The failure of dreamsThe comparative study of The Great Gatsby and Heart of Darkness 英语毕业论文.doc

the failure of dreamsthe comparative study of the great gatsby and heart of darkness1. introductionjoseph conrad was born tozef teodor konrad korzeniowski on december 3, 1857, in the polish ukraine. he studied english when he was twenty-one years old. in 1889, he began his first novel, almayers folly, and began actively searching for a way to fulfill his boyhood dream of traveling to the congo in 1890, and his experiences in the congo came to provide the outline for heart of darkness. he was ill when he was in africa, then he returned to england to recover. he returned to sea twice before finishing almayers folly in 1894 and wrote several other books, including one about marlow called youth: a narrative before beginning heart of darkness in 1898. conrads works, heart of darkness in particular, provides a bridge between victorian values and the ideals of modernism. these novels rely on traditional ideas of heroism, which are under constant attack in a changing world and in places far from england. heart of darkness suggests that this is the natural result when men are allowed to operate outside a social system of checks and balances: power, especially power over other human beings, inevitably corrupts. heart of darkness is a narrative about the difficulty of understanding the world beyond the self, about the ability of one man to judge another. this novel reinforces the novellas central themes of hypocrisy, absurdity and unrealistic. although conrad and fitzgerald lived in different age, fitzgerald novel, the great gatsby also reflected the same theme. fitzgerald was born in st. paul, minnesota. his family was considered socially prominent and poor. in world war i, he fell hopelessly in love with zelda, a beautiful and rich girl. in 1919, fitzgerald was determined to win success, fame, and zelda. he took a job with an advertising agency and worked on short stories. eventually his first novel, this side of paradise, was accepted for publication. in 1922 he publishes his second novel, the beautiful and damned, and a collection of short stories, tales of the jazz age. in 1925 fitzgerald managed to complete the great gatsby. it was a critical success but a commercial disappointment; it sold only about half as many copies as either of his first two novels, and it earned little more than enough to repay his debts to his publishers. in 1934 tender is the night was published. in a number of his short stories, and in his finest novels, the great gatsby and tender is the night, fitzgerald had revealed the glittering innocence of that age. in these two novel, maybe the two writers have different social experiences, and lived in different social, but in their novels the two heroes failed for their dreams, because their dreams are unrealistic dreams. in these two novels there is the same theme .so i choose this title the failure of dreams-the comparative study of heart of darkness and the great gatsby.2. literature review2.1the origin of the american dreamwhat is american dream? tang soo ping said the american dream describes an attitude of hope and faith that looks forward to the fulfillment of human wishes and desires. american writings reflect the theme of the american dream a lot. when we talk about american dream, we must consider its origin. human wishes and desires were expressed in thomas jeffersons declaration of independence of 1776, where it was stated: we hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”(allen, dutton, 1969：4) this search for mom and happiness actually goes back to the very beginning of american civilization, to the time of the first settlers. for thousands of years the land of america was unknown to the outside world. then about five hundred years ago, an italian named christopher columbus discovered america in 1492. the first white men that came to america after columbus visit were spaniards, generally they came to the island of the caribbean and to mexico. the french were the next europeans that came to america. these french people lived up the mighty river, which they named the st. lawrence. and they lived near the great lakes. the english people were the last to come to america. in november 1620, a ship named may flower reached the new continent with about 100 british pilgrims who planned to make their homes in the new world. they were very lucky because they could settle down along the atlantic coast between maine and florida. here the climate was good. and the soil was wonderfully rich. there were good harbors for ships. and there were horning rivers to turn the wheels of mills. the indians of this district along the atlantic coast were few and weak. the english gathered in large numbers and grew into strong communities. this was different from the spaniards and the french. and the history of america started. the first english colony was jamestown. and another was named plymouth. other colonies were soon established near by. these were the puritan colonies. later these colonies were united with plymouth. and they became a colony named massachusetts why did the settlers give up their homes in england, their families and their friends, to make the long trip to an unknown works? for some people it was the hope of becoming rich. in britain, because of the “land circling campaign”, many people lost their land became beggars in the city. most of them wanted to get away from the old world and make a new start for they were miserably poor. and they knew that they would stay poor until they died. so they took a chance in the hope of living a better life in the new world. another reason was that these puritans hated the church of england. they were persecuted by the church of england. they wanted to seek the religious freedom and came to the new world. they wanted to worship god in their own way. so they sailed to america. for those settlers who were not so religiously inclined, america was still a fairy land, a land of great possibilities. thats the origin of american dream-to search richness and freedom in the new world. 2.2 the development of american dreama hundred and fifty years after england planted small settlements at jamestown and plymouth; the american colonies grew larger and wanted to be independent. one reason was very simple. it was that america was so much larger than england. tom paine once wrote that it was funny for a big continent to belong to a small island. another reason was that the english always stood in the way of the people in north america who wanted to manage their own affairs-their politics, their trade and commerce, their farming and lumbering, even their religion. at that time, king george iii and his ministers in britain didnt care much about america. they thought of themselves as devoted parents. and they expected their colonies to be dutiful children. they didnt try to find out what the real interests of the people in north america were. as for the people in north america, they didnt think of themselves as children but as grown-ups. and they felt that their duty was to themselves, not to the king who lived very far from them. the englishmen and the people in north america quarreled about paying the money for keeping british soldiers in north america. so in 1776, the american war of independence broke out and american people gained their independence. when the war was over, american set up their own nation and government. they wrote a constitution. so in 1789, the new country called the united states, with a new constitution, with a government, and with george washington as her first president was founded. america seemed a free and prosperous new home for the immigrants. the united states grew so fast that even the mapmakers could not keep up with her. before the revolution, in the beginning there were just thirteen colonies along the atlantic coast. but after the revolution, the united states extended from the atlantic coast. the discovery and settlement of the western continent is only the first part of the american story; america was also a new world of the mind and spirit. in the creation of this new world of the mind, america became, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a vast laboratory in which ideas formed in england and western europe could develop into action without being hampered by the laws, customs, and traditions of an obsolete feudal society. the difference in those years between america and europe was that the things which could be only talked about in europe, in america could be actually done. the great religious, political, and intellectual revolution that moved from the renaissance and the reformation into the enlightenment and the age of reason became, in the colonies of the atlantic seaboard, the pattern of everyday life. so america developed into a prosperous country and many people went to america to seek their dreams, dreams of success, dreams of love, and dreams of a home. 3. analysis of similarities and differences in two novels3.1 the similarities between the great gatsby and heart of darkness3.1.1 two graceful dreams both the two heroes have beautiful but unrealistic dreams. as to kurtz, he wants to unite idealism and trade. that is to say, he wants to justify european exploitation of africa, claiming that the indigenous peoples need the superior technological and religious knowledge of europe. but the hypocrisy of the dream is illustrated by the all-consuming struggle for wealth by the europeans, who destroy the land and people without any regret. when it comes to gatsby, we can understand that he devotes himself to regaining daisys love. but as the “fairy girl” of gatsbys dream, daisy, is a kind of “balloon” of loveliness, which has a charming surface surrounding empty space; she “drifts” in and out of “love”, lacking loyalty or moral responsibility. therefore, gatsbys beautiful dream is just an illusion.3.1.1.1 kurtzs congolese dream kurtz has a beautiful congolese dream and, from europe to africa, he wants to unite idealism and trade, to develop an imperialism justified by sincerely merciful motives. then in africa, he tries to get more and more ivory, which strengthens his position, from the novel, we can see that the manager, the opponent of kurtz, wishes to hold on to the power and his position; his vulnerability lies in kurtzs connections in europe and the amount of ivory kurtz sends back. it seems that kurtz has indeed managed successfully to unite trade and idealism, but the manager think this kind of combination is a potent threat to his own security, so he is against kurtz.3.1.1.2 gatsbys american dreamgatsby has a beautiful american dream. it is a kind of romantic expectation, a belief in the possibility of achieving some sort of glowing future with hard work and sincere devotion. during world war i, gatsby fell romantically in love with daisy. she was one of the many pretty upper class girls. to gatsby daisys elegant background, her self-assurance, her social position, were intrinsic a part of the girl as her grace or beauty and he fell hopelessly in love, but they were engaged and became lovers before he was shipped out. daisy promised to wait for him to make his fortune so that they could be married. however, she very soon accepted the proposal of a millionaire sportsman, tom buchanan. gatsby has always wanted to be rich; his main motivation in acquiring his fortune was his love for daisy buchanan. from the moment he knew daisy left him, gatsby dedicated himself to winning her back. at every moment, he dose not forget to show off his wealth, which is the only concrete thing he could find that bring him the hope of “success”. from the beginning gatsby lives in an imaginary world, he thinks daisy is a “fairy girl”, so this is doomed to his failure of dream.3.1.2 the failure of two heroes dreams two heroes both had graceful dreams, but finally their dreams failed, the decline of the dreams are reflected by two heroes death.3.1.2.1 the failure of kurtzs dream kurtzs ideas are imposed upon his natural self, and they do not enter into his real self because kurtz lacks knowledge of that self. his ideas attempt to look within himself leads not to knowledge but to madness. at the last minutes, kurtz realize the knowledge of his “deficiency”.kurtz is such an individual who has been unable to resist a crucial temptation because in some sense their will has been weakened by their intellect, by ideas and by a failure to recognize and to accept their inner strengths and weaknesses. indeed, it is perhaps their ideas and ideals that have prevented an honest appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of their inner selves. and the idealism is valuable as a means to deceive, rather than as a genuinely controlling desire. imperialism is helped by being covered with a smokescreen of idealism, and idealistic beliefs help to convince people of the worth of imperialism.3.1.2.2 the failure of gatsbys dreamgatsby failed to realize that the american dream was already dead when he began to dream it: his goals, the pursuit of wealth and status, have long since become empty and meaningless. nick muse that contemporary americans are boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past; any attempt to progress, to move forward, is ultimately futile .gatsbys relationship to money is pure and disintegrated, unselfish; he wants it only to use it as a means of transcending the past. however, until his death, gatsby dose not realize that daisy would never give up her own class status in order to be with him. daisy becomes the symbol of everything that he wants to possess, gatsby then is ultimately unable to recapture his graceful past, neither could he see the hope for the future.3.1.3 the reason of their failurein the great gatsby and heart of darkness, because of the unrealistic dreams and the corrupt environment, the two heroes dreams are doomed to failure, and they both become the victim of the environment. bearing his dream in mind, kurtz struggles for it in congo. but in the end, we find that any attempt to marry intellect to the needs of imperialism will result in an unequal match. that means kurtz cannot resist the temptation of wealth, and becomes the victim of the environment-he has degraded from an enlightened civilizer into an evil conqueror of the african natives. as far as gatsby is concerned, his ideal of daisy is itself the deepest horror of his situation. first, the essential tragedy of gatsby is, in a profound sense, the tragedy of american dream itself: the waste of enormous energies, even self-sacrifice, to self-illusion and the service of a “vast, vulgar meretricious beauty” (fitzgerald, 1992：83) secondly, the chief element in inevitable destruction of gatsbys dream is the fact that his romanticism, if he is rich, he ultimately believes that he can indeed recreate reality according to his hearts desire. in a world of appetite and corruption, gatsbys “dream” is-by the conditions of its own existence-doomed to failure. he cannot “regain” daisy simply because he pursues her not really as a woman, but as an ideal. and as an ideal, daisy buchanan-and all she represents-must vanish like spiritual cotton-candy at the first eruption of crisis. 3.2 the differences between the great gatsby and heart oh darkness3.2.1 the form of pursuit in heart of darkness from outward to inwardin europe, kurtz is respected and much talked about. he is regarded the civilizing of the african continent. but in africa, he goes mad, killing the natives, robbing them of their ivory. at last, he found the darkness of his own heart. he goes equipped with the finest technology and the highest merciful ideals and ends up injuring (killing) the africans and stealing their ivory.” (fitzgerald,1992：11)in a sense, conrad “uses him to stand for the crimes of all white men in africa.”(fitzgerald,1992：73) then, what drives him mad? i think, one reason is loneliness. marlow says “but his soul was mad. being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and, by heavens! i tell you, it had gone mad.” ( conrad, 1994：95) loneliness in wilderness makes one feel uneasy and eventually drives one mad. indeed, under such circumstances, a civilized man may go mad, and become savage-like. the human beings in wilderness and loneliness without any restraints are not human beings, they are animals. a case in point is kurtz. a civilized man in europe, he goes mad in the heart of darkness. jericho says, “the wilderness, we learn, preyed on kurtzs nerves and he began to go mad.”( jericho,1984：7)just as v t. girdhari said mans isolation proves that no person with conscience can live by himself. another reason is greed, the colonizers unlimited greed for ivory. greed drives kurtz to rob, to loot, to slaughter, and eventually drives him mad. still another reason why kurtz goes mad is the dark side of human nature. here restraints play a very important role. in a certain society, we have external restraints as well as internal restraints. the dark side of our nature is under control. but when in loneliness, in wilderness, there are no more restraints, internal or external, so we must “meet the challenge and temptation of savage reversion with our own inborn strength.”(guerard,1984：168) this inborn strength includes restraints- “restraints that kurtz lacked.”(guerard, 1984：168) without restraints, kurtz goes mad. maybe, i think, even he himself hasnt expected this. at the end of this novel, why kurtz pronounced his last words, “the horror! the horror!” and what is the meaning of it. many critics have offered their interpretations of kurtzs last words. jeremy jericho argues that “with these