In American literature we are exposed to a wide range of written works, such as Short Stories and Classic Literature. These works have inspired an abundant amount writers over that years, works produced and molded by the history of the country have constituted in timeless pieces. Two works that have stuck out to me during this class have been, “The Great Gatsby” written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” By Richard Wright. In the course of this paper, I will provide my own psychoanalytic criticism of both works, as well as what both protagonists have in common using some Sigmund Freud 's fundamental ideas about the structure of the human psyche. Giving these two great works in American literature a lasting
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Case in point Dave Saunders, who felt that by buying a gun it, would give him what he deeply coveted from the people around him, which he felt was the need for people in his life to recognize his manhood. Such as when Wright wrote “The first movement he made the following morning was to reach under his pillow for the gun. In the gray light of dawn he held it loosely, feeling a sense of power. Could kill a man with a gun like this. Kill anybody, black or white. And if he were holding his gun in his hand, nobody could run over him; they would have to respect him.” (Baym et al, 2013,p.2249). Dave felt that is was extremely important for him that in order to achieve manhood to he needed to gain respect and power. Our other protagonist Jay Gatsby also wanted to gain respect but unlike Dave, his respect was in society with the elite class. Gatsby 's rag to riches story is intertwined with love, driven by the ID, Gatsby 's feels that his only to way to attract the love the person he once thought he had, was to become rich, and fit in with the class of society she lives
Case in point Dave Saunders, who felt that by buying a gun it, would give him what he deeply coveted from the people around him, which he felt was the need for people in his life to recognize his manhood. Such as when Wright wrote “The first movement he made the following morning was to reach under his pillow for the gun. In the gray light of dawn he held it loosely, feeling a sense of power. Could kill a man with a gun like this. Kill anybody, black or white. And if he were holding his gun in his hand, nobody could run over him; they would have to respect him.” (Baym et al, 2013,p.2249). Dave felt that is was extremely important for him that in order to achieve manhood to he needed to gain respect and power. Our other protagonist Jay Gatsby also wanted to gain respect but unlike Dave, his respect was in society with the elite class. Gatsby 's rag to riches story is intertwined with love, driven by the ID, Gatsby 's feels that his only to way to attract the love the person he once thought he had, was to become rich, and fit in with the class of society she lives