On the Symbolism in The Great Gats

1、了不起的蓋茨比中的象征主義on the symbolism in the great gatsbyabstract: the novel the great gatsby was written by francis. scott. fitzgerald. in the novel, he portrayed characters and stressed the theme from a new point of view, by unique narrative techniques as well as appliance of images and symbols. so to som

2、e extent, he is one of the greatest writers of the 20th century in american literature. the novel reveals gatsbys pursuit and disillusion of american dream through the symbols of the color, main characters names and the name of places. the thesis will focus on the symbolism in the great gatsby; the

3、purpose is to let readers understand his novels and the age which he lived in. key words: the great gatsby; symbolism; american dream; 摘 要： 了不起的蓋茨比是由弗蘭西斯司各特菲茨杰拉德所寫的一篇小說。在其作品了不起的蓋茨比中，他不僅采用全新的視角，獨特的敘述技巧， 而且運用大量的意向和象征主義書法來刻畫人物、突出主題、統(tǒng)一結構。所以從某種程度上來說，可以認為他是20世紀美國文壇上最杰出的小說家之一。本文圍繞顏色、主人公名字、地名等中心象征，分別從不同的方面表

4、現了蓋茨比對“美國夢”的追求， 并揭示了“美國夢”的虛幻及其對人們靈魂的腐蝕。這篇論文將研究象征主義在了不起的蓋茨比中的意義。目的是為了讓更多的讀者了解他的小說和他生活的時代。關鍵詞：了不起的蓋茨比；象征主義；美國夢；contentsi. introduction of the author and the novel the great gatsby1 a. introduction of the author and his works.1b. introduction of the novel the great gatsby.2ii. usage of symbols in the g

5、reat gatsby.4a. some concepts about symbolism.4b. different symbols in the great gatsby.5 1. symbolic theme in the american dream.52. symbols about colors.83 symbols about characters and their names.104. other symbols in the great gatsby. .11iii. conclusion.12works cited14on the symbolism in the gre

6、at gatsbyi. introduction of the author and the novel the great gatsbya. introduction of the author and his works francis scott fitzgerald is famous for novels and short stories in jazz age. he is mainly remembered as the spokesman and laureate of the jazz age and flaming youth. his life exhibits the

7、 failure of the american dream. “the famous poet and critic aerate said that the great gatsby took a great progress in american novels since henry james.”(donaldson 283) fitzgerald was born in st. paul minnesota on september 24, 1896. the son of a failed wicker furniture salesman and an irish immigr

8、ant with a large inheritance, fitzgerald grew up in a solidly catholic and up-middle class environment. during the 1920s, he is a prominent novelist in the american literature, owned the title of the spokesman of the jazz age and the laurel of poet. fitzgerald wrote the first novel the side of parad

9、ise. it is not really very good because juvenile, but is historically interesting. it became immensely popular for the simple reason that it caught the tone of the age. essentially autobiographical, the book describes fitzgeralds sense of failure with his academic performance and the frustration of

10、his dreams at princeton. it portrays at the same time a generation, his generation, feeling frustrated with life in which all gods are dead, all wars are fought, all faith in man in shaken (chang 214-215).on the strength of his one successful book, fitzgerald won the expensive prize of zelda, and be

11、gan, in a sense, his onerous life of making money to support her. this affected his writing tremendously. the people who like fitzgerald stormed into new york as the pattern of youth, wealth, and beauty and became the admiration of all who met them. in the early twenties, fitzgerald wrote two collec

12、tion: flappers and philosophers which glittered with the image of the people who like fitzgerald as the symbol of an american ideal (the word “flapper,” used to describe the new woman of the woman of the postwar period, became widespread henceforward), and tales of the jazz age which, like mark twai

13、ns the gilded age, gave its name to an important historical period in the history of the country. the 1920s, or “the jazz age,” was, in the words of malcolm cowley, “not so much a historical period as a legend of glitter, of recklessness, and of talent in such profusion that it was sown broadcast li

14、ke wild oats.” it was a legend of “americans adolescence before pain set in.” fitzgerald became “the angel of the twenties” and his writings those of a man inside that legendary period. in 1922 fitzgerald finished his second novel, the beautiful and the damned. the silhouette of fitzgerald as the tr

15、agic hero of the period, first seen in this side of paradise, became more definable here. and then his masterpiece the great gatsby is appeared in his mind. after this fitzgerald wrote one more important book, tender is night, and some collections of short stories such all the sad young men and taps

16、 at reveille. his last novel the last tycoon has not finished yet before he died. the author is in sure control of his powers, so that john dos passes sees “the beginning of a real grand style.” b. introduction of the novel the great gatsby fitzgeralds representative work is the great gatsby, one of

17、 the classics of modern american literature. the story is told in the first person by nick carraway, a quite young midwesterner. in the spring of 1922, nick carrway leaves his midwestern home to enter the bond business in new york city. he rents a small house in west egg, a village on long island ma

18、de up largely of the summer mansion of the newly rich. next door to his house is the enormous home of mr. gatsby, whom nick has yet to meet. one evening nick dines with a distant cousin, daisy buchanan, who lives in nearby east egg, the home of the long-established rich. also present are her husband

19、, tom, and jordan baker, an attractive young golfer. the buchanans have been drifting aimlessly around the world for several years, and during his visit nick learns that tom has taken a mistress. returning home, nick sees mr. gatsby standing alone on his lawn, with his arms outstretched toward east

20、egg across the bay. soon after, tom insists on introducing nick to his mistress. a woman distinguished by “vitality” rather than prettiness, myrtle wilson lives with her husband over a gas station in a “valley of ashes” between long island and the city. tom, nick and myrtle go to the city, where the

21、y are joined by myrtles sister and a married couple living in the apartment below the one tom keeps. everyone gets drunk, and the party ends when tom breaks myrtles nose because she insists on uttering daisy name. nick is invited to one of gatsbys parties and amidst the hordes of guests, he encounte

22、rs jordan baker. they sit at a table and find their tablemats to be mr. gatsby himself. later, jordan tells nick that gatsby wants him to arrange a tea at his own little house, with only gatsby, nick and daisy present. nick learns that gatsby and daisy were in love before her marriage and that the m

23、ansion and the parties were all maintained in the hope that she, or someone who knew her, would eventually arrive. the reunion takes place, and soon after, the parties cease. in the meantime, nick has become involved with jordan baker, although he finds her “incurably dishonest.” one afternoon, nick

24、, jordan and gatsby have lunch at the buchanans house, and in the course of the conversation tom perceives that his wife is in love with gatsby. they all go to the city, with tom and gatsby driving each others cars, and on the way tom stops at wilsons gas station. there he learns that wilson has fou

25、nd out that myrtle has a lover, although wilson does not know the mans identity, and he is planning to take his wife away. the party rents a hotel room in the city, where gatsby tries to force daisy to tell tom that she loves him and has never loved her husband. when she balks at this last demand to

26、m steps in to reveal gatsbys crooked business dealings, browbeating his wife out of her insists that daisy and gatsby return to long island together in gatsbys car. on their return trip, daisy and gatsby pass wilsons gas station, with daisy at wheel. myrtle, who has been locked up by her distraught

27、husband, recognizes gatsbys car as the one tom was driving earlier. she rushes onto the road and is killed. daisy and gatsby continue on, but toms car stops. tom tells wilson secretly that the car he was in earlier was not his own. that night, gatsby watches over the buchanan house to see that no ha

28、rm comes to daisy. when gatsby arrives home, nick goes over to his house and hears and the true story of his past. born james gatsz, he was the son of an unsuccessful farm couple in the middle west, but he has changed his name and way of life at 17, when he was taken up by a rich yachtsman named dan

29、 cody. when cody died, gatsby joined the army and was stationed near daisys home in louisville. he courted the wealthy 18-year-old under the pretence that he was her social equal and fell in love with her. unable to return from the war and marry her before she wed tom buchanan, gatsby determined eve

30、ntually to have enough money to win her back. after delivering this tale, gatsby and nick sit some more, nick reluctant to leave gatsby alone. eventually, however, nick catches the train to new york and his office. that afternoon george wilson makes his way to toms house in search of the yellow car.

31、 tom maliciously tells him that the car belongs to gatsby and george immediately leaves for gatsbys house. he finds gatsby floating in the swimming pool and he shoots him. he then shoots himself. nick discovers gatsby dead in the pool when he returns from new york. nick finds himself in charge of ma

32、king all the funeral arrangements for gatsby. although he wants to provide him with a decent funeral he is unable to find anyone willing to attend. the buchanans have left the country without a word and others who had once attended gatsbys parties now say that he got what he deserved. in the end, on

33、ly nick, the “owl-eyed” man, the servant and gatsbys father are there. a short time later, nick meets tom buchanan on the street and learns that daisy has never admitted her guilt. tom still thinks that it was gatsby who killed myrtle and so he destructive, that it is part of their nature. gatsby, h

34、e sees, really was “worth the whole damn bunch of them put together.” ii. usage of symbols in the great gatsbya. some concepts about symbolismin literature, a symbol is a thing that refers or suggests more than its literal meaning. there are quite a lot of symbols that appear in ordinary life, for t

35、he use of symbol is by no means limited to literature and art. for instance, a dove is a symbol of peace, the flag is the symbol of a country, and the cross is the symbol of the christian religion. there are symbols adopted by a whole society and recognized by all members of such a society. there ar

36、e other kinds of symbols, such as the figure 3, which may be called abstract symbols. but symbols in literature works are different from either of the other types. generally speaking, a literary symbol does not have a common social acceptance, as does the flag; it is, rather, a symbol the poet or th

37、e writer only in the context of that work. it differs from the kind of symbol illustrated by the figure 3 because it is concrete and specific. a poet or a writer uses symbols for the same reason he/she uses similes, metaphors, and images, etc: they help to express his/her meaning in a way that will

38、appeal to the senses and to the emotions of the reader. most symbols, in literature and everyday life as well, possess a tremendous condensing power. their focusing on the relationships between the visible and what they suggest can kindle a flame of response from the heat the reader broods and they

39、bring it into a single impact. of course, in literature works, symbols, unlike those in ordinary life, usually do not “stand for” any one meaning, not for anything absolutely definite; they point, they hint, or, as henry james put it, they cast long shadows (gu and he 98). symbol is generally acknow

40、ledged to be one of fiction it is no less frequently and no less important. the fact is that, when a reader reads a work of fiction, his focus is mostly cast upon the plot, the character, and the language used, so that the symbols are automatically background on the readers part. but in some novels

41、and stories, the symbolism looms so large that the reader will fail to get a comprehensive understanding of the work without paying special attention to the symbols. in a broad literary sense, a symbol is trope that combines a literal and sensuous quality with an abstract or suggestive aspect (yuan

42、and qian 62). it is anything which signifies something; in this sense all words are symbols. in discussing literature, however, the term “symbol” is applied only to a word or phrase that signifies an object or event which in its turn signifies something, or has range of reference, beyond it. some sy

43、mbols are “conventional” or “public”: thus “the cross,” “the red, white, and blue,” and “the good shepherd” are terms that refer to symbolic objects of which the further significance is determinate within a particular culture. poets, like all of us, use such conventional symbols; many poets, however

44、, also use “privates” or “personal symbols.” often they do so by exploiting widely shred associations between an object or action and a particular concept; for example, the general association of a peacock with pride and of an eagle with heroic endeavor, or the rising sun with birth and the setting

45、sun with death, or climbing with effort or progress and descent with surrender or failure. some poets, however, repeatedly use symbols whose significances they largely generates themselves, and these pose a more difficult problem in interpretation. b. different symbols in the great gatsbythe deep me

46、aning reflected by f. schott fitzgeralds descriptions in his masterpiece the great gatsby of the three major female characters, daisy, jordan and myrtle are analyzed. in the text, all the three women are selfish, hollow, materialistic, and all of them have tragic ends. in a profound sense, fitzgeral

47、ds description of them can be seen as a part of the symbolism used in the whole novel, and it deeply reflects the writers serious thinking on the american social value. the reason of the novels success is that different colors are adopted to portray different characters in the novel. 1. symbolic the

48、me of the american dreamthe american dream is based on the ideology that each one can be successful through his own efforts and cultivating his qualities. it is the ideal of opportunity for all, of advancement in a career or society without regarding to ones origin. it is originally the dream has be

49、en ruined by the unworthiness of its object-money and pleasure. traditionally, americans has sought to realize the american dream of success, fate and wealth through thrift and hard work. francis. scott. fitzgerald, in the 1920s, which is about disillusionment of american dream, and it is still a pi

50、ece of language endowed with deep connotations and full of metaphors and mottoes. fitzgerald once summarized peoples characters at that time as “all gods have died, all the wars have been over, and all the faiths have faded away.” (fitzgerald 253). american people living in jazz age looked down on t

51、he traditional faiths and betrayed moralities and customs that their ancestors used to abide by. the traditional model of american dream, as many critics and writers pointed out, were full of falsity, especially under the condition of capitalism developed rapidly, and polarization intensified increa

52、singly. it made a point of evidence that gatsby made a fortune, relying on personal virtues, diligence and frugality. it is the american dream, but it is the origin of gatsbys dream. the story of the great gatsby is a good illusion to symbolize the failure of the american dream. the dream of beings

53、rich and winning daisy back begins the story. but the novel end with gatsbys death. the declining of the dream is well pictured. the great gatsby shows the ambition of one mans reach for his “american dream”, the disappointment of losing this dream and the despair of his loss. the greatness of the g

54、reat gatsby rests with the autobiography of fitzgerald himself, his experience and his reflection. through the unfolding of a doomed romance of a fervent dreamer in the dreamless wasteland of american twenties, fitzgerald realized that the era of dreaming and the american dream is over. at the end o

55、f the novel, gatsbys lonely funeral ceremony and peoples indifference completely reflected the american societys coolness and ugliness in 1920s. in this society, gatsby was destined to be isolated helpless and to fail in all. gatsby was one of typical representatives of american dream that all gener

56、ations of american people pursued. no matter how did gatsby struggle for it, he could not get into the upper class society; no matter how did he do hard, he could not get daisy and her heart; even if he tried his best effort to fulfill his dream, he was destined to fail at last. the tragedy of belie

57、ver and followergatsby persistently seeking for american dream asserted the bankruptcy of american dream. conclusion, gatsbys final destructiveness was upper class society ruined his dream in spirit. “so we beat on, boats on against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past” (fitzgerald 215).

58、 owing to his innocence, lacking of discerning power and self-comprehension, gatsby fell into the trap that the social evil power set for him. owing to his kindness, determined beliefs, tense desire and firm decision, he believed that he could build a real fairy-land. doubtlessly, the description of american dream was perfect, but the realistic world represented by tom and daisy was too absurd to withstand a single