了不起的盖茨比.doc

广西师范大学漓江学院 2012 届本科生毕业论文 Contents Acknowledgements.I Abstract in English .II Abstract in Chinese .III I. Introduction.1 1.1 Literature Review.1 1.2 Purpose and Significance .1 II. Biographical Background.2 2.1 Fitzgeralds Life and Career.2 2.2 An introduction of The Great Gatsby.3 III. The Influence of the American Dream on Gatsby.3 3.1 Origins of the American Dream.3 3.2 Essence of the American Dream.4 3.3 Gatsbys Dream.5 3.3.1 Origins of Gatsbys Dream.5 3.3.2 Elements of Gatsbys Dream.6 IV. Self-Destruction in Gatsbys Dream.7 4.1 Fantasy of Pure Love.7 4.2 Unquestioning Belief in the Power of Money.9 4.3 Dimness of the Essence of the Old Rich.10 V. The Conflicts between the East Egg and the West Egg.11 5.1 Economic Difference.12 5.2 Social Conflict.12 5.3 Cultural Conflicts .13 VI. Conclusion.14 广西师范大学漓江学院 2012 届本科生毕业论文 ii Bibliography.16 Declaration 广西师范大学漓江学院 2012 届本科生毕业论文 i Acknowledgements Firstly, I avail myself of this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisors Zhang Xiaozhu and Xiong Huiqin who have given me a lot of help and encouragement in my preparation of this thesis. I have benefited greatly from their precious suggestion, enlightening guidance and careful modification in the writing of this thesis. Whats more, I am deeply moved by their serious attitude towards academic work. I would also like to thank those who have taught and helped me during my study in the Department of Foreign Languages, Lijiang College, Guangxi Normal University, especially professor Sun Jianguo, lecturer Tan Jie. They have given me enlightenment on various areas and helped me develop research ability. 感感 谢谢 词词 首先我想借次机会想向我的导师致以我最衷心的感谢。在这篇论文写作过程中 她们给予了我莫大的帮助与鼓励。她们提出的宝贵建议, 她们的博学善导, 使我受益非浅。 她们一丝不苟的工作态度, 让我倍加钦佩。 同时我也要感谢所有教过我, 帮助过我的老师, 特别是。他们在各方面引导我, 帮助我提高研究能力。 广西师范大学漓江学院 2012 届本科生毕业论文 ii Castle in the Air：the Inevitability of the Withering of Gatsbys American Dream in The Great Gatsby Department of Foreign Languages, Lijiang College, Guangxi Normal University 123456789 Supervisor: Lecturer Abstract Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), the famous American writer in the first half of the twentieth century, is regarded as the spokesman for “the Lost Generation” in American literature. In 1925, The Great Gatsby was published, which is thought to be one of the best works of Fitzgerald, offering a vivid picture about American life in the 1920s. The Great Gatsby is a symbolic disintegration of the American dream in an era of moral waste and decay and the lack of personal responsibility. In this novel, Fitzgerald discusses a variety of themes, such as justice, power, greed, and the American dream, which many Chinese and foreign scholars have analyzed. This paper focuses on the roots of the withering of Gatsbys American dream in The Great Gatsby by means of an analysis on creation background and heros characters, and aims at making people understand this novel more deeply, building a right and healthy moral value. Through analyzing, we can see that there are three factors lead to Gatsbys tragedy. First, Gatsbys dream contains some limitations and contradictory aspects, so it cannot exist in the cruel society. Secondly, Gatsbys innocence and naivety make him out of the upper class. Gatsby is not their opponent in the corrupted American society. Finally, compared with Gatsby, there are too much selfish and immoral people and behaviors in this unequal society. Key words The Great Gatsby; American Dream; Inevitable Disillusion 广西师范大学漓江学院 2012 届本科生毕业论文 iii 空中楼阁空中楼阁了不起的盖茨比了不起的盖茨比中盖茨比美国梦破灭的必然性中盖茨比美国梦破灭的必然性 广西师范大学漓江学院外语系英语专业 123456789 指导老师： 讲师 内容摘要内容摘要 弗司各特菲茨杰拉德(1896-1940)是二十世纪初美国著名作家，被认为是 美国文学中“迷惘一代”的代言人。一九二五年，他出版了代表作了不起的盖茨比。 这部小说被公认为是他最优秀的作品, 向人们生动的展示了二十世纪九十年代的美国社会。 了不起的盖茨比描述了在一个道德沦丧和颓废以及个人责任感缺乏的社会里美国梦 的破灭。本文着重分析了不起的盖茨比中盖茨比美国梦破灭的根源。在这部小说中， 菲茨杰拉德探讨了众多发人深思的话题，如公平，权利，贪婪以及美国梦。国内外的学 者们对小说中的这些主题都做了深入研究。本文通过对创作背景以及主人公的性格分析 来探索盖茨比美国梦破灭的必然性。从而使人们加深对小说的理解，并且树立起正确且 健康的道德观念。透过分析，本文总结出了导致盖茨比悲剧的三个因素。第一，盖茨比 的美国梦夹杂着一些不可避免的局限和矛盾，这些局限和矛盾不可能在这残酷的世界中 得到解决。第二，盖茨比无知，天真的性格使他隔绝于上流社会。在腐败的美国社会中， 盖茨比无法成为他们的对手，更不可能实现自己的理想。最后，对于盖茨比而言，社会 上充满了自私和不道德的人或者行为。 关键词关键词 了不起的盖茨比；美国梦；破灭的必然性 广西师范大学漓江学院 2012 届本科生毕业论文 1 I. Introduction 1.1 Literature Review The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, is one of the greatest literary documents of this period as well as a masterpiece related with irony and pathos to the “American Dream.” It is a picture of the unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Many critics have made a lot of studies on it and wrote numerous critical essays. The English famous poet and critic T.S. Eliot who has never had a hasty and extravagant critic, read The Great Gatsby three times and praised the novel was “the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James.”(Donaldson, 1984:268) H. L. Mencken, a most influential critic of that time, declared this novel to be “no more than a glorified anecdote.” In 1983, The Great Gatsby was translated into Chinese by Professor Wu Kunning, after that many Chinese scholars began study on The Great Gatsby, analyzing its artistic forms, its theme and its symbols. To Zhang Lilong, “The Great Gatsby is actually a recall and summary of the process of evolvement of the American dream historical and realistic perspectives.”(Zhang Lilong, 1998:108-109) Others analyses Gatsbys tragedy. Wang Yujuan argues that “the dream of Gatsby is also the dream of all Americans. The defeat of Gatsby is also the loss of the generation.” (Wang Yujuan, 1998:28) From all researches both domestic and abroad, we can see that The Great Gatsby is a great novel that everyone can have different interpretation from different aspects. However, a few researches have studied about what ruined Gatsbys dream and why his dream inevitably failed. Therefore, this paper will reveal the roots and causes of the failure of Gatsbys dream. 1.2 Purpose and Significance This paper tries to analyze Gatsbys tragic roots on purpose to offer a window onto the writing device, get an all-sided understanding of the novel and build right moral values in modern time. The Great Gatsby is an insightful mirror of the 1920s American societys imperfections because its deep thought and profound theme impart us an important enlightenment. Gatsbys blindness and ignorance give rise to his tragedy. His failure of pursuing unrealistic dream teaches us that ideality should establish on actual condition. Just as the old saying goes, look before you leap. We should think twice before planning future, especially 广西师范大学漓江学院 2012 届本科生毕业论文 2 when we are not academically, financially and psychologically well-prepared. II. Biographical Background 2.1 Fitzgeralds Life and Career Francis Scott Fitzgerald was a Jazz Age novelist and short story writer who left behind him 5 novels, 178 short stories, numerous essays and plays. French critic Jacques Vallette thinks highly of Fitzgerald, calling him “the soul of America.” Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in an Irish family in St. Paul, Minnesota. He grew up in the staid American middle west, but his life and writings are related with the fashionable East Coast. In 1913, he went to Princeton University. Because of academic difficulties he left college in 1917, and then enlisted in the army as a lieutenant at a staff headquarters. In 1920, he finished and published his first novel, This side of Paradise, which was a tremendous and commercial success. In April 1921 Fitzgerald and Zelda were married and settled on Long Island in 1922. He supported their life by doing the job as a hack writer, contributing short stories frequently to the journals, such as the popular Saturday Evening Post and the critical Scribners. During these years, Fitzgerald published his second novel, The Beautiful and the Damned (1922) and some short stories. However, Fitzgerald felt that there was little progress since then. Some people criticized that his works were lack of intellectual sophistication and immaturity, especially in relation to ideas. He wanted to write “something newsomething extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.” (Bruccoli, 1991: 170) Thanks to Joseph Conrad, it was his writing that greatly encouraged Fitzgerald in the way of creation. It made Fitzgerald clear that, as an artist, his power had nothing to do with how brilliant a mind he had and how deep he thought. For Conrad the sources of aesthetic power rooted in the individual self. The charm of artist is not to our wisdom or ideas, but to our enduring “capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives; to our sense of pity, beauty, and pain” (Andrew Hook, 1992: 3) Inspired by Conrad, Fitzgerald published some works in the following years, such as The Great Gatsby in 1925, Tender is the Night in 1934. His last work, the Hollywood novel The Last Tycoon (1941), was left unfinished at his death. 广西师范大学漓江学院 2012 届本科生毕业论文 3 2.2 An introduction of The Great Gatsby When the American economy was in a period of great prosperity in 1920s, along with many changes in spiritual and values were taking place. Younger generation turned their backs on the values of their parents. Nobody is really concerned about politics and spiritual matters. Almost everybody cares about how they can seek pleasure all day. They not only had low spirits, but also were degenerate. The Great Gatsby shows a theme of how the American dream affects all of the characters: each of them has their own aspiration for their future life, but, ironically, their aspiration is only revolved around wealth. The main part of their life is to enjoy happiness from money. Fitzgerald combines his own experiences with his nations experiences and reflects the features of his time through this novel. The Great Gatsby happens in the early 1920s, just after World War I. The story is set in New York City and on Long Island known as the West Egg and the East Egg. The hero, Jay Gatsby, is a pursuer of the American dream who is once a nobody from the Midwest. In order to regain his lover Daisys love, the embodiment of the American dream in his eyes, Gatsby tries his best to make his way into the riches even by illegal means. Everybody suspects him, but everybody is willing to partake in his luxurious parties anyway. However, he finds his efforts in vain, and he is killed indirectly by Daisy and her husband in the end. Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby was not a great success during his lifetime, but after his death it became a smash hit. It has since become a symbol of the American literature, and is taught at many high schools and universities in the United States. Four films, an opera, and a play have been adapted from the novel. III. The Influence of the American Dream on Gatsby 3.1 Origins of the American Dream The American dream arose in the colonial period and developed in the 19th century. The First World War led to the switch of the worlds order, each participated country got seriously wounded more or less, except the United States of which mainland was not involved in the war. Americans made a large amount of money by selling munitions and became the richest country 广西师范大学漓江学院 2012 届本科生毕业论文 4 in the world. America was determined to concentrate on economic growth, technological development, and commercial expansion. Wei Qian believes that mass production, mass consumption, and mass leisure became essential to economic and cultural life and were soon to dominate the nations culture and institutions. (Wei Qian, 2006:12) At that time, people felt that money was everywhere, and everyone also had opportunity to earn them. The old values in society were breaking down and great changes happened among the new generation. Thousands of Americans speculated and gambled on the stock market and many new millionaires were born over night. So there emerged a group people. They just chased a material well-being life and a more capitalistic and materialistic attitude but lack of spiritual pursuit. In 20th century, historian James Truslow Adams expounded the American dream in detail in his book Epic of America (1931), which popularized the American dream to all of the Americans. As to ordinary Americans, the American dream is a power that can bring any kind of fulfillment, no matter the spiritual or the material in the world. 3.2 Essence of the American Dream It is said that the American dream is a kind of life which should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. To Li Hongwen, for some, the American dream is a chance to build a successful business and become a millionaire. For others, the American dream is from the log cabin to the White House. For still other people, the American dream is the ladder from the rags to the riches. (Li Hongwen, 2002:15) Actually, the American dream is a state of mind. It seems to be the geographic space and physical freedom. Ones efforts allows one to succeed independently while providing an improved future for ones children and making a contribution to the world that one can be proud of. The American dream exists because people live in a nation founded on certain extraordinary principles. The great majority of Americans take them for granted. Every American knows that they are especially lucky to live in a land where they have an enduring right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. While almost them are very clear about what life and liberty mean, however, there is some confusion about the pursuit of happiness. And its that misunderstanding which causes them to misunderstand the American dream. In most Americans eyes, what the 广西师范大学漓江学院 2012 届本科生毕业论文 5 American dream promises is not a right to happiness, but a right to achieve it on ones own. 3.3 Gatsbys Dream Gatsbys dream is multileveled. Lockridge writes that Gatsbys dream has three “basic and related parts: the desire for money, the desire to repeat the past, and the desire for incarnation of unutterable visions in the material earth.” (Lockridge,1968:38) For Gatsby, Daisy is the embodiment of these dreams represented the material earth. He wants to recapture a wonderful life with Daisy. Gatsby continues to believe he can regain Daisy and repeat the past, which is a vital factor in causing his tragedy. 3.3.1 Origins of Gatsbys Dream In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is the representative of self-made figure to against the old aristocrat. The self-made dream appeared from the 18th century to the 1920s. The American dream became an unshakable ideal for generations which had aroused the prosperity of the American capitalism, attributing ones material success to self-improvement and hard working. In the last chapter of the novel, Gatsbys father proudly shows Nick a schedule. This schedule is an echo of Benjamin Franklins concerning of Thrift，health and the goal of advancement. It tells how young Gatsby has absorbed the ideas of Benjamin Franklin through his Autobiography into his ambition to be successful, believing that a man can be what he makes himself to be by hard working and sincere devotion. “Money for Franklin was not an end in itself, but a means, a way by which happiness could be achieved.”(Donalson, 1984:27) For Gatsby, money is a means to the realization of his dream. Fitzgerald, in the novel, criticizes the dream through the experience of Gatsby. From youth Gatsby sticks to the Franklin mode of self-improvement and tries to realize the American dream but fails. However, Tom finally wins back Daisy not by gaining h