purpose of wooing Daisy. James Gatz loves Daisy, however Jay Gatsby is obsessed with the idea of getting Daisy to fall in love with him again.

James met Daisy as a young man with no assets of any kind, but managed to convince her to love him before going to war, this in and of itself would be enough to convince Gatz of his love for Daisy. Once he returned, and discovered she was married he put on the facade of Gatsby to win her back from Tom buchanan, a man he most likely viewed as an obstacle, thus beginning the objectification of his quest for Daisy and his love for her; it is this object Gatsby becomes obsessed with.

As Gatsby, he is obsessed with a version of Daisy that he only remembers and has molded himself for,

Gatz loved Daisy and may have still loved her if he hadn’t exchanged his Gatz persona for that of Gatsby in order to become more desireable to her, becoming emotionally dependant on his quest and his grand vision of Daisy in his life. In fact Gatsby may have once loved her too; however, that love was quickly transformed into obsession. As more and more of his life was given over to his search for Daisy, obsession with his goal replaced it; humans are social creatures that require a specific type of life to maintain a healthy mentality, as more of the life that would have upheld his mental state was given over to his quest he became more emotionally dependant on