从《了不起的盖茨比》中的男性形象看美国梦的破灭毕业设计.docx

从《了不起的盖茨比》中的男性形象看美国梦的破灭毕业设计.docx

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从《了不起的盖茨比》中的男性形象看美国梦的破灭毕业设计

毕业设计（论文）

题目

从《了不起的盖茨比》中的男性形象看美国梦的破灭

专业英语

学生姓名

指导教师

2015年4月21日

Contents

Abstract3

摘要3

1.Introduction4

2.MaleCharacters’AmericanDreams6

2.1.TheTragicHeroGatsby6

2.2.TheDramaticNarratorNick7

2.3.TheUglyUpper-classTom8

3.Fitzgerald’sAmericanDream9

3.1.Fitzgerald’sPursuitforLoveandWealth10

3.2Fitzgerald’sRationinthe“JazzAge”11

3.3Fitzgerald’sSenseofFailure13

4.TheRelationshipbetweentheMaleCharactersandFitzgerald15

4.1.GatsbyandFitzgerald16

4.2.NickandFitzgerald17

4.3.TomandFitzgerald18

5.Conclusion20

Bibliography21

Abstract

TheGreatGatsbyisoneofthegreatestnovelsinModernAmericanliterature.ItisahighlysymbolicmeditationonthedisintegrationoftheAmericandreaminaneraofunprecedentedprosperityandmaterialexcess.Ontheonehand,FitzgeraldshowsarunningthemeofhowtheAmericanDreamaffectsallofthecharactersinTheGreatGatsby,especiallythemajormalecharacters,Gatsby,NickandTom.Healsousesthedistinctivewritingstyletointroducethethreemajormalecharacters.Ontheotherhand,accordingtoFitzgerald’spersonalityandexperience,thethreemalecharactersaregenerallyconsideredbeingwrittenautobiographicallyreflectingthedifferentsidesoftheauthor’scharacters,whichattractsreaderstosomeextent.

Keywords:

AmericanDream,DaisyBuchanan,Fitzgerald,TheGreatGatsby

摘要

《了不起的盖茨比》是美国现代文学史上最优秀的作品之一。

它反思了一个空前繁荣、物质过剩时代的美国梦的破灭，展现了美国梦对人们日常生活的消极影响，尤其是对男性人物（盖茨比、尼克、汤姆）的影响上。

尽管他们对自己的生活都充满了雄伟的抱负，但变质了的美国梦却粉碎了他们的梦想。

此外，菲茨杰拉德还运用独特的手法描述了这三个特殊的男性人物；通过对这三个人物与菲茨杰拉德的对照可以看出：

作者从某种程度上说是在讲述自己的经历，盖茨比、尼克、汤姆实际上是作家个性特点三个不同侧面的反映，这也是小说之所以成功的魅力所在。

关键词:

美国梦；黛西·布坎南；菲茨杰拉德；《了不起的盖茨比》

ONTHEMALECHARACTERS

INTHEGREATGATSBY

1.Introduction

ReadingFitzgerald’sworks,wecanremindofmanyliteraryvaluesfromthem.PeopleusuallyshowmoreinterestsonFitzgerald’smasterpiece,TheGreatGatsby.SomearticlesaboutTheGreatGatsbyhavebeenpublished,suchasAmericanDreamandCharacterSymbolizationintheNovelTheGreatGatsby,OnNickCarraway’sDualRolesinTheGreatGatsby,Gatsby:

AnotherFitzgerald,etc.Thesearguementsarebothoddsandends,notintegrated.So,theaimofthisarticleistoperfectlyintroducethethreemalecharacters（Gatsby,NickandTom）.Andaswehaveknown,onlyhavingenoughunderstandingoftheauthorandhispersonallife,thearticlecanbedrawedclearly.

Althoughatthattime,MarkTwainandWilliamDeanHowellsthoughtthatAmericawouldbecomethehopeofthewholeworld,F.ScottFitzgeraldgraduallyfoundthatthatso-callednewworldwastotallyadisaster.F.ScottFitzgerald,wholivedinthemidstofthe“roaringtwenties”andwaspartofitall--drivingfastcars,drinkinghardwhisky,andshowinganimmensedelightinthose,wasperceptiveenoughtorecognizethatAmericawas“amoonthatneverroses.”Andasmuchasheenjoyedthe“roaring”ofthepost--warboomyears,healsoforesawitsdoomandfailure.

FitzgeraldwasbornonSeptember24,1896,inSt.Paul.Inhisyoungerage,heattendedaprivateschoolinNewJersey,thenhewenttoPrincetonUniversity.AcademicdifficultiesforcedhimoutofPrincetonmidwaythroughhisjunioryear;hereturnedthefollowingfallbuthelefthiscollegepermanentlyin1917anddecidedtojointhearmy,asWorldWarIneareditsend.WhilestationedinMontgomery,Alabama,hemetandimmediatelyfellinlovewithawildseventeen-year-oldbeautynamedZeldaSayre.Zeldafinallyagreedtomarryhim,butheroverpoweringdesireforwealth,fun,andleisureledhertodelaytheirweddinguntilhecouldproveasuccess.AndwiththepublicationofThisSideofParadisein1920,Fitzgeraldbecamealiterarysensation,earningenoughmoneyandfametoconvinceZeldatomarryhim.In1922hepublishedhissecondnovel,TheBeautifulandDamnedandacollectionofshortstories,TalesoftheJazzAge.In1925Fitzgeraldmanagedtocompletehismasterpiece:

TheGreatGatsby.Hisnextnovel,TenderIstheNight（1934）wasreceivedcoldlymainlybecauseAmericawasdeepintheGreatDepressionandnobodywantedtoreadaboutexpatriatesinFrance.BatteredbythefailureofthebookandZelda’smentalbreakdowns,hedranktoexcessandgrewseriouslyill,diedin1940.

FitzgeraldisafamousAmericanmodernwriterandiscalled“spokesmanintheJazzAge”.AndhisgreatnessliesinthefactthathefoundintuitivelyinhispersonalexperiencetheembodimentofthenationandcreatedamythoutofAmericanlife.ThestoryofTheGreatGatsbyisagoodillustration.T.S.EliotreadTheGreatGatsbythreetimesandconcludedthatitwas“thefirststepthatAmericanfictionhastakensinceHenryJames.”

ThemainthemeofTheGreatGatsbymeditateson1920sAmericanasawhole,inparticularthebreakupoftheAmericandreaminaneraofunprecedentedprosperityandmaterial.FitzgeraldpositionsthecharactersofTheGreatGatsbyasemblemsofthesesocialtrends.TheGreatGatsbyshowsarunningthemeofhowtheAmericandreamaffectsallofthecharacters:

theyeachhavetheirownaspirationfortheirownlife,but,ironically,theiraspirationisonlyrevolvedaroundwealth,andthecoreoftheirlifeistoenjoyhappinessfrommoney.And,Daisy,theonlyheroine,whorelateswiththeothercharacters,hasaperfectvantagepointinthestory----sheisGatsby’slover,Nick’scousin,Tom’swife,andallthreearecloselylinkedbecauseofher.Besides,TheGreatGatsbyisalsoanautobiographicalnovel.Fitzgeraldcombineshisexperiencewiththemalecharacters,suchasGatsby,NickandTomshowinghisownexperience,lifeanddream.

2.TheMaleCharacters’AmericanDream

TheGreatGatsbyisanovelthatillustratesthesocietyinthe1920sandtheassociatedbeliefs,valuesanddreamsoftheAmericanpeopleatthattime.Thesebeliefs,valuesanddreamscanbesummedupbewhatistermedthe“AmericanDream”:

adreamofmoney,wealth,prosperityandthehappinessthatsupposedlycamewiththeboomingeconomyandget-rich-quickschemesthatformedtheessentialunderworldofAmericanupper-classsociety.ScottFitzgeraldillustratestheAmericanDreamandthe“fouldust”orthecarelessnessofasocietythatfloatsinthewakeofthisdream.Accordingtothecharacters’respectiveexpectation,itcanbeseenthattheAmericanDreamisnotconfinedtoonesocialclassortypeofperson,buttothewholenation,everyone.

2.1.TheTragicHeroGatsby

Inthenovel,Gatsbyrevealshimselftobeaninnocent,hopefulyoungmanwhostakeseverythingonhisdream,notrealizingthathisdreamisunworthyofhim.ToGatsby,hisdreamisofspiritualreunionwithDaisy,buthispriordreamiswealth.Hethinksthatwealthcansolveallhisproblems:

time,Daisy,andlove.“‘Can’trepeatthepast?

’hecriedincredulously.‘Whyofcourseyoucan!

’……‘I’mgoingtofixeverythingjustthewayitwasbefore,’hesaid,noddingdeterminedly.‘She’llsee.’”（Fitzgerald2004:

148）Inthenovel,Gatsbyusesthemostlavishparty,sumptuousmansion,andgorgeousmachinetoimpressDaisy.Andthegreenlight,situatedattheendofDaisy’sEastEggdock,representsGatsby’shopesanddreamsforthefuture.GatsbyassociatesitwithDaisy.

“‘Ifitwasn’tforthemistwecouldseeyourhomeacrossthebay,’saidGatsby.‘Youalwayshaveagreenlightthatburnsallnightattheendofyourdock..’

Daisyputherarmthroughhisabruptly,butheseemedabsorbedinwhathehadjustsaid.Possiblyithadoccurredtohimthatthecolossalsignificanceofthatlighthadnowvanishedforever.ComparedtothegreatdistancethathadseparatedhimfromDaisyithadseemedveryneartoher,almosttouchingher.Ithadseemedascloseasastartothemoon.Nowitwasagainagreenlightonadock.Hiscountofenchantedobjectshaddiminishedbyone.”（Fitzgerald2004:

125）

Infact,thegreenlightstandsfortheachievementsachievedbyGatsbytosomeextent.ItleadsGatsbytogoafterthefuture,thegloriousphantasminhisidealworld,notonlytheloveforDaisy.

However,Gatsby’dreamisboundtofail.Ontheonehand,heacquiresimmensewealththroughcriminalactivities,forinstance,bootlegging.“‘HeandthisWolfsheimgoandsoldgrainalcoholoverthecounter.’”（Fitzgerald2004:

179）ThisistheoppositeideaoftheAmericanDream,whichstatesthatonlythegood,virtuousandhardworkingarerewarded.Ontheotherhand,heheldanunrealisticviewoflifeandhowhecouldrecreatethepast.Hisdreamshasdistortedinthereality,whenhisrationalityrealizesthattheimageoflifeandofDaisydoesnotcoincidewiththereallifeversion.ThedevastatingendofhisdreamisthefinishofTheGreatGatsby.JustasFitzgeraldseestheAmericandreamcrumblinginthe1920s,Americanpowerfuloptimism,vitality,andindividualismbecomesubordinatedtotheamoralpursuitofwealth.

2.2.TheDramaticNarratorNick

NickCarrawayisapragmaticman,whocomesfromtheMiddleWest.Hehasdistinctivetemperamentandvaluestandard.“‘Wheneveryoufeellikecriticizinganyone,’hetoldme,‘justrememberthatallthepeopleinthisworldhaven’thadtheadvantagesthatyou’vehad.’”（Fitzgerald2004:

1）Heisalsoasober,intellectandreflectiveoneandmakestheobjectivejudgmentandevaluationtothemajorcharacters.Hisfinalchoicereflectstheauthor’smoralorientation.

InTheGreatGatsby,hedoesnotsharetheAmericandream.Butstillheisstrivingforsomething,andhewantstobehimself,asheseeshimself,tolerant,objectiveandreliable.ThemoneyoftheupperclassisjustatinybitofhisdreamtogetherwithhisadmirationfortherichEastEggers.Mainly,hisdreamconsistsofmentalvalues,o