The Great Gatsby and The American Dream《了不起的盖茨比》和美国梦.docx

1、The Great Gatsby and The American Dream了不起的盖茨比和美国梦The Great Gatsby and The American Dream了不起的盖茨比和美国梦 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to all those who helped me during the writing of this thesis. Firstly, a special acknowledgement should be shown to LecturerFang Qiang, who from

2、whose lectures I benefited greatly. His has taught me for a whole year in the study of the cause of The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries An Introduction. Through the studying of this cause, I got a basic comprehend about the culture backgrounds of the west countries, and, defi

3、nitely, it made a great contribution to the further study of the American literature. Secondly, I would like to thank Lecturer Song Yun, who taught me the cause of Selected Reading of British &American Literature. From this cause I got a relative deeper understanding of the American poetries and nov

4、els, whats more, it directly does me good in the writing of this thesis. Last but not least, I am particularly indebted to my Supervisor Wu Xinjia. From the beginning to the end of writing this thesis, she has shown great patience in checking and approving my thesis, giving me professional suggestio

5、ns. Last of all, I want to re-express my feeling of gratitude to all the person who have given me a hand in completing this thesis, including my teachers, tutor and classmates. Thanks!The Great Gatsby and the American Dream AbstractFrancis Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most prominent American novel

6、ists of the 20th century and his masterpiece The Great Gatsby is listed among the most famous 20th-century American novels considering of its literature merits. The novel mainly tells a tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a man who originally was humble and poor,but finally became extremely wealthy through

7、illegal business means. He has devoted all his life into realizing his dream, to pursue his first love Daisy Buchanan, a woman ,who is full of charm but shallow, selfish and aspire money. Truth is that under the general corruptive social circumstance of Jazzy Age, the only answer to Gatsbys dream wa

8、s impossibility and distinction. The novel portrayed a vivid picture of the 1920s America, such a roaring time that the economy was unprecedented flourishing on the one hand and the spiritual aspect was a astonishing desolation on the other. The humanities corruption and destruction, due to their un

9、controlled pursuit of material success and complete ignorance of spiritual improvement, caused a confused state of that age.This thesis tries to combing The Great Gatsby and the American Dream to reprove that Jay Gatsbys tragedy is ascribed to the harsh reality of American society during the Jazz Ag

10、e and re-emphasis the inevitability of the disillusionment of American Dream. From the literature world back to the modern greedy society, The Great Gatsby still has a strong practical significance, to give people a warning that money are not equal to happiness , to call back the traditional America

11、n moral value.Key words: American Dream; Fitzgerald; Jazz Age 了不起的盖茨比和美国梦 摘 要 弗朗斯斯科特菲茨杰拉德是二十世纪美国杰出的小说家，他的杰作了不起的盖茨比极具文学价值，被列为二十世纪美国最著名的小说之一。小说主要讲述了一个关于杰盖茨比的悲剧故事。出身卑微而贫穷但最终因非法经营而大发横财的盖茨比，倾其一生去实现他的梦想追求他的初恋情人黛西布坎南，一个外相迷人但肤浅自私的镀金女人。事实上在爵士时代普遍堕落腐败的社会情况下，对于盖茨比梦想的唯一答案是不可能和幻灭。该小说形象地刻画了二十世纪的美国，一个一方面经济达到了空前的繁荣

12、而另一方面精神领域却是极度荒芜的喧嚣时代。因对物质成功的极度追求和对精神进步的完全无视导致人性的堕落和毁坏，造成了那时整个时代的迷茫。该论文将了不起的盖茨比与美国梦相联系，通过对小说人物的剖析和对美国梦的深度研究，重证杰盖茨比的悲剧是爵士时代美国社会的严酷无情所致,更加强调美国梦幻灭的必然性。从文学世界回到贪婪的现代社会，了不起的盖茨比仍然具有强大的现实意义，警告世人金钱不等于幸福，重唤传统美国道德观念。关键词：菲茨杰拉德；美国梦；幻灭ContentsAcknowledgements . .IAbstract .II摘要.IIIChapter 1 Introduction .11.1 Fitz

13、gerald and The Great Gatsby. .1 1.2 The Meaning of this Topic.2Chapter 2 The Development of American Dream.32.1 The origin. .32.2 The development.3 2.3 The disillusionment.4Chapter 3 The connection of The Great Gatsby and the American dream.5 3.1 Jay Gatsby and his American Dream.5 3.2 Myrtle Wilson

14、 and her American Dream.7Chapter4 Conclusion.9WorksCited .10The Great Gatsby and the American Dream Chapter 1 Introduction1.1 Fitzgerald and The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby, an excellent American novel,which was first published on 1925. The writer of The Great Gatsbyis F.S Fitzgerald,born in St.Pau

15、l, Minnesota. He has played an important role in the American literature during the 1920s and 1930s. He was regarded as the representative writer in the “Lost generation” and also the most successful poet in the “Jazz Age”. About the novel,“For half a century , it has held a high place among twentie

16、th-century novels. Its numerous re-printings around the world and its successive presentations on film have made Gatsby as identifiable an American figure as Huck Finn. It has revived the twenties, set current fashions, and provided dialogue for three generations of devoted readers. In these respect

17、s alone, the question of its literary merits set aside, it qualifies as a great American novel”(Bruccoli 57)The main plot of the novel is that: A young man named Nick Caraway, who came to New York City in spring of 1922. He became involved in the life of his neighbor at Long Island, Jay Gatsby, a ve

18、ry wealthy man, who held lavish parties every Saturday and attracted hundreds of guests. Gatsby revealed to Nick, that he fell in love with Nicks cousin Daisy before the war. But at that time he was poor. Later, Daisy married Tom Buchanan, a rich but boring man of good social position. Gatsby lost D

19、aisy because he had no money, but now he has the economic power. He persuaded Nick to bring him and Daisy together again. Gatsby tried to convince Daisy to leave Tom, who, in turn, revealed that Gatsby has made his money by illegal means. So the two men asked Daisy whom she loved. Daisy began to sob

20、 helplessly: “ I did love him once-but I loved you too.” Astonished and flurried, Daisy rushed out droving Gatsbys car, but unexpectedly, Daisy hit and killed Toms mistress, Myrtle Wilson, unaware of her identity at that moment. Gatsby confined it was he who knocked down the victim in order to prote

21、ct Daisy. However, after Tom knew the truth which was told by Daisy, for the sake of maintaining his benefits, Tom told Myrtles husband Wilson it was Gatsby who killed his wife. Wilson murdered Gatsby and then committed suicide. Nick tried to inform Tom and Daisy, but only to be told the couple had

22、left the city. Ultimately, it was Nick who left to arrange Gatsbys funeral,only Gatsbys father and one former guestattended. Nick returned to the his Midwest home, reflecting on Gatsbys dreams and the sad and cyclical stories of the past.1.2 The Meaning of this Topic The great success of The Great G

23、atsby has brought a great amount of praising and study of other novelists and critics. For more than a half century. Different scholars have adopted different means to explore the deep meanings, such as the analyses of female characters in The Great Gatsby, the analysis of the Great Gatsby from Lukc

24、ss Realistic Views, the Literary Symbolism in The Great Gatsby, the Musical Study of The Great Gatsby and some also took a prospect of color science to analysis the major roles. According to the previous studies we know that The Great Gatsby is generally a critique of the American dream. The America

25、n culture at that age was misinterpreted by people and its characteristic was a strong emphasis on the goal of monetary success but a weak emphasis on the importance of the legal means for the pursuit of success.So, here, the reason why I choose this topic to study is that as a young English languag

26、e learner in a new twenty-one century, I believe through the study of this great novel, we generation can not only learn a lot about the western culture but also a plenty of lessons about money, dream, success, love, thus to set a right mind to achieve our value of self-existence. This thesis will b

27、e completed by a means of combining the traditional historical approaches and the approach of the study of the main characteristics, tries to re- explore the reason why the dreams were collapsed, what was the real American dream and the great lesson the novel has left to the current society and peop

28、le.Chapter 2 The Development of American Dream 2.1 The OriginWhat is “the American Dream”?The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work.And in

29、 the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams,“life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.Historically the Dream originated in the 17th century. At that t

30、ime there are obvious religious divergences,due to this,some Puritans suffered serious persecution, thus, they thought that England was too corrupted and hopeless and decided to separate themselves from England. In 1620, 35Puritans and 67 non- Puritans took the ship Mayflower for North American. Before they reached their destination,one of the Pilgrim Fathers drew up an agreement which was called the Mayflower Compact and was signed by 41 of the passengers.They formed their own religious community and setup acivil government.Purit