As I went over to say goodbye I saw that the expression of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby’s face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness. Almost five years! There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams – not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby. Chapter 5, Nick on Gatsby’s idealization of Daisy, his vision of her seemingly better than the real Daisy. Is Gatsby’s great dream of being with Daisy something real or just an illusion, Nick wonders?