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Symbolism In The Rich Boy

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Jacinta Claire Fernandez AGF130008 Dr. Nicholas O. Pagan ACGB 6311 American Literature Paper #2 30th December 2014 Uncovering the Mask: A Jungian Analysis of Anson Hunter from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Rich Boy”. F. Scott Fitzgerald remains to this day, one of the greatest contributors to the vast realm of American Literature. “The Rich Boy”, published in 1926, bares similarities to The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald brings attention to the extravagant lives of the wealthy, the privilege they claim and the false sense of superiority they project. We are moved to assess the true nature of these characters. We acknowledge the duality of their characters; the part of themselves that are revealed to those around them and their true nature. The attempt …show more content…

Carl Jung refers to the human psyche as both the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. He believes that the conscious attitudes within one’s mind are ideally balanced with the unconscious attitudes. The unconscious expresses ideas through dreams, imagery, fantasies, slips of the tongue and various other involuntary acts (Snowden 56). Jung expressed a varied perspective when it came to the components of the psyche. He divided the psyche intro three components, the conscious, the personal unconscious and the collective …show more content…

Sloane was to leave town for six months, and he must be gone within forty-eight hours. When he returned there was to be no resumption of the affair, but at the end of a year Edna might, if she wished, tell Robert Hunter that she wanted a divorce and go about it in the usual way… He paused, gaining confidence from their faces for his final word. (Fitzgerald 19) From the excerpt above, we realise that Anson sees himself fit to be judge and juror to his Aunt Edna. He puts himself in the position of the just who is able to somehow ‘punish’ them for their wrongdoings and provide them with a solution – the right thing to do, which was to be forthcoming with Robert Hunter or get a divorce. However, we can sense that Anson felt a responsibility to uphold the image and standing of his family in society. There again, maintaining the ‘flawless façade’ that they all projected in

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