Narcissism In The Great Gatsby

The “American dream” has always been the idea of achieving success through hard work and determination, and has been a topic for discussion for quite some time. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote extensively about it as one of the central themes in his magnum opus, “The Great Gatsby”. However, instead of attempting to inspire his readers with characters who made the dream come true for them, he tries to lecture the reader on how the dream died in the 1920s. One might even say that the overall mood of the novel might be one of strong cynicism, as it is distinctly indicated by the personalities of two characters in the book: Daisy and Tom Buchanan. While Daisy is portrayed as narcissistic and self-centered, Tom is shown as manipulative and forceful. Meanwhile, the third character to mention named Jay Gatsby, represents the superego in human psychology, despite his involvement in the Jewish

was later able to uncover the conspiracy, though this precisely shows how today's idea of “patriotism” has inspired hatred for social minorities. On the same token, on the subject of hatred, and anger, Laura L. Hayes theorizes in her article, “Can We Have Compassion for the Angry?”, that the perpetrator of the mass shooting at Orlando was, fundamentally, “...a very angry man.” She then continues to write that, “His anger was not a product of prejudice, homophobia, a bad marriage, or a religious affiliation. It is the reverse; his anger fed these problems. His violence was not caused by mental illness or an affiliation with terrorism. His anger and violence were there for years, apparent in his prior actions.” Notwithstanding the fact that some may say that this quote is irrelevant to this chapter, the idea that anger is the chief cause of this tragedy certainly connects with the gradual obscuring of the line defining the differences between patriotism and nationalism, as it is a fact that, when people are angry about certain issues, they become more