-
摘
要
弗朗西
斯·司科特·菲茨杰拉德是二十世纪美国最重要的作家之一
,
被
推崇
为“爵士时代”的编年史家和桂冠诗人。
他不仅亲身经历了
美国历史上“最会纵
乐、
最讲究炫丽”的时代的生活
,
而且以敏锐的目光
,
审
视着那个时代所发生的一
切。
《了不
起的盖茨比》于
1925
年发表
,
是二十世纪最优秀的小说之一。
托·斯·艾略特称它是“亨利·詹姆
斯以后美国小说迈出的第一步。
《了不起的
盖茨比》是对美国梦
的实质的批评。美国文化的特征之一表现为
:
在强化追求物
质财富的成功的同时
,
忽视了为追求物质财
富的成功而采取合法手段的重要性。
本论文从人物分析着手，
从社会、
历史、
以及作者自身经历和世
界观等多方
面探讨导致主人公盖茨比梦毁人亡的根源存在。
美国
梦幻灭不仅有其深刻的社会
历史原因，
且与盖茨比性格中的自我
毁灭因素息息相关。
通过分析我们可以看出
盖茨比之梦的历史渊
源和实质，盖茨比性格中的天直单纯和不谙世故以及以汤
姆、
黛
西为代表的美国社会的冷酷无情和道德沦丧。
这些从根本上决定了美国梦
的幻灭。本文主要通过人物分析来分析作品的主题，并将二者有机地统一起来，
意在较全面深刻地解读作品的内涵。
关
键
词
：《了不起的盖茨比》；弗朗
西斯·司科特·菲茨杰拉德；成功
I
Abstract
F. Scott. Fitzgerald was
one of the most representative American novelists
of the
1920s.
He
was
not
only
a
leading
participant
in
the
typically
frivolous,
carefree,
moneymaking life of the decade but also
a detached observer of it.
The Great
Gatsby
(1925) is regarded by
many critics as one of the finest twentieth-
century American
novels. T. S. Eliot
called it “the first step the American novel has
taken since Henry
James.”
The
Great
Gatsby
is
a
general
critique
of
the
American
dream.
American
culture is
characterized by a strong emphasis on the goal of
monetary success and a
weak emphasis on
the importance of the legitimate means for the
pursuit of success.
This thesis
analyzes the roots of the disillusionment of
Gatsby’s dream from th
e
historical and authorial perspectives,
By exploring the origins and essential nature of
Gatsby
’
s dream,
the naivety and innocence in the personality and
the cruelty of Jazz
Age society
epitomized by the ruthless and immoral Buchanan,
the paper draws the
conclusion
th
at
a
combination
of
these
elements
defines
Gatsby’s
failur
e
and
destruction
in
the
end.
Theme
discussion
in
this
paper
is
basically
done
through
history
and
character
analysis,
which
aims
for
better
understanding
of
those
connotations of the
novel.
Key
words
:
The Great
Gatsby
, F. Scott. Fitzgerald, success
II
Contents
Abstract in Chinese
.
..............................................
..................................................
..... I
Abstract
.
.................................................
..................................................
....................
I
I
1. Introduction
.
..................................................
..................................................
.........
1
1.1 The Synopsis
of F. Scott. Fitzgerald
.
...
..................................................
...........
1
1.2 Social and
Historical Background of
The Great
Gatsby
..................................
1
2. Formation of the American Dream in
The Great Gatsby
......................................
2
2.1 The American Dream
.
..............................
..................................................
.......
2
2.2The American
Dream of Gatsby
.......................
.................................................
4
3. Reasons for
Gatsby
’
s Shattered American
Dream
.................................
..............
6
3.1
Gatsby
’
s Pursuit of Pure
Love .............................................
.............................
6
3.2 Social Conflicts Due to Different
Economic Status
.........................................
6
4. Conclusion ............
..................................................
..................................................
8
References
.
..........................................
..................................................
......................
10
Acknowledgements ......................
..................................................
............................
11
1. Introduction
1.1 The synopsis of F. Scott.
Fitzgerald
F. Scott.
Fitzgerald was one of the novelists of the 1920s.
He was not only an
active, leading
participant in the typically frivolous,
moneymaking life of the decade,
but
also
a
detached,
profound
observer
of
it
at
the
same
time.
His
own
life
was
a
mirror of
the times.
He
led a
priceless life
and
achieved
much during the “Roaring
Twenties”,
drinking hard whisky, driving fast cars, and
taking much delight in it.
F.
Scott.
Fitzgerald
was
born
on
September
24,
1896,
and
named
after
his
ancestor
Francis Scott
Key
, the author of
The Star-
Spangled Banner
. Fitzgerald was
raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. Though
an intelligent child, he did poorly in school and
was sent to a New Jersey boarding
school in 1911. Despite being a mediocre student
there,
he
managed
to
enroll
at
Princeton
in
1913.
Academic
troubles
and
apathy
plagued him
throughout his time at college, and he never
graduated, instead enlisting
in the
army in 1917, as
World War I
neared its end.
Fitzgerald became a second lieutenant,
and was stationed at Camp Sheridan, in
Montgomery, Alabama. There he met and
fell in love with a wild seventeen-year-old
beauty named Zelda Sayre. Zelda finally
agreed to marry him, but her overpowering
desire for wealth, fun, and leisure led
her to delay their wedding until he could prove a
success. With the publication of
This Side of Paradise
in
1920, Fitzgerald became a
literary
sensation, earning enough money and fame to
convince Zelda to marry him.
1.2 Social
and historical background of
The Great
Gatsby
The
Great
Gatsby
(1925)
is
regarded
by
many
critics
as
one
of
the
finest
twentieth-
century American
novels. T. S. Eliot called it “the first step the
American
novel has taken since Henry
James.” However, the immediate response to the
novel
was overwhelmingly negative. It
was not until 1950s that
The Great
Gatsby
became
popular all
over the world. It took a long time for the
greatness of
The Great
Gatsby
to emerge.
The Great Gatsby
is a
general critique of the American dream. American
culture is characterized by a strong
emphasis on the goal of monetary success and a
weak emphasis
on the importance of the legitimate means for the
pursuit of success.
By combining the
traditional biographical and historical
approaches, and the approach
of
cultural
criticism, the thesis
tries to
re- explore the
significance of the American
dream.
In
Introduction, the thesis
briefly introduces Fitzgerald’s life,
works and the
social, historical
context in which
The Great
Gatsby
was created. Chapter One gives a
reflection
of
the
American
dream,
focusing
on
the
sacred
tradition
and
the
secular
tradition
which
have
contributed
to
the
early
formation
of
the
American
dream
in
terms
of
religion,
economy
and
politics.
Chapter
Two
analyzes
the
development
of
Gatsby’s
American
dream
by
dwelling
on
Benjamin
Franklin’s
and
Dan
Cody’
influence on James Gatz respectively,
Chapter Three expounds on the withering of the
American dream through the analysis of
the characterization of the protagonist-Gatsby,
Meyer Wolfsheim, Daisy Fay and Tom
Buchanan. Gatsby and Tom represent the two
major forces in American society:
idealism and materialism. Gatsby becomes a victim
of the new commercial culture where
material success is dominating. In Conclusion,
the thesis argues that
The
Great Gatsby
is about the predicament
of human beings in
general, thus it is
necessary for man to figure out ways to minimize
the contradictions
between man’s social
development and the world
of nature,
materialistic abundance
and spiritual
pursuit, idealism and reality.
2. Formation of the American Dream
in
The Great Gatsby
2.1 The American Dream
The American Dream as a special product
of the American civilizations, begins
to take shape at the starting point of
the American civilization when the first European
Puritan
settlers
came
to
the
new
world
in
the
early
seventeenth
century.
Therefore,
some
of
the
American
Puritan
religious
and
moral
concepts
have
gone
into
the
making of the following three essential
qualities of the American Dream.
First, the American Dream adopts a
positive attitude towards material success
and
considers
it
as
all
important
expression
of
self-fulfillment.
That
explains
the
reason why material success is what one
most likely first thinks of when it comes to
the topic of
the American Dream.
Secondly,
the
American
Dream
is
also
known
to
support
the
idea
that
the
chance
to
achieve
material
success
will
falls
onto
the
person
who
has
high
moral
standards. Accordingly, spiritual
development is necessary for material success in
the
logic of the American Dream. This
idea of appreciating spiritual development equally
stems from American Puritan religious
belief.
Finally,
Optimism is another remarkable characteristic of
the American Dream.
We can see this
quality from Gatsby; he never loses his faith and
confidence in his
ability to
attain
his
life
goal from
the moment
when he kisses Daisy first time five
years ago until the last days of his
life.
T
he
American Dream is the dream of a land in which
life should be richer and
better for
everyone, providing them with opportunities
according to their abilities or
achievements.
It
encourages
people to
work through efforts,
courage, creativity and
determination to move towards
prosperity, rather than rely on any other forces.
In one
time,
it
did
help
some
people
to
fight
for
success.
But
as
time
flew,
the
American
dream went to the other side. So in
this case, the essay aims to discuss the
disillusion
of
the
so-called
American
Dream,
also
the
theme
of
The
Great
Gatsby
,
with
the
analysis
of the tragedy of its main
character
——
Gatsby.
This part intends to make
an study of how the American Dream
gets
enriched
and developed with the
advancement of the nation.
First, the American Dream is an ideal
that expresses human hopes and wishes
for
a
democratic,
liberal
society,
where
man’s
basic
demand
for
survival
,
self-
fulfillment
and
social
recognition
can
be
ensured.
It
is
supposed
that
in
such
a
society,
no
man
is
despised
due
to
his
origin
and
every
one
shall
equally
have
the
opportunity to achieve his due success
and happiness if he works hard toward a goal.
Secondly, carrying forward
the Puritan tradition, the American Dream goes on
to
healthily
grow
up
in
American
capitalist
democratic
soil.
And
it
successfully
pushes
the
advancement
of
the
nation
and
becomes
a
reality
in
many
fortunate
self-made
men
cases
in
the
early
age
of
America.
Among
these
people,
Benjamin
Franklin, Thomas
Edison and Abraham Lincoln are the most famous
representatives.
They
all
come
from
poor
origins
and
win
the
unanimous
reverence
of
the
nation.
Their successful legendary careers
proclaim to the world that every one can achieve
success
in
America
if
he
has
confidence,
aspiration,
determination,
and
virtues,
regardless of his origin.
Consequently,
with
its
worthwhile
role
in
the
progress
of
the
nation
and
individuals, the American Dream
gradually becomes an unwavering belief in the mind
of the whole nation.
2.2 The American Dream of Gatsby
In
the
last
chapter
of
the
novel,
Gatsby
’
s
father
proudly
showed
Gatsby
’
s
schedule and general resolves written
in 1906 on the last fly-
leaf of the
“ragged”
copy
book
called
Hopalong
Cassidy
(Fitzgerald,
1992:
110)
to
Nick.
It
tells
how
deeply
young
Gatsby has absorbed the ideas of Benjamin Franklin
through his autobiography
into his
ambition to be successful, believing that a man
can be what he want to be by
hard
working.
Horatio
Alger
(1834-1899),
writer
of
the
book
Hopalon
Cassidy,
is
another
person who had large
influence on young James in forming his early
belief. Alger has
probably
been
the
most
widely
read
of
all
American
writers.
“His
novels
tend
to
follow
the
same
pattern:
a
boy
works
his
way
up
from
poverty
to
respectability
through hard work, thrift and good
luck.” (Matterson,
1990: 65) To Alger,
everything
is determined by the efforts
and the character of the individuals. Gatsby
actually starts
by struggling for
advancement in the Alger method.
So,
Gatsby’s
Dream
, as some critics have pointed
out, has been an illusion that
he could
never has fulfilled.
The
development
of
Gatsby’s
dream
is
the
history
of
his
involvement
with
a
social
class, the American rich. At the beginning, he
planed to be rich and successful
in
imitation of the way of Benjamin Franklin and
Horatio Alger. But he failed in the
end.
Then
he
met
Dan
Cody,
who
becomes
Gatsby’s
image
of
the
wealthy
and
successful
man,
from
that
time,
Gatsby
developed
his
new
own
social
style
and
learned his way of acquisition of
wealth.
As well as
image for
himself, however, Gatsby
needs
an image of something