Who is the title character in love with?

The title character, Jay Gatsby, is in love with Daisy Buchanan. Their past romance drives his ambitions, his extravagant parties, and much of the novel’s tragedy.

Gatsby met Daisy in Louisville in 1917 while he was a young army officer. They fell deeply in love, but Gatsby lacked the wealth and social position Daisy’s family expected. While he was serving in World War I, Daisy married the wealthy Tom Buchanan.

Gatsby later becomes rich and buys a mansion in West Egg, directly across the water from Daisy’s home in East Egg. He throws lavish parties partly in the hope that she will attend. With Nick Carraway’s help, Gatsby and Daisy reunite, but Gatsby wants her to erase the intervening years and declare that she never loved Tom.

A common mix-up is confusing Gatsby’s love interest with Jordan Baker or Myrtle Wilson. Jordan is Daisy’s friend and Nick’s romantic interest, while Myrtle is Tom’s mistress. Daisy, however, is Gatsby’s central romantic obsession and the emotional focus of his dream.