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Archetypal Approach to the Characters in the Great Gatsby (《

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2021-02-15 15:55
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2021年2月15日发(作者:孔)



Archetypal Approach to the Characters in


the Great Gatsby


I. A brief introduction of the author and the novel


F.


Scott


Fitzgerald


(1896



1940)


was


an


American


author


of


novels


and


short


stories,


whose


works


are


the


paradigm


writings


of


the


Jazz


Age,


a


term


he


coined


himself.


He


is


widely


regarded


as


one


of


the


greatest


American


writers


of


the


20th


century.


1


Fitzgerald


is


considered a member of the


Generation


The Great Gatsby,


published in 1925, which is his most famous work and contains his


painstaking


effort


and


deep


sorrow.


Fitzgerald


describes


the


protagonist


Gatsby


as


well as the disil


lusionment about “American dream” with great sympathy. The novel


is


regulated


as


one


of


the


most


impressing


works


and


also


establishes


the


author?s



position


in


American


literature.


Fitzgerald


becomes


the


spokesman


of


Jazz


age


and


typical writer of the


“Lost Generation”.



The United States escapes from the disaster and damage of the First World War


(1914-1918),


while


it


comes


into


an


era


of


prosperity,


vanity


and


Hedonism.


The


Great


War


makes


people


lack


of


spiritual


support


and


they


feel


lost,


frenzy,


unconfident and perflexed. The novels written by Fitzgerald are true social pictures of


“Jazz


Age”


and


all


reflect


the


material


prosperity,


spiritual


desolation


and


moral


disorder in American society.


2


In the beginning of the novel, the first narrator, Nick


Carraway


comes


into


reader?s


eyes


and


tells


his


personality


and


background,


then


with


such


indirect


words


to


narrate


his


rationality,


integrity,


and


sticks


to


the


traditional morality. Fitzgerald


perhaps wants to employ Carraway?s voice to express


his own deep interpretation and cynical criticism to American society and people.



II.A brief introduction of archetypal approach in literature


Archetypal criticism was its most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, largely due to


the


work


of


Canadian


literary


critic


Northrop


Frye.


His


Anatomy


of


Criticism


deals


with archetypes and helps him establish the fame in criticism. Archetypal approach as


an


important


school


in


western


literary


theory


lineage,


is


a


kind


of


fruit


of


all


the


contributions


by


different


critics,


which


adopted


and


developed


by


Frye.


The


most


two influential personage are J.G. Frazer and Carl G. Jung.


Frye?s work breaks from both Frazer and Jung in such a way that it is distinct


from its anthropological and psychoanalytical precursors. For Frye, the death-rebirth


myth that Frazer sees manifest in agriculture and the harvest is not ritualistic since it


is involuntary, and therefore, must be done. As for Jung, Frye was uninterested about


the


collective


unconscious


on


the


grounds


of


feeling


it


was


unnecessary:


since


the


unconscious is unknowable it cannot be studied. How archetypes came to be was also


of


no


concern


to


Frye;


what


he


is


interested


in


are


the


function


and


effect


of


archetypes.


For


Frye,


literary


archetypes


“play


an


essential


role


in


refashioning


the


material universe into an alternative verbal universe that is humanly intelligible and


viable, because it is adapted to essential human needs and concerns”


3



Jung?s work theorizes about myths and archetypes in relation to the


unconscious,


an


inaccessible


part


of


the


mind.


From


a


Jungian


perspective,


myths


are


the


“culturally


elaborated


representations


of


the


contents


of


the


deepest


recess


of


the


human


psyche:


the


world


of


the


archetypes”


4



Jung


thinks


that


The


collective


unconscious,


or


the


objective


psyche


as


it


is


less


frequently


known,


is


a


number


of


innate thoughts, feelings, instincts, and memories that reside in the unconsciousness


of all people. The archetypes to which Jung refers are represented through primordial


images,


originate


from


the


initial


stages


of


humanity


and


have


been


part


of


the


collective


unconscious


ever


since.


It


is


through


primordial


images


that


universal


archetypes are experienced, and more importantly, that the unconscious is revealed.


Archetypes are figures or patterns recurring in works of the imagination, and can


be divided into three categories. Archetypal characters include (but are not limited to):


the


hero,


the


villain,


the


outcast,


the


femme


fatale,


and


the


star-crossed


lovers.


Archetypal situations include (but are not limited to): the quest, the journal, death and


rebirth,


and


the


task.


Archetypal


symbols


and


associations


include


polarities:


light/dark,


water/desert,


height/depth,


spring/winter.


Here,


I


want


to


give


a


typical


example of archetype -----Cinderella, derives from folktale, and its myth story can be


date from 2500 years ago. As so far, there are more than 700 versions of Cinderella


around the world. This archetype has become an indispensible and common factor in


South Korean TV series.



III. Archetypal analysis in


The Great Gatsby


We


are


tying


to


analyze


the


characters


and


their


archetypes


in


the


novel,


Jay


Gatsby, Tom and Daisy, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, and Nick Carraway.


1.



Gatsby------a variant of Jesus


Jay Gatsby is a modern Jesus-kind protagonist, his archetype and experience can


be paralleled with


Jesus


?


resolution,


death


(crucify)


and


resurrection. Gatsby


comes


from a family which is low and poor, both his parents are shiftless and unsuccessful


farm people,



his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.



5


This situation is similar to the background of Jesus who is from a common carpenter


family. The young Gatsby has a brown, hardening body and smart as well, while the


young Jesus is also strong and fills with wisdom



felt within himself a certain spiritual


quality which set him apart from other men



6


Gatsby


?


s aspiration is far- reaching from


childhood and imagines himself as Jesus, he had changed his name from James Gatz


to Jay Gatsby at the age of seventeen. Jay Gatsby can be viewed as a variant of



Jesus,


God


?


s Boy



. Therefore, he never mentions his parents and



he is a son of God



5


. In


the New Testament, when Jesus (12 years old) is talking with some prophets in the


temple, has refused his parents who are searching for him,



why were you searching


for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father


?


s house?



7


Gatsby is like the


young Jesus that is clear with his ideal, he must be dedicated to His Father


?


s Business,


the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty.


Gatsby is devoted to his



mission


”< /p>


, when he meets and then works for the rich


Cody, who gives him the practical and singularly appropriate education and skills, but


at same time the desire of wealth.



The vague contour of Jay Gatsby had filled out to


the substantiality of a man.



5


Now Gatsby is am earth Jesus, he hold large party in the


house frequently to


attract more and more admirers, just like the disciples of Jesus.


When


Daisy


is


tired


with


all


parties,


Gatsby


immediately


stops


such


entertainment,


which


is


similar


with


the


story


that


Jesus


drives


the


cattle


dealers


and


the

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