The Great Gatsby Archetypes Analysis

The American dream is a very conflicting topic. It remains constant in that it is the embodiment of being successful in the United States through hard labor paying off. However, the definition of successful is rarely the same between any two people. For most in the 1920s, success was living a luxurious life and never having to worry about having food on your gold-tinted plate at night. For Jay Gatsby, success was reclaiming the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. That was his American Dream, not the riches that he had accumulated in his still-young life. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby contains many common symbols and archetypes that are easily identifiable. With Gatsby taking on a role as Adam, the first man, and Daisy being his Eve, this story takes on a deeper meaning toward the demise of man. Gatsby also takes on the archetype of a hero, and Tom Buchanan is the utter counterpart of the hero. The Great Gatsby contains countless symbols …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby immensely adds to the literary value of the book. The symbols seem to add dimension to the settings and characters since they help to define them in their own unique way, such as Daisy’s constant correlation with white to represent her surface purity and innocence. Morals in this story are also well represented, by the Eckleburg billboard and the ignorance of the Valley of Ashes. Both show the conflicting views shared by the different economic classes of the 1920s and how they affected the lives of each respective class. The archetypes, whether hero, temptress, or voice of reason, all distinguish different attitudes portrayed in the novel by those who are closely associated with one another. These all can be found in ancient works of literature, such as the Holy Bible. The Great Gatsby contains countless symbols and archetypes that have been dated back thousands of years and still remain active in the novels of the present