“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 has stored up in his ghostly heart” – Nick talking about Gatsby

Gatsby’s obsession with getting Daisy back has gone past just getting her back. It’s changed him and his whole life. He’s no longer the same person who met Daisy 5 years ago. Everything he wears, buys and says is completely different to what it was before. It went from just being about Daisy to completely consume and change Gatsby and everything about him. He’s built an ideal world of him and Daisy togeather that it’s become unrealistic and more idealistic. The Daisy that Gatsby has built up in his mind for 5 years is impossible for the real Daisy to ever live up to – she’s changed, gotten married and has a child. She’s not the same person anymore. Which is why it’s beyond everything as it’s just an ideal – unrealistic world.

He was passionate about getting Daisy back but he kept adding to his ‘scene’ to get Daisy that it changed the whole stage. Every little detail of his life has been changed by something he thought was better. This line is alluding to David Belasco again, Belasco was prominently known for his realistic and close detailed sets despite it still being fake. Gatsby has paid such close to make sure every little part of his story and the set is believable even down to a little ‘feather’ but at the end of the day, none of it is really real. It’s just for show.

 Gatsby is haunted by his past and has been running for years to get away from who he was. In doing so he has created all these ghosts that constantly following him despite his best efforts to keep running – by adding to his scene. Nothing can bring Gatsby to the person he was 5 years ago, the person he was is now dead. Therefore Gatsby’s heart is ghostly as it belongs to the person he once was.