浅析《了不起的盖茨比》与美国梦

浅析《了不起的盖茨比》与美国梦

An Analysis of The Great Gatsby and the American Dream

摘 要

弗·斯各特·菲茨杰拉德，作为爵士时代美国梦的代言人,被公认为是美国文学史上最重要的小说家之一。他以自己敏锐独特的视角,讲述着那个时代所发生的一切。其代表作《了不起的盖茨比》,更是很好地向人们展示了二十年代美国社会的浮华与喧嚣,以及深藏其后的衰败和空虚,探究了当时的美国人对于以财富和享乐为特征的虚幻美国梦的狂热追求。文中主人公盖茨比不惜一切代价追求自己所谓的“美国梦”，而这一切就像是美丽的泡沫，转眼间都化成了泡影。无情的现实最终打破了虚幻的美好。本文通过对其写作背景、文中人物、社会现实等方面的分析, 阐述美国梦破灭的根源及社会意义，从而揭示美国梦破灭的必然性及美国梦破灭的社会意义，使读者从中吸取经验教训，为构建伟大的“中国梦”引起深刻的哲思。

关键词：了不起的盖茨比；美国梦；破灭

I

Abstract

F. Scott Fitzgerald, as the spokesman for the Jazz Age of the American Dream, has been recognized as one of the most important novelists in the history of American literature. He tells us about what happened in that era from his unique perspective. His masterpiece shows the vanity and noisy of American society in the twenties and the subsequent decline and deep emptiness. Americans at that time are eager to pursue the visional American Dream characterized by wealth and enjoyment. In this paper, the protagonist Gatsby could do everything to pursue his so-called “American Dream”. And all this is like a beautiful bubble suddenly crumbled. Merciless reality eventually broke the unreal. Based on the analysis of the writing background, characters in the novel and the social reality, this thesis discusses the causing factors and the social significance of the disillusionment of American Dream in order to reveal the inevitability of the disillusionment of American Dream, so that the readers draw lessons from it for building the great Chinese Dream.

Key Words: The Great Gatsby; American Dream; disillusionment

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Contents

摘 要 ........................................................................................................................... I Abstract ........................................................................................................................ II 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1

1.1 Writing Background .......................................................................................... 1

1.2 The Main Content ............................................................................................. 2 2. The American Dream in The Great Gatsby ............................................................ 3

2.1 The Definition of the American Dream ............................................................ 3 2.2 Main Characters Connected with the American Dream ................................... 5

2.2.1 The American Dream of the Gatsby ....................................................... 5 2.2.2 Nick Carraway’s American Dream ......................................................... 7 2.2.3 The American Dream of Daisy Buchanan .............................................. 7 2.2.4 The American Dream of Tom Buchanan ................................................ 8 3. The American Dream ............................................................................................... 8

3.1 The Origin of the Disillusionment of the American Dream ............................. 8

3.2 The Significance of the Disillusionment of the American Dream .................... 9 4. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 10 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 12 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................... 13

1. Introduction

F. Scott Fitzgerald is an outstanding writer in American literary world in twentieth century twenty, and he is regarded as a representative figure of the Lost Generation writers. His work The Great Gatsby vividly reproduced the social life of the Jazz Age and it also reflected the social people’s tragic fate to disclose the hidden spiritual crisis under the surface of the vanity and noisy, revealing the disillusionment of the American Dream.

Americans have a dream of making a great success and a self-realization in their lives and this is called the American Dream which is deeply ingrained in the national consciousness from generation to generation from the beginning of American civilization. Fitzgerald reveals that the American Dream is shattered inevitably in the modern American society after World War I through his work The Great Gatsby.

Disillusionment of American Dream not only has its profound social and historical reasons, and is also closely related with the character of Gatsby’s self destructive factors.

Through the analysis, it can be seen that the dream of Gatsby who is an innocent man has its historical origin and essence and that the moral declines in American society represented by Tom and Daisy who are indifferent and merciless. These fundamentally determine the disillusionment of American Dream. It is easily for individuals to understand the essence of the American Dream distorted through analyzing the causes and social significance of bursting on the American Dream. So it is significant for Chinese new generation to draw experience and lessons from it so that they could make a positive contribution to building the Chinese Dream. 1.1 Writing Background

The decade of 1920’s of America had a sharply defined uniqueness than most recognized periods. World War I had left all European belligerents weak and numbed spiritually. America, however, not having been involved in the war for long, remained just as forceful as before. It all profited from the war, changed from a debtor nation

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into a creditor and became the world’s economic power of the United States. An economic boom marked the first few post-war years. A majority of Americans thought that they were in one of the most brilliant era in human history. So materialism spread rapidly all over the country, and people became more greedy and self absorption. The American Dream turned to be a dream of money, and wealth became the symbol of success. However the gap between the wealth and the poor was still painfully obvious in society. The rich were in luxury but the poor were in despair and hunger struggling in pain. This kind of social situation caused a lot of distorted values and outlook on life, the ideological and moral decline.

The American economy was prosperous; much variation appeared in spirits and values in the 1920s, which has influence on young man. They went for material and they were hedonism; therefore, they bought luxury things, took part in extravagant parties and looked down upon others who are poor. The pursuit for material fulfillment and sensual enjoyment became the dominance of young people’s life.

Fitzgerald described that the social and moral values were totally depraved in America in 1920s, expressing that people were extremely cynical, greed and blind to pursue pleasure, which was deeply presented in The Great Gatsby. This is another factor resulting in the disillusionment of American Dream. 1.2 The Main Content

The Great Gatsby is written about a love story between the young Gatsby and Daisy who comes from the upper class society. It narrates that Gatsby falls in love with Daisy. The final dream of Gatsby is getting Daisy’s love. But Gatsby is a poor man and does not have a high status in society.

During the war, poor young soldier Gatsby falls in love with the beautiful girl Daisy. But she is greedy, so she resolutely refuses his offer of marriage. When Gatsby becomes veterans, he knows Daisy has married to a rich man. But her married life is not happy because Tom has a mistress. At this point Gatsby is still full of affection for her. In order to regain Daisy’s love, Gatsby makes money strenuously through smuggling and other illegal business. Just a few years, he becomes a millionaire. Then Gatsby specially purchases mansion near Daisy’s home. He spends much money in

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his daily life and invites people nearby to come to his extravagant parties and banquets to enjoy themselves. By this way, Gatsby is not pleasing the upper class, just for drawing attention of Daisy.

When Gatsby makes a fortune in other means, he firmly believes that he can give Daisy everything she wants. He has confidence that he can take back Daisy’s love and he knows what Daisy wants. She takes much notice of him indeed and she really has the thought to be loved with him again. She comes back to him, dating with him again. So Gatsby and Daisy go back to their old days. When Daisy’s husband Tom discovers the secret, he feels very angry and also hates Gatsby. While Daisy also faces with difficult choices between Gatsby and Tom. Daisy has drunk, and she is not awake. She happens to drive the car hitting down his husband’s lover. In order to protect his beloved woman，Gatsby bears the liability for the accident. But he never thought that Daisy has determined to abandon him at this time. Tom puts the blame on Gatsby, so the mistress’s husband kills Gatsby.

At the funeral of Gatsby, his former friends and guests don’t show up. Daisy doesn’t attend it either, even does not send a bouquet of flowers to him. She doesn’t feel very sad about Gatsby’s death and just leaves him behind and goes to another city with her husband to spend holiday.

Through Gatsby’s tragic love story, the author criticizes people who come from the upper class society like Daisy and Tom and is deeply sympathetic to Gatsby. Gatsby can give up everything just to get Daisy’s love. On the surface, Gatsby’s love for Daisy is pure and affectionate, while Daisy is getting close to money and status in depth look. With the deepening of the plot, the disillusionment of American Dream of young generations is delivered by the disillusionment of Gatsby’s dream of pursuing his love.

2. The American Dream in The Great Gatsby

2.1 The Definition of the American Dream

The American Dream is a special product of the American civilizations. The

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formation of it begins 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, there are three essential qualities in the American Dream as follows.

Firstly, the American Dream adopts a positive attitude towards material success and considers it as all vital expression of self-fulfillment. When it comes to the theme of the American Dream, material success is what one most likely first talk about.

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 person who has high moral standards will have a chance to achieve material success. Accordingly, spiritual development is necessary for material success in the logic of the American Dream.

Finally, the American Dream also includes remarkable feature of optimism. We can see this quality from Gatsby; he never loses his faith and attains his life goal with his ability. He is confident that he can provide a better life for Daisy.

The American Dream is the dream which life should be richer and better for everyone according to their abilities or achievements. It encourages individuals to work through efforts, courage, creativity and determination to move towards prosperity, rather than depend on any other forces. In one time, it did help some individuals to fight for success. There are two sides of a coin. It has different meanings in different ages. As time went by, the American Dream went to the opposite side. So from this point of view, the essay aims to discuss the disillusionment of the so-called American Dream and the theme of The Great Gatsby. It is significant to understand how the American Dream gets enriched and developed with the advancement of the nation.

Firstly, the American Dream is an ideal. It expresses human wishes for a democratic, liberal society where man’s basic require for survival, self-fulfillment and social recognition can be ensured. Obviously, in such a society, no man is scorned no matter which class he comes from. If a man works hard, he deserves to have the equal chance to attain his success and happiness.

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Secondly, in order to carry forward the Puritan tradition and push the advancement of the nation successfully, the American Dream continues to grow up healthily in American capitalist democratic soil. And it is fully realized in many fortunate self-made men cases in the early time of America. Among these people, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison and Abraham Lincoln are the most distinguished representatives who are all poor people and win the unanimous respect of the nation. Their successful legendary careers show that everyone can achieve success in America with his confidence, aspiration, determination, and virtues no matter where he comes from.

Finally, as its significant role in the advancement of the nation and people, the American Dream gradually becomes an unwavering faith in the mind of the whole nation.

2.2 Main Characters Connected with the American Dream 2.2.1 The American Dream of the Gatsby

According to the whole life of Gatsby, it can be seen that Gatsby is the spokesperson of the individual who pursue the American Dream. When Gatsby is young, he is deeply influenced by Benjamin Franklin. Young Gatsby absorbs the ideas which are in the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. He intends to be a successful man and also believes that a man can be what he wants to be by hard working. Horatio Alger is another person who had great impact on young Gatsby’s early faith. He is a writer of the book Hopalon Cassidy. Alger is an outstanding American writer whose works have been the most widely read. “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 depends on the efforts and the character of the individuals. Gatsby begins to fight for the future in Alger’s way. But according to some critics, Gatsby’s dream could never be fulfilled.

The development of Gatsby’s dream is the history of his involvement with a social class, the American rich. At the beginning, he supposed to imitate Benjamin Franklin and Horatio Alger to be rich and triumphant, but he didn’t realize this idea in the end. Then he met Dan Cody, who was a successful man and Gatsby’s mentor.

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From that time, Gatsby learned to make much money from him and developed his new social status. However, when he meets Daisy, he falls in love with her. Generally speaking, Daisy is an image of something beyond him to pursue. When he kissed her at the first time, he has “wed forever his ineffable vision to her perishable breath” and “the incarnation was completed.” (Fitzgerald, 1992: 71) And from then on, she is the center of his dream. For him, Daisy is the mark of a wonderful life. Her life and everything about her means another world to him.

Unfortunately, Gatsby fails to marry her. Gatsby learns a lot from it. He loses her just simply because “he had no comfortable family standing behind him”, that he must have “the same status” as herself and enough money to give her “a sense of security” (Fitzgerald, 1992: 95) in order to win her love back. However, they belong to two different worlds. Under the situation of America at that time, individuals all pursue money. So it is impossible for them to get together with each other. During the followed years since their parting, Gatsby makes money with his hard works by every possible means no matter it is legal or not. He tries his best to realize his dream, to earn much money and win the love of the girl.

According to the analysis above, Gatsby’s dream is multileveled. In The Great Gatsby, it is obvious that Fitzgerald is critical of the American Dream itself, regarding it as “an illusion of liberty and openness，but which has always been historically ineffectual. It was invalidated by its crude association with materialism.” (Matterson, 1990: 33) This is delineated in the life of Gatsby. In the dream, the first conflict happens in the confusion of the ideal with the simple making of money. And the gap between the intensity of Gatsby’s devotion and the “cause” to which he is devoted is not to be neglected. Above all, Gatsby’s dream is inevitably in conflict with the reality.

The conflict of Gatsby’s dream with the reality is clearly presented in his well-imagined autobiography. He cuts off the real past of himself and invents a new identity to meet the value of America popular culture. In order to support his new identity, Gatsby changes a lot. However, his mannerisms and props often fail. The world which is created by him is too fragile. So it can not afford the realistic test.

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2.2.2 Nick Carraway’s American Dream

In this novel, Gatsby is confused in achieving the American Dream, while the narrator, Nick Carraway, deals with this far more sensible and he is different from others. He represents the traditional moral codes of America in the book. Nick is the one who is from the Midwest and intends to make money in the Long Island. He is also attracted by the beauty and the wealth. So, to a certain extent, he is another person who pursues the dream. However, after witnessing Gatsby’ tragedy, he realizes what has gone wrong with American Dream from the beginning to the end. He never gets lost because of the traditional moral conducts that rooted in him and following his father’s advice on toleration. The function of Nick in this book is significant and can not be neglected. He is there to make the readers understand the roles in this book from an objective perspective and then get a better comprehension of Gatsby’s idealized love and the cruel social reality. Both Nick and Gatsby in this novel emerge as moral symbol: Gatsby as the embodiment of spiritual desolation, Nick as a hope moral and spiritual growth.

2.2.3 The American Dream of Daisy Buchanan

In this novel, Daisy Buchanan is rather a worldly and immoral woman. She is a beautiful woman who comes from upper class. She only cares of herself. Her dreams often contact with money and status. When she has money and status, she will do what she can do to maintain the ownership of them. When she has not with them, she will find ways to pursue them.

Daisy loves Gatsby, but she does not want to live a poor life with him, so she betrays their love to pursue money and status. She is a very nice woman in Gatsby’s dream, but the truth is not. She is a woman with beautiful appearance but she doesn’t show any sincerity to her love. In order to enjoy extravagant and comfortable life, she married Tom after Gatsby gone overseas. When she finds that Gatsby is richer than Tom, she chooses Gatsby again. But when she knows that Gatsby’s money is illegal, she leaves him without any hesitation. The American Dream represented by Daisy even be able to achieve, in essence it is kind of ugly but worthless things.

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2.2.4 The American Dream of Tom Buchanan

Tom Buchanan, the husband of Daisy, also represents a kind of American Dream. Idealism and materialism are the two major forces in American society. Gatsby stands for idealism while Tom stands for materialism. He is rich and successful as a football player, but he is not happy indeed. Nothing is difficult for him to get, so he could not appreciate anything. Comparing with Gatsby, he was born with wealth and status but devoid of purpose. And As one of the representatives of the corruption of the American Dream, he is an ego man who completely regardless of concept of either a moral code or a personal loyalty.

Tom’s dream of power leads to his moral decline. It also fosters the situation of Gatsby’s and George’s death. He is a symbol of the moral emptiness. The American Dream he represents is hypocritical.

3. The American Dream

3.1 The Origin of the Disillusionment of the American Dream

There is no doubt that the American Dream has played a positive role in the

enhancement of the nation and individuals in the early years of American history. In American literature, it has always been one of the most popular themes that refer to the pursuit of the equality, freedom and property. However, the American Dream changes a lot in the twentieth century and becomes corruptive at the same time.

On one hand, the economic boom after World War I offers the soil for materialism and hedonism. America has benefited a lot from the war, and it becomes the wealthiest country in the world. It can be said that it had not any obvious rivals. People are eager to pursue material success. They just overspend their money and enjoy physical pleasure. The whole Americans are involved into a mad vortex of the endless materialism.

On the other hand, after the War, the moral decadence of the general society can be seen in the whole country due to the faith crisis, which shakes the moral basis of the American Dream. The great impact that World War I has imposed on individual’s

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thought and feelings, especially on the youth, directly results in the faith crisis. At the beginning, the young people are inspired to join into the war enthusiastically with the hope of making the world safer for democracy. However, they are depressed to figure out that “the Great War” has brought the world grief and death when they come back from the war. Then the faith crisis arises. It inevitably causes the emotions of despair and insecurity among the young generation.

In Chapter 3 of the book, it illustrates a way of being close to an accurate picture of the time: Gatsby’s vulgar parade of his unbelievable wealth, the wild jazz music, the crazy youth, the new daring dances and the chaos abounding at and after the party. The youth are seen to go crazy for fun under the influence of the violent wine and the Jazz music. Through the novel, Fitzgerald gives an account that the disillusionment of the American Dream is inevitable, because the ideals are far beyond the reality.

According to the above analysis, it can be seen that the influence of World War I and the economic adversity and the faith crisis following it have changed Americans’ idea of life, which rocks the fundamental of the American Dream subsequently. 3.2 The Significance of the Disillusionment of the American Dream

In Jazz Age, moral values drop off in society and people enjoy the physical pleasure, as a result, the American Dream final is crushed. The American Dream vanishes into thin air, which has a great influence on the society. The American Dream is an ideal spiritual pursuit at first and guide people toward a happy life. However, through the years, some changes happen to it and make it corrupt.

American democracy is based on the idea of equality among individuals, but American political ideals have a clash with the realistic social conditions that exist. The fact is that social discrimination still exists and the divisions among the class cannot be overcome. For instance, as the embodiment of the American Dream, Gatsby is doomed to fail because the American political ideals are contradicted with the actual existing social system.

Through Nick’s voice in The Great Gatsby as Fitzgerald said, the majority of are “careless people” in the 1920s (Fitzgerald, 1992:158). They are not shame at to be “a bad driver” (Fitzgerald, 1992:157)

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To some extent, the disillusionment of the American Dream has certain effect on the American society in that age.

4. Conclusion

Nowadays Fitzgerald is the most prominent novelist of the 1920s in America, which has reached common consensus in the academic world. His great works, The Great Gatsby, is based on his own life that reflects social situation like a mirror. The great novel brought public attention and a heated discussion since its publication and it can arouse a resonant feeling of the reader. In fact, it is also the “The Jazz Age” in miniature. The Great Gatsby is not only a simply love story between a man named Jay Gatsby and a woman called Daisy, but also a story of power, devotion, and dreams which appeals all humans and makes them have a strong desire to read and approach it.

By the conditions of existence, Gatsby’s dream is bound to fail and his tragedy is doomed from the beginning. Fitzgerald presented the certain fate of the American values at the same time, without consideration of a fervent dreamer in the dreamless wasteland of American twenties. However, basically speaking, The Great Gatsby is as much as eulogy of what Gatsby’s power of stands for as an attack on the bankrupt of the American twenties.

At first, the American Dream encourages individuals to pursue wealth and keep spiritual purity at the same time, but finally it turns to be another side. The difference between reality and ideality is the primary contradiction of the American Dream. Individuals who want to pursue the dream must face the cruelty of the society. It is Gatsby’s American Dream that makes him succeed and destroyed, from which it can be said that this is the tragedy of American society.

The American Dream is a mixed blessing. It contains both the best and the worst elements of the American society. So it is significant for the new generation of China draws lessons from it to build the great Chinese Dream.

Jazz Age is a unique phenomenon of the 1920s in America. The American Dream in that time has a certain impact on individuals. Through research and analysis of this

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phenomenon will not only allow people to reproduce the brain but also make them have a certain amount of inspiration and insight about some real history of human being. This will allow people make the objective view of sober reflection toward life, human friendship and money. So, a significant lesson should be learned by the new generation of China in order to set up the great Chinese Dream.

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Bibliography

[1] Anderson, Richard. Gatsby’s Long Shadow: Influence and Endurance. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1985.

[2] Brian Lee. American Fiction (1865 - 1940). New York: Longman House, 1987. [3] Francis Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby. Beijing: Beijing University Press, 1982.

[4] Unger, Leonard. American Writer II: A Collection of Literary Biographies. New York: Scribner, 1972, (3):3-5.

[5] 常耀信.美国文学简史[M].天津:南开大学出版社,2008:220-221. [6] 高慧. Doom of American Dream—The Social Meaning of The Great Gatsby [J].

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[7] 胡荫桐.美国文学新编[M].北京:外语教学与研究出版社,2001:150-155. [8] 刘世娟,潘宏声.《了不起的盖茨比》中的梦想三部曲. [J].北京化工大学学

报（社会科学版）.2006,(2):43-51.

[9] 史志康. 美国文学背景概观[M].上海:上海外语教育出版社,

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[10] 陶洁.美国文学选读第三版[M].北京:高等教育出版社,2007:151-164. [11] 周新平.论盖茨比悲剧的必然性.[J].黄冈师范学院学报,2002.(5):51-55.

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Acknowledgments

In writing this thesis, I receive much help and advice from many people that my indebtedness to them beyond words.

First and foremost, I owe my tremendous debt of gratitude to my supervisor, XXX for her warmth and understanding which she has graciously give me. If without her encouragement and guidance in the information of the outline of thesis as well as the subsequent and patient reshaping of ideas, I believe I was still on the way.

Then, I want to thank my classmates, they also give me a lot of advice, and sometimes I would discuss with them, they have pointed out my mistakes and told me what things should be added to this thesis. When I am in the stake they will encourage me and try their best to help me from these points I was deeply touched, they give me courage and confidence, inspiring me to bridge over difficulties.

In addition, I also do not forget to thank my parents and friends, they always support me.

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