"the Great Gatsby And Tender Is The Night" Prototype Interpretation

The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night are two representative works of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Since "The Revival of Fitzgerald", critics make endeavor to seek out new approaches to analyze his works. This thesis attempts to use the archetypal criticism put forward by Northrop Frye to probe into the mythological archetypes in the above two novels, including characters, setting, structure, plots, symbols and themes.Through analysis, the writer of the thesis comes to the conclusion: Fitzgerald uses archetypes in The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night. The biblical and the mythic archetype highlight the theme of the novels. Through displacement, Fitzgerald criticizes the sordid reality of the American society of the Jazz Age. Meanwhile, these archetypes greatly add to the readability and profundity of the novels and further enrich its connotations. These functions of archetypes immensely contribute to the eternal artistic brilliance and greatness of the novel.