A Comparative Analysis Of Personality Structure Of Dick Diver And Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Fitzgerald is a prominent American novelist of the20th century. He is the speaker of the Jazz Age. Most of his characters are post war young men and women pursuing their dreams. They have a close relationship with Fitzgerald himself in terms of life experience and spiritual world. From these internal links, we can see the "Pilgrim" of Fitzgerald from the pursuit of "American Dream" to "Dream shattered"Tender is the Night is Fitzgerald’s last completed novel. It is a novel of a strong sense of autobiography. It is based on the life experience of Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, especially the period of Zelda’s suffering from mental illness. It dramatically reproduced the emotional entanglements between the writer Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda. It can be seen as his confession of the first half of his life.Since the novel is published, critics of many fields have studied on it. Each of the studies has its emphasis, including:the study of the novel’s theme; the study of the main characters of the novel; the study of the novel’s writing point of view, narrative strategies and symbolic imageries.The thesis will use Freudian Psychoanalysis to analyze the fate of both Dick Diver and Fitzgerald comparatively which will deeply discuss the writer’s original writing intention and people’s living and spiritual conditions at that time.The thesis consists four parts:The first chapter is introduction, mainly introducing the life and works of Fitzgerald, writing background and literature review. The second chapter is about the theory. Firstly, it states Freudian Psychoanalysis, including consciousness, preconsciousness, subconsciousness; psychic determinism; the structure of personality and defense mechanisms. Secondly, it states the functions and significance of the psychoanalysis. The third chapter is to apply Freudian Psychoanalysis to analyze personality structures of the both men and the evolution of their personality structures during the pursuit of their ego-ideals. The fourth chapter is the conclusion of the thesis. Based on the analysis we get the significance of comparative analysis of Dick Diver and Fitzgerald. The conclusion:by the personality structure comparison of the protagonist-the id, ego and superego of Dick Diver and Fitzgerald, we can see that the shatter of their "American Dream" is rooted in bourgeois money worship, selfishness of the upper classes and the moral decay. In such a case they gradually become depressed, decadent, and eventually sink into the darkness of capitalism. Dick Diver is the very map of the author, Fitzgerald. His self-regression is conferred by Fitzgerald. This course is the very embodiment of Fitzgerald’s pursuit of his own ego and also a form of satisfaction of his id.