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Abstract The Great Gatsby, the most famous work ofFrancis Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel about American dream, a recurring topic inAmerican literature. It represents the American belief that people can maketheir dream come true as long as they continue to pursue their ideal. In theearly years, Americans made their dreams come true by hard-work, thrift and thespirit of pursuing lofty goals to realize their values and become rich.However, with the coming of industrialization, their thoughts were changinggradually. They dreamed to become rich by luck instead of hard work. This phenomenonis shown in The Great Gatsby,which reflects the whole society of America and paints a real picture of thecollapse of American dream in 1920s. My paper has four parts: the background ofthat era; the author and the story in the second and third part. The forth partis the main part. From the description about Gatsby,we can see that the hero stands for most common Americans at that time.Materialism was rampant. They pursued money and sensual comforts, whileneglecting spiritual values. The American Dream collapsedin Gatsby's failure. copyright paper51.com Keywords: the Collapse of AmericanDream; Gatsby; Great Gatsby paper51.com 摘 要 paper51.com 费朗西斯-斯科特基-菲茨杰拉德最杰出的作品就是《伟大的盖茨比》，这是一部关于美国梦的小说。美国梦是一个经久不衰的话题，它曾经代表一种信念：美国人坚信只要坚持不懈，每个人都会实现其梦想。刚开始时，美国梦是靠美国人的勤劳、节俭、上进这样一种精神来体现自身价值并实现富裕。但是随着工业时代的到来，人们的观念逐渐变化，不想再循规蹈矩的追寻美国梦，而梦想着暴富。《伟大的盖茨比》反映的就是这样一个现象，通过“盖茨比”的描述反映了整个美国社会的现实,再现20世纪20年代美国梦衰落的真实场景。本论文包括四部分：第一部分为时代背景介绍,是全文的基础;第二部分,第三部分介绍了小说的作者和故事梗概,为论文的主题的展开写下伏笔;第四部分为本论文的中心,从盖茨比的个人经历入手,分析美国社会中的各种问题,从而反映出美国梦衰落的缘由和实质。 copyright paper51.com 关键词：美国梦的衰落；盖茨比；伟大的盖茨比 http://www.paper51.com Contents http://www.paper51.com 独创性声明... i 内容来自www.paper51.com Acknowledgments. ii http://www.paper51.com Abstract iii copyright paper51.com 摘 要... iv copyright paper51.com I. The Jazz Age. 1 paper51.com A.The social situation. 1 paper51.com
B.The literature of the period. 2 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com II. Fitzgerald. 4 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com A.Fitzgerald’s life. 4 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com B.Fitzgerald’s writing purpose. 5 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com III. The Great Gatsby. 6 copyright paper51.com A. Thesummary of the story. 6 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com B.Symbols in the novel 8 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com IV. The collapse of dream.. 10 copyright paper51.com
A.The shattering of Gatsby’s dream.. 10 paper51.com
B.The collapse of the American Dream.. 13 内容来自www.paper51.com V. Conclusion. 14 copyright paper51.com References. 18 http://www.paper51.com
内容来自www.paper51.com I. The Jazz AgeA. The social situation paper51.com TheGreat Gatsby was written in the 1920s America between World WarI and Great Depression. This period was called the “Jazz Age”. In this post warperiodAmericans enjoyed a period of economic growth that produced a popular faith thatpeace and prosperity would last long. On the one hand, the austerity during thewar gave way to a general relaxation of standards, which had a profound effecton the social, sexual, and cultural values of Americans. Shocked at the war’schaos and violence, Americans needed consolation badly. They wanted to enjoylife to the full to divert their attention from the horrible war. This trendgradually became a new height of pleasure-seeking materialism[1].On the other hand, the war stimulated American economy to bloom quickly. Americabecame the most developed country and was almost completely independent of theworld. This isolationism made the Americans take care of their own countryonly. These two reasons made the Americans, especially the generation that had foughtin the war, lead a wild, reckless and extravagant life, in an attempt tocompensate their loss in the war (张滨江, 2003:3). They utterly detested theunalterable conservatism of the old generation, and were seeking only aftermoney, wealth, and luxury. The whole society was centered on this immoderatematerialism. Luxurious parties, where people were dancing, drinking and loudlychatting, flooded anywhere. Men and women were flirting in public. At that timethe wild Jazz music witnessed the Americans’ fantasy and luxury, so the 1920sof America was called the “Jazz Age”. 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com The American Dream is the traditional idea held by mostpeople in the United Statesof America that through hard work, courage and determination anyonecan achieve prosperity. However, in the twenties, people were misled by the temporary prosperity.They allowed themselves to be under the complete control of their desire forenjoyment. People of the upper class had immoderate desire for money and for enjoymentof life. They had lost noble goals. The soldiers from the war had experiencedthe most cruel and terrible slaughter. They did not believe what they had beentaught. They lost faith in traditional morals, and they abandoned themselves toa befuddled life. http://www.paper51.com |