Social Class Distinction in The Great Gatsby Assignment 106

Social Class Distinction in The Great Gatsby

After World War I was over, many American writers began to write about the allure of modern life, as well as the great criticism of materialism, Americans’ hypocrisy, public consciousness, and lack of art appreciation. 1920s writers showed their talent in this widespread literary tradition, in which new sounds and rhythms emerged as well as innovations in style and form. Writers felt the need to respond to the evils and disappointments they saw in their environment and felt in their own world through art and literature. Fitzgerald is one of the writers who reflect on the situation of America as well as he reflects the love and human relationships. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby portrays America after the first world war in the 1920s and sums up a critical portrait of class struggles and the disappointment in the American dream. 

 It disintegrates society and its ideals then a gap develops between the poor and the rich as a result. Fitzgerald's work was based on social realism and The Great Gatsby is a novel that illuminates American culture in the 1920s and the values, beliefs and dreams of America at that time. The American dream can be interpreted differently by everyone. For some, the American dream is about freedom of class, race, or religion, and for others, choosing clothing, food, or what they want to be. “There is a general understanding by readers of The Great Gatsby that it is a commentary on the American Dream and not simply a documentary on the Jazz Age. It is a criticism of the American experience not only of our manners but of our basic historic attitude toward life. The theme of Gatsby is the withering of the American Dream. The dream is essentially anti-puritanical(to go from rags to riches and therefore from rejection to acceptance)” (Pidgeon). F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 tragic novel The Great Gatsby, represents differences between social classes clearly illustrated and are embodied by characters, each representing a different social class.

 

The novel takes place on Long Island during the prohibition period when alcohol was illegal. The Great Gatsby is narrated from the perspective of Nick Carraway, a member of the middle class and cousin of Daisy Buchanan. When Nick decides to move to West Egg, LongIsland to learn about his business, he comes across Jay Gatsby. Gatsby fell in love with Daisy Buchanan but began to love her platonically because Gatsby belonged to the lower class and felt that he could not afford Daisy’s financial desires. 

This love caused him to change his destiny, he wants to gain socioeconomic status and wealth to acceptance by the upper class. Gatsby became a millionaire illegally, Gatsby's only desire in life is to be with Daisy Buchanan. But Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan. The life of the mysterious millionaire Gatsby, who in the foreground dares to mingle into the glamorous parties and glamorous realms for the woman he loves and the tragic events that happened to Gatsby is depicted, In the background, the fake lives of a small and wealthy minority of the 1920s, far from moral and sincerity are depicted.

 The social and material differences between the classes are clearly stated in The Great Gatsby and differences are embodied by characters who each represent a different social class. When the relationship between the upper class and the lower class is demonstrated in the novel, the distinction between classes becomes noticeable. The 1920s were a difficult period due to the inequality in Americans’ income, increasing immigration and unemployment in the United States, and the events that took place. Besides, the recovery process people started after World War I. Many people came to America in search of freedom, wealth and building a life of prosperity. 

The Great Gatsby depicts in detail the cultural and class-based changes that took place in America during the 1920s and show us the differences between both the imagined American dream and the real American dream by referring to the class distinction. Fitzgerald reveals how people ignore ethical and moral values when it comes to achieving rich status. Throughout the novel, the feeling of greed and the need for materialist substances were expressed. Each character degenerates with the desire to achieve the status they desire and give up values they believe in in the hope of being accepted by the classes. Fitzgerald accomplishes the American dream but problematizes the American Dream by adding the illegal side to Gatsby's success. Gatsby's success depends on his failure to comply with society's rules. “In stressing the corruption at the heart of Gatsby’s dream, as well as exposing, in the revelation of Daisy’scharacter, the tawdriness of what the dream aspires to, Fitzgerald clearly intended a fundamental criticism of the ‘American Dream’..”( Millgate). Although Gatsby pretends to be a gentleman and has a wealthy status, he does not have the same social status as Buchanan. The difference is not how they behave like a gentleman or lady, but where they come from and their family background. “He went to her house, at first with other officers from Camp Taylor, then alone. It amazed him – he had never been in such a beautiful house before” (Fitzgerald). 

Gatsby was shocked when his first visit to Daisy’s home, Fitzgeraldemphases the difference in social class between them. Gatsby hides his past to be accepted from upper-class society and lies to be part of this class. “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.” He looked at me sideways – and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying. He hurried the phrase “educated at Oxford” or swallowed it or choked on it as though it had bothered him before “(Fitzgerald). 

Gatsby's narratives are actually a lie, and by telling these lies he confirms the social distinction between him and the Buchanan family. Despite Gatsby's wealth, he needs to pretend to look like them and an Oxford graduate to be accepted by the Buchanans. Gatsby, spent excessively to influence daisy. AlthoughDaisy was affected by Gatsby, she continued her marriage to Tom. “They weren’t happy...and yet they weren’t unhappy either” because their marriage guaranteed their continued membership into the exclusive world of the rich” (Fitzgerald).

 We understand that her commitment to the class they belong to is stronger compared to their relationships with each other. Fitzgerald reflects a divided society by separating it into West Egg and EastEgg. Fitzgerald illustrates their socioeconomic situation by citing examples of residents of both the East and West Egg. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are East Egg residents, rich and devoted to freedom, always playing polo and so on. While Gatsby is a resident of west egg, represents the opposite of the Buchanans, with his own wealth and not wealthy family support. Fitzgerald criticizes the upper class with the character of Tom Buchanan, making Tom look selfish and immoral, he has a relationship with one of his employees the mechanicWilson's wife, Myrtle. We can see this as a critique of the behaviour of upper-class people towards lower class people.

 Moreover, Myrtle is a character similar to Gatsby, who disregards morality and pursues wealth. Myrtle and her husband George are working-class people trying to improve their way of living. Myrtle and Tom Buchanan have an illegitimate relationship. Despite being married, Myrtle maintains a relationship with Tom, just to live a rich life. Myrtle behaves immorally because of her materialistic desires. She reaches her own American dream as Tom's mistress, where Fitzgerald again shows how bad the American dream was, not as good as it seemed. Unlike most of the characters in the novel, we can understand that Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, is innocent and mild-mannered compared to hedonistic elites. Despite his interest in New York's entertaining lifestyle, he thinks this lifestyle is detrimental to people and just makes people hedonists. Nick thinks that pursuing pleasure and fast living is caused by the moral degeneration that lies in all this pursuit of getting rich.  

When Gatsby died, people, he met at house parties did not come to his funeral. This shows that gatsby is not accepted by the upper class even after all his efforts to get rich. While people could join Gatsby’s parties and have fun, they did not design to attend Gatsby’s funeral, we can see how hypocritical and selfish society is. The unresponsiveness of Tom and Daisy to the deaths of Gatsby, Myrtle, and her husband Wilson, reveals that there is an unequal society. Nick is disappointed that his cousin Daisy continues her life as if she forgets what happened. He stops meeting with Daisy and Tom because, in Nick's eyes, they are cruel and deceitful people who use people as objects to their advantage.

 In conclusion, in The Great Gatsby  Fitzgerald shows the differences between the middle class and the upper class in the view of society in 1920s America by demonstrating the distinction between classes through characters. The Great Gatsby was written to express the hopes and dreams of the desired lifestyle of that era, as well as the cultural elements that led to the collapse of the community. Throughout the book, concepts such as morality, love, relationships, and materialism are discussed to accurately reflect people's thoughts. Although the American dream sounds ambitious, Fitzgerald revealed the truth behind it and revealed that it was only about clashes between wealth and social classes. In this novel hypocrisy was exposed, and the noble class was accused of falsehood. The hedonistic perspective of the Jazz Age was criticized. The Great Gatsby, where American myths were destroyed, and materialism was denigrated; describes a nightmare rather than the American dream. Although the Great Gatsby is a tragic love story, Fitzgerald portrays the class diversity of that period as a satire and critique of the American dream. The conclusion that we readers draw is that one's achievement of his ideals and a respectable place cannot be achieved by material wealth. Honesty and dignity cannot be bought with money.

Work Cited:

Bloom, Harold. “The  American Dream .” Ed. Blake Hobby New York, Bloom’s literary criticism. 2009.

Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby,  Penguin Books, 2018

Millgate, Michael. “ A Corruption of Character”. Johnson 79-73. 2008.

Pidgeon, John A. "The Great Gatsby." Modern Age,  vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 178-182, 2007."  The Corrupted American Dream English Literature Essay." ukessays.com. 11 2018

Surrealism Assignment 110

 Surrealism

Introduction:

Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. (Barnes) Its aim was, according to leader André Breton, to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality", or surreality. It produced works of painting, writing, theatre, filmmaking, photography, and other media. (Chilvers)

The term "Surrealism" originated with Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917. (Éluard et al.) However, the Surrealist movement was not officially established until after October 1924, when the Surrealist Manifesto published by French poet and critic André Breton succeeded in claiming the term for his group over a rival faction led by Yvan Goll, who had published his own surrealist manifesto two weeks prior. The most important centre of the movement was Paris, France. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, impacting the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory.

Works of Surrealism feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur. However, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost (for instance, of the "pure psychic automatism" Breton speaks of in the first Surrealist Manifesto), with the works themselves being secondary, i.e. artefacts of surrealist experimentation. (Breton et al.) Leader Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement. At the time, the movement was associated with political causes such as communism and anarchism. It was influenced by the Dada movement of the 1910s.

The Beginnings and growth of Surrealism:

Dadaism developed nearly at the same time in Zurich, New York, and Paris during the First World War. It further made an appearance in Germany before concentrating in France. It flourished from 1966 to 1922. With the aim of ridiculing what its adherents regarded to be the worthlessness of the modern world, it promoted anti-war and anti-art works (De la Croix and Tansey). Many people joined the movement since they disputed the bourgeois nationalist and colonialist interests. This is because many of them believed they were the major causes of the First World War.

Therefore, the Dadaists conveyed their denunciation of the ideology using artistic expressions. These expressions appeared to reject the reason and logic of bourgeois capitalist society, which resulted in the First World War. In general, the Dadaists embraced chaos and irrationality. The movement of Dada was anti-art since anything for which art stood, it depicted as the opposite (Dada and Surrealism). This was an attempt by the Dadaists to purify art by mocking it. This made the proponents of this movement develop pieces that were very playful and teasing.

For example, Marcel Duchamp developed a popular portrait of the Mona Lisa having a moustache. Nearly every Dada piece arouses a reaction, which was the intended objective since the movement hoped to annihilate all the traditional elements of culture and aesthetics. Despite existing for a short time, Dadaism left an enduring legacy to contemporary art, advertising and the social order, and if it were not present, it is unlikely that Surrealism and other modern art movements would have existed.

Surrealism is largely considered an outgrowth of the earlier Dada movement, but its ideas are better organized and more relevant to the real world (Klingsohr-Leroy and Grosenick). Andre Breton, the founder of Surrealism, was trained in medicine and psychiatry.

Surrealism in Literature:

Thereafter, based on Sigmund Freud’s theories that the unconscious was a wellspring of imagination, they started by experimenting with automatic writing in which they spontaneously noted down their thoughts without censoring them. They then published the writings in the journal together with some accounts of dreams.

Breton and Soupault continued their investigations on surrealist automatism and published The Magnetic Fields in 1919, which is considered by most people to be the first truly surrealist text. As they delved deeper into automatism, more and more people embraced surrealist principles since they considered them better approaches for transforming the society than Dada's attack on prevailing values.

The surrealist philosophers and artists felt that Dadaism did not allow categories and labels. The proponents of surrealism perceived that ordinary and depictive expressions are essential in liberating the imagination. However, they upheld the idea that the sense of that arrangement ought to be in the full arrangement according to the Hegelian dielectric and the Marxist dialectric.

The surrealists adopted the thoughts of Sigmund Freud to suit their own purposes (Historical Origins of Surrealists). They considered Freud’s ideas as the accidental rediscovery of the power of dreams and imagination, which had been hidden for a long time under the purely rational outlook that was common during the early twentieth century. The surrealists predicted that as the artists would develop perspectives that would give them the strength of freeing themselves from the control of reason, a new intellectual tendency will inevitably come up.

Freud had attempted to define and illustrate the subconscious mind as a genuine phenomenon that controlled thought and behaviour; therefore, the surrealists translated this understanding into an artistic and literary methodology that was based on the subconscious and the imagination. They believed that these had been repressed by rationalism, civilization, and progress. In 1924, the Surrealist movement was officially founded when Breton published the first “Surrealist Manifesto” which defined its intentions (“Surrealism,”)

The document defined Surrealism as “psychic automatism in its pure state by which we propose to express- verbally, in writing, or in any other manner- the real process of thought. The dictation of thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason and outside any aesthetic or moral concerns” (Leslie). This implies that surrealists advocated for nonconformity, which was not as excessive as that of the Dadaists.

This is because when Dada was existing, it was considered an art. The document gives many instances in which Surrealist thoughts can be applied to poetry and literature. However, it emphasizes that Surrealist principles are relevant in any circumstance of life. This implies that they are not limited to the artistic realm.

The text outlines the vital role that the earlier Dada movement played in the Development of Surrealism (Hopkins). The manifesto highlights the essence of the dream as a reservoir of Surrealist inspiration and details the experiences of Breton with the surreal in a famous description of a hypnagogic state whereby a strange phrase mysteriously came into his view. The text, which was written with a great deal of absurdist humor, has references to several precursors of Surrealism that represented the Surrealist spirit before the declaration of the manifesto and the works of other Surrealists, who participated in the development of the Surrealist style, are also included.

The manifesto concludes by affirming that the activities of the movement do not follow any plan or conventional pattern. Besides Breton, other renowned Surrealists, who acknowledged that they are ultimately nonconformists, signed the manifesto.

The emerging of groups from surrealism:

The Surrealists eventually divided into two groups: the Automatists and the Veristic Surrealists. Ortolano explains that the “Automatists were only interested in the artistic expression but oblivious to finding meaning to it, that is, they considered the abstract expression to be more important than analyzing it”. Their motto was “No meaning, just expression.” As implied in the earlier sections of this paper, Automatists followed Breton’s form of Surrealistic art.

On the other hand, Veristic Surrealists differed from Automatists by defining the unconscious as psychiatrist Carl Jung visualized it; therefore, they endeavoured to communicate deeper thoughts by analyzing the metaphoric importance of the work of art and its relationship with the universal unconscious. Veristic Surrealists held the belief that Surrealism could best express the unconscious when the images of the dreams are captured in an art form and later decoded through analysis. The universal expression of the unconscious was according to Jung’s position who maintained that every person has an inherent knowledge and comprehension of images that are usually universal in nature and are portrayed in most literature and art.

Two Opposing Approaches to Art:

The theories of Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso are the two conflicting art theories that define the direction that art should take in this century. Dali had excellent painterly skills and in the early 1930s, he developed the Paranoic-critical method in the production of paintings and artworks.

This technique requires an artist to let the images arrive at the conscience. Thereafter, the artist is required to freeze them on a canvas so as to give consciousness ample time for grasping their full meaning. After some time, he brought in other aspects and called the technique the Oniric–Critical Method. In this case, the artist is required to concentrate on his dreams, freeze them through art, and simultaneously evaluate them (“History of Surrealism,”).On the other hand, by embracing the scandal and chaos of Dadaism and the position of the Automatists, Picasso took a different approach to art. He refused to acknowledge the ability to become ‘primitive.’

Since even in his early years he exhibited a mysterious talent in art, he decided that the ingenuity of childhood should form the foundation of art and artists should paint as children, that is, become less preoccupied with the craft. However, Dali was for the idea of upholding the inquisitiveness and enthusiasm of a kid all through the life of a person, not just painting as a kid.

Conclusion:

Surrealism as a cultural movement of visual arts and writings borrowed some of its tenets from the earlier Dada movement. Most of the Surrealist artists had great imaginations and the works of the earlier philosophers such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung influenced their Surrealistic thoughts. The publication of the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924 served as a turning point for the movement since the declaration enabled it to gain official status.

Works Cited

Andrews, Wayne. The Surrealist parade. New York, N.Y.: New Directions, 1990. Print.

Barnes, Rachel. The 20th Century Art Book. Phaidon Press, 1996. Accessed 9 May 2022.

Breton, André, et al. The automatic message; The magnetic fields; The immaculate conception. Translated by David Gascoyne, et al., Atlas Press, 1997. Accessed 9 May 2022.

Chilvers, Ian. The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. Edited by Ian Chilvers, Oxford University Press, 2009. Accessed 9 May 2022.

“Dada and Surrealism.” The archive. The archive, n.d. Web.

De la Croix, Horst, and Richard Tansey. Art Through the Ages. Atlanta: Harcourt, Brace, & World, 1970. 

Éluard, Paul, et al. The Automatic Message: The Magnetic Fields; The Immaculate Conception. Translated by Jon E. Graham and David Gascoyne, Atlas Press, 1997. Accessed 9 May 2022.

“Historical Origins of Surrealist.” Lilithgallery, Lithgallery, n.d. Web.

“History of Surrealism.” Go Surreal. Go Surreal, n.d. Web.

Hopkins, David. Dada and Surrealism: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. 

Klingsohr, Cathrin, and Uta Grosenick. Surrealism. Köln ; Los Angeles : Taschen, 2006. 

Leslie, Richard. Surrealism: The Dream of Revolution. New York: Smith mark, 1997. 

Ortolano, Glauco. Humaniqueness: The Gift of Your Inner God. Raleigh, North Carolina: Lulu Enterprises, 2008.

“Surrealism.” Heilbrunn timeline of art history. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010. Web.

Jungian Archetypes Assignment 109

 Introduction:

The concept of an archetype (arche, “original”; typos, “form”) appears in areas relating to behaviour, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be:

• a statement, pattern of behaviour, prototype, "first" form, or the main model that other statements, patterns of behaviour, and objects copy, emulate, or "merge" into. Informal synonyms frequently used for this definition include "standard example," "basic example," and the longer-form "archetypal example;" mathematical archetypes often appear as "canonical examples."

• the Platonic concept of pure form is believed to embody the fundamental characteristics of a thing.

• a collectively-inherited unconscious idea, a pattern of thought, image, etc., that is universally present, in individual psyches, as in Jungian psychology

• a constantly-recurring symbol or motif in literature, painting, or mythology. This definition refers to the recurrence of characters or ideas sharing similar traits throughout various, seemingly unrelated cases in classic storytelling, media, etc. This usage of the term draws from both comparative anthropology and from Jungian archetypal theory.

Archetypes are also very close analogies to instincts, in that, long before any consciousness develops, it is the impersonal and inherited traits of human beings that present and motivate human behaviour. They also continue to influence feelings and behaviour even after some degree of consciousness developed later on. (Hitz et al)

 

JUNGIAN ARCHETYPES:

According to the APA Dictionary of psychology,

Archetypes are universal, inborn models of people, behaviours, and personalities that play a role in influencing human behaviour. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung's theory suggested that these archetypes were archaic forms of innate human knowledge passed down from our ancestors.

In Jungian psychology, these archetypes represent universal patterns and images that are part of the collective unconscious. Jung believed that we inherit these archetypes much in the way we inherit instinctive patterns of behaviour.

Archetypal Figures

Jung acknowledged that the four main archetypes can intermingle and give rise to 12 archetypal figures (also known as archetypal images). These include:

• Ruler

• Creator/artist

• Sage

• Innocent

• Explorer

• Rebel

• Hero

• Wizard

• Jester

• Everyman

• Lover

• Caregiver

Personal vs. Collective Unconscious:

Jung was originally a follower of Sigmund Freud. The relationship eventually fractured over Jung's criticism of Freud's emphasis on sexuality during development, which led Jung to develop his own psychoanalytic approach known as analytical psychology.

While Jung agreed with Freud that the unconscious played an important role in personality and behaviour, he expanded on Freud's idea of the personal unconscious to include what Jung called the collective unconscious.

Jung believed that the human psyche was composed of three components:

• The ego

• The personal unconscious

• The collective unconscious

According to Jung, the ego represents the conscious mind, and the personal unconscious contains memories—including those that have been suppressed.

The collective unconscious is a unique component in that Jung believed that this part of the psyche served as a form of psychological inheritance. It contained all of the knowledge and experiences that humans share as a species. (Collective Unconscious)

The Origins of Jung's Archetypes

Jung believed that archetypes come from the collective unconscious. He suggested that these models are innate, universal, unlearned, and hereditary. Archetypes organize how we experience certain things.

"All the most powerful ideas in history go back to archetypes," Jung explained in his book, "The Structure of the Psyche."

"This is particularly true of religious ideas, but the central concepts of science, philosophy, and ethics are no exception to this rule. In their present form, they are variants of archetypal ideas created by consciously applying and adapting these ideas to reality. For it is the function of consciousness, not only to recognize and assimilate the external world through the gateway of the senses but to translate into visible reality the world within us," he suggested. Jung rejected the concept of tabula rasa or the notion that the human mind is a blank slate at birth to be written on solely by experience. He believed that the human mind retains fundamental, unconscious, biological aspects of our ancestors. These "primordial images," as he initially dubbed them, serve as a basic foundation of how to be human.

The archaic and mythic characters that make up the archetypes reside with all people from all over the world, Ju ng believed. Archetypes symbolize basic human motivations, values, and personalities. Jung believed that each archetype played a role in personality, but felt that most people were dominated by one specific archetype. According to Jung, the actual way in which an archetype is expressed or realized depends upon a number of factors, including an individual's cultural influences and uniquely personal experiences.

Jung identified four major archetypes but also believed that there was no limit to the number that may exist. The existence of these archetypes cannot be observed directly but can be inferred by looking at religion, dreams, art, and literature. (Stevens)

The Persona

The persona is how we present ourselves to the world. The word "persona" is derived from a Latin word that literally means "mask." It is not a literal mask, however.

The persona represents all of the different social masks that we wear among various groups and situations. It acts to shield the ego from negative images. According to Jung, the persona may appear in dreams and take different forms.

Over the course of development, children learn that they must behave in certain ways in order to fit in with society's expectations and norms. The persona develops as a social mask to contain all of the primitive urges, impulses, and emotions that are not considered socially acceptable.

The persona archetype allows people to adapt to the world around them and fit in with the society in which they live. However, becoming too closely identified with this archetype can lead people to lose sight of their true selves.

The Shadow

The shadow is an archetype that consists of sex and life instincts. The shadow exists as part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts, and shortcomings.

The shadow forms out of our attempts to adapt to cultural norms and expectations. It is this archetype that contains all of the things that are unacceptable not only to society but also to one's own personal morals and values. It might include things such as envy, greed, prejudice, hate, and aggression.

Jung suggested that the shadow can appear in dreams or visions and may take a variety of forms. It might appear as a snake, a monster, a demon, a dragon, or some other dark, wild, or exotic figure.

This archetype is often described as the darker side of the psyche, representing wildness, chaos, and the unknown. These latent dispositions are present in all of us, Jung believed, although people sometimes deny this element of their own psyche and instead project it onto others.

The Anima or Animus

The anima is a feminine image in the male psyche, and the animus is a male image in the female psyche.5 The anima/animus represents the "true self" rather than the image we present to others and serves as the primary source of communication with the collective unconscious.

Jung believed that physiological changes, as well as social influences, contributed to the development of sex roles and gender identities. Jung suggested the influence of the animus and anima archetypes were also involved in this process. According to Jung, the animus represents the masculine aspect in women while the anima represents the feminine aspect in men.

These archetypal images are based upon both what is found in the collective and personal unconscious. The collective unconscious may contain notions about how women should behave while personal experience with wives, girlfriends, sisters, and mothers contribute to more personal images of women.

In many cultures, however, men and women are encouraged to adopt traditional and often rigid gender roles. Jung suggested that this discouragement of men exploring their feminine aspects and women exploring their masculine aspects served to undermine psychological development.

The combined anima and animus is known as the syzygy or the divine couple. The syzygy represents completion, unification, and wholeness.

The Self

The self is an archetype that represents the unified unconsciousness and consciousness of an individual. Jung often represented the self as a circle, square, or mandala.

Creating the self occurs through a process known as individuation, in which the various aspects of personality are integrated. Jung believed that disharmony between the unconscious and the conscious mind could lead to psychological problems. Bringing these conflicts into awareness and accommodating them in conscious awareness was an important part of the individuation process.

Jung suggested that there were two different centres of personality:

The ego makes up the centre of consciousness, but it is the self that lies at the centre of personality.

Personality encompasses not only consciousness but also the ego and the unconscious mind.

You can think of this by imagining a circle with a dot right at the centre. The entire circle makes up the self, where the small dot in the middle represents the ego. For Jung, the ultimate aim was for an individual to achieve a sense of cohesive self, similar in many ways to Maslow's concept of self-actualization.

Works Cited

Archetype. “Psychology.” APA Dictionary of Psychology, https://dictionary.apa.org/collective-unconscious. Accessed 9 May 2022.

Collective Unconscious. “Psychology.” APA Dictionary of Psychology, https://dictionary.apa.org/archetype. Accessed 9 May 2022.

Hitz, Martin, et al., editors. Human Factors in Computing and Informatics: First International Conference, SouthCHI 2013, Maribor, Slovenia, July 1-3, 2013, Proceedings. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013. Accessed 9 May 2022.

Jung C. Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 8: Structure & Dynamics of the Psyche. Adler G, Hull R, eds. Princeton University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt5hhr1w

Stevens, Anthony. Living Archetypes: The Selected Works of Anthony Stevens. Routledge, 2015. Accessed 9 May 2022.

Difference between Transcendentalism and Romanticism Assignment 108

Difference between Transcendentalism and Romanticism

Transcendentalism and Romanticism both are very similar literary movements by nature which makes people confused between both movements. Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in New England. While romanticism is a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual. This movement proposes that every individual can possess the ability to discover a higher truth on their own. Transcendentalists believe that human experience and high-knowledge thinking are more effective than any human reasoning. These people strongly disagree that there is a reason behind our environment and behaviours. Unlike Puritans and their belief that salvation and goodness are dependent on acts and charity, Transcendentalists believe all of nature and humans possess natural goodness to them. This movement is influenced by Romanticism.

What is Transcendentalism?

Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in New England.(Wayne) A core belief is in the inherent goodness of people and nature, and while society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual, people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. Transcendentalists saw divine experience inherent in every day, rather than believing in a distant heaven. Transcendentalists saw physical and spiritual phenomena as part of dynamic processes rather than discrete entities. 

Transcendentalism emphasizes subjective intuition over objective empiricism. Adherents believe that individuals are capable of generating completely original insights with little attention and deference to past masters. It arose as a reaction, to protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality at the time. The doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught at Harvard Divinity School was closely related.

 Origin:

Transcendentalism is closely related to Unitarianism, the dominant religious movement in Boston in the early nineteenth century. It started to develop after Unitarianism took hold at Harvard University, following the elections of Henry Ware as the Hollis Professor of Divinity in 1805 and of John Thornton Kirkland as President in 1810. Transcendentalism was not a rejection of Unitarianism; rather, it developed as an organic consequence of the Unitarian emphasis on free conscience and the value of intellectual reason. The transcendentalists were not content with the sobriety, mildness, and calm rationalism of Unitarianism. Instead, they longed for a more intense spiritual experience. Thus, transcendentalism was not born as a counter-movement to Unitarianism, but as a parallel movement to the very ideas introduced by the Unitarians. (Finseth)

Transcendentalism’s main motive was to enhance intuition over objective reasoning. Transcendentalism teaches that there is God's presence everywhere and yet it should be given equal respect.

The five characteristics of Transcendentalism are:

• Transcendentalism believes in indwelling divinity in human souls

• Transcendentalism values the superiority of individuals over society

• Transcendentalism promotes thinking which is out of the box.

• Transcendentalism studies nature and counts as inspiration for the development of one’s self.

• Transcendentalism shows confidence in the universe and beliefs, whatever happens, is organic, welcoming, and inherently is good.

Famous writers in the genre of Transcendentalism:

• Louise May Alcott

• Elizabeth Peabody

• Frederic Henry Hedge

• William Ellery Channing

• Christopher Pearse Cranch

What is Romanticism?

Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism, idealization of nature, suspicion of science and industrialization, and glorification of the past with a strong preference for the medieval rather than the classical. (Damrosch) It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution,  the social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature—all components of modernity. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education, chess, social sciences, and the natural sciences. It had a significant and complex effect on politics, with romantic thinkers influencing conservatism, liberalism, radicalism, and nationalism. (Stedman and Claeys)

Romanticism or Romantic Era was known for its artistic, literary, intellectual, and musical movement which was born in Europe and was initialized at the end of the 18th century. Romanticism was worked out from 1800 to 1860 approximately. Romanticism was a reaction to the biased revolutions of industry, rationalization of science and even the concept of modernity.

The movement emphasized intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as fear, horror and terror, and awe — especially those experienced in confronting the new aesthetic categories of the sublime and beauty of nature

Origin:

The group of words with the root "Roman" in the various European languages, such as "romance" and "Romanesque", has a complicated history. By the 18th century, European languages – notably German, French and Russian – were using the term "Roman" in the sense of the English word "novel", i.e. a work of popular narrative fiction. This usage derived from the term "Romance languages", which referred to vernacular (or popular) language in contrast to formal Latin. Most such novels took the form of "chivalric romance", tales of adventure, devotion and honour. (Schellinger)

The founders of Romanticism, critics August Wilhelm Schlegel and Friedrich Schlegel, began to speak of romantische Poesie ("romantic poetry") in the 1790s, contrasting it with "classic" but in terms of spirit rather than merely dating. Friedrich Schlegel wrote in his 1800 essay Gespräch über die Poesie ("Dialogue on Poetry"): "I seek and find the romantic among the older moderns, in Shakespeare, in Cervantes, in Italian poetry, in that age of chivalry, love and fable, from which the phenomenon and the word itself are derived."

The five characteristics of Romanticism are :

• Romanticism has an interest in the common man and childhood

• Romanticism has awe for nature

• Romanticism has strong feelings and emotions

• Romanticism celebrates individuals

• Romanticism has the importance of imagination

Famous writers in the genre of Romanticism:

• William Wordsworth

• Lord Byron

• John Keats

• William Blake

• Mary Shelley

Main Differences Between Romanticism and Transcendentalism:

• Romanticism was highly based on feelings, and emotions, and introduced different emotions like anxiety, depression, etc. And hence Romanticism highlights patriotism, allegiance, and loyalties. Whereas, Transcendentalism highlights the power of nature, individualism, and divinity.

• Romanticism emphasizes emotion and feelings over personal and intellectual growth whereas Transcendentalism emphasizes inspirations beyond human perspective, normal traditions, and reasoning.

• Romanticism doesn't heavily emphasize God whereas Transcendentalism strongly emphasizes God, divinity, and belief in miracles.

• Romanticism indicates positivity whereas Transcendentalism indicates both good and evil as a part of personal growth.

• Romanticism was against outward appearances and objective reasoning and Transcendentalism was against religious traditions and dogmas.

Comparison Between Romanticism and Transcendentalism

Parameters of Comparison	Romanticism	Transcendentalism
Style of Writing	The style of writing of Romanticism includes moral values, individualism, creativity, freedom, and emotions.	The style of writing of Transcendentalism is based fully on the content of writing and not defined in a particular one or two types.
Highly Dependence	Romanticism is highly dependent on observations collected from natural senses, feelings, and emotions.	Transcendentalism is highly dependent on guidance from inner light and intuitions.
Start of Literary Movement	The Romanticism movement was born earlier in the 18th century and it was at its final stage in the year 1840.	The beginning of the Transcendentalism movement was started around 1834 and lasted till 1860 approximately.
Religion	Romanticism was not much dedicated to the ideas of God and hence religion was meant to be worked on a personal inner basis resulting in good or evil but not blindly following the same preconceived structure of religion.	Transcendentalism was fully based on religion. They rejected religious dogma but believed that God’s presence is everywhere and hence God can be found by intuition.
Reactions	Romanticism was the reaction against outward appearances and objective reasoning.	Transcendentalism was the reaction against religious traditions, beliefs and dogma which overpowered humans.
Writers	Names behind Romanticism writing are Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, and Walt Whitman.	The names behind Transcendentalism writing are Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Conclusion

Romanticism and Transcendentalism both are literary movements that took place in the 18th century.   In the majority of aspects, both Romanticism and Transcendentalism’s philosophies were similar. Both of them- Romanticism and Transcendentalism causes were quite similar. Both movements- Romanticism movements and Transcendentalism movements were the result of strict traditions, law, and religious rules of that time which only serve political and religious benefits and not the development of a human being and its inner self. Both of them- Romanticism and Transcendentalism encouraged individuals to go on the journey of self-growth and find inner light in the sense of god’s divinity and accept the fact that miracles do happen. Both of them motivated the journey of emotions like love, depression, anxiety, etc, and let that feel the human body.

Romanticism emphasized that god is internal light whereas transcendentalism emphasized that god’s external force. Both of them were taught to believe there is god, and God is the universe, and whatever you seek from the universe, you shall receive. Romanticism and Transcendentalism also taught us to find the purpose of one’s living, to meditate and find that inner light and then conduct a selection out of two choices which are accepted good in life or evil in life. Though both the ways we're different to make people understand what is god, its nature, beliefs, universe, and emotions, the one thing which was for sure was the development of personal growth mentally and emotionally.

Works Cited

Damrosch, Leopold. “Adventures in English literature.” Internet Archive, 1985, https://archive.org/details/adventuresinengl0000damr.

Finseth, Ian Frederick. “Rise of Transcendentalism.” American Studies @ The University of Virginia, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA95/finseth/trans.html. Accessed 9 May 2022.

Schellinger, Paul, editor. Encyclopedia of the Novel. Taylor & Francis, 2014. Accessed 9 May 2022.

Stedman Jones, Gareth, and Gregory Claeys, editors. The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Political Thought. Cambridge University Press, 2011. Accessed 9 May 2022.

Wayne, Tiffany K. Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism. Facts On File, Incorporated, 2014. Accessed 9 May 2022.