Archetypes In The Great Gatsby

Lindsey Klotthor
Overlord Whitt
STEM English
24 March 2023
The Great Gatsby Literary Criticism
The Great Gatsby is an unparalleled story of the 1920s told through the eyes of Nick Carraway. Though the novel is complex and significant, it is important to delve further and understand why it is an influential part of American Literature. To do this, we must look at it from three important viewpoints: in a historical context, through archetypal criticism, and in a moral and philosophical focus. Only this way, can we delve further into what makes the Great Gatsby so important and what this story seeks to tell.
To understand the Great Gatsby some historical context is necessary. Born September 24th, 1896, in St Paul, Minnesota, was a boy by the

This time however we will view it from an archetypal criticism. The true conflict between archetypes in this story is between the characters Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Both characters vie for the character Daisy’s love and affection leading to a climatic clash between who she loves more. Jay Gatsby fits the archetype of the Tragic Hero and suffers all that comes with it. He strives for Daisy’s love and seems virtuous, sympathetic, and ambitious, yet he falls to his untimely end due to his truest fatal flaw: his unwavering obsession to achieve his goals no matter the cost. Tom Buchanan falls in the opposite direction with the Narcissist Archetype. He is a selfish bully, taking what he wants at the cost of others. These two archetypes clash spectacularly in the novel and highlight the difference between new and old money, Jay Gatsby with his new status and likable persona, and Tom Buchanan with his constant sexism, racism, and old view of thinking. It highlights the change in times between the newer and older generations during the 1920s. “Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart,” (Fitzgerald 20). Tom is very firm in his views, something specific to the old money generation of the era. Gatsby once again is on the opposite spectrum, “He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of

The overall message of the Great Gatsby is that the American Dream is unattainable. Many characters strive to achieve their American Dream yet ultimately fail and corrupt the idea. Gatsby seems to have attained the dream with his power, status, and money but conclusively fails to win the love of Daisy Buchanan his true American Dream. The world of The Great Gatsby is filled with affairs, materialism, and greed; all of which corrupt the purity of the purpose of such a dream. It appears that the life of these characters contains no morals. To understand this let’s delve closer with relativism in mind. The idea of relativism is that morality and truth only exist in relation to the culture, society, and historical context around it. In relation to relativism, morals are not absolute. It can be explained well by Nick Carraway's thoughts in the novel when he states, “I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made,” (Fitzgerald 179). Nick admits that the actions Tom Buchanan committed seem entirely justified to himself, even when they feel wrong to Nick. This