英语专业论《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦的破灭.doc

四川大学锦城学院本科毕业论文 论《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦的破灭
论《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦的破灭

（英语语言文学专业）

学生 吴桂贤 指导教师 杨苒苒

《了不起的盖茨比》是美国著名作家菲茨杰拉德的代表作品，该书确立了他在文学史上的重要地位。小说讲述的故事发生在一战后的美国。作者采用第一人称讲述了主人公盖茨比一生追求梦想，最后梦想在残酷的现实中破灭的过程。
在一次偶然机会中中，尼克（即小说叙述者）结识了靠非法贩卖私酒而发横财的大富翁盖茨比。盖茨比起初是个穷中尉，在入伍前与尼克表妹黛西热恋，然而黛西嫁给了富家子弟汤姆。富裕后的盖茨比对黛西仍然魂牵梦萦，为了引起黛西的注意在其对面买下豪宅，并想尽一切办法与之见面。但冰冷的现实已经让人们的性格冷漠，精神空虚。在金钱和物质的强大压力之下，爱情之火被浇灭，而生前风光无限的盖茨比落下被枪杀，没有人前来参加葬礼的悲剧下场。本论文试图从以下三个方面来探讨盖茨比的悲剧命运即“美国梦”的最终破灭。一、20世纪20年代美国的社会文化背景解读；二、主要人物性格特征分析；三、美国梦破灭的必然性。
关键词：了不起的盖茨比；美国梦；破灭；社会文化；人物性格

ABSTRACT

The Great Gatsby was written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald who is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. It is set on Long island in New York City from spring to autumn in 1922.
The novel takes place following the World War One. It tell us a doomed tragedy of Gatsby—a man who chased after his “American dream” in his lifetime. Eventually his dream broke down under the stress of the cruel world, and also the man got into despair towards love and his dream.
At first Gatsby was a poor lieutenant. He became a rich man by smuggling alcohol and the narrator got to know Gatsby by accident. Gatsby fell in love with a girl names Daisy, but she married a millionaire Tom. Gatsby, in order to attract Daisy, he bought a villa face to face with Daisy’s. And he spared no efforts to date with Daisy. However, because of the cruelness of the world and the cold heart of people, he failed in chasing his love. Finally he was shot dead and almost no one attended his funeral though his was popular when alive. His death is a tragedy and indicates the breakdown of The American dream.
This thesis attempts to analyze the factors causing the breakdown of The American dream in the Great Gatsby from three aspects: the American cultural background, main figures’ characters and inevitability of the breakdown of American Dream.
Key Words: The Great Gatsby; American Dream; Breakdown; Cultural Background; Main Figures’ Characters

Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………1
Part One The American Cultural Background……...………2
1.1 Brief Introduction of Fitzgerald’s life…………………..........…2
1.2 The American Cultural Background……………….……………3
1.3 A Look into the American Dream………………………………3
Part Two Personality of Main Characters ……...……………5
2.1 Gatsby’s Persistence and Naivety……………….............……5
2.2 The Couple’s Selfishness and Snobbishness……………............7
2.2.1 A Materialist-Daisy………………...................................................7
2.2.2 A Man from the Upper Class-Tom………..…………………….…..8
Part Three Disillusion of the American Dream…….………….10
3.1 Analyzing Tragedies of Two Classes…...…………………...10
3.2 The Influence of the American Dream on Gatsby…….…….…11
Conclusion………………………………………………………...13
Notes………………………………………………………………14
Bibliography……………………………………………………....16
Acknowledgements…………………………….…………………18

IV

Introduction

As far as everybody knows, Scott Fitzgerald① is an outstanding writer of the Jazz Age. And also his novel the Great Gatsby which was a masterpiece in his prime time is widely accepted all over the world and it is popular all the time. So, numerous scholars and experts, no matter domestic or abroad, have studied it for many years and produced many works like on The Indications in the Great Gatsby by Chinese scholars Qin Ze and Gao Fen②. Some other people focused on the narration structure of the Great Gatsby, on the double effects of Nick and analyzing main figures’ characters in the story and even the tragic destiny of Gatsby. However, there is still an important theme in the story we haven’t analyzed deeply before. That is the American dream, essence of American culture which has been rooted in the country. As the Great Gatsby was an autobiography of Fitzgerald, it reflected the American society of 1990s profoundly. So it’s worth analyzing the American dream from the novel.
However, a plenty of meaningful problems remain unresolved for no work focus on the American dream systematically. No one has deconstructed the origin and the essence of the American dream. If the tragic ending is a combination of the cruel society and the influence of the main characters’ personalities, the question is “How did the cruel society and their personalities influence Gatsby’s destiny?”
I read the English and Chinese versions of the Great Gatsby several times. Then I did collect related materials from professors’ thesis and on the internet. In this thesis, I attempt to do some research and analyze the problems given above based on the plot of the novel and on the social reality then.

Part One The American Cultural Background
1.1 Brief Introduction of Fitzgerald’s life
Francis Scott Fitzgerald a member of the “Lost Generation”③ and an American author of novels and short stories stands among the greatest American writers of the 20th century. He was not a rich student but a boy of unusual intelligence and drive with a keen early interest in literature. His mother once ensured that her son had all the advantages of an upper-middle-class upbringing. So he achieved a lot in literature like novels and short stories. His most important work is the Great Gatsby, to some degree a semi-autobiographical one in his career. As I have emphasized before, he lived in the 20th century, right after the World War One. "You are all a generation perdue④" The American famous writer Hemingway put it. Hence a term “The Lost Generation” came out to refer to a group of young people who came the age of the period from the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. The litterateurs during that time shared something in common of their spirit world: confusion, emotional emptiness and so on. There is no exception with Fitzgerald. Since he rose to fame overnight with his first work published, he get married a eminent girl who was young and fairly attractive and they were then viewed as the so called perfect couple. The couple was active in the social circle of the New York City and of course drew much attention of the upper class. He was absolutely absorbed in his early success, the shining life with his friends and his love. They made the money fly and enjoyed the life freely. When I recalled the scene of the big party depicted in the Great Gatsby, I couldn’t help connect the author’s real life style with the life in the book naturally, why?
Now I see, the life of Fitzgerald and people in his days has been reflected in the novel completely. The lifestyle Gatsby and the writer himself shared much in common. That is to say, the author put the reality into good use to accomplish his literature.

1.2 The American Cultural Background
The 1920s in the United States has been called the Roaring Twenties ⑤ or the “Lost Generation” or “Jazz Age”⑥. The Roaring Twenties was described as a period of material success and spiritual frustration by some critics who observed the greedy and money worship of people of this time. The average American in the 1920s became more enamored of wealth and everyday luxuries.
It was an era of great economic growth and prosperity driven by government growth policies, a boom in construction, and the rapid growth of consumer goods such as automobiles. The economy of the U.S. had successfully transformed from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy. The United States augmented its standing as the richest country in the world, its industry aligned to mass production and its society acculturated into consumerism. To this end, there were a plenty of challenges and potential opportunities allowing the average persons inborn with risky spirit and eagerness to make a small fortune. Therefore, it was quite easy for Gatsby to do commercial business particularly the illegal smuggling which swept across the whole nation and through this way many nouveau riches emerged. Without exception, Gatsby rose to fame and money overnight.
There was something worthy of being mentioned about people’s notion of this era. Realizing so many opportunities in the post-war time and the government’s stimulating policies, people are yearning greedily for material success. In consequence they ignored the development of spiritual life. They were bold to conduct illicit deals like smuggling liquor. Gatsby, as a liquor smuggler, succeeded with a fast pace then he rose to the upper class, bought a villa faced with Daisy’s building.
As his success came fast, the failure also closed to him immediately when he was shot dead. Under the excessive growth of the nation’s economy, his dream was like foams in the deep sea that were attractive but filled with illusion. So at a certain moment the dream was bound to break down like the foams. Once the dream broke down, the illusion would disappear forever.

1.3 A Look into the American Dream
The American Dream⑦is a significant part in the American culture since the birth of the nation. It even represents the national spirits. The American dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of a possibility of prosperity and success. It derived from the colonial time and developed in the 19th century. Here is the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams ⑧in 1931, ‘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. The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that “all men are created equal” and that they are “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. It was later quoted by many U.S. presidents like President Barack Obama⑨ to cheer up people. (加注与引号再仔细检查下)
So any people no matter poor or rich, regardless of the places of their birth, by hard working and intelligence will accomplish the goals, will make a difference. Once you have capability, you can realize your dream and someday nobody can become somebody. I have to say, Obama, as the first black American president in the nation’s political history, is the best case to exemplify that everyone can make miracles in America. We all know, he is a mixed blood of a Kenyan and an American. He achieved his dream. He once expressed his appreciation to the great country where his dream came true when he delivered his speech in the inaugural ceremony in 2008. He said: “in no other country on earth, is my story even possible.”(2009: 4) Yes, we can see, this could only happen in this nation. And what was Gatsby’s dream? As an average American, Gatsby had a faith in his dream and he insisted in small miracles – loyal love to Daisy. He expressed the true genius of America. Certainly he presented the meaning of the American dream vividly in his dramatic life.

注意打印前检查下各个单独起页的部分是否在那页的顶上。

Part Two: Personality of Main Characters
2.1 Gatsby’s Persistence and Naivety
From my perspective, disillusion of Gatsby’s dream, to some extent, is ascribed to the personalities or nature of the main characters in this novel. So first of all, I would like to analyze Gatsby’s personality from the following two major aspects: his persistence and his naivety.
Honestly speaking, I have to say, Gatsby had his own ideal when he was a boy, and was endowed with great potential but he was undoubtedly a man of idealism. There are some details in chapter nine of the novel. Gatsby’s father showed a book to Nick. On the last fly-leaf was printed the word SCHEDULE which recorded one day from morning to the evening in his life. And there was his GENERAL RESOLVES. So obviously he was intent to change his destiny radically. As his father said, his son was bound to get ahead and he had gotten improving his mind. He was determined to pursue his own dream of love and fortune. His naivety, however, was exposed to readers completely by his dream-keen love to Daisy. Actually Daisy was a typical materialist in this era like many other Americans. Although Gatsby was attracted by her at the first sight, the girl was not moved at all by his affectionateness because she only took a man’s wealth and social status into prior consideration
Now I would like to analyze his persistence in details.
One afternoon he borrowed a boat to inform Cody a wind might catch him and break him up in half an hour. At that time he changed his name to Gatsby and it’s the turning point of his life. For over a year he had been beating his way along the south shore of Lake Superior as a clam-digger and a salmon-fisher or in any other capacity that brought him food and bed. He was employed in a vague personal capacity-while he remained Cody he was in turn steward, mate, skipper, secretary, and even jailor. The arrangement lasted five years, during which the boat went three times around the Continent.
The author Fitzgerald had told us this was one persistent story. It’s self-evident that if someone wants to make a change, he must be ready for any hardship and enduring pains for a long time.
In the end, I would like to focus on Gatsby’s love to Daisy. I pondered much to choose a proper way to depict his attitude towards love. Now I use the word lovesick. The original cause of his tragedy was his love to Daisy. He met many girls but he wasn’t interested in them in the least until he met Daisy, pure as her name. He realized her unique temperament among her peers and he had a crush on her. Because of his lowliness, Daisy didn’t marry him. However, he tried everything to win her love again when he got rich. Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay. Then he held big parties at night to draw her attention. He insisted that Daisy still loved him like before and he did as much as he could to satisfy her. That’s the key problem-he loved Daisy too much even though he knew Daisy’s love was totally based on materials. He was idealistic and naive all the way. He wanted her to leave her husband Tom and start new life with him. He spared no efforts to move the girl by his love and his money. He insisted that Daisy may change her mind eventually. Expectedly she began to show her love to Gatsby for his money. Then a car accident broke the beautiful dream. Daisy was driving a car with Gatsby in it. But the car’s owner was Tom. Daisy cracked Tom’s mistress and fled immediately. The woman died. Mr. Wilson believed the killer was Gatsby and he rushed out to Gatsby’s house to kill him. After a fight between the two persons, Gatsby was shot dead by Wilson. Apparently the truth did not sound like that. The mistake was both the coupe-Mr. Wilson and his wife didn’t see the driver in the car. Mrs. Wilson as Tom’s mistress, she thought the driver just as she knew the car was Tom’s. So she felt excited and waves her hands to the car. And after the death of Mrs.