army,Daisy, the girl whom he loved,promised to wait for him till he made his fortune so that they could be married.But when Gatsby came back,Daisy had married TomBuchanan, a millionaire, whom she did not have an affection. Gatsby was seriously hurt and decided to win back his love.Gatsby?s motive to make a fortune was driven by his attempt to get a step closer to Daisy again. Gatsby believed that if he wanted to win Daisy?s heart, he needed to be more affluent in wealth and more successful than Tom.
Tom Buchanan, a representative of the solid wealthy class，was corrupt，but not weak. He would not allow his authority to be challenged．In the eyes of Tom and Daisy, no matter how much money or power Gatsby may possess, he was still “nobody from nowhere” because he has “no comfortable family standing behind him.” (Fitzgerald, 1993:95) The competition between Tom and Gatsby was not only a battle between rivals for love, but also a battle between representatives of the two different social classes.
In the novel, the difference between East and West Egg can be perceived as a dividing line between the upper and the lower class, the four geographical locations in the novel ranging from East and West Egg to New York City fit a special theme or a typical character.West Egg lived people likeGatsby, who were indulged in extravagant life. They were representatives of the newly emerged rich alongside the established aristocracy of the 1920s. East Egg was the place for people such as the Buchanan, who were enjoying great wealth and high status as well. They were the symbol of the old establishment and aristocracy with ongoing dominance in American society. Gatsby?s romantic idealism does not fit in with those in East Egg. He tried hard to climb up the social ladder but he could not get himself fit in or really accepted due to his shabby background. In such a society, it was rather hard for Gatsby, a man from East Egg to melt himself with those symbolizing the old establishment and the old aristocracy.From this perspective, his American dream in the pursuit of love was hard to come true.
4.3 Gatsby’s American Dream and His Innocence
The disillusion of Gatsby?s American dream may be related to his personal
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factor. Gatsby?s love for Daisy was to the extent of obsession. It was really touching, but he chose the wrong person to love for. In his heart, Daisy was beautiful and innocent, and she represented all the merits in the upper class of America. Gatsby had in his mind the perfect image of Daisy, and treated her as the avatar of dream. However, Daisy wasnot the perfect girl he imagined. Born in a rich family, Daisy was used to the extravagant life. Even “her voice is full of money”.(Fitzgerald, 1993: 119)In the eyes of Daisy, love, when confronted with money, retreated to an inferior position. She believed in materialism and wanted to live in comfort. However, out of his innocence, Gatsby failed to see through her even upon his death. In addition, he did not see clearly the gap between Daisy and him—the status or the two different classes. He was na?ve enough to believe that with his effort, he could be materially rich and hence he could gain status afterwards. He was naive enough to believe that with wealth and status, he was able to make his American dream of love come true.
His life ended up in tragedy which had it root in his blind pursuit of love and fantasy. Besides, the lack of clear understanding of the upper middle class society was factor for the shattering of his dream. Though he became rich, it was unlikely that he would get access to the upper society.
5. Conclusion
Fitzgerald?s The Great Gatsby is a significant novel in the history of the American literature．Itis the mirror of an era, the Jazz Age. People of that time tend to believe in wealth, which corrupts the original belief of American Dream. They consider money as a simple method and a tool on one?s way to success. Gatsby is just the miniature of the American society of that age reflecting the distortion of the American dream itself. Gatsby works hard for his dream and is ruined by his dream. It is his American Dream that makes him succeed, be destroyed and died pathetically in the end.Therefore, Gatsby?s tragedy is related to that age he was in, and Gatsby?s tragedy also indicates the shattering of the American dream.American Dreamaffects generations of Americans. No matter how it
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changes, its theme is the pursuit of freedom, equality, the realization of one?s own dream, and a high quality life.
The Great Gatsbycriticizes the society in which people are after money and low in morality. By taking a close look at the novel, Gatsby?s failure in the pursuit of his dream arises from mainly three factors. Firstly, Gatsby gained wealth from doing illegal businesses. Secondly, he naively thought hecould enter the upper class in a society where equality between people was hard to realize. Finally, he was so innocent as to lovea wrong person who was just selfish, and money-worshipping. In the corrupted American society at that time, Gatsby would not be able to make his dream come true since he would not be accepted by the upper society despite that he possessed great wealth. With no recognition by the upper society, he would not be able to win Daisy back. To a great extent, his failure in his pursuit of love dream is a sign of the shattering or the failure of the American dream.
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Reference
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[4]XingYan. An Outline of American Literature. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2004.
[5]Zhao Hongwei. Disillusionment of Gatsby’s“American Dream” From the Perspective of Society--Analysis of “The Great Gatsby”. Harbin :Journal of Harbin University, 2003( 6). [6]陈卓.《了不起的盖茨比中的美国梦》.魅力中国，2009(3).
[7]黎红雯.《了不起的盖茨比,一部阐解美国梦的述作》.华南师范大学学报,2002(15). [8]邓年刚,谭素钦.《再论美国梦》.湖北民族学院学报,1997(1).
[9]杨慧群.《菲兹杰拉德的小说<了不起的盖茨比>浅析》.江苏广播电视大学学报, 2002(2).
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