The Great Gatsby
Scene #6 · Chapter 7
In a stifling Plaza Hotel suite, Tom confronts Gatsby about his relationship with Daisy, demanding to know what he wants. Gatsby insists that Daisy never loved Tom and asks her to say so. Daisy initially supports Gatsby but falters when he demands she deny ever loving Tom, protesting "I can't say I never loved Tom. It wouldn't be true." Tom systematically dismantles Gatsby's credibility, exposing his bootlegging connections and criminal associations. Gatsby's careful facade crumbles as Daisy shrinks away from him, and Tom confidently tells Daisy to drive home with Gatsby, knowing he has won.
Tom's victory demonstrates that Daisy will always choose the security of her own class over romantic idealism, no matter how corrupt that class may be. Gatsby's insistence that Daisy erase the past five years reveals the fundamental impossibility of his dream—he wants not just Daisy but a complete revision of history. Tom's casual dismissal of Gatsby afterward, allowing them to drive home together, reflects his certainty that Gatsby no longer poses a threat and sets in motion the tragedy that follows.
"Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby. "I love you now—isn't that enough? I can't help what's past." She began to sob helplessly. "I did love him once—but I loved you too."
Chapter 7 · Daisy Buchanan
But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room.
Chapter 7 · Narrator
"Your wife doesn't love you," said Gatsby. "She's never loved you. She loves me."
Chapter 7 · Jay Gatsby
"She never loved you, do you hear?" he cried. "She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except me!"
Chapter 7 · Jay Gatsby
"Even alone I can't say I never loved Tom," she admitted in a pitiful voice. "It wouldn't be true."
Chapter 7 · Daisy Buchanan