《了不起的盖茨比》中所折射出的美国梦

摘要

《了不起的盖茨比》是菲茨杰拉德的一部名著。作者通过描写盖茨比个人的困境与失败展现了那个时代的悲剧。在小说中，盖茨比想要通过物质上的成功来赢得爱情, 然而，他的梦想是建立于幻想，而不是现实，这是注定要失败的。因为盖茨比是美国梦的代表，从某种意义上说,盖茨比的失败也预示了美国梦本身的破灭。

本论文首先介绍了作者与小说的主要情节，接着讲述了美国梦的根源与本质。第三部分分析了盖茨比对财富梦及爱情梦的追求。最后分析了盖茨比美国梦破碎的原因以及必然性。

关键词：美国梦；金钱；爱情；破灭

Abstract

The Great Gatsby is one of Fitzgerald?s masterpieces. The author presented the tragedy of that age by describing Gatsby?s personal dilemma and failure. In this novel, Gatsby wants to win love through material success. However, his dream is based on illusion rather than reality, which is doomed to fail. Gatsby is the representative of the American dream. In some senses, Gatsby?s failure also predicts the shattering of the American dream itself.

This paper begins with an introduction about the author and the brief plot of the novel The Great Gatsby. Then it tells the origin and the essence of the American dream. After that, it gives an analysis of Gatsby?s pursuit of fortune and love dream. Finally, the paper points out the inevitable disillusion of Gatsby?s American dream and presents the factors of the tragedy.

Keywords: the American dream; fortune; love; disillusion

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………1 2. The American Dream……………………………………………………2 2.1The Origin of the American Dream and its Development…………………3 2.2The essence of the American Dream and its Historical Background………4 3. The American Dream Reflected in Gatsby………………………………5 3.1 Gatsby?s Pursuit of Fortune Dream………………………………………5 3.2 Gatsby?s Pursuit of Love Dream…………………………………………6 4. Disillusion of Gatsby’s American Dream………………………………7 4.1 Gatsby?s American Dream and His Illegal Activities……………………8 4.2 Gatsby?s American Dream and the Social Environment………………9 4.3 Gatsby?s American Dream and His Innocence……………………10 5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………11 References……………………………………………………………………13

1. Introduction

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is one of the twentieth century?s greatest writers, whose works were the samples of the Jazz Age. He is widely regarded as the literary spokesman of the “Jazz Age”—an age between the end of the First World War and the outbreak of the Great Depression. In many ways, he expressed in his stories the disillusionment of the young generation with “the American dream”.

Fitzgerald is also considered a member of the “Lost Generation” of the 1920s. He was born into a middle-class family in St. Paul, Minnesota in the American Midwest. In his short life, Fitzgerald experienced overnight fame and wealth in 1920s but suffered a lot in the 1930s. His first novel—This Side of Paradise was published in 1920 and became a best-seller, through which he got fame and commercial success. With a series of success of his writing, Fitzgerald had a high quality of life. In 1925, Fitzgerald managed to complete The Great Gatsby. This book brought him a critical comment and commercial failure. After that, with the pain of his personal life and the disappearance of the writing inspiration, he never wrote a well-known book any more. In 1940, he died of a heart attack when he was only forty-four.

Different from other American writers who also had the American dream as the subject of their works, Fitzgerald impressed his readers from a new perspective. His works depicted the 1920s of America, the period of the high growth of America. With the richness of material, people?s spiritual life was corrupted, especially the life of the upper class. “Many critics have seen Fitzgerald?s artistic achievement in terms of his ability to depict the American society, its history and its people.”(Tang Sooping, 1992:7)

The Great Gatsby is a story told by Nick, a man from the Mid-West, going to New York to do business. He heard about his neighbor, a mysterious man called Jay Gatsby, who always held fabulous parties at his house. Gatsby was born in a poor family in the Middle West. During the time of serving in the army, Gatsby fell in love with Daisy, a wealthy girl. However, he was too poor to marry

1