Sigmund_Freud

Sigmund Freud has had a lasting impact on the way that we analyze literature. In particular Freud’s theories on the Death Instinct, Pleasure Principle, and Denial in fantasy can be used to analyze and illustrate the striking similarities and attempt to find reasoning behind the excess of the 1980’s and 1920’s, which are symbolized by The Great Gatsby (1925’s) and the song “Jane Says” by Jane’s Addiction (1985). Both generations have a staggering amount of similarities that are illustrated in both pieces, and also demonstrate the theories of Freud. Both the 1920’s and 1980’s were generations living in the aftermath of two wars that changed the American perception on humanity and their government’s intentions for war. The 1920’s and the 1980’s responded to their confusion with a culture that has since been construed as a hedonistic, materialistic, greedy, and pleasure driven. The vices of both generations are illustrated in The Great Gatsby and “Jane Says” which use substances abuse to illustrate their cultures obsession with excess. In The Great Gatsby excess is illustrated when the narrator describes the life of Daisy when he states, “They moved with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild,” this symbolizes the feeling of the 1920’s and the idealism that was created around money and how materialism and money eventually became an addiction. The theme of excess is also symbolized in “Jane Says” when the singer writes, “She gets her dinner there, she pulls her dinner from her pocket” (34-35), the writers uses the word dinner to symbolize drugs and how the drugs became a necessity in her life. The excess of both generations, symbolized by The Great Gatsby and “Jane Says”, can be explained by Freud’s Pleasure Principle theory which states that “the desire for immediate gratification versus the deferral of that gratification” (4.3), Freud’s also states that the “pleasure principle drives one to seek pleasure and to avoid pain” (4.4). Sigmund Freud also believed that because “life can be a painful and exhausting process, with more pain than pleasure” (5.10) that we eventually gain an “unconscious desire to die, because death promises release from the struggle” (5.10). The Great Gatsby and “Jane Says” use their excessive and idealistic lifestyles to demonstrate their unconscious desire to die by using symbols to illustrate the desire to destroy one’s self by means of excess. A great example of the death instinct is illustrated in “Jane Says” when the song continuously uses the verse, “'I'm gonna kick tomorrow...''I'm gonna kick tomorrow...” (10), which suggests that the desire for drugs and excess had taken over her desire to live a functional life and how she had been overwhelmed by her innate desire to die. Her loss of desire to live a functional life is symbolized in “Jane Says” by symbolizing how excess in the 1920’s and 1980’s became more important than a maintaining a sustainable society or life. Another great of example of Freud’s death instinct is illustrated in The Great Gatsby by Gatsby’s life of excess and undying love for Daisy. His love for Daisy would eventually lead to his death, which is attributed to Daisy’s reckless and careless manner that she approached life with. His unconscious desire to die is also illustrated after the death of Myrtle Wilson and his willingness to take the blame for Daisy as he states, “but of course I’ll say I was” (143.15), this illustrates the extent of his desire for death manifest when by his willingness to put his life on the line to prevent Daisy from recognizing the realities of careless and reckless life. The Great Gatsby and “Jane Says” in addition, effectively illustrate Freud’s theory of Denial in Fantasy by illustrating the delusion and idealism that the main charters had succumb too. Freud’s believed that Denial in Fantasy was a defense that was used when the realities of life had become too much to handle. As he believed that people would simply refuse to experience these events. A great example is illustrated in The Great Gatsby when Gatsby concocts a pseudo identity to gain acceptance from the upper class, “I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West - all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford , because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years it is a family tradition.” Gatsby’s uses idealism and denial as a defense, because he is unable to accept that his past relationship with Daisy had ended as the narrator states, “When Daisy tumbled short of his dreams- not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion” (76.2). Another great example of Denial in Fantasy is the idealism that Jay Gatsby creates with the real Daisy and the Daisy that became his scapegoat for life’s problems which is illustrated when the narrator states, “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store in his ghostly heart” (96.5). Gatsby uses fantasies to escape the realties of life by living in a shroud of secrecy because of denial of his true identify. The definitive act of Denial in Fantasy occurs when Gatsby rids himself of real identity as he states, “James Gatz – that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career.” (98.1). Another great example of Denial in Fantasy is illustrated in “Jane Say” when the song-writer states, “I'm going away to Spain when I get my money saved…I'm gonna start tomorrow”(20), this illustrates the denial of a clear substance abuse problem by dreaming of escaping to a remote place where a new identity can concocted. Denial in Fantasy is also illustrated in the song “Jane Says” when the song-writer states, “Jane says 'Have you seen my wig around' I feel naked without it” (12), the wig becomes an escape and by allowing the character to achieve a new identity by changing her psychical appearance, and escaping the realities of life. In closing, Freud’s theories attempt to explain the social excess and their dysfunctions that are seen in The Great Gatsby and “Jane Says.” Freud’s theories are illustrated by showing how the Pleasure Principal had taken over both Jane and Gatsby’s ability to reason by trying to “seek pleasure and to avoid pain.” In addition, Denial in Fantasy shows the tainted perception Gatsby and Jane viewed life from by living in a world that was centered off of idealism and delusion, and their inability to deal with the realties of life. The most powerful of all Freud’s theories is presented in The Great Gatsby and “Jane Says” by illustrating the Death Instinct in both pieces because of the life of excess that caused the character’s innate desire to die.