OntheDisillusionmentoftheAmericanDreaminTheGreatGatsby

1、On the Disillusionment of the American Dreamin The Great GatsbyName: PENG Dan-xia_ NO.: 20140160224 Class: 英師2班 . Introduction1.1 The Story of the AuthorFrancis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is one of the most famous American writers in short stories and novels, whose works reflect the reality of the

2、 Jazz Age. Therefore , he is widely regarded as the spokesman of 1920s. During his lifetime, he finished four novels and left one unfinished. Most of his dozens of short stories are about the despair and unawareness of the youth. Fitzgerald was born in a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota

3、in 1896, and educated at Princeton in 1913. In 1917, he joined the United States Army before he completed his degree. While camping near Montgomery, Alabama, he met and later married Zelda Sayre, a woman from a rich and prominent family. Fitzgerald and Zeldas marriage was so dramatic, even if he onc

4、e said, "sometimes I don't know Zelda, I was real, or are we the characters in the novel"（Wu, 2001: 2）. In order to pay for their extravagant life expenditure, Fitzgerald had to make use of his fame to write a lot of potboilers to earn more money. When the “Great Depression” took place

5、 in 1930s, things got even worse. Zelda continued to suffer from mental illness and Fitzgerald fell into alcohol addiction which greatly influenced his writing. The rhythm of his life was cynical because his life was full of self-destructive alcoholism and he was poisoned by madness.1.2 Fitzgeralds

6、Main WorksFitzgerald started his writing as a hobby when he studied at Princeton University. In 1918, he met Zelda Sayre, a judges daughter who made it a condition of marring Fitzgerald was that he should guarantee her luxurious life after marriage. In order to win Zelda back, Fitzger

7、ald wrote and published the novel This Side of Paradise in 1920. This book achieved a great success and brought Fitzgerald reputation and a large store of wealth. In The Beautiful and the Damned (1922), he depicted the anxiety and vapidness in their married life. In 1924, the cou

8、ple moved to France, he completed his great work The Great Gatsby (1925) there after a short arrival. Tender Is the Night (1934) is a novel about the life of their French sojourn with a group of American expatriates. In 1937, Fitzgerald wrote screen plays for Hollywood, but he was not successful at

9、all. And his last novel The Last Tycoon (1941) was unfinished because of his alcohol-related deaths at the age of 44. Ernest Hemingway, who had a lifelong love- hate relationship with F. Scott Fitzgerald once described Scotts talent “as perfect and delicate as the wings of a butterfly”. J. D. S

10、alinger simply put it “Theyre all a bunch of phonies.”（Zhang, 2011: 1）1.3 The Summary of the NovelThe Great Gatsby, published in 1925, is Fitzgeralds favourite novel and is considered to be his greatest masterpiece. This novel is a sign to prove that his thought and writing style became maturer. Wit

11、h compact structure and significance, Fitzgerald expressed the theme of the “disillusionment of American Dream”, which reflected the reality of the Roaring Twenties.This story happened in the place between New York City and two areas known as East Egg and West Egg of Long Island. The story was set i

12、n early 1920s during the Prohibition period when manufacturing, selling or buying alcoholic beverages were considered to be illegal activities. For the wealthy people, the importance of alcohol was self-evident, and for Gatsby, he grasped the good chance to make a killing by means of bootlegging. In

13、 fact, the upper-class did not seem to be affected by this law at all since they still drank expensive champagnes on their routine parties.The social setting was between the the New Rich and the Established Rich who had plenty of free time and did not need to concern about livelihoods. Nobody concer

14、ned about politics or spiritual development, but everybody cared about how they dressed like a lady or behaved like a rich gentleman. The upper-class had to obey some unwritten rules to earn their decency in the high society. Tom and Daisy were the representatives of the Established Rich, so th

15、is was a reason why Toms affair was an issue. As a typical New Rich, Gatsby was suspected and slandered by the Established Rich who were always glad to partake the extravagant parties without invitation. The sharp contrast of life in Myrtle, George Wilson and the upper-class was like the distinction

16、 between the hell and heaven. It was also interesting that throughout the whole novel, George Wilson was the only one who had mentioned God, that is to say, religion collapsed in the circle of the rich.The geographical setting in the text was also well-designed. Houses in the East Egg were owne

17、d by the established bourgeoisie who were well-educated and whose money came from hereditary property. As a representative of the New Rich, Gatsbys luxurious mansion located on the West Egg, suggesting that although his money had helped him enter into upper-class, but he did not realize their s

18、ocial mobility. The distance between him and Daisy was not the span of water but the disparity of their blood. Another contrast was the scenes of the suburban and the city. Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan and Nick Carraway did business or worked in the city, but settled their homes in the suburban area. Ga

19、tsby talked about business with Meyer Wolfsheim there while Tom met his mistress. A big city could hide all the dirty deals under the sun. But on the other hand, women were left in the suburban houses. The boundary of suburban and city was also the gender borderline. Women could only wait for their

20、husbands coming back from the city and listen to their lies.Nick Carraway was the narrator of the story. He was born in an impoverished old aristocratic family in Midwestern America. After graduating from Yale University in 1915, he returned to Midwest before he came to New York City to make a livin

21、g. In 1922, he rented his house between two mansions in West Egg and became Gatsbys neighbor. Tom and Daisy Buchanan lived across the bay - East Egg, where was the inhabitant of the old aristocracy. Daisy was Nicks cousin and in a visit to their mansion, he knew that although she was attractive and

22、charming in appearance, she was superficial and hollow, even could not take the responsibility of being a mother. And her husband, Tom Buchanan was a playboy who squandered his inherited property to enjoy a lavish life. He also met Daisys friend -Jordan Baker at that visit. A female golfer who

23、won the games with improper means. She told Toms affairs to him and showed her interest of developing a relationship with him.One day when Tom and Nick took a train to New York City together, they stopped at a shabby garage to pick Myrtle Wilson who was the mistress of Tom and the wife of the garage

24、s owner - George Wilson. They went to their love-nest to hold a small-scale party with Myrtles sister and many other persons. But the party ended by Toms slapping to Myrtle because she spoke Daisys name which irritated Tom.Nick knew that his neighbor who held the extravagant party for hundreds of pe

25、ople every weekend was the so-called mysterious and wealthy Jay Gatsby. One weekend, he received an invitation to attend the party from Gatsby. With curiousness he participated in it and found it unbelievably luxurious and wasteful. The participants were keen on talking about Gatsby, but they k

26、new little about him at all. Most rumors were contradictory and ridiculous. Nick ran into Jordan Baker there and they were all looking for Gatsby. Later, a man called himself Gatsby appeared. Since then, a close yet odd friendship between Nick and Gatsby began.One day at the restaurant, Gatsby talke

27、d about his life as a wealthy man and war hero during World War , and introduced his business partner Meyer Wolfsheim to Nick. Nick happened to meet Tom and intended to introduce Tom to Gatsby, but Gatsby fled. After a few days, Nick knew that Gatsby and Daisy were lovers five years ago when Gatsby

28、was serving in the army. The purpose he host the lavish party was to catch Daisys attention and hoped that one day she could come and see him. But she never came. Therefore, Gatsby asked Nick to help arrange a meeting for him and Daisy at Nicks house. Finally this couple of old lovers rekindled thei

29、r lost love and began an affair.Before long, Tom knew the unfaithfulness of his wife, and he made a decision to deal with this trouble. Tom and Gatsby switched their car on the way to Plaza Hotel in New York City accompanied by Daisy, Jordan and Nick. Tom stopped at Wilson's garage and showed of

30、f Gatsbys roaster. At the hotel, Tom revealed that Gatsby got money from illegal means, and he was a bootlegger. Daisy could not face the dilemma of choosing one of these two men, she lost her mind and ran out of the hotel with Gatsby, and insisted to drive Gatsbys car by herself

31、 to calm her down. The rest of the three were on their heels. Myrtle took Gatsbys car for Toms, she rushed toward the car and was struck and killed by the car when Daisy was driving it. Gatsby decided to take the responsibility of  this hit-and-run accident for Daisy. He only told the truth to

32、Nick and waited for Daisys call. “They are a rotten crowd.” Nick says, “youre worth the whole damn bunch put together.” Getting the hint from Tom, the pain of losing wife made George Wilson mad, and he killed Gatsby with his gun at the pool.Nick hold a small funeral for Gatsby, but only Gatsbys fath

33、er and an erstwhile guest of the party came. Tom and Daisy moved away to Europe without asking any information about Gatsby. Nick was really disappointed about the selfishness and moral decadence of the rich on East Egg, so he decided to return to Midwest. Nick reflected that Gatsbys dreamed love an

34、d wealth was destined to disillusion because the woman he loved only loved his wealth, but his wealth came from smuggl- ing illegal alcohol. The core of American dream is the pursuit of individualism and happiness, but in the Jazz Age, it changed into the mere pursuit of wea

35、lth. With the disillusionment of Gatsbys dream, American Dream began to collapse. Literary ReviewsThe Great Gatsby was not really successful after it was published, but it became the best-seller after the authors death, especially after World War . At the end of 20th century, it was ranked as the se

36、cond greatest of 100 books that were chosen. The Great Gatsby was regarded as a panorama of the 1920s, as it caught the essence and main stream of that times. It helped to rebuild the vivid feature of the very times, and therefore Fitzgerald was also famous as a chronologist of the Jazz Age. By the

37、1950s, the influence of this novel has become a criterion for other writers to write this kind of works. Writers imitated its theme and style, even a literary genre called school of Fitzgeralds novel emerged. By the 1980s, different research directions burst out. Some explored the comparison of the

38、protagonist Jay Gatsby and the author Fitzgerald. Others employed such techniques as new critical analysis, discourse analysis, feminist criticism and deconstruction to explore the deep implication in this novel. In recent researches, thousands of essays about this novel can be divided into three ca

39、tegories: the first one is the research basic on artistic style and writing techniques; the second one is the analysis of the characters and symbols in this novel in the respective of history and sociology; and the last one mainly explores the realistic significance and modern ethical standards that

40、 this novel transmits. Thus we can say that this works is an encyclopedia of the Jazz Age. The author, Fitzgerald, once said that the significance of this novel lay in the fact that it dramatically demonstrated the disillusion of the American dream and the real panorama of the society in the Jazz ti

41、me, so it was unnecessary to find whether the story was true or not if it reflected the essence of the times. (Wang, 2010: 5)The popularity of this novel among the readers definitively proves the rightness of T. S. Eliots appraise, he considered it as “the first step that American fiction

42、has taken since Henry James, because Fitzgerald depicted the extolled grandest and most boisterous, reckless and merry-making scene.” (Wang, 2010: 6)William Faulkner, the great writer in America, once said that The Great Gatsby was the most typical work that recurred the social reality in the Jazz A

43、ge, and disclosed the temptation and disillusion of the American Dream. The unique narrative techniques and the supreme language art provided a valuable reference for the later American writers from generation to generation. Many American writers imitated Nick Caraways narrative techniques. There ar

44、e some relevant examples such as Thomas Wolfs novel Look Homeward, Angel, 1929, and James Baldwins novel Tell Me How Long the Trains Been Gone, 1968 and William Stylons novel Lie Down in Darkness, ect. (Wang, 2010: 6)Up till now, it was adapted for four films, a play and an opera.In China, at first,

45、 this novel was considered as a bad book which aimed to propagandize the capitalist idea to Chinese young people. This kind of concept transformed after the first Chinese translation version published in 1983. From then on, a prosperous study of this novel emerged in the Chinese literary circle. In

46、the late of 1980s, combining the background of reform and opening campaign, the academic circle paid high attention to studying the motif of this novel. The negative effect of pursuing money and neglecting ethic provided a warning for the transforming China society. In recent years, as the

47、 concept of Dream of China was proposed, researches with a view to the comparison between the American Dream and Dream of China exploded rapidly. Generally speaking, the studies of this novel in China can be divided into certain categories: the first on is to explore the social and historical signif

48、icance of this novel; the second one is to analyze the rereading from the perspectives of the new historicism, post-colonialism; and the last one focus on its narrative techniques and artistic value. Based on the former research, this dissertation aims to explore the realistic meaning

49、 of the disillusionment of American Dream for the development of present China.And also, as a young generation, we can learn a lot about money, success, dream and love throughout analyzing the motif of this novel, thus establishing scientific concept of wealth and life. Just as the last of the novel

50、 read: “tomorrow we will run faster, stretch put our arms farther ”.( Fitzgerald, 2013: 182)In this thesis, I try to analyze the American Dream of Gatsby and Nick, and the reasons that they all disillusioned. And in the conclusion part, I try to summarize the great lesson that this novel has left to

51、 the Chinese current society and the young generation. An Introduction to the American Dream3.1 The Origin of the American DreamThe definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams is that “l(fā)ife should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according

52、 to ability or achievement, regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. ” ( Huang, 2009: 1)That is to say, everyone has the opportunity to achieve great success and prosperity, and the gate towards the upward social mobility is open to the poor at any time. It emphasizes optimism, individu

53、alism, the struggling spirit for freedom and democracy. Everyone has a common truth that everyone has an American Dream, if he works really hard, everyone has the opportunities to make it come true.Historically, the American Dream originated from the religious reasons in the 17th century. Becau

54、se of the serious persecution, 35 Puritans and 67 non-Puritans from England took the ship Mayflower to North America to pursue their own religious freedom. Before they arrived in the destination, one of the Pilgrim Fathers called on the masses to sign up a compact of establishing their own governmen

55、t and religious community. That is the famous Mayflower Compact that we all know now. Those Puritans also initiated the tradition of individualism, democracy and freedom in the American Dream. And those essences are the core of American Dream until now.3.2 The American Dream in 2

56、0th centuryIn 20th century, with the rapid development of both capitalist monopoly and technology, the definition of the American Dream changed a lot. Problems of class differentiation became prominent, which made the Established Rich lived a leisure and luxurious life by virtues of hereditary&

57、#160;property, while the poor could not enter the upper class no matter how hard they worked. Therefore, all the society fell into an incorrect trap that wealth was the only criterion to judge if a man was successful or not. They were desperately eager for pursuing money, the social status and the r

58、eputation, and this made the whole society run into a frenzy and morbid situation. Religious consciousness was desalinated and democratic system was destroyed heavily. It was an age that “all gods dead, all wars fought, all faith in men shaken”. (Wang, 2014: 4) Spiritual poverty and political scanda

59、ls accelerated the disillusionment of the American Dream. Just as Richard Nixon said in his Inaugural Address that “We find ourselves rich in goods, but ragged in spirit.” (Wang, 2014: 4)People were satisfied with the material abundance but neglected their spiritual fulfillment. Besides, World

60、War caused the youths horror about death, making them only care for the enjoyment of the moment pleasure. And the later, World War and the slaughter made the situation worse, people sank into the despair and pessimism deeply for a very long time. To some extent, the American Dream completely collapsed at that time. Gatsbys Americ