Since Gatsby met Daisy, while he was a soldier during World War I, she has been his dream. All of his efforts since have been with this in mind. All of his wealth has been acquired so he can win her, believing that it is only his lack of wealth that caused her to marry Tom Buchanan instead of him. He loves her and believes that she loves him. For Gatsby, she is the American...
Since Gatsby met Daisy, while he was a soldier during World War I, she has been his dream. All of his efforts since have been with this in mind. All of his wealth has been acquired so he can win her, believing that it is only his lack of wealth that caused her to marry Tom Buchanan instead of him. He loves her and believes that she loves him. For Gatsby, she is the American Dream.
Gatsby wishes to repeat the past so that he can win Daisy again. When Nick tells him he cannot repeat the past, "Gatsby cried out incredulously, 'Why of course you can'" (116) and looked about "wildly, as if the past were lurking here...just out reach of his hand" (116-117). He says,"I'm going to fix everything just the was before"(117).
Gatsby cannot afford to believe that he cannot repeat the past because his entire being is consumed with having Daisy, and if he cannot go back somehow, he cannot have her and cannot get his life back. He conveniently disregards the fact that she has chosen to marry Tom Buchanan, with his buckets of money, rather than waiting for Gatsby, that she has a young child, and that there is no "do over" for his or her life. Daisy is his dream, and he is blinded by it. As Nick says, "he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy" (117).
Gatsby is a fool, but he is a heroic one, always true to his vision of a dream, and at the end, sacrificing himself for his dream of Daisy.
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