CR:tTICAL TrIEORY TODAY
pattern of psychological behavior that is common to all of the novel's main characters and responsible for a good deal of the narrative progres- sion. Through a psychoanalytic lens, then, The Great Gat-shy becomes a psychological drama of dysfunctional love.
('Gv~nhl.~lt:t"§TI.AJi~l O. rne area or hinman 1oerhaviavior exp_1]'orea" m .1:'.SCO.l~t .Fitzgerald1·' s ThThe Great Gatsby (1925) thai: has important implications for psychoanalytic criti- cism is found in the romantic relationships portrayed in the novel. In- deed, even for readers not viewing the novel through a psychoanalytic lens, one of the most memorable qualities of the book is the force and endurance of Gatsby's love for Daisy, the emotional magnetism of which, for many fans, renders The Great Gatsby one of the great American love stories. For a psychoanalytic reading, however, the interest created by the romance bet-ween Gatsby and Daisy lies not in its apparent uniqueness but in the ways in which it mirrors an of the less appealing romantic rela- tionships portrayed in the novel-those between Tom and Daisy, Tom and Myrtle, Myrtle and George, and Nick and Jordan-and thereby re- veals a pattern of psychological behavior responsible for a good deal of the narrative progression. As we shall see, this pattern is grounded in the characters' fear of intimacy, the unconscious conviction that emotional ties to another human being will result in one's being emotionally devas- tated. This psychological problem is so pervasive in the novel that The Great Gatsoy's famous love story becomes, through a psychoanalytic lens, a drama of dysfunctional love. For the sake of clarity, let's begin by exam- ining the relationship most obviously based on fear of intimacy: the mar- riage of Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Perhaps the dearest indication of fear of intimacy in the novel lies in Tom Buchanan's chronic extramarital affairs, of which Jordan became aware three months after the couple's wedding. Jordan tells Nick, I saw them [Tom and Daisy] in Santa Barbara when they came back [from their honeymoon] .... A week after I left ... Tom ran into a wagon on the Ventura road one night and ripped a front wheel off his car. The girl who was with him got intothe papers too because her arm was broken-she was one of the chambermaids in the Santa B.. Ci_arbaralC. Ho__ t.e...•l (°0_1_°O£.''1'J ell-_o'!'JLt\ CHAPTER 2: PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM Vlhen we meet Tom, he's engaged his latest affair, ume Dividing his interest, time, e11ergJT between two women , "r 1" '1' ; protects rum rrom real intimacy '\NIlH ertner. Indeed, TOTu)s WTlIith women, mciucmg' 1 " hius wne,.:c reveai'11HIS' d_ esrre' rorr ego gratincauon'ro' than for emotional intimacy. For Torn, Daisy represents social superiority: she's not the kind of woman who can be acquired by a "Mr. Nobody ~T 1 "("~7 I 7) like I r: 1 ~, 'rC_)T '-1 \';-" 1-iownere \ L ;(11.. A e Jay valSoy. 10m s posseSSIon Of rvryrt e VI,uson->- W_IOfj]1 - l\TnICK,1 descriiescnoes as a "sensutousj,[ous] " "srnouLaenng1]'" 'NOn1a)]wnn'.1 «an, 1 ,-, "1)0 r -, rmme, d'late 1y perceptible'" vrtalrty ~~:1-;30 C'2)l1.. _.-ren:u:orces. 'Iom s sense his own masculine power, which is why he brings her to fashionable restart- rants where they are seen by his male acquaintances and why he introduces her to Nick so soon after their reunion at his East Egg home, interest in other women is so routine that Daisy has come to expect V\1hen 10m tens her he wants to eat supper with a group of strangers 2'1 Gatsby's party, rather than with her, because he finds one of the men amns- . "".' 1·'- -;. '1.11 1 ~4 v' • .1 mg, she immediately reanzes 'mar ner nusbanu IS pursumg anotner VvOTDan: orrers£f' rum", .cc httles 1 gala-a 1 pencu.~" 111• case He" wants to addresses," "[sjhe looked around after a moment tne,1, gm'1' was common "but pretty '''(-''~'\111.; en. of-:\). Daisy's fear of intimacy, though as intense as Tom's, is not 0.$ immediately apparent Indeed, her marital fidelity, Ii.'. 1 d -" ~ ,," ., 1\- 1 " uatsoy, an I her distress over 10m s mvorvement with Myrtle might sug- gest to some readers that Daisy desires emotional intimacy with fHIS-- ,Dana.1 Jordan-- - ,S description1 " Off Daiuatsy atterr: •Her 'tnoneymoon remrorces , , interpretation: 11' , ' - .3 b .' , 1 1 vct 'r I a never seen a girl so mac a our her nusoano. II ne Iert room a minute she'd look around uneasily and say "Where's Tom. gond" and wear the most abstracted expression until she saw him corning in the door. She used to sit on the sand with his head in lap by the hour rubbing her fingers over his eyes and looking at him "with UTl,-- fathomable delight, (81-82; c11. £1) - ~ ., l' i"" 1,' ". , However, me history 0f ana umsy s relanonsmp suggesfs IIlOgICal• 1 mo tirves thatt pome. " to a d'nrerentcc .c z,.»mrerpre(anon/' ' 0';:f r"J,J2!lSY'"S Gtvlgl1r1 l' 7 ..» in her husband. ,-1"t 1SO"VIOUSbvi that'I .itJ!aISY"" ulCH1..1"', r love1 'T'rom WHen1 Silt1 marrreo ., u cf r 1 tried to call OL the wedding] ". theh evemng.• oerore wnen en} overseas letter from Gatsby. In fact, her behavior upon receiving , r: ',1 " h ' 'I ""1 - »: 1 'n" 1c 1:- 1_0,-"'1- ' -~,"f.'-' , " suggesls {Hat S ie marrrec om, LO.l.zeepJ. ersen rrorn ,\~-1dib '0 ars!)!, 36 CRITICAL TI-iEORY TODr\Jr r: ·1 r- " • • h ".C 'j « • . 1 'J • ~~ [" 11 ' , ror me nrsr ume m __er H:i.C, ana she cneo ana crrec.... l/\ je ... got ner into a cold bath. She wouldn't let go of [Gatsby's] letter .... [Ajnd [she] only let [Jordan] leave it in the soap dish when she saw that it Vias coming to pieces like snow" (81; (h. 4). Why else would she marry Tom, when she onviobvi usry. prefcerrea 1 Gat~, soy, who~O ssnl e oeliieved was "'rCr. om much' the, same strata as herself ... fully able to take care of her" (156; en. 8)? Yet just .1 1. s: .' J c . r 1 rnree months aner the weeldimg sh_e seemec 0b sessrv., ery tond or ner new husband. What happened in this short time to change Daisy's attitude so dramatically? Given Tom's compulsive pursuit of women, it is probable that by the time he and Daisy arrived in Santa Barbara, Daisy already sus- pected him of infidelity. This would explain why she seemed so distracted whenever T011'1 was out of sight. She had good reason to fear that, if he wasn't with her, he might be pursuing another woman, as she believes he V13,S doing, for example, when she "woke up out of the ether with a totally . d d ~ I' "c '. .,' p "1 ,."., ~ ~ aban one lee mg, alter glvmg birth to am my, and Tom was GOO _I."<-..!•l•~owsvV wV'Iher.e...~" (?~"1) chio!.. _1) .. D.l.'c".~'\~.._+lP-""'.!, thl an!_ h.a..".Dt_el"" 1..!.."!.1,_:l...,,i ., £1. 0_. such_! mistreatm1 __ 1 t_ .f... e_ nt..•.'t,.....!.!. J however, Daisy fen head-over-heels in love with him. Although such <1, re- sponse may not seem to make sense, it can be explained psychologically. In psychoanalytic terms, a woman who falls in love with a man suf- fering from severe fear of intimacy probably fears intimacy herself. If she fears intimacy, nothing can make her feel safer than a man who has no desire for it. Upon learning that Torn's interest did not focus exclusively on her, such a woman would have become very capable of loving him in- tensel-y' because he p~osed no threat to her ~orotective shell: he wouldn't have wanted to break through it even if he could have. Pilla this is just what we see in Daisy's changed attitude toward Tom, though she certainly wouldn't use this language to describe her feelings, and it is very unlikely that she was even aware of her psychological motives. A,s we learned earlier in this chapter, fear of intimacy with others is usually a product of fear of intimacy with oneself. Because dose interper- sonal relationships dredge up the psychological residue of earlier family conflicts and bring into play aspects of our identity we don't want to deal with OI even lu10W about, the best way to avoid painful psychological self- awareness is to avoid dose interpersonal relationships, especially romantic relationships, VV'fiY not simply avoid romantic relationships altogether? j-\1- thou1 gh1" this practice• may' b e an etctce:c:«:trvc rrorm orf avoidc ance rCor some people1 '1. r .' h '1' 1 .:I ., 1 ~,.t. r wno rear mtimacy, t ie psycnotogicat wouncs responsiote tor tnat rear usu- ally demand a stage upon which to re-enact, in disguised form, the original woun d,m' g experien, ce, ana1 romantic."., retauonsmp• s provi•oe, an exceu1en1' t stage. For example, if I was hurt by a parent who was neglectful or abusive, I CHAPTER 2: PSYCHOANALYTIC (~RITICISlvl 3/ seek a mate '\1111'10 has these same characteristics, unconsciously hoping to whatever psychological needs were unfulfilled by Ironically, choosing a mate who shares my parent's negative qualities most guarantees that my unmet psychological needs will remain unmet. However, by this time in my life, due to the low self-esteem produced my 1 ],." 1 < C "- -. 't psycno• 1ogicai. wounos, 1. probably teel i don t dreserve to., nave my met Because the unconscious premise operating here-s-I 'wouldn't have wounds if I were a good person-remains repressed, its illogic remains un- challenged, and Iremain in its grasp. . For both Tom and Daisy, fear of intimacy is related to low self-es- teem. If Tom were as emotionally secure as his wealth and size make appear, he wouldn't work as hard as he does to impress others with money and power, as he does, for example, when he brags about house and stables to Nick, when he flaunts Myrtle before Nick and others, when he degrades those who don't belong to the "dominant race" (17; 1), and when he toys with George Wilson concerning whether or not will sell George a car that the poor mechanic Knight be able to resell at a profit. Even Tom's choice of mistresses-all from the lower class-v-be- speaks his need to bolster an insecure psyche through power over n' )! H:. 1;1 1 r r" . • " -. 'I Daisy s lOW self-esteem, uxe ner rear or mtimacy, IS indicated In large part bvy lher relationshrp,. l' wr.t h ~lorn. Fallingr. ". so much" m., love WIth. -a a man who was openly unfaithful to her suggests an unconscious belief .~ '] -n r. h n' , . . 0'- r-r-t " coesn t ueserve better. I-urthermore, U "I think everything's terrible anyhow .... Everybody thinks so-the most advanced people. And I know. I've been everywhere and seen - • .., ." ~ ~ ») - - r' ~.., .., ., • everything and done everything. Her eyes dashed around her m a , I" ""'1 ~, 1 h" ' , . 1 ' '"1' (tenant vvay,rather like Ioms, ana SLe laughed WILL thrilling scorn. The instant her voice broke off ... I felt the basic insincerity what she had said. (22; ch, 1) "vveh T see D"illSY s arrecteucc , ,.,Dehaviavior a1" most every ume' • 'life see m a group, 3.3 the following examples illustrate. VI/hen Nick joins the Buchanans Ior- • -' J: ,f'" D" - v 1 ", ~. '1 dan Baker ror tne nrst trme at J' 2HSYs Long Is ana. home, valsy tells '''-,1 m p-paraqzeaIi 1 with• "" .nappmess• .., , . She0" Iaugned1', ... as I':::'f sne1 saiu. :j SOID,e- '.. ~ ki 0 • r ".7 • veT).! VV!"Ct:jT " 0 0 JLO(y_-111gIIp into lily lace, prOl!lJSll1g mar ",/J8LS X10 .:g .., H"1-~ -a one 111 world so wanted to see~ 1hat vees a 'VV?X}T 8t1(; (P,'_..,./) Ci1. 1). At Gatsby's party she tens Nick, "If you want to kiss me any time during the evening ... just let me know and I'll be glad to arrange it lor you. Just mention my name. Or present a green card" (111; ch. 6). "V~hen Gatsby visits the Buchanans 'with Nick and jordan, Daisy sends Tom out of the room, and then she "got up and went over to Gatsby, and pulled down his race kissing him on the mouth .... 'I don't care!' cried Daisy and began r- A [T • • • r' t.o Clog~ on me.' briHek nrep 1ace"('2~1 L-22J; Ch"7) . Attectation ISa sIgn or mse- curity; of which Daisy dearly has a good deal. Tom and Daisy's fear of intimacy is apparent in their relationships with others as well. Neither of them spends time with Pammy. Their daughter is being raised by her nurse, and Daisy's artificial behavior to- warn1 {.1fie CHUG1" 1 .- '''£'_ les-sed"pre-Cl.ous, 'hs e croone d ,Kh 01Idilng out -her arms. 'Come to your Q1,l\Tn mother that loves you" (123; ch. 7)-bespeaks, as usual, an eye for the dramatic pose rather than maternal ardor. Neither Tom nor Daisy forms dose ties with Nick or Jordan, although the former is Daisy's cousin and the latter, whom Daisy has known since childhood, spends a good deal of time living under their roof. In this light, the couple's frequent relocations-as Nick puts it, they "drifted here and there unrestfully" (10; ch. 1)-are not the cause of their lack of intimacy with others, but the result: they don't stay in one place for any length of time because they don't want to become close to anyone. It is no surprise, therefore, that Tom's relationship with Myrtle lacks intimacy. He has no desire to be dose to his mistress; she is merely the means by which he avoids being dose to his wife. And his treatment of Myrtle certainly suggests no deep emotional investment. He cans for her when it suits him, lies to her about Daisy's religious opposition to divorce in order to keep her from becoming inconveniently demanding, and ca- " - 1 - . 1.." h ,r " (A' - ~) J " sually1 breaks her nose WItH a SLOTt nett movement if!; en. L wnen sne becomes so anyway. Tom's maudlin account of his final visit to the small apartment he kept for their rendezvous, where he "sat down and cried like a baby" (187; ch. 9), suggests sentimental self-indulgence, not love. The only ballast for Tom's insensitivity to her is Myrtle's lack of real con- cern for him. 1 r -'1 ' ~For 1i\VItyrtl,e..,.,..,lorn B lie1.ianan represents a tic. ket out or G eorge -WLSon-. s garage. Through Tom, Myrtle hopes to acquire permanent membership in a wonld wnere1 SLh e can ol'isp 1ay theh'" impressrve. n1 aute."ur we see 1ner enJOY. at the party in the couple's apartment) during which" [hler laughter, her ges- ., ., J rr. ' " tures, _her assertions became more violently attected moment IJj moment (35; ch. 2). While economic desperation) rather than fear of intimacy, is the 1 • • • 1 1r i\ Ii '1' .. r ...,., 1_ ·1 1 onry motrve gIVen m t11':; nove WI i/J.yn.e s pursun: or 10m) ner OHler reia- CHAPTER 2: PSYCHOANALYTiC CRITICISiVl uonsrups• • I • suggest, tna•L r. s,ne wants, to avow.•. ~ emouonal• • 1 CloV seness. o,'"'neI was ap- parently induced to marry George Wilson 1'101: by any personal feeling for rul' m ,but .by hLei"rmsta. I.cen.' impressto.n thatat nel was rrom a m,., gner cl,ass than, r·lile one to wt;uc. h1 -he "1Dewngs: s-h"e 'th• ough"t ne was a gentl1e"man wh- o ".,knew someL/[oa. .mgabouomt: breed-i'ng,» ana~ wnent sh~e -learned., th1 at the1 gooc". surt m. which he was married was borrowed, she "cried to beat the band all after- noon "/3°\, '7'; Cuh. 2 ).\ re 1" ~ , , cc l' 1 r rr· ,..•(- ~ -h"1 '\ ~ -a gO! •• joroan s apparent compiete sell sumciency 1j; c .. 1. ) ana cescnees ner, aal_ong_J:. wiV'I;.1 th.••_ DI aisv! i ."1:1...!I." terms_ _ . tl_hat_ _ deno..ll. teL -t'-11",,,"-cappeat ~,h•.~..l'!._ 0'<:1 'chf..__p__l_r_ e.....mo'U'tion"-_ .a_. l _ aloofness: Sometimes [Daisy] and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtrusively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal. eyes in the absence of all desire. (16-17; ch. 1) ,c~ r.j d 1 - ',' .;]. / I-Ie rrequency uses wor .s sucn as insotent, tmpersonai, COOr., ana. coniemp- iuous, co• oeSCHJ ibe 1/'h"112[[ne const'Jers /1we "1pieasmg- "(2'2.o; C'fL I0 )\ expression• ,r A' I, _. j' - 1 '1 on T..ordtan s race. And I.lI::remams mterested in her as .•ong as sne seems to belong to a faraway world, the world of "rotogravure pictures of the • "r I> h 'II ..HI:" 1 ~', R - ,,(,,~ - - \ sportmg HIe at ASLeVl e ana ot ,:,pnngs ana Pax.11 Beach \.£,5; ::::11.1 j, a world seemingly untouched by emotional realities. However, once she household she shares 'with the Buchanans becomes too emoticnally run- tidy;' Nick beats a hasty retreat. After returning with her from the scene of M1\ Ii yrtlet '\AvVLson-'1 ']s neath, , 1_He cecnn1 l' es joT"""roan S mvitatton to xeepg "ni- er corn- • -1 n h 1 "T'~' d ,-r-,,' -)"] j. parry m me Hue anan nome: 1u be c amnec II 1 Q go m; 1 o nao enougn of them for one day and suddenly that included Jordan too. She must 1 1. • r J. - • • r j "-J nave seen sometnmg or tins m my expresswn ror sne turn eo. 8.DnJ1pLy away and ran up the porch steps into the house" (150; ch. 7). Nick subsequently avoids Jordan and shortly thereafter ends the rela- tion. sr./n.p I.n a manner tn'1at xeeps 'Inu. n emouon, - auy'1' msul1ated.,. represses with her on the telephone day after Myrtle's r- 0 , - l' 1 " (- k110Vv OI us hung up with a cuck 163; <::5~) --arthough1 - '1 ne QW-, 3 ".1tnrow [her]Her over " ("100;n ~ ell.- r>'),\ as we learn0 wnen,~ Jor- reminds him of the event. And even when he meets with her to discuss what had happened between them, he admits that he "talked over anc" aroun d" (1_))5;G en.1 9)' their1 • snared1 " past, rmprymg.,. that1 there" was a goo«1 deal avoidance of painful issues during the conversation. That Nick's fear of intimacy is not limited to his relationship with [or- is suggested by histwo previous romances. Although he claims that he "wasn't even vaguely engaged" to "an old friend" (24; ch. 1) back home in Minnesota, he admits that he carne East, in part, to escape local rumors to errect.cr- c "'"1ne only' way hLe eOU_Q1 'J 1.'nave been, as •ne purs" If,, ccrumore« l' mto. • )' ('-" A " 1 ) •c 1 I' 0 • • ~' 1 , .,' marriage" LL1:; en. 1. vczs If tne young' aC1Ym question Ulan t consider ner- self just an "old friend." VVelearn that she was more than a friend when Nick decides that, 'before getting involved with Jordan, "first [he] had to get ;)self"L definitelv••_h-,~"_ •• Ay out'--_c 0'-1 that~.C_,-- '1."<'1'1"1,,,<"' o-~ backQ,\~". horne"__ •• ~ (,<::;4'\ v _) J).?\ Clearlv",-" __)' relationship Vl'as more serious than he cares to acknowledge, and wants out. ormuarry,ro' '1 1 In• 'cTNew ,7York1~' City ,ne ('1nac1 a snort1 attair"'r·· with1 a gIn• 'a worked-. V_~ ..•.0U thtA...!•••....Co C!..""CCO'U'1"';n'"'~ l.i_ b deoarU_\...rU-~ tment"_ 'I...-~_ at.....'1._ JUJl,.,:)h,;" .'--v1'_Cace- ~ of~ business"'-./t-_u· .. , " "hiV 1;."r<'-""it. brother began throwing mean looks in [his] direction so when she went on vacation. m. In1y [-he ] 1let It' Lruow'j quietly• 1 3.\j\Tay» ( 61; en.1 3) . -r'in other woros,] affair became somewhat serious, he dropped her, again in the manner most likely to avoid an emotional scene. In his relationships with women, Nick is a master of avoidance and denial. jordan~ -t '" S "cootl' msorentl' SIn,HE:'1" ("0;3 en.1 ,J)'0 -, suggesTs,• SHeih snares1 Nick's desire to remain emotionally insulated, and it is no coincidence her career and the friends she chooses allow her to do so. Her spoITmg, ' me,. r provides. -n a reaoy-ma:d de giossyl' nnage-- ",-,'me 1Doren~ "haughty] , race sne1, Turned -. w the worlld" (6~\ ~L; 3)'-fO SHle_11l' l' her-a Hornr with others. "[Sjhe was a golf champion and everyone knew her name" (62; 3), but she made sure, through various "subterfuges" (63; 1 ' \ - , l' r' '1 en. j h that s a1"1 they-, Know ab'out , Her- ~ C110lce rrren dss usel tb1e -" , r 1 ld r . 1 . " ,C • Buchanans, who prerer the WOL or socia Image to tnat 01 genume engagement, also protects her from intimacy, They 'want to 'hoe close" any more than1 she0 Goes.1 An(\A 1 as 1\Nick-. l' Observes, jordan- ~ (0. • • 1 ided 'I h ) » (" ~ , ? ) I . 1 ' ':msi:metrveJ.Y avomeo clever sr rewo men oj; en. J WHO mignr see charade. Surely, in choosing men like Nick, Jordan is safe threat of emotional ties. Although the intense affair between Catsby and Daisy seems to be co, t,1.ne nrsucnanans'", marriage psycnoiogicai, 1 . 1 CHlcPTER 2: PSYCHOAN/\LYTIC CRITICISIvI L~1 convernence, and to an the other emotionally distant relationships in p -;-, "\ 1"1 ~<:: ~ 1 -- ;'In~ -L'--~ii- _ HO:T_I Cl.~ wePIn' , ual,,~"-SD), an d D ai;sy-' s l-OID,u,. •.e.. 1-nas ,,<~I:{-L·:l _kn,__own__ -L_at'_h~A Cats'-' l b ")[ do'-'- es 1:_10-'l- bel_onz--0 to_ "~he_-r0"OCl""_o_~ cl_a0.ss". Whate__ _ vver- ~s~-he rlr G b . "J: rI .• reers tor -ats y requires the remtorcernent or tHe same SOCIal status Trom p_O\r rid_ -es.<; mueecT 1 ,i'T'rom·' S revei1au-on';~, 0_FG-atsbv'Y s sociati 1 O--lIO-l':0+- QU'--i-;-~~_H'l:5 their confrontation in the New York hotel room results in Daisy's im- mediate withdrawal: [',J-,ats b]y b-egan to tal,k-. excitec dly to ,,Da' iSY, aenymg]' everythmg,1 • «er, reno-, ___ing hisA nam1 e daOzains_ tL accu_'-' sata.lions1 v 't..-1c1~z.L h__'-ad:-o... l n__ott.. bU ee..... n.LJ. made.•. 1 ':"_ B~1._~'-:- -w.\_ti:..--,-}_ , every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he ~zoa. ve ·L:-11v."'-'L "Pu. and__ onlvL_Y '-L11e Udead rh·p-,~Y'-,-l'L fouzht_ --6L- Von 1 ca.s the_ a.f1t. er1no_1,-,on__ slipped away, .. struggling, .. toward that lost voice across the room. The voice begged again to go. " Dl nlM i - ». ] ~h' " .L ease, OID. I can ( SLanQ UlS any more. Her frightened eyes told that whatever intentions, whatever cour- age she had had, were definitely gone, (142; ch, 7) All the years of Gatsby's devotion, as wen as Daisy's desire to be part of his life, disappear for her when she learns that Gatsby does not come from ce , • - • - r h 1" - 1 '-I ' the right SIde or the tracks. And D'aisy, nerse 1f,£ diisappears shortly there- after, as she and Torn pack their bags and leave town directly after Gatsby's death the following day. Daisy doesn't realize it, but Gatsby and Myrtle function in much the same capacity for the Buchanans: as psychological pawns in their rela- uons, ru;' p witn• L eacrh othLer, J~ust as 'Tlo' om uses M~ -y, rtle to avor•d- tn1 e emotiona• l 1 prob"ljems m. hliIS marriag. e, so nDai.sy uses G'atsby: Gatsby1 came ,L1ong agam' just in time to buffer Daisy from what seems to be a new development in q~lorn , s extramarita•l 1 actr.v..mes. Tl,11e m.. sistent MyM" rtle intrudes1 1nersen,-a e- C '" 1 11' ht i -~., - ._, r1 means OI repeated telephone cai s, ng t mto Daisy S home. 10m s tlaunt- ing Myrtle out of Daisy's sight does not invade his wife's territory as does his accepting his mistress's telephone cans at horne. Just because a mate's behavior has psychological pay-offs for us-as Tom's affairs do for D·arsy-s-i'Jt ewes not mean thatat th ose 'oenavio1'" rs 00 not also" gIve us pam.. That's why psychological problems are so often referred to as conflicts: vce r_m_r____cxonscioi 1Ll,,1~.y--rcesireip ~-.o a ~l:. 'a~rtiicu1arr ,e--x_,-peLeLce'-i n because-1 .j_.t".rruniSuil S 'c", -)-:-~,,,,yv--~.!ol- - - . -I 1 - b h d i 1 • r h - ... 1 logical neec, but ecause t' rat nee l IS the result or a psyc ologica! YVonne, h . . r • r-' the experience IS etten painful. CRITICAL TI-IEORl TODAY ,-.,', •• 1 . r' '1 C{::· '1 r> • .umsy S marnage nas oecorne pamtut, and ner a!.r.air witn %Jatsbypro- • 'j ; " • Ie" G " 1r: < - vices a weicome drstraction. I she has atsby S11e can tel11h' er'.self that she doesn't need Tom, that she doesn't even have to think about Tom (or, bet- ter yet, she can think about how her affair with Gatsby is an appropriate punishment for Tom), and she can therefore afford the blase attitude to- ward Tom's womanizing that she exhibits at Gatsby's party. Daisy's affair " r' h' . l' r • .!.o.. 1 tnus runcnons as a psyc oiogica detense, and. as sucn, ilt underscores the psychological importance of her dysfunctional marriage: if her marriage weren't a powerful force in her life then she wouldn't have to defend against it. In fact, it is the continued unconscious importance of her mar- riage that finally makes Daisy feel safe enough to be with Gatsby again. As long as she remains psychologically involved with Tom, she need not fear that she will develop the kind of attachment she had to Gatsby before her marnage. Given. that Gatsby and Myrtle are psychological tokens in the Buchanans' marriage, it is symbolically significant that Tom and Daisy, in effect, kin each other's lover. Although it is apparently a genuine accident, Daisy is the driver who kills Myrtle with Gatsby's car. Far less of an acci- dent, surely, is Tom's sending George "Wilson, armed and crazed, to Gatsby's house. Even if, from fear for his and Daisy's life, Tom felt he had to ten Wilson that it was Gatsby who killed Myrtle (or so Tom thought), had Tom not hoped Wilson would kill his 'wife's lover, he could have phoned Gatsby to warn him. That Daisy lets Gatsby take the blame for Myrtle's death, apparently without a second thought, indicates both her conception of him as an emotional buffer between her and the world and, once her knowledge of his social origin renders him useless as her lover, his expendability. r'or1:: many read'ers, pernaps hw1 e mosrt odriffHCUo.It case to. ma ke rr.ror tear 01c intimacy is the case for Gatsby. How can we say that Gatsby fears inti- rn3CY when he is committed to Daisy as to "the following of a grail" (156; ch. 8), when he kept a scrapbook of all news items concerning her, when he, remam. e d ftart. hfru1to Jner even duurinnngztl the 1ong years Ofr h" er marrie. c 1 ln'rre, and when all the money he acquired during that time was acquired only to 'win Daisy back? 'vVe can make the case by examining what it is that Gatsby remains devoted to in remaining devoted to Daisy. Although Gatsby believes that his ultimate goal is the possession of Daisy-a belief that many readers, as well as Nick, Jordan, Tom, and Daisy, seem to share-Daisy is merely the key to his goal rather than the goal itself. Gatsby had set his sights on the attainment of wealth and so- cial status long before he knew Daisy. The boyhood "schedule" of Jimmy CHAPTER 2: PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITiCISM Geitz (Jay Gatsby's legal narnel=-in which the young man divided his day, m'1 tile se1(r'"-unpro, vement tra diItlO1, 1ot~ Bnen F~ranklin," r among pn'ysica. t1 exer- el~se, th.. e study1 orr~··electricity, work,11 sports, the<1 practice• orrl elocutionc ana" poise, and the study of needed inventions-suggests that he'd long pia, nnecd tWIveI' thel" 'rags-to-riche'1.s" ;u'rCe aSSOC• Iated WI.,th sucn, self-~-made, millionaires as John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. Gatsby's desire to move up in the world resulted from his unhappy urel'r wiitht _ rhnis impoverrsnec.~ J parents, "shi"s f1tlesst ess-andana unsuccessrui",r farm people" (104; c11. 6). And, apparently, the unhappiness of his boyhood re- sulted from more than his family's poverty, as is hinted when Mr. Catz tens Nick, "He told me I et like a hog once and I beat him for it" (182; ch. 9). Whatever psychological traumas Gatsby suffered in his youth, they vrete sufficient to make him completely reject his emotional relationship with his parents: "his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all" (104; ch. 6). Thus, from a psychoanalytic perspective, Gatsby's invented past is more than just a ploy to pass himself off as a b r- 1 1·' 1 I: C" - -,. -, mem er 01: the upper c ass; it S 0.••50. a form or denial, a psychological de- fense to help him repress the memory of his real past. And his claim that his invented family "all died and [he] came into a good deal of money" (70; ch. 4) becomes, in this context, a metaphor for his desire to psycho- logically kill the parents whose wounding influence still inhabits his own psyc he ana,] para doxOXlCi a11ry, receive. frL om those parents tne1.. PSYCHO, logI•Cal- nouns, h..rmnent-c--e-tthe "money "1-tney 'd never gIven. _h_·1m. The financial achievements Gatsby planned for himself revealed their ult. i.mate pSYC!11o.lo' grc.at I pay-oLff, 'however, on1y upon meeting. D'aisy, "S-(".he was the first 'nice' girl he had ever known .... [H]e had come in contact with such people but always with indiscernible barbed wire between" (155; en. 8). Through Daisy, he could imagine what it would fed like to be part orr :ner wor Id.,jotol be, as he_ e ffelelt she was, a g,1eamm. g 11'11(e,'-SIlver, safer ana:l proud. above the hot struggles of the poor" (157; eh. 8), the struggles he experienced as a youth, which he can't help but associate with the psycho- logical pain of that period of his life. Daisy is, for him, not a flesh-and- blood woman but an emblem of the emotional insulation he unCOTI- sciously desires: emotional insulation from himself, from James Gatz and the past to' which he belongs. As we saw in the case of Torn and Daisy, the best way to achieve emotional insulation from oneself is to avoid inti- macy with others. Gatsby's outrageous idealization of Daisy as the perfect woman-s-she can do no wrong; she can love no one but him, time cannot change her-is a sure sign that he seeks to' avoid intimacy, for it is impos- S.ib-.le t,o b e mt., imate wit. n1 an 1ideaealr, -1:0 rract,, vce can ).'( even I«Tnow a person 'life i'1oeau"ze br ecause we subl' stitute th,e iceai -! 1 roc,r the real- ,human .oe. mg, and' .' ., 11 ~ duri 1 1 1 • -, • mal S OL vte see . Even r: unng the years wnen rus onry access to her was through the news items he read on the society page, Gatsby's obsession . I D . ",. r •. . 1 1. wrtn alsy protected nrm rrom mtnnacy WItH other women, h_.Ii,. 1~~ " :';si)-z0nif!.1ic." am..!.'I , the••n..._, t'th.....a. t P1_itzzero ..aald.. _. cO'1u_10]-J.'-J.'0"L i_mLQa.o&.hin..l. e\....wVV hia::1l-' '\V-..''' ." l' . 7 , cause mere IS none. J. m not suggestmg tthatat .G-ats byan· d"-D'"aISY don t expe .. rience emotions, but that whatever they feel for each other is always a means of avoiding feeling something else, something profoundly disturb- ing that they want to keep repressed. Clearly, a psychoanalytic lens reveals a much different love story than the one ordinarily associated with The Great Gatsby. As the novel illustrates, romantic love is the stage upon which all of our unresolved psychological conflicts are dramatized, over and over. Indeed, it's the over-and-over, the repetition of destructive behavior, that tells us an unresolved psychological conflict is "pulling the strings" from the unconscious. An of the characters discussed above illustrate this principle.though its operations are, at once, most dramatic and most camouflaged-that is, most repressed-in Gatsby's obsession with Daisy. For Gatsby's repression of his psychological motives outstrips that of ail the other characters put together, His famous -WOl'uS,A ""Gan '-l'- repeat. L'l1e paSH...,. , . 'AnVVl1yorI: course you can.1" (-~.c 16; en.' 0,\)' are especially meaningful, in this context, because they betoken the implicit premise upon. which the psychoanalytic content of the novel is based: that om repression of psychological wounds condemns us to repeatedly incur them. Catsby's lonely pursuit of Daisy replays the loneliness of his youth, and he seems to feel as much an outsider in the mansion he bought to re- ceive her-the only room he uses or marks with a personal possession is his bedroom-as he must have felt in the home of his parents. Surely, Gatsby could not have been wounded more severely by his parents than he is by Daisy's abandonment of him, both when she married Tom and when he l1oses nc1. r agam' to H1_ I•S nv• al • the m.g,nt orr MyM rtle'~N\ 'lLSOH 'S c,eatn.1 Tc.'l1US, whether it intends to do so or not, The Great Gatsby shows us how effec- tively romantic relationships can facilitate our repression of psychological 'wounds and thereby inevitably carry us, as the novel's dosing line so aptly puts it, "ceaselessly into the past" (189; ch. 9). CHAPTER 2: PSYCHOANALYTIC CIUTICISIvl r-r-rr rn' .. -, --~l 1- 1he IOHowmg questions are intended as models. 1a,ey can help you use psychoanalytic criticism to interpret the literary works to which they re- fer or other texts of your choice. 1. How might an understanding of the re'~urn of the repressed help us understand the relationship of the reincarnated Beloved (who mignt. 1', Devie' wec ] as the, embodC ime,', nt 0f the'" ronnel: slav-.- es' unbear- able pasts) to Sethe, Paul D, and the black community Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987)? 2. How might an understanding of regression help us interpret Alberto Moravia's "The Chase" (1967)? What seems to be the narrator's core issue? 3. How might an understanding of the ways in which death, work can be projected onto the environment help ES interpret Marlow in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (l902)? 4:. How might an understanding of denial and displacement (in this case, displacement of negative feelings for one's husband onto one's child) help us analyze the narrator's relationship to her trou blreo1 d augn1 ter m• Tr'ull'ue 01 sen's aTI Stand"'HeY- re -rHODIng• " (41'~)'5/0)":- 5. How might we use an understanding of repre& ssion, the superego1 u, and dream symbolism (especially water as a symbol of the emotions or of sexuality) to help us interpret Emily Dickinson's "I Started Early=-Took My Dog" (1862)? h "'1 r 1 C '1' . ", - 1 -, .,.,- , 1'1.11Of the rouowmg works WIll he P you develop your 51'-111s as psycnoana- -yti1' c cnti..cs. rTtex"I ts liIsled unce"'i r ccCr-vategory ;:1-" are wrm4. e• n m• '_l'! cmguage acces- sible to most beginners. Texts listed under "Category II" employ TII0re technical language but are well worth the extra effort that may be re- quired of some students new to the field..