by Michelle Mclean

Created on: March 06, 2009   Last Updated: March 08, 2009

The "return of the repressed" could arguably be the main theme in "The Great Gatsby." The novel depends a great deal on this idea and is manifested in every character involved in the story. Lois Tyson, author of "Critical Theory Today," mentions several "symptoms" of repression, from the defenses people use to keep "the contents of our unconsciousin the unconscious" to the core issues with which many people contend. The most notable examples of defenses that can be found in this novel include denial, avoidance, projection and displacement. The characters also exhibit anxiety, and many of the core issues Tyson mentions, such as fear of intimacy, fear of betrayal, oedipal fixation or complex, and low self-esteem, just to mention a few (Tyson 15-16). Each character in "The Great Gatsby" exhibits at least one, and in most cases several, of these attributes.

Denial is exhibited by Gatsby, in his refusal to see his affair with Daisy for what it really is, and in his repression of his past and his creation of Jay Gatsby, the wealthy, upper-class gentleman. Daisy, Tom, Nick, Jordan, Myrtle, and Wilson are all in denial about the true state of their lives and relationships. Every character in this book demonstrates moments of avoidance, especially in their relationships with each other, and of projection and displacement, in which they either transfer their emotions to someone else in order to more easily deal with the situation.

While the characters in this novel exhibit many, many dysfunctional traits, perhaps the two most prevalent are the fear of intimacy and low self-esteem. Tyson goes into great detail about the levels of fear of intimacy that these characters exhibit. As she states, "the romance between Gatsby and Daisymirrors all of the less appealing romantic relationships depicted those between Tom and Daisy, Tom and Myrtle, Myrtle and George, and Nick and Jordan" (39). The lengths to which these characters go to avoid being in a truly deep relationship is almost comical. Tom and Daisy are both cheating on each other with people who are equally unavailable; Myrtle because she is married and lower-class, and Gatsby, who, while technically unattached, is just as unavailable as Daisy because of his low self-esteem, denial issues, and fear of intimacy (which is evident in his devotion to a woman who is married and socially superior). Nick and Jordan go to great lengths to avoid intimacy, even, in Nick's case, moving in order to get out of an undesirable situation.

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