論文作業(yè)TheGreatGatesby

1、Analysis of the Root Cause of the Tragic Fate of The Great Gatesby. IntroductionThe Great Gatsby is written by American author F. Scott. Fitzgerald, the novel is considered the best works of Fitzgerald. It was first published on 1925。And its ranked second in the Modern Librarys list of the 100 best

2、novels of the 20th century . The Great Gatsby is Fitzgeralds finest novel. “sensitive and symbolic treatment of themes of contemporary life related with irony and pathos to the legendry of the American dream.” The Oxford Companion to American LiteratureThe Great Gatesby relates the story of eccentri

3、c millionaire Jay Gatsby as told by Nick Carraway,Nick becomes curious about his neighbor after being invited to one of his famous parties.  Nick soon learns that Gatsby is in love Daisy Buchanan, Nicks cousin and the wife of Tom Buchanan, Gatsby try to win Daisy back,but failed,and still, even

4、tually died for her.Using a narrator who speaks in the first person is often an effective way to recount adventures, because the reader can closely share the narrators feelings (Benton, 1998:308). This paper is aimed at exploring why the main character Gatsby's dream was disillusioned. And it ma

5、inly uses the approach of symbolism to analyze the reason. It will solve these questions: Whats Gatsbys character? Which factors caused his failure of dream?Why Gatsbys dream became a nightmale to him?II.Literature Review2.1International Studies of the spirit of American Dream Luckly,we had people w

6、ho saw the reality much more clearly than the blind masses,while those were considered Critics of sorts.They pointed out that many versions of the dream equate prosperity with happiness, and that happiness may not always be that simple. These critics suggest that the American Dream may always remain

7、 tantalizingly out of reach for some Americans, making it more like a cruel joke than a genuine dream. Fitzgerald was one of them who went the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James, because he depicted the extolled grandest and most boisterous, reckless and merry-making scene(

8、TSElliot). 2.2Domestic Studies of the spirit of American Dream 2.3Conclusion and EvaluationIII.Theoretical Framework&Critical Approaches3.1Symbolism: Symbolism in literature was a mid 19th to early 20th century European literary phenomenon that employed symbols which are objects, characters, fig

9、ures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. and evocative suggestion in place of direct statement. Symbolist poets tried to capture sensations and states of mind that lay beyond normal consciousness by disordering their senses, indulging in decadence, occultism, and opposition to

10、sober bourgeois values. They rejected the pastoral tradition, and took their themes and images from city life, emphasizing its bleak, hallucinatory and/or illicit aspects.(Wekipedia) The Great Gatsby infuse symbols with meaningthe green light is only a green light, but to Gatsby it becomes the embod

11、iment of his dream for the future, and it beckons to him in the night like a vision of the fulfillment of his desires. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg work in the same fashion, although their meaning is less fixed. Until George Wilson decides that they are the eyes of God, representing a moral im

12、perative on which he must act, the eyes are simply an unsettling, unexplained image, as they stare down over the valley of ashes. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg thus emphasize the lack of a fixed relationship between symbols and what they symbolize: the eyes could mean anything to any observer,

13、but they tend to make observers feel as though they are the ones being scrutinized. They seem to stare down at the world blankly, without the need for meaning that drives the human characters of the novel.()In general, symbols in the novel are intimately connected to dreams: Gatsbys dream of Daisy c

14、auses him to associate her image with everything he values, just as he associates the green light with his dream for the future. In reading and interpreting The Great Gatsby, it is at least as important to consider how characters think about symbols as it is to consider the qualities of the symbols

15、themselves.3.2 3.3 IV.Analysis4.1 The reasons for the disillusioned of Gatsbys dream4.1.1Gatsbys personality Gatsby is a young man, around thirty years old, who rose from an impoverished childhood in rural North Dakota to become fabulously wealthy. He hates However, he achieved this lofty goal by pa

16、rticipating in organized crime, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities. From his early youth, Gatsby despised poverty and longed for wealth and sophistication. Though Gatsby has always wanted to be rich, his main motivation in acquiring his fortune was his love for D

17、aisy, and he regard it as the ultimate target of his life. Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy back, and his acquisition of millions of dollars, his purchase of a gaudy mansion on West Egg, and his lavish weekly parties are all merely means to that end.We can easily but not hastily conclude th

18、at he is faithful, lovesick, and also determined .Gatsby reveals himself to be a naive, hopeful young man who stakes everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. His passionate love for Daisy to her flaws. In his eyes,she is an angel and dream for him.Beyond that,he i

19、s a loyal and good-hearted man compared with Daisys husband- Tom s unfaithful ,cold-hearted.Gatsby remained silent to protect Daisy till he died Additionally , hes a perfectionist to his fingertips which made him somewhat unrealistic. Refering to Daisy,she is beautiful and charming, but also fickle,

20、 shallow, hypocritical. She is careless person who smashes thing up and then retreats behind her money. She allows Gatsby to take the blame for killing Myrtle ever though she was the real killerr. Finally, rather than attend Gatsbys funeral, Daisy and Tom move away, leaving no contact address. “Her

21、voice is full of money.”(The Great Gatsby)Daisy is love with money, easy, and material luxury. She seems to love Gatsby, but not of sustained loyalty or care. According to it,Daisy is weak, but from a different perspective, actually, Gatsby is weak, and Daisy is stronger than Gatsby because she surv

22、ived in the story at least without paying the price she is supposed to do. Gatsby is contrasted most consistently with Nick. Critics point out that the former, passionate and active, and the latter, sober and reflective, seem to represent two sides of Fitzgeralds personality. (Wekipedia) Living in s

23、uch society that the commons scrambled for power and wealth, Gatsby never gave up his idealistic dream while striving for material joy. Gatsby kept on making efforts to balance the both sides. But he failed. The contradiction between Gatsby and TomThe main contradiction in the novel is the contradic

24、tion between Gatsby and Tom. In some sense, it seemed that Gatsby took the advantage. Firstly, in the affair of love, Gatsby was a man of good virtue. He devoted himself to the love towards Daisy. For Daisy, he was able to pay everything, even his own life. Tom didnt love her really. When Daisys bab

25、y “was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where.” Furthermore, Tom had a paramour; Secondly, Gatsby looked amiable and gentle. Nick felt: “I could see nothing sinister about him.” Tom was ignorant and insolent; Thirdly, Gatsby was daisys first love. Tom was Daisys husband, but in fact their

26、 marriage wasnt based on love; Fourthly, after 5 years, Gatsby became as rich as Tom; Gatsby took the advantage. But why at last has Gatsby been bitter defeated? Superficially, the direct cause is that Tom reproached that Gatsby was engaged in illegal activities, and Gatsby was unable to deny it. Ho

27、wever, the root cause is that what Gatsby pursued for was idealistic and fantastic love: “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreamsnot through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything.

28、 He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.” And as forementioned, Daisy was far from the idealistic figur

29、e in Gatsbys mind. Daisy adhered to substantial thingsmoney and solid social status. What Gatsby expected for was an idealistic figure, not realistic. Even if they can live together, Gatsby would have been disillusioned. Otherwise, for winning back Daisy, Gatsby grabbed wealth by hook or by crook, e

30、ven collaborated with criminals and was implicated to some scandals. After becoming a new rich, he showed off his wealth to everyone. He held a sumptuous banquet per week in his colossal villa, treating uncountable guests with a plentiful supply of food, champagne, orange juice and lemon. He hired t

31、he orchestra play for his banquet, “no thin five-piece affair, but a whole pitiful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos, and low and high drums.” (The Great Gatsby)Gatsby died. His dream died too All the mediocre doings were for innocent love. Wasnt it sarcastic t

32、o Gatsby himself? But he had no alternative. This is a tragedy. Pursuing for idealism dream by extreme materialism means gets no access to success. Therefore, in any case, Gatsbys dream would have been shattered inevitably. 4.1.3The Social backgroundThe writer F. Scott Fitzgerald of The Great Gatsby

33、 portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, roaring jazz age, evidenced in its cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. Gatsby's dream is ruined by the unworthiness of its object, just as the American dream in the 1920s is ruined by the unworthiness of its objectmone

34、y and pleasure. (Jude Obscure) The reckless joyce that led to decadent parties and wild jazz musicepitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby held every Saturday nightresulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, in a such times, the unrestrained desire for money

35、 and pleasure surpassed more noble goals. Nick states that there is a “quality of distortion” (The Great Gatsby)to life in New York, and this lifestyle makes him lose his equilibrium, especially early in the novel, as when he gets drunk at Gatsbys party in Chapter 2. After witnessing the unraveling

36、of Gatsbys dream and presiding over the appalling spectacle of Gatsbys funeral, Nick realizes that the fast life of revelry on the East Coast is a cover for the terrifying moral emptiness that the valley of ashes symbolizes.(Wikipedia)Taken Gatsbys funeral ceremony as a example, only Gatsby's fa

37、ther and Nick attended , Befor then Gatsby was a man of integrity and honor,who received great respect form the society to his wealth and power.While after his death,he was merely remembered,forgottern in the flew of time and lust.Isnt it a bitter sacarstic! The exavagent life, the noisy people cons

38、titute Gatsbys parties. However, the depiction of the fashionable and meaningless parties served to highlight Gatsbys tragedy by contrasting the grandeur of his party with his violent death, with the frustration of his dream. Gatsbys funeral was rather deserted and cheerless compared with his partie

39、s. Its a record of human coldness. Nick had invited some people to come to Gatsbys funeral. These people were all Gatsbys so-called friends. They found a lot of excuses for their absence because they knew clearly that Gatsby was no longer useful for them. Gatsbys generous parties had not brought him

40、 even one friend. Whats more, Daisy, once Gatsbys lover, the real killer, “hadnt sent a message or a flower”.(Chapter 9, 233)The sharp contrast between the exavagence of the parties and the coldness of the funeral revealed the hypocritical relationship among people and the moral degradation of the J

41、azz Age.( Jude Obscure ) At last, Gatsby died. His dream died too .All the mediocre doings were for innocent love. Wasnt it sarcastic to Gatsby himself? But he had no alternative. This is a tragedy. Pursuing for idealism dream by extreme materialism means gets no access to success. Therefore, in any

42、 case, Gatsbys dream would have been shattered inevitably. Also his dream is worthless. Gatsby's dream is ruined by the unworthiness of his object,V. Conclusion 5.1The novel is thought provoking. On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. Actually

43、 it is a story of the distorted American dream failing in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. To conclude, the Great Gatsby is the best novel of F.S. Fitzgerald. As a novel with strong tragic flavor, it keeps in step with the time and its criticism of America society is really pe

44、netrating. The great Gatsby deeply shows that under the materialism environment, in any case, Gatsby would have failed to his idealistic dream inevitably, namely disillusion of American dream. Meanwhile, the novel also shows that the materialism way gets no access to a perfect country. Instead, it l

45、eads total depravity. The nationals become hypocritical, indifferent, empty, and cruel, day and night indulged in material pursuing.5.2Implication of this Paper() The real killer who murderred Gatsby was the society,in which people could become rich overnight by non-moral means. a world where materi

46、al interests had driven out sentimentality and faith. A While Gatsby, the true heir to the American dream,was killed by Conspiracy of his lover Daisy ,who was actually . What is more, dream, even if it persists, is utterly helpless and defenseless against a material society. It can only be defeated.

47、 Gatsby was an example. Owing to his unrealistic dream, Gatsbys fate turned out to be a tragedy. Because he was not conscious of his unrealistic dream of love and he did not correctly handle contradictions between ideal and reality, Gatsby sunk into this kind of unreal dream so deeply that he cant w

48、ake up. And the final result of Gatsby was surely miserable. stimulated by the vanity fair, and lived in luxury. ( WangYaHui)In his world, ideal and reality have lost balance Gatsby never gave up his spiritual ideal while he bent himself to materialism pursuit. 5.3Limitation of this Paper Symbolism

49、is a large field to study literature. The application of symbolism may not completely discover the true reason of his dicline of his dream.Constant development is added to the field of symbolism by various scholars all around the world. Due to the inconvenience to get accessible to the latest study

50、results related to the field , the paper may contain some out-of-date information, which decreases the immediacy of this paper. the novel are very clear, while the specific events are mysterious. In it, we can fully enjoy the glamour of art. In addition, the novel is intensely lyrical. With colorful

51、 musical elements, the author composed a tragic song, leaving a lot of questions for us to think about. 5.4Recommendation for futher study This paper is mainly concerned with sybolism to explore the root cause of Gatsbys disintergrated dream.In order to get a comprehensive picture of it, future rese

52、archers may apply different approaches to study this topic,and find more evidence to support your argument.ReferencesThe writer F. Scott Fitzgerald of The Great Gatsby portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, roaring jazz age, evidenced in its cynicism, greed, and empty pursu

53、it of pleasure. Gatsby's dream is ruined by the unworthiness of its object, just as the American dream in the 1920s is ruined by the unworthiness of its objectmoney and pleasure. Jude Obscure2009-06-04The sharp contrast between dream and reality not only explains Gatsbys failure at the end, it a

54、lso explains the meaninglessness of that age. In a word, these contrasts provide the readers with a panorama of 1920s. And in the contrast, the theme of the novel -the disillusion of the American dream -is strengthened. In the mean time,the loss of the American dream reflects the corruption of peopl

55、es morality.( WangYaHui)Alas, poor Jay Gatsby! “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no mattertomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further . And one fine morning” Alas, all of us! The novel ends o

56、n a desperately somber note: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”So I think every one in our country should read this novel.I believe many of them could learn a lot from it.This novel will never be old-fashioned for all people.The main contradiction in th

57、e novel is the contradiction between Gatsby and Tom. In some sense, it seemed that Gatsby took the advantage. Firstly, in the affair of love, Gatsby was a man of good virtue. He devoted himself to the love towards Daisy. For Daisy, he was able to pay everything, even his own life. Tom didnt love her

58、 really. When Daisys baby “was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where.” Furthermore, Tom had a paramour; Secondly, Gatsby looked amiable and gentle. Nick felt: “I could see nothing sinister about him.” Tom was ignorant and insolent; Thirdly, Gatsby was daisys first love. Tom was Daisys hu

59、sband, but in fact their marriage wasnt based on love; Fourthly, after 5 years, Gatsby became as rich as Tom; Gatsby took the advantage. But why at last has Gatsby been bitter defeated? Superficially, the direct cause is that Tom reproached that Gatsby was engaged in illegal activities, and Gatsby was unable to deny it. However, the root cause is that what Ga