The Great Gatsby and the American Dream
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby, an excellent American novel,which was first published on 1925. The writer of The Great Gatsbyis F.S Fitzgerald,born in St.Paul, 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 twentieth-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 respects 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 very wealthy man, who held lavish parties every Saturday and attracted hundreds of guests. Gatsby revealed to Nick, that he fell in love with Nick's 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 Daisy 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 helplessly: “ I did love him once-but I loved you too.” Astonished and flurried, Daisy rushed out droving Gatsby's car, but unexpectedly, Daisy hit and killed Tom's mistress, Myrtle Wilson, unaware of her identity at that moment. Gatsby confined it was he who knocked down the victim in order to protect Daisy. However, after Tom knew the
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truth which was told by Daisy, for the sake of maintaining his benefits, Tom told Myrtle's 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 left the city. Ultimately, it was Nick who left to arrange Gatsby's funeral,only Gatsby's father and one former guestattended. Nick returned to the his Midwest home, reflecting on Gatsby's dreams and the sad and cyclical stories of the past.
1.2 The Meaning of this Topic
The great success of The Great Gatsby 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 Lukács’s 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 American 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 language 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 be 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 people.
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Chapter 2 The Development of American Dream
2.1 The Origin
What 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 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 time 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.Puritans also initiated the tradition of freedom, individualism and democracy in the American Dream. Their immigration to America was essentially motivated by the pursuit of religious freedom. Officially, it was seen as the initial essence about the concept of the American Dream.
2.2 The Development
In the 18th century, the American Revolution officially proclaimed the birth of a new nation of Americans. On July 4, 1776, America won her independence, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, assisted by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, drafted Declaration of Independence. It solemnly declared: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they were endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; that among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.\
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American Dream.
In the 19th century, the westward movement helped to shape the American values. The pioneering spirit has been continuously sharpened and become a distinctive character of the nation. Besides, the golden-motivated migration to America has helped the growth of American beliefs such as individualism, self-reliance and equality of opportunity. Till then, the American Dream gave people great satisfaction both materially and spiritually.
2.3 The Disillusionment
In order to achieve all those high ideals, Americans have worked very hard to make social progress and have become a prosperous nation with great economic power. But since the first two decades of the 20th century, things began go to the opposite. With the development of industry and the formation of capitalist monopoly, the traditional，mannered society and the pure moral values had all gone with wind and capitalism dominated the mind of the majorities who are desperately eager for instant fortune , social reputation and success. In a capitalist society like America, the flourishing of capitalism was bounded to meet more and more problems which will be tricky to work out. The excessively ,blindly pursuit of wealth, regardless of social justice, was destroying the formation of a democratic society; political scandals and the growing spiritual poverty have accelerated the disillusionment of the American Dream. The surface of that current American society was a daily raisingin material, but the fact is that the people were daily sinking into the abyss of spiritual poverty just as Richard Nixon said in his Inaugural Address “We find ourselves rich in goods, but ragged in spirit.” Besides, great changes have tookplace during the 20th century. The two world wars inflicted a mortal blow upon people and sent the American youth into the pessimism and despair of the Roaring Twenties. The slaughter and the war left people spiritually numbed. It was an age that people found “all gods dead, all wars fought, all faith in men shaken”. The history and the reality of the United States have proved that the American Dream is, to some extent, a kind of illusion.
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