Throughout the entirety of the novel The Great Gatsby, the love triangle between Gatsby, Daisy, and her husband, Tom, put the readers through an emotional rollercoaster. Most people probably wonder who Daisy truly loves more: her husband, or her first love. However, the real question is this: is Gatsby truly in love with Daisy? Or does he just love the idea of having her after all these years?
Years after he returned from the war that essentially ruined his relationship with Daisy, he is still madly in love with her. It, at least, seems that way. His love for her could be perceived as a strong lust or sort of an obsession with her and her popularity. After so many years of thinking something, it becomes impossible to think any other way. That is the situation occurring here. Gatsby only thinks he loves Daisy, and is more in love with the idea that he has Daisy to himself. He’s so attached to her, he confuses his lust for true love; as if he doesn’t know any better than to only love her and allow his life to be consumed by the thought of her. “It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy --- it increased her value in his eyes” (Fitzgerald 149).
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His life was so perfect five years ago with Daisy, how could the rest of his life be any different? He dwells so much on the past and allows that to engulf his thoughts. Completely consumed with the idea that he must be with Daisy, he once again confuses love with lust and his desire to have his perfect life he envisioned with Daisy. It seems as though he will always be stuck in the past, never able to move