ipl-logo

The Great Gatsby Archetypes Analysis

1563 Words7 Pages

In most modern literature and film there are extremely noticeable archetypes among the characters. In superhero movies characters such as Batman and Captain America are quickly placed into the “hero” archetype and their almost equal arch nemesis’ are easily identified as the villains of their stories. However, what is not commonly done is further exploring these archetypes and simple behavioral details in order to further diversify these characters. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s different writing style along with decisions the characters make allows for a much more difficult time pinpointing each character’s explicit archetype; Fitzgerald’s writing style along with the narratorial design of the story permits these archetypes to change …show more content…

Even though when the word archetype is usually used, a reader’s mind immediately jumps to hero or villain, there are many different archetypes exemplified within The Great Gatsby. Carl Golden explains the ideas around another archetype; “The Innocent”. The innocent is simply known for their goal to be happy however they also have a great weakness. This weakness is their naivety. Daisy Buchannan perfectly represents this archetype mainly as her character develops throughout the story. When Nick first sees Daisy in the story, he sees, “two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.” (8). This depiction of such a beautiful scene brings hints of royalty and beauty. However, this scene also brings about an unintelligent air; as if these two women are simply there as decorations like the before-mentioned curtains or even the simple windows. In this scene, the intellect of these two women, Jordan and Daisy, is not mentioned at all; simply their beauty. “Then there was a boom as Tom Buchannan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room, and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor. (8). This also shows how these women are completely controlled by Tom. It is as if they are not permitted to move until Tom moves and changes the entire dynamic of the household; as “the caught wind died out about the

Show More
Related
1040 Words | 5 Pages

Even Nick projects only what he wants to see upon her, after one of Gatsby’s parties. He sees her distaste for the party and says, “She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand” (114). However, Nick is misinterprets Daisy’s sentiment, she sees an awfulness in the lack of simplicity- the showiness of money repels her and her image of Gatsby in those simple days when they first met fully contradicts what she sees now. But Nick sees only what he wants to see. He thrives on simplicity, and so reduces her character and emotions to something simple enough for him to safely comprehend.

Read More
853 Words | 4 Pages

Nick Carraway is a monomyth hero according to the ideologies of Joseph Campbell. Campbell describes a hero as someone who must, “put aside his pride, his virtue, beauty and life and bow or submit to the absolutely intolerable.” In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway must depart from a life he knows, and journey into the unknown, where he succumbs to a call of adventure. The challenges and ordeals he faces construct his character and lead him to challenge his integrity and morals. Over the course of his quest, he is transformed and later returns back to the land he knows.

Read More
1421 Words | 6 Pages

Scott Fitzgerald’s depiction of women in The Great Gatsby readers see women are prepared to emerge into the modern way of life, but society is not ready for the new nontraditional image of

Read More
1398 Words | 6 Pages

At the early 1920’s society’s view on divorce was not good, women who wanted to get away from their husbands would be looked down upon and ignored by the people, not having a job or a place to go the women had no choice to but to bare with the men they lived with. In the case of Daisy and Tom, they were both very attractive and wealthy people, they should had been a perfect couple in the eyes of the public, but the truth was far from it, Tom also explained to his mistress on why he didn’t think Daisy would ever want to get divorced. “You see,” cried Catherine. Triumphantly, she lowered her voice again. “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart.

Read More
853 Words | 4 Pages

Daisy realizes how women during her time were always led by men without a voice since their decisions, opinions, and thoughts were second to those of males and their everyday lives were determined men. Daisy is expressing how due to their marginalization women are better off being fooled and dumb because the voice of women did

Read More
1311 Words | 6 Pages

As defined by Aristotle, “a tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction” (“Tragic Hero” 1). In The Great Gatsby, Great historical writers like Sophocles and the aforementioned Aristotle used this character archetype while manifesting their works to create characters that were both larger than life, but also were human. Like these dateless litterateurs, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses this timeless archetype to create the titular character Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald likens Gatsby to fellow tragic heros like Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and Odysseus by describing him to be both a common man and larger than life. Furthermore, similar to other tragic heroes, Gatsby has a tremendous fall from grace.

Read More
1244 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Gatsby is hailed as a great piece of 1920 's fiction due to its detailing of a new, fast paced America, and the way that America affected the population. These affects manifested as traits in people, and further developed into stereotypes. In the post World War 1 America this novel is set in, industry and technology were becoming readily available to the public, cementing these stereotypes into our population as we quickly moved along at a new pace. In The Great Gatsby, these people, actions, and relationships, are represented by the four main characters: Nick, Daisy, Tom, and Jay. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses these characters to symbolize the stereotypical people of a modern America.

Read More
712 Words | 3 Pages

Character Ambiguity in “The Great Gatsby” Throughout a large majority of fictional literature, the characters are constructed to act and react upon however the author fabricates them to be. Within the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Buchanan’s character can be interpreted in a variety of connotations; her attitudes and behaviors reflect on her morality. Throughout the narrative, Fitzgerald displays Daisy as a controversial character with examples of her ambiguous personality qualities and actions.

Read More
919 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby Thematic Essay In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, lots of connections are drawn through various thematic subjects presented in this novel. One of these connections is between love, wealth, and social status, which are all very prominent subjects within The Great Gatsby. The relationships between various characters within the pages of this written work make one message very apparent: Love can be regarded as flimsy and deceitful when it is dictated by one’s wealth and social status.

Read More
1208 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and narrated by a man named Nick Carraway. This novel was written with the intent of showing the readers how morally corrupt the 1920s were. Throughout the novel, characters abandon their moral values for a materialistic lifestyle. The novel depicts a great picture of the roles men and women played in the 1920s. Even with the changing roles of men and women, they continued to rely heavily on whom they were married to and what social class they belonged to.

Read More
1429 Words | 6 Pages

Imagine living in a perfect world. Nothing in this world can go wrong, nothing can do you harm, and nothing is out of reach. This is the world of an idealist- a person who forms or pursues ideals unrealistically. Although this philosophy would hold its believer in a constant daze of false happiness, when reality hits, it could be devastating. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, main character Jay Gatsby is blinded by the fantasy of transforming himself into a famous figure of wealth and social status and, as a result, winning over his love, Daisy.

Read More
968 Words | 4 Pages

The 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is considered to be an American classic and is one of the most widely-read books in modern America. There have been several film versions of the novel, most recently a 2013 version that was directed by Baz Luhrmann. Although, both the book and the film effectively portrayed the energy of the 1920s, the characters in the book and the film were not so well-aligned. In particular, the characters in the novel are complex, well-rounded people, whereas the movie tends to paint many of the key characters as simplistic archetypes. Unlike Daisy’s nuanced character in the novel, Luhrmann portrays her as the helpless victim of the film.

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

When Daisy appears for the first time in the book, the author associates her character with light, purity and innocence. With her dress, “they were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering”(8), she

Read More
1659 Words | 7 Pages

Characters throughout The Great Gatsby present themselves with mysterious and questionable morals. Affairs, dishonest morals, criminal professions, weak boundaries and hypocritical views are all examples of immorality portrayed in The Great Gatsby. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, lies and mischief fill the lives of many and significantly damage numerous relationships. First, Jay Gatsby's whole life is consumed into a massive lie. His personality traits set him apart from others and the attention he accumulates motivates him to falsely portray his life.

Read More
853 Words | 4 Pages

Jay Gatsby, the title character of the novel “The Great Gatsby” is a man that can not seem to live without the love of his life. Trying to win Daisy over consumes Gatsby’s life as he tries to become the person he thinks she would approve of. What most readers do not realize is that Jay Gatsby’s character mirrors many personality traits and concerns that the author of novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald, had. In fact, Gatsby and Fitzgerald are similar in that they both had a girl they wanted to win over, took a strong stance on alcohol, and ironically both had similar funerals, also, both people also symbolize the American dream.

Read More

More about The Great Gatsby Archetypes Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document