What does Gatsby mean when he tells Nick that if Daisy ever loved Tom it was "just personal"?

[Gary]

OK, I reread the book over the weekend, and I picked out a bit of text that might shed some light on what Gatsby means by "In any case," he said, "it was just personal."

In chapter 7 during the conversation in town over mint juleps (or trying to have mint juleps) Tom takes exception to Gatsby's rather affected use of language:

"That's a great expression of yours, isn't it"" said Tom sharply.

"What is?"

"All this 'old sport' business. Where'd you pick that up?"

"Now see here, Tom," said Daisy, turning around from the mirror, "if you're going to make personal remarks I won't stay here a minute...."

[Emphasis added.]

What follows is a brief discussion of marriage, a wedding apparently going on downstairs, some revelations about Jay and then a confrontation about the affair. Gatsby gets Daisy to say that she didn't love Tom, but then she backpedals, saying

"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."

Gatsby's eyes opened and closed.

"You loved me TOO?" he repeated.

There are a lot of little tidbits between those two quotes about the nature of relationships that might be seen as hints as to how these characters view love and marriage. However, the word "personal" appears in dialogue only twice that I noted.

So, by "personal" Gatsby could be intimating that her feelings for Tom were no more than an affectation like his use of "old sport" as a catchphrase. He seems unable to grasp the idea that Daisy truly ever loved Tom

[Philip]

Gary wrote: "OK, I reread the book over the weekend, and I picked out a bit of text that might shed some light on what Gatsby means by "In any case," he said, "it was just personal."

In chapter 7 during the co..."

Hmm. That "personal remark()" refers to Gatsby's constructed persona, rumbled by Tom, as in, "Where'd you pick that up?". The phrase you've dug out supports my view that for Gatsby personality is just a construct.

[Monty J]

Philip wrote: "Gary wrote: "... for Gatsby personality is just a construct."

Precisely, to Jimmy Gatz personality is "an unbroken series of successful gestures."

And he lived his theory, posing for Daisy and all the world as Jay Gatsby the successful businessman, while hiding his true identity as a bootlegger and perpetrator of securities fraud.

Even at the end where he appears to so nobly vouch that it was he, not Daisy, at the wheel when Myrtle was killed, he is a fraud. He knows he will never be convicted because Wolfie has the Police Commissioner in his pocket.

Remember the motorcycle cop? "Yes, sir, Mr. Gatsby. I'll know you next time."

[Philip]

Monty J wrote: Even at the end where he appears to so nobly vouch that it was he, not Daisy, at the wheel when Myrtle was killed, he is a fraud. He knows he will never be convicted because Wolfie has the Police Commissioner in his pocket.

Fraud or deluded?

[Kayla]

"But all this part of it seemed remote and unessential. I found myself on Gatsby's side, and alone. From the moment I telephoned news of the catastrophe to West Egg village, every surmise about him, and every practical question, was referred to me. At first I was surprised and confused; then, as he lay in his house and didn't move or breathe or speak hour upon hour it grew upon me that I was responsible, because no one else was interested—interested, I mean, with that intense personal interest to which every one has some vague right at the end."