Kikvadze 1

Sally Kikvadze

Mr. Janosch

ELA 2

03/31/2017

Psychoanalytical theory applied to The Great Gatsby

Psychoanalytic theory is the set of thoughts and ideas that investigates the conscious and

unconscious of the human mind.It gives the clear description of how thoughts and feelings of the

individual can affect the actions and provides ways of understanding what makes people act and

behave the way they do. According the the psychoanalytic theory, human behavior is the result of

the interaction between three parts of the subconscious, which is the largest part of the human

personality. The three parts of the human mind which are the reason of the human behaviour

include: Id, superego and ego. The id is fundamental desire of what a person wants with no sense

of conscious, which directly and immediately responds to the human instincts. However as

Sigmund Freud defines superego is the voice of conscious and is the opposite of Id. Superego

follows the rules of society while the ego is reality, the balance between the id and superego. The

ego takes the id filters them through the superego and comes with an action that satisfies both

entities in a professional and socially acceptable ways. By applying to psychoanalytical theory to

The Great Gatsby the reader could identify and understand the reasoning, why the certain

characters act the way they do throughout the entire novel. Based on the novel, Gatsbys ego and

superego are unable to be controlled by him, because of his fundamental desire for Daisy.

The first and main component of the subconscious becomes easily understandable through the

novel of The Great Gatsby. The protagonist character Gatsby is a great example of fundamental
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desire and how persons id may push the ego and superego back and take control over them

through his mind. At the beginning of the novel Gatsbys id is simple, he wants Daisys love

back, but the point is that she is married to another powerful character Tom. Gatsbys mind tries

to control his id and to follow the rules of the superego and ego, which suggests everything in a

socially acceptable ways. Gatsbys living conditions were promoted him to regain her love back

and was throwing the best parties every weekend with a thought that one day Daisy will come

over. All his steps were filtered by the superego and accomplished by the ego in thoughtful and

professional ways. By analyzing the novel it seems that his basic desire was not that strong until

the middle of the book when the interactions between characters become much more

complicated. Gatsbys personality is changing when his id becomes impulsive part of his psych

and forces to react to the instinct immediately. His id was not affected by the rationalism or the

reality but by the idea that- He wanted nothing less of daisy than that she should go to Tom and

say, I never loved you (Fitzgerald 109). Gatsby wanted his wishes to be satisfied immediately

regardless any circumstances and as he believes Fix everything just the way it was before

(Fitzgerald 110).

Through the novel the superego plays a significant role in terms of subconscious. The voice of

the conscious is the part in the mind that tells the wrong and right things and which are learned

through parental instruction. Throughout the novel the psych of the great Gatsby is deeply

analyzed by the author, and it shows that at the beginning of the book Gatsby tried to show up all

his manners including how speak, dress and behave, all his actions were emphasizing his power

in terms of richness. The superego was the tiny part in his mind that was telling how the actions

should be taken in order to always be socially acceptable. By making the comparison between

the start and the end, it is easily noticeable the difference of the superego. Before Nick appeared
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as a voice of conscious his own superego was his inner voice that assisted him to succeed, all the

manners learned by Dan Cody and through the life experience made him a great Gatsby. At the

very beginning Gatsby's psych was focusing over the things that made him rich and powerful

individual, but things went upside down when he realized the chance about Daisy. From this

right moment Nick Carraway, the narrator was continuously acting as a Gatsbys superego and

Nick was the only one suggesting how to act in a different circumstances. However in the middle

of the book he showed how a person can lose a control over the voice of conscious, this was

clearly shown when Gatsby sad that I know your wife (Fitzgerald 102). The text suggests that

Gatsby had a competition with Tom over Daisy and her love. When the id took control over

everything his superego was still suggesting I would not ask much of her (Fitzgerald 110), or

You cant repeat the past (Fitzgerald 110), but self control was becoming the way complicated

because Gatsby was in the middle of what his id wanted and what the society suggested and even

for the most sophisticated person it was difficult to go through it.

Last and most complicated steps are always taken by the ego. It makes the characters who they

are in the novel. The actions should be filtered between the voice of conscious and the

fundamental desire. Only ego can show the real identity of a person, because the final words

belongs to ego. At the beginning of the novel The ego realizes that id must be satisfied but that

there are certain socially acceptable ways to achieve satisfaction (Grudzina 14), but when the id

takes control, superego and ego can't resist and they become uncontrollable. When Gatsby

started rebuilding the relationship with Daisy his ego showed the safest path towards the aim and

under the pressure of id suggested Nick as a mediator and he immediately finds the solution by

calling Daisy. I am going to call up daisy tomorrow and invite her over here or tea (Fitzgerald

82). In the novel Nick Carraway as a narrator suggests the rationalism of Gatsby's ego when
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Gatsby bought a house so that Daisy would be just across a bay (Fitzgerald 78), and

emphasizes the caution and the patience of his individuality. Sigmund Freud said Where Id was,

there ego shall be but because of the passion over her the ego lost the self control. Gatsbys ego

caused the conflict, disagreement between Tom and him by saying Your wife doesn't love you,

shes never loved you, she loves me (Fitzgerald 130), and finally satisfied his fundamental

desire. The power of internal motivation drives him to act the way he did, leaving his humanity

behind.

In the novel of The Great Gatsby the psyche drives human being to either be sophisticated and

rational or dishonest and unpredictable. The psychoanalytical theory deeply and clearly explains

the mind of the individuals and provides the specific examples through the novel. As it turned

out Gatsby's ego and superego have been under the pressure of the id and from psychoanalytical

perspective the conflicts expressed by the id, ego and superego always remain the unresolved.
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Work cited page

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The great gatsby. Simon & Schuster. 2004. Print.

Grudzina, Douglas. Teaching F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby from Multiple Critical

Perspectives. N.p.: Prestwick House, n.d. Print.