The Failure of the American Dream—Analysis of The Great Gatsby 英语毕业论文.doc

the failure of the american dreamanalysis of the great gatsby abstract jay gatsby is the victim of american dream and his life is full of tragedy, ranging from his dream and his pursuit of the dream to the wreckage of his dream. his experience is just the reflection of american life in the first half of the twentieth century. the wrong ideas and cruel reality destroy him, and make his dream shatter even his life. key words: the american dream; gatsbys dream; failure of the drea 摘 要 主人公杰伊盖茨比是美国梦的牺牲品, 他的一生充满了悲剧性的色彩, 首先 是他的梦想, 其次是梦想的追逐, 最终是梦想的破灭。这种经历正是美国二十世纪 前半期的写照, 他的这种梦想也是美国当时心态的反映。错误的观念和残酷的现实 使他一败涂地, 最后他失去了所有的梦想甚至自己的生命, 这不能不说是当时的社 会观念美国梦造成的悲剧。 关键词：美国梦；盖茨比的梦；梦的破灭 contents acknowledgements .iii abstract.iv 摘 要 .iv 1. introduction .1 1.1a brief introduction to the author .1 1.2a brief introduction to the background of the great gatsby1 1.3 a brief introduction to the structure of the paper 2 2. literature review.3 2.1 the previous studies of the great gatsby at abroad3 2.2 the previous studies of the great gatsby at home3 2.3comments on the literature review and the research question .4 3. discussions and analysis .5 3.1 analysis of gatsbys tragedy5 3.2 the american dream and gatsbys dream .5 3.2.1 an analysis of gatsbys first dream6 3.2.2 an analysis of gatsbys second dream .7 3.3 the failure of gatsbys dream.7 4. conclusion9 references 10 1. introduction 1.1a brief introduction to the author f. scott. fitzgerald (1896-1940), is one of the most american outstanding writers in the 20th century. he is best known for his novels and short stories, which vividly describes how to lose oneself to achieve the ultimate ideal of disillusion in the process of chasing dream for the post-war american younger generation. moreover, the works of fitzgerald give us an accurate picture of the american twenties: the prosperity of economy and the moral absence because of his novels, fitzgerald is mainly remembered as the spokesman and laureate of the jazz age and of fevered youth. but it was only after his death that people accept him as a serious and ambitious novelist. “fitzgeralds life follows a clear pattern: a dream, an achievement and a failure. his life exhibits the failure of the american dream.”(gao hui, 2008). fitzgerald was born in st. paul minnesota on september 24, 1896. the son of a failed wicker furniture salesman (edward fitzgerald) and an irish immigrant with a large heritage, fitzgerald grew up in a solidly catholic and up- middle class environment. seeking tranquility for his work the fitzgerald went to france in the spring of 1924. in the year of 1925, he accomplished his masterpiece the great gatsby. it was a striking advance in both subject matter and the narrative techniques over his two earlier novels. between 1934 and 1937 fitzgerald was on the rim of despair and collapse. he died suddenly of a heart attract at the age of forty- four. 1.2a brief introduction to the background of the great gatsby when human history develops into twentieth century, the american dream has become the main aim of americans. at the end of the first world war a most important literary development occursthe modernistic trend. in this time a new group of writers called “the lost generation” putschist against former ideas and value, but replace them only by hopelessness or a cynical hedonism. historically the american dream failed in the ideal of equality, liberty and opportunity. it is not until the 1920s that the american dream failed, it begins to fail when it becomes cannot be resolved part of the materialism in american society. literature of 1920s is characterized by disillusionment with ideals and further of civilization the capitalist society advocate. the lost generation in the 1920s shows a sense of loss after the war. among american writers during the 1920s, f.scott.fitzgerald is crowned with the most credible achievement in the united states. his masterpiece, the great gatsby, conjures up the image of the roaring twenties, the age of flapper, and the jazz age. in the great gatsby f.scott.fitzgerald finds a metaphor for an entire era when he portrays gatsbys world as an endless extravagant party, in which flappers seek frenetic pleasure. fitzgeralds novel the great gatsby is a parody of the american dream, because in the experience of jay gatsby we have the corruption of the dream itselfthat is, the traditional devotions wasted on spiritual gumdrops and material trivialities. 1.3 a brief introduction to the structure of the paper this paper is composed of four chapters as follows. the first chapter begins with a brief introduction to the author f.scott.fitzgeralds great achievement, the background of the great gatsby and structure of the paper. the second chapter focuses on the literature review, and includes three parts. the first part describes the previous studies of the great gatsby at abroad. the second part describes the previous studies of the great gatsby at home. the third part comments on the literature review, and put forward research question. the third chapter mainly focuses on the analysis and discussion, and there are three parts in this chapter. the first part mainly discusses the gatsbys tragedy; the second part mainly analyzes the american dream and gatsbys dream; the last part mainly discusses the failure of gatsbys dream. the next is the fourth chapter which summarizes the whole paper and restates the theme that the story of the great gatsby is a good illusion to symbolize the failure of the american dream, and discusses the limitations of this paper. 2. literature review 2.1 the previous studies of the great gatsby at abroad the standard text of the great gatsby is the first printing by scribners (new york, 1925). the study on the great gatsby in the west has experienced a long and torturous process over the past years. there are so many researchers who have drawn various conclusions from different aspects. some studied the american dream in the great gatsby. bewley.marius(1985) argues that the failure of gatsby who pursued crazily the american dream, and explores the changes that has taken p lace in the american society, illustrating that there are obstacles which can not be surmounted on the way to gatsbys pursuit of success. some studied the great gatsby from the matter of style of freshness. “the great gatsby seems to be, in form and content, so different from what has otherwise engaged the passions and commitment of one writer and the other.” (george garrett, 2007: 152). some studied this novel from the social reality. cowley. (2007) discusses the dialectical relationship among love, death and social reality a swell as how social reality influences the viewpoints of people on love; at the same time, the choice that roles make when they face love and death, also criticizes and exposes the social reality. all of these are the previous studies of the great gatsby at abroad. 2.2 the previous studies of the great gatsby at home nowadays, more and more scholars show great interest in analyzing f.scott.fitzgeralds the great gatsby from different aspects. this kind of essay pours out in large quantities. wang weiping (2004) puts forwards that the gatsby is a sort of mythic hero and romantic dreamer of the past; he devoted his life to the realization of his dream but met with complete failure in the end. mou xuelin (2010) analyzes the skillful employment of symbolism in the term of “the green light” in the novel, discusses the deep connotation that is imparted by the novelist and explains the decisive role of the symbolism of this term in the novel in shaping the figures, developing the plot of the story, and deepening the themes of the work. zhang weiyi (2010) argues the style, lexical feature and grammatical feature of the great gatsbys language. from the three aspects of the language, we can obviously know the reason why it is the most famous work of america. 2.3comments on the literature review and the research question looking back on the researches about f.scott.fitzgeralds the great gatsby internationally, we can find their researches mainly focus on three aspects: the american dream in the great gatsby; the analysis of the great gatsby under the symbolize view; and the analysis of the language of the great gatsby. although scholars have studied the great gatsby with the perspective of the american dream, i will analyze the gatsbys tragedy and the failure of his dream further. 3. discussions and analysis 3.1 analysis of gatsbys tragedy in order to trace the gatsbys tragedy, let us review the story. it relates to poverty- stricken man forcing his way into high society and failing. the events of the story took place in the summer of 1922. a poor young army man gatsby falls in love with a rich girl named daisy, but not long after gatsby leaves for his army service, daisy gets married with a rich man. gatsby feels heartbroken after knowing of daisys marriage. afterwards, gatsby makes up his mind to earn enough money and win back his former lover daisys heart. he works very hard and tries all kind of means including illegal ones to earn money. he becomes rich, buys a gorgeous mansion and holds many free parties to attract daisys attention. gatsby gets reunited with daisy and asks daisy to leave her husband to be with him. however, in the end daisy return to her husband after killing a woman by accident. “daisy leaves the trouble for gatsby who takes it willingly and innocently” (quan yanxia, 2011). with shots of a revolver, jay gatsby died insensibly in his magnificent swimming pool. this is the ending which f.scott.fitzgerald sets for the hero gatsby, in his novel the great gatsby. 3.2 the american dream and gatsbys dream the disillusionment of “the american dream” is the often written theme in the american literature, but what is indeed, “the american dream”? different people have different understanding. “in its broad sense, it refers to the ideal of a nation such as democracy, equality and freedom; while in its narrow sense, it refers to the pursuit of individuals to obtain success of life on their own initiative.”(wang weiping, 2004) the 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. from the story of the great gatsby we find that daisy has been gatsbys lover years before, and daisy symbolizes a beautiful thing like the “green light” on daisys dock(fitz, 94). daisy is not only a character in the novel, but also a symbol which the author provides for gatsby to understand what an “ideal”is. anyway, for gatsby, daisy doesnt exist in herself, she is the“green light”that leads him into the heart of his ultimate“ideal”. gatsby has been pursing fame and wealth all his life with an“ideal”which he thinks can be realized, and which itself is a tragedy. from mr. gatzs narration of his son, we find out obviously gatsby has held the“ideal”through his life. his “ideal” includes two parts which have similarities but differences or we can say he has two dreams at the same time, but both of them fade away. 3.2.1 an analysis of gatsbys first dream one part of gatsbys dream is to get rich. he thinks money can buy love and happiness, so it seems to him that his dream is quite reasonable, but he never realizes this is a “common dream”. the essence of this dream is that every one no matter how poor he is or how little he owns when he is born can become successful through his hard work and persistent efforts. this dream has been rooted into the american peoples heart for a long time and become the social ideal for many american people. gatsby is one of the believers of such a “dream”he aspires to get rich and stand out among rich people. in his youth, gatsby sticks to this mode of self-improvement, believing the conviction of the american dream. so he works hard for the sake of his dream. he is infatuated with daisy because he is amazed at daisys “beautiful houseshining motor cars” (fitz, 148),and other aspects of an elegant life. all of her luxurious life makes him “overwhelmingly aware of youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves”(fitz, 150),and makes him think that the rich can be “safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor”(fitz, 150). so gatsby, full of drive, attempts to reach his goal of getting rich. from chapter nine, we know gatsby did have an energetic “schedule” in his childhood, such as getting up at 6:00 in the morning, beginning to study electricity at 7:15, and until 79 in the evening “studying needed inventions”(fitz, 174). it seems that not a second is to be lost. he also has a wonderful “general resolves” (fitz, 174), whish set strict demands on himself, such as “not wasting time,no more smoking,read one important book or magazine per week and save $500 per week” (fitz, 174). anyway, he was dreaming to better himself all the time in order that he could get rich some day. 3.2.2 an analysis of gatsbys second dream if we think that gatsbys dreams at a very early age because he is trying to train himself for the late dream. there is no doubt that he dreams at the adult age because he is trying to win daisy back. here, obviously, gatsbys second dream is the dream of love, and this is the core of his whole “ideal” in life. he dreams of being rich, but this is not his final ideal. being rich is only a means to capture love, but his view of love is not merely a marriage between him and a woman. from chapter six, we know “he knew women early since they spoiled him, he became contemptuous of them, of young virgins because they were hysterical about things” (fitz, 99). why does he admire daisy? the reason is very simple. he admires daisy because she stands for the elegance and virtue of the upper class. just as i mentioned above, daisy is a symbol for gatsby to understand what an “ideal” is. gatsby thinks he can become “mighty” if he marries daisy. so in order to marry her, he reads newspapers to look for daisy, buys a gorgeous mansion, and holds the wonderful party to attract daisy to come over. but as he “almost” realizes his “ideal” he is killed under daisys husband toms malice. tom leaves gatsby to shoulder the responsibilities for daisy. at that moment marks the end of his “ideal”. 3.3 the failure of gatsbys dream jay gatsby is the victim of american dream and his life is full of tragedy, ranging from his dream and his pursuit of the dream to the wreckage of his dream. his experience is just the reflection of american life in the first half of the twentieth century. in order to realize the dream of being rich and winning daisy back, gatsby exert himself to work all the time. but the things he pursuits are just illusory. the wrong ideas and cruel reality destroy him, and make his dream ruin even his life. as we all know, in the bourgeois society only a few people can make their fortune, and those people make their fortune by crushing others, or by some means or cruel and evil force or trickery. this is the real reflection of gatsby. gatsby becomes an upstart through some illegal activities. actually gatsby lives a short time luxuriously with his will, which is get rich. but those who have deeper roots, power and influence overwhelmed him. no matter how wonderful his parties are, what he changes his name into, and how careful he is, he cant change his background of from the lower class. anyway, the upper class never forgets this point, so they always scorn him, and exclude him. even when they are enjoying gatsbys free dinner, they never lose a moment to look down upon him. they spread rumors about gatsby, saying “he is a cousin of kaiser wilhem” (fitz, 33), “ a german spy” and an “oxford man”, “ he killed a man” (fitz, 44)and was involved in “the underground pipeline to canada” (fitz, 117). so it is not only a tom, but the whole upper class fights against him. gatsby is always thinking of a way to get into the upper class, but in the end he paid a high price. to the last he didnt awake to the reality that his dream is a twisted illusion. in the end, the author writes, “he had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. he did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.” the wrong ideas and cruel reality destroy him, and make his dream shatter even his life. gatsbys death can easily remind people of why gatsby cant realize his dream,