《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦的幻灭---毕业论文.doc

【标题】了不起的盖茨比中美国梦的幻灭 【作者】王 鹏 【关键词】菲茨杰拉德；了不起的盖茨比；美国梦；幻灭 【指导老师】段 庆 艳 【专业】英语 【正文】i. introductionthe introduction summarizes the biographical background of fitzgerald and the historical context. as the novel has been considered as a semi-autobiographical one, it is important to explore the authors biography from the social point of view and emphasize the connection between the authors biography and the novel.in the first chapter, the writer of the thesis tries to illustrate the negative effect and corruption of the american dream in the modern society, and explore the essence of gatsbys dream. also it shows the negative effects of the american dream on morality and humanity. the second chapter analyzes self-destruction in gatsbys dream. the analysis includes two aspects: the pursuit for the unworthy love, naivety and innocence in gatsbys character. gatsby believes the possibility of repeating the past and regain daisy after he succeeds in material wealth, but has never come to see that he is never to be accepted into the exclusive club of the wealthy to which daisy and tom belong. gatsby is eventually destroyed by himself. the third chapter explores the unequal social position in the cruel society. it is also one of the important reasons to push gatsby towards the failure. on the surface, gatsbys reunion with daisy is glorious, but in fact, it is the beginning of gatsbys end. the conflict between tom and gatsby is virtually a conflict between the two classes: the new rich and the established rich. the result of the conflict is gatsbys death.a.biographical backgroundin the history of american literature, there is probably no writer who is more identified within a decade than scott fitzgerald in the 1920s. he so vividly captured the mood and manners of his age and successfully drew a portrait of the american twenties through his works that he is always remembered as the spokes-man and laureate of the jazz age. an important reason is that he lived the era and was an integral part of it. and he wrote into stories and novels his very experiences or his keen observations of the jazz age america.the story of the legendary fitzgerald of the twenties usually begins with the picture of the newly married, handsome zelda and scott fitzgerald dancing around or jumping into the fountain of the plaza hotel. this pastoral scene may be useful in reminding us that the fitzgeralds were not native new yorkers. hhe was from the deep south, from montgomery, alabama. he was a midwesterner.1 edmund wilson, one of fitzgeralds closest literary friends, insisted on the important influence of st. paul, minnesota in determining the direction of his art and the growth of his sensibility. it is clear that many of his basic attitudes were defined by the upper middleclass financial and social position that he inherited.b. social and historical contextthe decade of 1920s, particularly in america, had a sharply defined uniqueness than most recognized periods. world war i had left all european belligerents weary and numbed spiritually. america, however, not having been involved in the war for long, remained just as powerful as before. an economic boom marked the first few post-war years, and as people began receiving higher wages, there was a rash of spending on conveniences which advertisements stated people could not live without. materialism spread rapidly throughout the country, and people became more greedy and self-obsessed. a flow of consumerism seemed to have swept away the pain and the shadow caused by the war. the american dream turned to be the dream of money, and wealth became the symbol of success. yet the gap between the wealthy and the poor in society was still painfully obvious.prosperous in economy as it was, many changes in spiritual and social values were taking.the attitude place in the 1920s, which seriously affected the younger. young people turned their backs to the values against the experience of the time was also a backlash of their parents. girls casualty and freedom in their relationships with man, which would be impossible for their victorian mothers to imagine. a“revolution” took place in peoples attitudes towards moral and sex, which seemed to be encouraged by the popularity of the freudian psychology by 1920. the pursuit for material fulfillment and sensual enjoyment became the dominance of young peoples life while they remained spiritually bankrupt. this kind of hedonism and“seize-the-day philosophy”2 is well illustrated in both this side of paradise(1920) and the great gatsby(1925). fitzgerald summarizes the characteristics of the jazz age precisely in this side of paradise:“a generation grown up to find all gods dead, all wars fought and all faith in man shaken.”3 and tom and daisy in the great gatsby portray perfectly the carefree, self-absorbed attitude of the time. the disillusionment of the american dreama. the illusion of the american dreamthe american dream began in the early part of the seventeenth century, when some english settled down in america. they tried to restore the lost paradise in the wilderness and build a new garden of eden in the virgin land. in the land of opportunity and great possibility, every man is equal and is entitled to pursue his happiness and self-fulfillment. in this way, the american dream can also be understood as an attitude of hope and faith that pursues for the fulfillment of human wishes and desires. and this finds voice in thomas jeffersons declaration of independence of 1776.the pursuit of happiness relates to a new life of freedom and a promise of both spiritual and material happiness and success. for the first settlers of the new continent, material prosperity and development keep pace with spiritual and religious fulfillment, since both the puritans and the quakers approve of industry and material advancement. in their opinion, physical pleasures are evil, while hard work and achievements are regarded as indication of inner goodness. material achievements are a reward for virtues. therefore, inner goodness and virtues are the goal and ends, while material achievements and the comfort of life are their accompanying results. in short, in this initial american context, the pursuit of happiness is bound up with individual responsibility for democracy.b. the corruption of the american dream in the modern societyas we pass through the remarkable entrepreneurial and industrial success of the 19 century, and there is a sudden and sustained increase in the national wealth and material prosperity. the american dream, however, originally relates to a desire for spiritual and material improvement. what happens is that, from one point of view, the material aspect of the dream is too easily and too quickly achieved, while the early spiritual ideals are soon outpaced and even obliterated. the result is that a state of material well-being emerges but spiritual life or purpose is greatly lacking. the uninhibited pursuit of wealth results in moral and social decay. the energy that might have gone into the pursuit of noble goals has been channeled into the pursuit of power and pleasure, which becomes a very showy, but fundamentally empty form of success. the great gatsby is a novel about what happens to the american dream in the 1920s, a period when the old values that give substance to the dream have been corrupted by the vulgar pursuit of wealth. in the novel, fitzgerald laments the decline of america through a picture of materialism and moral degeneration.c. negative effect of the american dream on morality and humanity in the novelthe american dream is corrupted and degenerated by materialism, and america has been reduced into“a valley of ashes”4. the once“fresh, green breast of the new world”5 has been reduced to a valley of ashes, which is used by fitzgerald to symbolize the modern civilization of america. the modern civilization of america is far more than what the american dream promises-“the orgiastic future”6 in the eye of the holland seaman and the ideal man gatsby.“the america had produced an idealism so impalpable that it had lost touch with reality(gatsby) and materialism so heavy that it was inhuman(tom buchanan). the novel as a whole is another turn of the screw on this legend, with the impossible idealism trying to realize itself, to its utter destruction, in the gross materiality.”7 gatsbys huge and extravagant party is a best illustration of what life modern men in“a valley of ashes”8 live. beneath the relaxation and joviality of the partygoers, there is evident anxiety over merriness, gloomy spiritual barrenness and a hint of decadence and decay. many of the crowds come and go without being invited,“like months”9, and most of them even do not know the name of the host. meaninglessness，purposelessness, loneliness and futility can be felt everywhere.tom and daisy are the possessors of great wealth and high status, which some self-made men aspire for, but they are heartless and dehumanized. their numerous amount of wealth prevents them from fostering all inspiration and cultivating true emotion. buttressed by their high social status and wealth, they indulge themselves in physical pleasure seeking and tend to be capricious and childish, never realizing that they should assume the responsibility for what they have done and said. failing to grow up morally and spiritually, they live with no hopes, no regrets, and no nobleness, like a walking corpse. what they own is only money and wealth. their response to the gatsbys death is true to their character.daisy never turns up after gatsby takes the blame for her driving accident, while tom justifies his wrong to gatsby by claiming that he never feels guilty or ashamed as he is a member of the upper class. fitzgerald, through nick, pointes out the effect of the modern dream on the upper class.“i couldnt forgive him or like him but i saw what he had done was, to him, entirely justifiedthey were careless people, tom and daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”10with the sole acquisition of great amount of wealth and power, high social status, and a complete lack of inner world, they represent a class of heartless citizens who have attained material and physical success at the cost of dehumanization, and therefore, they are the evil fruit of the corrupted american dream in the modem american society. meanwhile, gatsby is innocent, blind and immature, believing that his past can be recovered by his possession of immense wealth and materialistic power, which, in his mind, can guarantee to him his happy reunion and even marriage with daisy. in the novel, the protagonist gatsby is the one who idealizes and romanticizes wealth. for gatsby, daisy buchanan is the spirit of wealth and offers to him a promise to which he was faithful all his life.iii. self-destruction in gatsbys dreamnaivety and blindness in gatsbys character is well depicted in the novel. the reader can see this point not only through the grandeur of his schemes to have a meeting with daisy after five years long waiting, through his nervousness and restlessness right before and at the moment of their meeting again, but also through his conviction in the american dream and his whole-hearted devotion to an unworthy embodiment of the dream-daisy. gatsby would direct his life by the dream and believe that“the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairys wing.”11 he knows well that daisy is the“golden girl”“full of money”12, who can only be earned or bought, but is still enchanted by her and concentrates all his dreams on her.a.the pursuit of material wealthmaterial wealth is considered as a criteria of ones social status and identification. gatsby is endeavored to amass riches to qualify himself to meet the needs of the social norms. where there is a will, there is a way. he finally possesses preposterous mansion and his chaotic parties to show off with an intention attracting daisy.from his failure of love with daisy, or from daisys reason to marry tom, gatsby gets a good lesson and knows where to start: getting riches. when he can not come back to daisy because of going to oxford university, daisy feels great pressure from outside world. tom satisfies daisys need because of the force of love, the force of money, and the force of unquestionable practicality. all the three combined to make daisy decide to marry tom.powerful built and hailing from a socially solid old family, tom wins daisys love. unconsciously or indirectly tom defeat gatsby. from the story of tom and daisys marriage, gatsby concludes a formula: if he possesses what tom possesses, he is sure to win daisy back. he has the forces of love and the unquestionable practicality, but he is poor. this is his fatal weakness in the battle. he knows the only choice he can have is to change his situation of poverty.before fitzgerald presents readers who gatsby is, readers can only perceive the great riches gatsby makes within a few years. now gatsby is a fabulously wealthy young man living in a gothic mansion. he is famous for the lavish parties he throws every saturday night, but no one knows who he is. at the beginning of chapter three, the big party given by gatsby deliberately shows that gatsby is rich enough to match up with the east egg where tom and daisy live. namely, he has accumulated enough force of money to have a battle with tom to win daisy back.through the party, fitzgerald presents readers with gatsbys wealth. the party is used to bring 1920s wealth and glamour into full focus, showing the upper class at its most lavishly opulent. the rich, both new and old, are fascinated with the social class and mood of america in the 1920s. among the various faces, there is one glittering in the dim. he attracts nick with a surprising spirit and makes nick fascinated later. that is the person who holds the party, who possesses a dream nobody knows at that time.a personal party is an activity from which the host or hostess can get enjoyment. if a person can not get enjoyment from the party, the parry is at least an alienated party. the parties given every weekend by gatsby are alienated parties. no dancing, no drinking, no playing,gatsby does not get pleasure from the parties but uses them as a means to show his wealth and, the most of all, to attract his dreamy girl-daisy.b. spiritual greatnessthough gatsby is living in such a time as everything is floating in the air, he is stationed in his firmness to pursue his dream and actualizes his dream of wealth. gatsby is great just because he has this kind of ability to realize his dream. he has the ability to create meaningful symbols which constitutes a component of the american dream. his dream“is one of the grand illusion of the race, which keep men from becoming too old or too wise or too cynical of their human limitations.”13 it is always right to pursue the wealth or money or dream in whatever situations, whether the situation is alienated or not. but the alienation makes his dream have a transient greatness. in a such ideology, he has formed a wrong formula: he can control his love by means of money or wealth. this leads his quick end. gatsby has another spiritual greatness: sincerity and loyalty. he is sincere and loyal to his love, to his dream. it is his loyalty to love that drives him to go from rags to riches. when his purpose of winning daisy back is perceived by tom, he deliberately tells all his truth about his love to daisy.iv. the conflicts between the new rich and the established richa. the economic differencethe west egg, where gatsby lives in, is inhabited by the new rich, gatsby being the representative. the east egg is gathered by the“old rich”, tom and daisy being the representatives. the new rich are composed of industrialists, speculaters, and businessmen. the old rich are mainly aristocratic families. gatsbys great party is of main characteristics of the new rich. they are evidenced in their overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. the jazz music is the main tune of their life. their desires for money and pleasure surpassed all other goals. in order to amass enough money, gatsby does not care to do illegal business. during the course of the confrontation between gatsby and tom, tom takes the advantages of gatsbys illegal activities and disgrace gatsby.from their dialogue between gatsby and tom, readers can know the gatsbys ways of going to riches, more important, gatsbys thinks there is no wrong in it and it saves impoverished people.on the contrary, tom and daisy represent the old rich. they have the characteristics of the aristocratic grace, taste, subtlety, and elegance. they are careless and inconsiderate bullies who are used to moneys ability to ease their minds. when gatsby does not come back to daisy, she has a nervous despair and the pressure from the outside world. then she makes the decision to marry tom because tom satisfies her with the force of money. further more, tom gives daisy a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. their marriage is founded on the basis of material abundance.b.the social confictthe united states has long been known as a“melting pot”. the long island can be called a small“melting pot”. the west egg is an area of newly rich people, the east egg is an area belongs to the old rich. though the east egg and the west egg both are rich people, they have different social status. the east egg, symbolizing the people living along the east coast, enjoy a higher social status. as being the aristocracy, they look down upon the new riches. they like to dominate others. when nick goes t