Images Analysis in The Great Gatsby
Fitzgerald is a great stylist in American literature. The accurate details and
vivid images prove his consummate artistry. Images such as Gatsby’s house, eyes
of Dr T. J. Eckleburg and the valley of ashes etc. appear from time to time in the
context of The Great Gatsby. These objects function as symbols which signify
double meanings. Together with plots, they vividly convey the themes of the
novel.
Firstly, Gatsby’s house serves as a key of aspiration, reflecting both Gatsby’s
success as an American self-made man and the mirage of an identity he has
created to win Daisy’s love. When Gatsby buys his fantastic house, he thinks he
is buying a dream, not simply purchasing property. He follows his American
Dream as he buys the house to be across the bay from Daisy, and throws parties
1
摘 要
“美国梦”是贯穿美国历史,最能体现美国人的传统价值观念和民族精神的
理想。是对平等、自由、进取和成功的理想主义信念。美国梦所体现出来的机会
均等、人人都能通过自身的奋斗取得成功吸引着成千上万的人奔赴到这片热土。
但是，20世纪20年代爵士时代的发言人司各特•菲茨杰拉德在他的经典之作《了
不起的盖茨比》中却为世人反应出了一个看似光鲜实则堕落腐败的社会，展示了
盖茨比梦想破灭, 象征着他所代表的那一代人的“美国梦”的幻灭。本文旨在通
过运用文体学理论分析《了不起的盖茨比》中的人物特性及他们各自心中所追求
的“美国梦”，最后探究美国梦破灭的根本原因。本文最后发现通过变换叙述视
角，运用倒叙的时间性叙述，以及运用不同的叙述焦点将有助于展现美国梦的破
灭这一主题。
关键词：美国梦 盖茨比 幻灭 文体学
2
A Stylistlc Analysis on the Characters’ American Dream in The
Great Gatsby
Abstract
American Dream has penetrated during the whole American history, which
greatly accentuates the ideal of traditional values and national spirit in the concept of
American, which is also an idealistic belief of equality, freedom, progressiveness as
well as success. That the chance are even, everyone could achieve success through his
hard work which reflected in American dream attracts a myriad of immigrants abroad
高考英语双文阅读与学习：了不起的盖茨比-Chapter 1-03
今天句读内容是比较复杂的，主要是景色描写。
Chapter 1
It was a matter of chance that I should have rented a house in one of the strangest
communities in North America. It was on that slender riotous island which extends itself
due east of New York and where there are, among other natural curiosities, two unusual
formations of land. Twenty miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs, identical in
contour and separated only by a courtesy bay, jut out into the most domesticated body of
salt water in the Western Hemisphere, the great wet barnyard of Long Island Sound. They
are not perfect ovals—like the egg in the Columbus story they are both crushed flat at the
contact end—but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual confusion to the
gulls that fly overhead. To the wingless a more arresting phenomenon is their dissimilarity
高考英语双文阅读与学习：了不起的盖茨比-Chapter 1-02
Chapter 1
第五段：
My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this Middle Western city for
three generations.
笔记：
this Middle Western city：美国中西部的一个城市。美国中西部具体指的是美国纵贯南北的阿巴拉契亚山脉以西、密西西比河盆地以北的地区, 那里集聚着许多来自北欧的移民。这个地区包括美国北达科他州（North Dakota）、明尼苏达州（Minnesota）、俄亥俄州（Ohio）、密苏里州（Missouri）、印第安纳州（Indiana）等。
prominent /ˈprɑmənənt / 重要的; 著名的 well-to-do富裕的（be better off经济状况较以前（或较大多数人）好）
翻译：
在这座中西部城市，我家连续三代都算是有头有脸的上流人士。
The Carraways are something of a clan, and we have a tradition that we're
descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch, but the actual founder of my line was my
grandfather's brother, who came here in fifty-one, sent a substitute to the Civil War,
and started the wholesale hardware business that my father carries on today.
笔记：
something of a(an)既可与表物的名词连用，亦可与表人的名词连用。它表示不确定的程度(多少，有点，在某种程度上)： I'm something of a carpenter.我会点儿木工。
