(英语毕业论文)菲茨杰拉德《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦的希望

American Dream in “The Great Gatsby”F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby”, is one of the few novels he wrote in 1925. The novel takes place during the 1920’s following the 1st World War. It is written about a young man named Nick, from the east he moved to the west to learn about the bond business. He ends up moving next to a mysterious man named Gatsby who ends up giving him the lesion of his life.After the circle love with Gatsby and his cousin Daisy, Gatsby was killed by the trick of Tom. Through reading the book, it shows how the experience of selfness and humanity after World War 1 that made the high social optimistic over their lives. It showed how they wanted to forget the past and make themselves back into their own social class. Also, by the experience of Daisy and Jordan treatment from the men in the stories make the reader to see that time didn’t change the relationship between man and man.This novel is a great novel to give an example on how reality is to people even the high social class. Through the discussion of the passage, author wants to show how the path leads to the “American Dream”can turn into a negative or positive outcome in a person’s life.When Mr. Fitzgerald wrote “The Great Gatsby,” he described the actions of the human society. Actually, not only did he describe and critic the high class but also the lower class, all these leads to critiquing the American Dream. The American Dream was a idea give to believe that a man should being happy, wealthy, and loved which has cause any man to go in search for this idea. All that is end up being found is the fact of having the illusion of having more material is to be happy than being happy by valuing what you already have.Gatsby is just a great example of failing to valuing his materials. He had everything he wanted (except Daisy of course) but he never used or appreciated the materials he was surrounded by. He didn’t value anything but Daisy since the reason for everything he did was for her. It only leaves to question to whether he really loved her or wanted her wealth or maybe just even the accomplishment of having her. For all we can know Daisy could just be trophy toward Gatsby and Tom since they never considered her opinion as if she was an object.On the other hand, Nick chasing his American dream of learning the bond business Through the process he fell for Jordan and was the observer of Gatsby’s life, make him to go back home. In the end, everyone just wants the American Dream but everybody’s definition is different which just indicates that I’ll never be accomplished. Once we accomp lish something, we end up being hungry for another goal.A big part of the American dream is to love, which seemed to be Gatsby’s main goal. Daisy gave him motivation to have the dream, whichcaused him to chase after it. Although he reaches as far as he possibly could, he still couldn’t reach his first target, daisy.“However, we conclude by reminding ourselves that we should not think of Gatsby as a condemnation of America, but rather as a warning bell, we can say, as relevant today as when it was publi shed.”Another thing we need to realize is the incorrect American Values. Wealth and class has always been a big component. Daisy is a perfect example of wealth and high class while Gatsby will never leave his lower class, which still continues to be a problem for his American Dream. Although he “invented” himself to be high class, he will never leave the lower class and get Daisy, which makes him fail to get the American Dream. Even with Tom’s dream, his American Dream is never fulfilled because if he was happy he wouldn’t lie and have a mistress. No matter the wealth and class, it still won’t help you get your dream faster. In which this article, perfectly touched the small details that ended up equaling to my theme.In a conclusion, The Great Gatsby was a great book for everyone, not only for American, but deserves everyone to have a self-examination. ---how can we have a correct value of love, wealth and authority? How can we deal of the balance of them? This book shows what chasing the American Dream can make you do. Nick just wanted the American Dream but he found love, hatred and just decided to take the route back home. Gatsby after achieving almost his full American Dream just ended up death. That shows that the American Dream is just a false hope. What attracts us to it is the thrill of accomplishing that goal but it just strives us to make another goal. The Great Gatsby was written to show us our flaws. So we should all learn from it to be ourselves and never to change for any cause or anyone.。

开题报告论文题目The Disillusion of the American Dream in Great Gatsby《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦的破灭学生：季旋旋指导教师：雷卿指导单位：外国语学院1课题来源Francis Scott Fitzgerald 是美国爵士时代的代言人，而《了不起的盖茨比》自1925年发表以来就赢得了普通读者和文学评论界的关注，因为这部小说形象生动的捕捉到了美国二十年代“爵士乐时代”嘈杂的气氛，一跃成为那个时代美国历史的最佳形象代言人。

因为我对美国的爵士乐特别感兴趣，所以找到了关于这方面的文学作品，进而发现二十年代的美国梦与爵士时代有着不可分割的联系，于是对美国梦产生了浓厚的兴趣。

2研究目的和意义2.1 目的：二十世纪二十年代的美国经历了表面的经济繁荣,其背后其实隐藏着巨大的经济危机,经济的表面繁荣和商业的发展使人们的美国梦遭到扭曲,他们认为金钱可以买到一切,只要你拥有了财富,那么你就一定可以得到一切你想要的东西。

从一战到三十年代的经济危机,美国的青年盲目狂热地追求着美国梦,最后他们的梦都破灭了,盖茨比也不是个例外。

菲茨杰拉德在《了不起的盖茨比》里生动的刻画出了一个普通人“美国梦”的形成到破灭的故事,而菲茨杰拉德自己的一生也是一个破灭的“美国梦”。

时至今日,一代又一代的人们仍然追寻着属于他们自己的“美国梦”。

2.2 意义：“美国梦”是美国文学作品中一个反复出现的主题，即每个人都可以通过自己的努力达到成功。

美国梦作为美国文学中永恒的主题，始终贯穿于美国文学中，菲茨杰拉德所处的时代正是美国社会最为纵乐绚丽的时代上层社会贪图享乐，而美国梦也在此刻变得虚幻。

《了不起的盖茨比》被公认为菲茨杰拉德最好的作品，文章通过社会、历史及人物特点的分析，揭示那个时代美国梦破灭的必然性。

3阅读的主要文献，资料名称，研究现状和发展趋势，学术动态3.1阅读的主要文献，资料名称[1] Barrett, William. Fitzgerald and America[J]. East Sussex, 1991（4）：11-15 Bloom, Harold.[2] Broccoli, Mathew J. New Essays on The Great Gatsby[C]. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1985.[3] Cooperman, Stanley. F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby [M]. Beijing: ForeignLanguage Teaching and Research Press, 1966.[4] David, Kamp. Rethinking the American Dream[J]. Vanity Fair, 2009.[5] Donaldson. Possessions in The Great Gatsby[J]. The Southern Review, 2001（37）：187-210[6] Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Tales of the Jazz Age[M]. Michigan: Digital & Multimedia Center,Michigan State University Libraries, 2004.[7] F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby[M]. Shandong: Qingdao Press, 2003.[8] Henry James: “Letter to F. S. Fitzgerald, December 31.1925” in Edmund Wilson Ed,The Crack-up, New York: New Directions, 1945[9] Jim, Cullen. The American Dream[M]. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.[10] Marchand, Roland. Advertising the American Dream: Making Way ofModernity[M]. Berkeley University for California Press, 1985.[11] ZHANG Su-fang. Disillusion of Modern Heroism in The Grate Gatsby[J]. 中国西部科技，2008（7）：87-89[12] 常耀信. 美国文学简史[M]. 天津：南开大学出版社，1996.[13] 杜永新. 美国梦的幻灭：盖茨比形象的历史与文化与解读[J]. 外语教学，2002（6）.[5]李习俭. “美国梦”的破灭[J]. 外国文学研究，1984（4）.[14] 李雉阳. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Romantic Moralist[J]. 学理论，2009（2）:25-30[15] 毛信德. 美国小说发展史[M]. 杭州：浙江大学出版社，2004（2）.[16] 潘绍中. “美国梦”的诱惑与破灭：从菲茨杰拉德的小说《了不起的盖茨比》谈起[J]. 美国研究，1991（4）.[17] 屈彩娥，李小玺. American Dream in Early American Literature[J]. 人文社科，2005（2）:128-129.[18] 王淑飞，马锐. 美国梦的悲剧[J]. 哈尔滨商业大学学报，2007（3）：1.[19] 巫宁坤等译. 菲茨杰拉德小说选[M]. 上海译文出版社，1983.[20] 曾爱琼. 《了不起的盖茨比》—“美国梦”幻灭的写照[J].教育论坛.[21] 张礼龙. 美国梦的演变与破灭[J]. 外国文学研究，1998（2）.[22] 赵宏伟. “美国梦”的幻灭及其语言学阐释[J]. 成都理工大学学报（社会科学版），2005.3.2 研究现状和发展趋势，学术动态3.2.1研究现状和发展趋势美国从诞生到现在只有两百多年，但是却产生了大量的著作，这些著作对学术界产生深远的影响。

《了不起的盖茨比》中所折射出的美国梦摘要《了不起的盖茨比》是菲茨杰拉德的一部名著。

作者通过描写盖茨比个人的困境与失败展现了那个时代的悲剧。

在小说中，盖茨比想要通过物质上的成功来赢得爱情,然而，他的梦想是建立于幻想，而不是现实，这是注定要失败的。

因为盖茨比是美国梦的代表，从某种意义上说,盖茨比的失败也预示了美国梦本身的破灭。

本论文首先介绍了作者与小说的主要情节，接着讲述了美国梦的根源与本质。

第三部分分析了盖茨比对财富梦及爱情梦的追求。

最后分析了盖茨比美国梦破碎的原因以及必然性。

关键词：美国梦；金钱；爱情；破灭AbstractThe Great Gatsby is on e of Fitzgerald’s masterpieces. The author presented the tragedy of that age by describing Gatsby’s personal dilemma and failure. In this novel, Gatsby wants to win love through material success. However, his dream is based on illusion rather than reality, which is doomed to fail. Gatsby is the representative of the American dream. In some senses, Gatsby’s failure also predicts the shattering of the American dream itself.This paper begins with an introduction about the author and the brief plot of the novel The Great Gatsby. Then it tells the origin and the essence of the American dream. After that, it gives an analysis of Gatsby’s pursuit of fortune and love dream. Finally, the paper points out the inevitable disillusion of Gatsby’s American dream and presents the factors of the tragedy.Keywords: the American dream; fortune; love; disillusionContents1. Introduction (1)2. The American Dream (2)2.1The Origin of the American Dream and its Development (3)2.2The essence of the American Dream and its Historical Background (4)3. The American Dream Reflected in Gatsby (5)3.1 Gatsby’s Pursuit of Fortune Dream (5)3.2 Gatsby’s Pursuit of Love Dream (6)4. D isillusion of Gatsby’s American Dream (7)4.1Gatsby’s American Dream and His Illegal Activities (8)4.2Gatsby’s American Dream and the Social Environment (9)4.3Gatsby’s American Dream and H is Innocence (10)5. Conclusion (11)References (13)1. IntroductionF. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers, whose works were the samples of the Jazz Age. He is widely regarded as the literary spokesman of the “Jazz Age”—an age between the end of the First World War and the outbreak of the Great Depression. In many ways, he expressed in his stories the disillusionment of the young generation with “the American dr eam”.Fitzgerald is also considered a member of the “Lost Generation” of the 1920s. He was born into a middle-class family in St. Paul, Minnesota in the American Midwest. In his short life, Fitzgerald experienced overnight fame and wealth in 1920s but suffered a lot in the 1930s. His first novel—This Side of Paradise was published in 1920 and became a best-seller, through which he got fame and commercial success. With a series of success of his writing, Fitzgerald had a high quality of life. In 1925, Fitzgerald managed to complete The Great Gatsby. This book brought him a critical comment and commercial failure. After that, with the pain of his personal life and the disappearance of the writing inspiration, he never wrote a well-known book any more. In 1940, he died of a heart attack when he was only forty-four.Different from other American writers who also had the American dream as the subject of their works, Fitzgerald impressed his readers from a new perspective.His works depicted the 1920s of America, the period of the high growth of America. With the richness of material, people’s spiritual life was corrupted, especially the life of the upper class. “Many critics have seen Fitzgerald’s artistic achievement in terms of his ability to depict the America n society, its history and its people.”(Tang Sooping, 1992:7)The Great Gatsby is a story told by Nick, a man from the Mid-West, going to New York to do business. He heard about his neighbor, a mysterious man called Jay Gatsby, who always held fabulous parties at his house. Gatsby was born in a poor family in the Middle West. During the time of serving in the army, Gatsby fell in love with Daisy, a wealthy girl. However, he was too poor to marryher. When the First World War broke out, Gatsby had to devote himself to the army. Daisy gave up waiting for him and got married with a rich young man Tom Buchanan. However, Daisy’s marriage was not that happy because Tom has betrayed their marriage. He had a mistress after their daughter was born. All these things inspired Gatsby’s desire to get married with Daisy. In order to win back his lost love, it took Gatsby just a few years to make a fortune through illegal business. He bought a mansion located on the opposite side of Daisy’s house with a river lying in between. Gatsby held parties every weekend, hoping that one day Daisy would come but she did not turn up even once. With the help of Nick, the cousin of Daisy, Gatsby met Daisy again five years after they broke away from each other. But now the lady in front of him was no longer the ideal lover in his dream. Instead, she became a selfish and vulgar woman. She refused to give up Tom but at the same time she did not refuse Gatsby.One day, Daisy drove Gatsby’s car after drinking and caused an accid ent in which T om’s mistress, Myrtle Wilson was killed. In order to protect Daisy, Gatsby decided to assume the responsibility. Finally Gatsby was shot by Myrtle’s husband. Only Gatsby’s poor father and Nick attended the funeral. Daisy did not feel any sadness and was on trip with Tom to Europe at that time.2. The American Dream and its Historical BackgroundThe American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals which includes freedom, the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work. The term American Dream was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America. He states, “The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature ofwhich they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” (Adams,1931: 214)It means that everyone, no matter what class he is in, can be successful through his own efforts. This ideology is based on the principle that one should be responsible for himself and seize every opportunity to gain success with courage and through hard work.The American dream has its own particular history background. Since Columbus found “the new continent”, the Europeans went to America for exploitation and colonialism. People in Europe got many kinds of harsh sufferings. They moved to the North American continent because they wanted to get rid of the sufferings in Europe, to be rich, and put into practice their values and philosophies of life. They wanted to escape the religious persecution and rebuild the religious belief.Going to America gave them the aspiration of freedom, the opportunity to be rich. Besides, many unthinkable things in the Old World may turn into reality in this piece of land. From the view of Xing Yan(Xing Yan, 2004:49), “Opportunity follows one after another, and almost everyone will cause a national madness, the United States becomes a country of ‘milk and honey’. Therefore, a large number of people with an American dream swarmed here.”2.1 The Origin of the American Dream and its Development“The American Dream arose in the colonial period and developed in the nineteenth century, based on the assumption of each person, no matter what his origin was, could succeed in changing their social positions and making their dreams come true through their own efforts, and getting new, free and better life. It is what is often referred to as ‘Am erican dream’. ” (Zhao Hongwei, 2003: 2) The American dream is both a romantic expectation and a belief that with toil and devotion people will achieve what their desire. The American dream at its early stage was a Puritan desire for the freedom in religion and creation. However, it becomes broader in meaning along with the expansion to the American West. It includes the pursuit of happiness, the goal to be successful incareer, love and wealth. After the Civil War, the American dream has even more concrete meanings as people strongly believe that with hard work, they can create miracles such as from poor to rich.2.2 The essence of the American DreamAs for the American Dream, it is a belief that a better life could be achieved through hard work and strives. There are several notions behind the American Dream—equal opportunities provided for everyone; the success based on one’s own talents and efforts, and equal opportunity to achieve success.The dream has its constant element, but is ever-changing with the people and with the times. The American dream is seen as one for a better and richer life for everyone, a dream of having opportunities in terms of one’s ability. According to Li Hongwen (黎红雯, 2002:15), “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. ”From Li’s view, people may have their own dreams, of which some are small ambitions and others could be great ones.For young students today, the dream might include getting higher education and devoting oneself to helping others. For the middle-aged people today, the dream may include a very high-paying job which one could retire at an early age and have a more satisfying lifestyle. “Everyone had a different idea for his or her American Dream; everyone’s American Dream may be t otally different from each other; that is what makes them all individuals. The dream may differ in that some people wanted to work hard and had financial success, or others might just want to have enough food and income to survive, and make their life simple, healthy and happy. ” (邓年刚，潭素钦, 1997:15)Almost every American has his own American Dream. Almost every American including immigrants and poor people has his desire for a better life. Such a life enables him to own a big house, have much money, delicious food and luxury cars, and enjoy freedom as well. Nomatter what his origin is, he could succeed in through his own efforts. With the success, he is able to get access to higher social position and better life.3. The American Dream Reflected in GatsbyIn the novel, Gatsby’s Amer ican dream was to win daisy’s love, and he spared no effort to do everything to regain the love of Daisy. In order to make his American Dream come true, Gatsby got money by doing illegal trade of alcohol. Also, in the pursuit of his love, he did whatever Daisy asked him to do even at the sacrifice of his precious life.3.1 Gatsby’s Pursuit of Fortune DreamOne part of Gatsby’s dream was to get rich. Gatsby was a man who lived in the lower class, he dreamed for getting recognition, he dreamed for social status, and the true love. But to improve his social status and gain recognition, he was in bad need of money. In his youth, he harbored the innocent wish to be successful by hard work. In order to succeed, he worked tirelessly to do many things and worked out a schedule, which bears the similarity of that of Benjamin Franklin. Gatsby’s schedule displayed his imagination or illusion of his own future, through which a link between his dream and the American dream can be perceived. Gatsby dreamed of becoming a great man. Even when he was a boy, he had his aspirations. He was not content with things as they are and he just wanted to work hard to change the situation.He forced him to get up early in the morning at 6:00 and began to study electricity at 7:15, worked from 8:30A.M. to 4:30 P.M.. “study needed inventions” (Fitzgerald,1993:176) in the evening. He also has a wonderful “general resolves”,(Fitzgerald ,1993:174) which set strict demands on himself, such as “no wasting time，no smoking, read one important book or magazine per week and save $500 per week” .(Fitzgerald, 1993: 174)In the novel, Gatsby was born in a poor family in the Midwest Court. On the contrary, Daisy, the girl that he loved always lived a luxuriant life since she wasborn, so it was her habit to live a life with high quality. To Daisy, it was hard to imagine how she could stand a difficult life without money. But Gatsby was just a poor soldier. If he had not pretended to be a man with great wealth to win Daisy’s love, Daisy would not have fallen in love with him at all five years ago. In Gatsby’s view, he believed money could buy him love and happiness. With such thought in mind, he did everything in order to make money. In just a few years, through illegal trade of alcohol and other dishonest businesses, he made a fortune.A poor young man turned into someone with wealth. Gatsby’s success in fortune was great.To show off his wealth, Gatsby built a house in the old aristocratic style. In the huge and brilliant house, Gatsby would hold fabulous parties at the weekend, which people of status would be happy to attend. They admired his property and wanted to be friends of him.It may seem as if Gatsby had made his fortune dream come true. However, he never succeeded in a real sense through his own hard work, courage, or his strong resolution. He just became rich by conducting illegal businesses, which defied the essence of the American dream.3.2 Gatsby’s Pursuit of Love DreamAnother part of Gatsby’s dream is his dream of love. When he was a soldier in the Army, he fell in love with a rich girl Daisy. But he understood that he was not able to marry such a girl from a wealthy family and of higher social status. Daisy married Tom who had money and status though she did not love the man at all. Gatsby never stopped his love for Daisy; instead, he could not help recalling her, his first love.The most significant to Gatsby was to repeat the past with Daisy day and night and to get the lost pure love. As soon as he had money, Gatsby started to be in chase of his love to repeat the past. To fulfill his love dream, the first thing he did was to buy a luxurious house in front of Daisy’s house across the bay. Then he held parties every weekend night to draw Daisy’s attention. He believed that Daisy may come over to his mansion one day. However, Daisy never turned up. So Gatsby asked Nick to invite Daisy to his house for a tea. At last he had achance to express his love to Daisy and got Daisy back from Tom.In the novel, his love to Daisy is true and pure. When he saw Daisy again, he was even speechless. After Gatsby reappeared with his wealth and his loyal love for her, she seemed to be touched and tried to resume her relationship with him, without any guilt to her husband. For Daisy, what she really wanted was not a romantic lover with no status, but a man who could give her a comfortable life and a respected social standing.Gatsby did not change his mind of marrying Daisy even when he became an adult. Daisy was the first and the only woman whom he loved in his life. His love for Daisy kept him away from other women and “he would never so much as look at a friend’s wife.”(Fitzgerald, 1993:47) That’s the reason why “no girls would swoon backward on Gatsby at his parties.” (Fitzgerald, 1993:33) Gatsby had been so devoted to her. He loved her so much that he was simply blind of her essential defect—Daisy gave more concern to status and luxury life..Gatsby’s dream of love was closely associated with his dream of money. He believed that the money could help him get everything, but he did not regard the pursuit of money as the ultimate goal. The reason that he was after money was just for his love dream. The dream of being rich and the dream of winning the love of Daisy are integrated. The former is a means and the latter is his ultimate goal, without which the former may never become true. Without money Gatsby and Daisy could never have the opportunity to rekindle old dreams. With a lot of money, Gatsby would be more confident in his pursuit of his love dream.4. Disillusion of Gatsby’s American DreamJay Gatsby, the embodiment of the American dream，was doomed to fail because the American political ideals contradicted the actual existing social system．In the novel, Fitzgerald described and contrasted the difference between East and West Egg, showed the separation between the upper class and the lower class, Gatsby spent his whole life making money and winning status so that hecould win Daisy back. That’s what motivated him to move to West Egg, and made money by any means. After that, he held extravagant parties every weekend, did what Daisy asked him to. Gatsby’s success in fortune was great. So was his strong will for love and to achieve his life goal. He finally became the upper class’s deputy. No matter how wonderful his parties were, he could not change his poor family background.Gatsby did not know clearly what kind of girl Daisy was. What Daisy wanted was not love but a guarantee of comfort and wealth in life. Owing to his unrealistic dream, Gatsby ended up with tragedy. As for Gatsby’s death, it may seem that he deserved the punishment for what he did. Yet he sacrificed himself for Daisy who did not even turn up at his funeral. And the saddest thing was that Daisy, did not feel any regret o r sorrow for Gatsby’s death, she went traveling with his husband Tom. There was nothing left for Gatsby. All the things he got have gone with his death, including his wealth and love. “Daisy goes together with her husband to another city happily while Gatsby is murdered mistakenly, improves that all his great characterize means nothing. In other words, Gatsby’s final American Dream, which is to win Daisy, is totally a failure.” (杨慧群, 2002:3)The shattering of his dream of love is a reflection of the breaking of American dream. Owing to his unrealistic dream, Gatsby ended up with tragedy.Living in that age, Gatsby had in his mind the value orientation. He thought the American dream embodied the personal success or self-fulfillment for those hard-working people. His idea of success was measured by money, which was misleading. In his view, success was the glamour brought about by huge wealth. The American dream in his time was somewhat hollow for people were mainly after money. In this sense, Gatsby’s dream, just as the American dream, is just an illusion4.1 Gatsby’s American Dream and His Illegal ActivitiesAmerican dream is essentially a spirit to inspire people to make progress and it has a positive meaning. In 1920s, after the World War I, the American dream were decadent, corrupt, and the original hard work, frugality, temperance andother values were weak. America society came into the stage of monopoly capitalism. The American society developed rapidly with its economy booming. As Americans became money worshippers, they became greedy. Money was the only goal which they were striving for. So 1920s was a time without any belief, a time for lost generation, and a time of tragedies.“America was going on the greatest, gaudiest spree in history and there was going to be plenty to tell about it. The whole golden boom was in the air—its splendid generosities, its outrageous corruptions and the tortuous death struggle of the old America in prohibition. In such a debauched social context, what the traditional American dream advocated to strive for success through hard work turned out to be futile. Gatsby was greatly influenced by the instruction of the traditional dream.”(陈卓, 2009:143)Yet, no matter how hard he worked to gain material success, Gatsby gained wealth through dishonest conduct. He involved himself in the illegal trade of wine, through which he made his fortune. In this sense, he did not follow the doctrines of American dream. He made his way into a world where nothing is more important than money, where moral integrity is sacrificed.Fitzgerald presented before his readers the disillusion of American dream, which is seen as the synonym for money. With money as an important ingredient of the dream, it is quite natural that people may become greedy and crazy for money. The novel—The Great Gatsby may seem to be shallow with much description of parties and jazz in 1920s. However, by probing into the novel, it can be seen that the story is a social commentary on the corruption and the disillusive effect of materialism on various people. Gatsby is a typical example who turned from rug into riches with corrupted morality. But money was not his final goal. His final goal was to win the love of Daisy with his wealth.4. 2 Gatsby’s American Dream and the Social EnvironmentThe darkness and emptiness of the capitalist society account for the shattering of Gatsby’s American dream. When Gatsby was serving in the army,Daisy, the girl whom he loved, promised to wait for him till he made his fortune so that they could be married. But when Gatsby came back, Daisy had married Tom Buchanan, a millionaire, whom she did not have an affection. Gatsby was seriously hurt and decided to win back his love.Gatsby’s motive to make a fortune was driven by his attempt to get a step closer to Daisy again. Gatsby believed that if he wanted to win Daisy’s heart, he needed to be more affluent in wealth and more successful than Tom.Tom Buchanan, a representative of the solid wealthy class，was corrupt，but not weak. He would not allow his authority to be challenged．In the eyes of Tom and Daisy, no matter how much money or power Gatsby may possess, he was still “nobody from nowhere” because he has “no comfortable family standing behind him.” (Fitzgerald, 1993:95) The competition between Tom and Gatsby was not only a battle between rivals for love, but also a battle between representatives of the two different social classes.In the novel, the difference between East and West Egg can be perceived as a dividing line between the upper and the lower class, the four geographical locations in the novel ranging from East and West Egg to New York City fit a special theme or a typical character. West Egg lived people like Gatsby, who were indulged in extravagant life. They were representatives of the newly emerged rich alongside the established aristocracy of the 1920s. East Egg was the place for people such as the Buchanan, who were enjoying great wealth and high status as well. They were the symbol of the old establishment and aristocracy with ongoing dominance in American society. Gatsby’s romantic idealism does not fit in with those in East Egg. He tried hard to climb up the social ladder but he could not get himself fit in or really accepted due to his shabby background. In such a society, it was rather hard for Gatsby, a man from East Egg to melt himself with those symbolizing the old establishment and the old aristocracy. From this perspective, his American dream in the pursuit of love was hard to come true. 4.3 Gatsby’s American Dream and His InnocenceThe disillusion of Gatsby’s American dream may be related to his personalfactor. Gatsby’s love for Daisy was to the extent of obsession. It was really touching, but he chose the wrong person to love for. In his heart, Daisy was beautiful and innocent, and she represented all the merits in the upper class of America. Gatsby had in his mind the perfect image of Daisy, and treated her as the avatar of dream. However, Daisy was not the perfect girl he imagined. Born in a rich family, Daisy was used to the extravagant life. Even “her voice is full of money”.(Fitzgerald, 1993: 119) In the eyes of Daisy, love, when confronted with money, retreated to an inferior position. She believed in materialism and wanted to live in comfort. However, out of his innocence, Gatsby failed to see through her even upon his death. In addition, he did not see clearly the gap between Daisy and him—the status or the two different classes. He was naïve enough to believe that with his effort, he could be materially rich and hence he could gain status afterwards. He was naive enough to believe that with wealth and status, he was able to make his American dream of love come true.His life ended up in tragedy which had it root in his blind pursuit of love and fantasy. Besides, the lack of clear understanding of the upper middle class society was factor for the shattering of his dream. Though he became rich, it was unlikely that he would get access to the upper society.5. ConclusionFitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a significant novel in the history of the American literature．It is the mirror of an era, the Jazz Age. People of that time tend to believe in wealth, which corrupts the original belief of American Dream. They consider money as a simple method and a tool o n one’s way to success. Gatsby is just the miniature of the American society of that age reflecting the distortion of the American dream itself. Gatsby works hard for his dream and is ruined by his dream. It is his American Dream that makes him succeed, be destroyed and died pathetically in the end. Therefore, Gatsby’s tragedy is related to that age he was in, and Gatsby’s traged y also indicates the shattering of the American dream. American Dream affects generations of Americans. No matterhow it changes, its theme is the pursuit of freedom, equality, the realization of one’s own dream, and a high quality life.The Great Gatsby criticizes the society in which people are after money and low in morality. By taking a close look at the novel, Gatsby’s failure in the pursuit of his dream arises from mainly three factors. Firstly, Gatsby gained wealth from doing illegal businesses. Secondly, he naively thought he could enter the upper class in a society where equality between people was hard to realize. Finally, he was so innocent as to love a wrong person who was just selfish, and money-worshipping. In the corrupted American society at that time, Gatsby would not be able to make his dream come true since he would not be accepted by the upper society despite that he possessed great wealth. With no recognition by the upper society, he would not be able to win Daisy back. To a great extent, his failure in his pursuit of love dream is a sign of the shattering or the failure of the American dream.Reference[1] Adams, J.T. The Epic of America. New York: Greenwood Press, 1931.[2] Fitzgerald, F. S. The Great Gatsby. Ware: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1993.[3]Tang soo ping. York Notes on the Great Gatsby. York: Longman York Press, 1992.[4]Xing Yan. An Outline of American Literature. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2004.[5]Zhao Hongwei. Disillusionment of Gatsby’s“American Dream” From the Perspective of Society--Analysis of “The Great Gatsby”. Harbin :Journal of Harbin University, 2003( 6).[6]陈卓.《了不起的盖茨比中的美国梦》.魅力中国，2009(3).[7]黎红雯.《了不起的盖茨比,一部阐解美国梦的述作》.华南师范大学学报,2002(15).[8]邓年刚,谭素钦.《再论美国梦》.湖北民族学院学报,1997(1).[9]杨慧群.《菲兹杰拉德的小说<了不起的盖茨比>浅析》.江苏广播电视大学学报, 2002(2).。

了不起的盖茨比中的美国梦《了不起的盖茨比中的美国梦》在小说《了不起的盖茨比》中，作者F. Scott Fitzgerald通过描绘主人公盖茨比追逐美国梦的故事，探讨了美国社会对财富、地位和爱情的追求，同时也反映了美国梦的虚妄与残酷。

本文将从不同角度解读《了不起的盖茨比》中的美国梦，探讨其中的深意。

一、财富与幸福美国梦一直以来都与财富和成功紧密相连。

在小说中，盖茨比通过积累财富，力图重返他曾经爱过的黛西的世界。

他购置豪华庄园、战车和奢侈品，希望以此吸引黛西的注意。

然而，尽管盖茨比变得富有，他的内心始终感到空虚和孤独。

他的财富虽可让他过上奢靡的生活，但却无法填补他与黛西之间的距离。

通过盖茨比的经历，作者揭示了金钱与幸福之间的矛盾。

虽然财富可以提供物质享受，但它并不能带来真正的满足感和快乐。

正如小说中的人物一样，追逐财富往往会导致内心的空虚和失落。

二、地位与身份美国梦也渗透着对社会地位和身份的追求。

盖茨比从一个穷孩子变成了一位富有的社交名流，并通过各种手段试图融入上层社会。

然而，他的财富并没有改变他的社会地位。

尽管他可以以华丽的派对和奢华的生活方式吸引人们的注意，但他却始终无法真正成为上流社会所接纳的一员。

通过盖茨比的失败，小说告诉我们地位和身份并不仅仅取决于金钱和外表的夺目，更重要的是个人背景和社会认可。

在现实社会中，美国梦也并非所有人都能够实现，不论财富如何，社会地位和身份的认可仍然是一个很大的挑战。

三、爱情与幻觉在《了不起的盖茨比》中，爱情被描绘为一种虚幻的状态。

主人公盖茨比对黛西的痴迷超越了理智的范畴，他将黛西视为完美和幸福的象征。

然而，当盖茨比追求黛西的过程中，却逐渐认识到自己所追求的完美并不存在。

小说中的人物们都对爱情怀有幻觉，而这种幻觉远离了现实。

黛西选择与资本家汤姆结婚，而不是与盖茨比在一起。

这暗示了现实社会中的爱情往往并非完美无暇，它背后也可能隐藏着欺骗和妥协。

通过描述爱情与梦想的关系，小说反思了美国梦本质上的虚幻和不可及。

The Great Gatsby and The American Dream《了不起的盖茨比》和美国梦AcknowledgementsI would like to express my gratitude to all those who helped me during the writing of this thesis. Firstly, a special acknowledgement should be shown to LecturerFang Qiang, who from whose lectures I benefited greatly. His has taught me for a whole year in the study of the cause of The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries An Introduction. Through the studying of this cause, I got a basic comprehend about the culture backgrounds of the west countries, and, definitely, it made a great contribution to the further study of the American literature. Secondly, I would like to thank Lecturer Song Yun, who taught me the cause of Selected Reading of British &American Literature. From this cause I got a relative deeper understanding of the American poetries and novels, what’s more, it directly does me good in the writing of this thesis. Last but not least, I am particularly indebted to my Supervisor Wu Xinjia. From the beginning to the end of writing this thesis, she has shown great patience in checking and approving my thesis, giving me professional suggestions. Last of all, I want to re-express my feeling of gratitude to all the person who have given me a hand in completing this thesis, including my teachers, tutor and classmates. Thanks!The Great Gatsby and the American DreamAbstractFrancis Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most prominent American novelists of the 20th century and his masterpiece The Great Gatsby is listed among the most famous 20th-century American novels considering of its literature merits. The novel mainly tells a tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a man who originally was humble and poor,but finally became extremely wealthy through illegal business means. He has devoted all his life into realizing his dream, to pursue his first love Daisy Buchanan, a woman ,who is full of charm but shallow, selfish and aspire money. Truth is that under the general corruptive social circumstance of Jazzy Age, the only answer to Gatsby’s dream was impossibility and distinction. The novel portrayed a vivid picture of the 1920s’ America, such a roaring time that the economy was unprecedented flourishing on the one hand and the spiritual aspect was a astonishing desolation on the other. The humanities’ corruption and destruction, due to their uncontrolled pursuit of material success and complete ignorance of spiritual improvement, caused a confused state of that age.This thesis tries to combing The Great Gatsby and the American Dream to reprove that Jay Gatsby’s tragedy is ascribed to the harsh reality of American society during the Jazz Age and re-emphasis the inevitability of the disillusionment of American Dream. From the literature world back to the modern greedy society, The Great Gatsby still has a strong practical significance, to give people a warning that money are not equal to happiness , to call back the traditional American moral value.Key words: American Dream; Fitzgerald; Jazz Age《了不起的盖茨比》和美国梦摘要弗朗斯·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德是二十世纪美国杰出的小说家，他的杰作《了不起的盖茨比》极具文学价值，被列为二十世纪美国最著名的小说之一。

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A Stylistlc Analysis on the Characters’ American Dream in TheGreat GatsbyAbstractAmerican 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 flooding into this promising land. However, the illustrious work The Great Gatsby of Scott Fitzgerald who is universally acknowledged as the spokesman of the 1920s Jazz Age of flaming youth has exhibited a rotten society under the guise of prosperity with the disillusion of the protagonist Gatsby‟s American Dream, in effect, the disillusion of Gatsby‟s American Dream is the disillusion of the American Dream of that whole generation. This thesis will adopt the theory of stylistics to make an analysis about the characters together with their American Dream in The Great Gatsby, and the fundamental reason procuring the disillusion of American Dream will be analyzed. The findings in this thesis reveal that the shift of point of view, flashback as the chronological sequencing and different descriptive focuses are helpfull in presenting the disillusionment of the American Dream．Key words: American Dream Gatsby Disillusion StylisticsContents摘要 (1)Abstract (2)1 Introduction (4)1.1 Introduction of The Great Gatsby (4)1.1.1 Introduction to Scott Fitzgerald (4)1.1.2 Introduction to the Novel (4)1.2 Introduction to the History of American Dream (5)1.3 Organization of This Paper (5)2 Literature Review (6)2.1 Researches Abroad (6)2.2.Researches at Home (7)3. Theoretical Framework (9)3.1 Point of View (10)3.2 Fictional Sequencing (10)3.3 Descriptive Focus (11)4 A Stylistic Analysis of the Characters and American Dream (12)3.1 Gatsby (12)3.2 Daisy (13)3.3 Myrtle Wilson (15)3.4 Nick Carraway (16)5 Money Procuring the Disillusion of American Dream (18)6 Conclusion (21)References (21)Acknowledgement (23)1 Introduction1.1Introduction of The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby which was published in America in 1925 for the first time opened to much critical acclaim for its profound ideological content and the artistic way the author developed the topic in it. The following part will make a brief introduction of the author Scott Fitzgerald as well as this illustrious novel.1.1.1 Introduction to Scott FitzgeraldFrom 1920 to 1930, American literature boomed. It was its the golden age During those 10 years, batches of excellent writers emerged and outstanding works came out in an unending flow. At that time, America had just experienced the First World War, its economy was prosperous, but the social conscience was particularly corrupt[1]. Francis Scott Fitzgerald was a shining star in American literature circle during this period. His life was short but it was full of epic glory. His writing career was only 20 years, but he left four classical novels and 160 short articles. Those achievements made him an outstanding novelist in 20th century literary. He is called the representative writer of “Lost Generation” by his contemporaries as well as later generations and also considered as the “Poet Laureate” in “Jazz Age” and the excellent chroniclers[2].1.1.2 Introduction to the NovelWith time passed by, an increasing number of Americans began to realize that not everyone could achieve their American dream. Great Gatsby is Fitzgerald‟ s most famous novel and is also one of the greatest American novels．When it was published, it was regarded as “the first step the American novel has taken since Henry James” by T﹒S Eliot. There is a very special feature of this book that it touches the deep inside[1]常耀信。

了不起的盖茨比英语毕业论文解读四川师范大学文理学院本科毕业论文An Analysis of Disillusionment of American Dream in The Great Gatsby论《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦的破灭学生姓名张燕院系名称外国语学院专业名称英语（师范）班级 2008级 1班学号 200814025224指导教师陈雪瑶（讲师）答辩时间 2012-4-15论《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦的破灭ContentsIntroduction (1)Part I The Introduction of F.Scott.Fitzgerald (2)1.1The Life Expericence of Fitzgerald (2)1.1.1 Fitzgerald’s Background (2)1.1.2 Fitzgerald’s Marriage (2)1.2 Literary Works of Fitzgerald (3)PartII American Dream and its Disillusionment (4)2.1 The American Dream (4)2.1.1 The Definition of American Dream (4)2.1.2 The Essence of American Dream (5)2.2 Disillusionment of American Dream Reflected in the Novel (5)2.2.1 Gatsby’s American Dream (6)2.2.2 Nick Carraway’s American Dream (7)2.2.3 Tom, Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker’s AmericanDream (8)Part III The Cause of Disillusionment of American Dream (9)3.1 The Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties (9)3.2 Social Environment and People factors (10)Conclusion (11)Bibliography (12)IntroductionF. Scott Fitzgerald was born in a not rich family, so he wanted to earn lots of money to become rich to enjoy high quality life. The tempo of his life slackened as his life was shredded by Zelda’s insanity and his own self-destructive alcoholism. Through years of emotional and physical collapse he struggled to repair his life by writing for Hollywood-producing at the same time a series of stories that exposed his humiliation there. He became one of the greatest writers in American literature and wrote many works in his lifetime to manifest the life reality of that time. He was a spokesman for the so-called Jazz Age.The Great Gatsby is regarded as his masterpiece. First published on April 10, 1925, the story is set in Long Island's North Shore and New York City during the summer of 1922. The novel tells of Gatsby, an idealist, who tries to recapture his lost love but in vain and is finally destroyed by the influence of the wealthy people around him .The story deals with the failure of the American dream as personified in the rich and beautiful woman Daisy who belongs to corrupt society. The Great Gatsby evokes a haunting mood of a glamorous, wild time that seemingly will never come again. It is about the loss of an ideal and the disillusionment that comes with the failure is embodied fully in the personal tragedy of a young man (Gatsby) whose “incorruptible dream” is “smashed into pieces by the relentless reality” (Fitzgerald, 8).Gatsby’s failure to realize his ideal symbolizes the disillusionment of his American Dream. Also, Gatsby’s intensity of dream represents a state of commitment which takes him in search of his personal grai l; Gatsby’s failure magnifies to a great extent the end of the American Dream.Part I The Introduction of F.Scott.Fitzgerald1.1The Life Expericence of FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald is one of the most outstanding American authors in the twenties, and The Great Gatsby is his best work.1.1.1 Fitzgerald’s BackgroundF. Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 into a St, Paul middle-class family. After an unsuccessful undergraduate career at Princeton, he entered the Army as a second Lieutenant and while in training camp he met the beautiful girl who was to become his wife. He married Zelda Sayre as his literary career got off to a meteoric start in 1920. Through the 1920s when money seemed plentiful and postwar morality encouraged a reckless pursuit of happiness, he and Zelda traveled in Europe and New York, acting out the glamorous life-style he wrote of in his most popular magazine fiction. He was a spokesman for the so-called Jazz Age, setting a personal as well as literary example for a generation whose first commandment was: Do what you will. The speed of his life slackened as his life was shredded by Zelda’s insanity and his own self-destructive alcoholism. He fell from favor as a writer when the indulgent decade of his triumph went down under the impact of a worldwide Depression in the 1930s.1.1.2 Fitzgerald’s MarriageIt is absolutely the tough teenage years and marriage life that made Fitzgerald experience the difficulties and frustrations of the life. So we should discover some reflections of the story from the author’s life.The relationship between Fitzgerald and Zelda went so dramatic that even himself once said, “ Sometimes I don’t know whether Zelda and I are real or whether we are characters in on e of my novels”（Fitzgerald, 1）.Zelda was the daughter of a judge in Montgomery, Alabama, a beautiful society girl. Though she told Fitzgerald that she loved him so much, but her too expensive life left him unable to support her. They have experienced breaking up but finally got engaged again with the support of Fitzgerald’s success. It was also at this time that Fitzgerald wrote many of his short stories which helped to pay for their extravagant lifestyle. But when the misfortune came, in 1930s when Zelda became increasingly troubled by mental illness. Their life became harder. It was his marriage and his onerous life of making money to support her that affected his writing tremendously. Fitzgerald was tormented virtually all his life by the fact that he could not concentrate on his working and the improvement of his art in general.1.2 Literary Works of FitzgeraldThe Roaring Twenties was a period of literary creativity, and works of several notable authors appeared during the period. Such as Earnest Hemingway, Erich Maria Remarque and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Etc. Literary works in that period of time mirror people’s experiences and attitude of the1920s. We could see it from the following examples: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque recounts the horrors of WWI and also the deep detachment from German civilian life felt by many men returning from the front.This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is about a group of expatriate Americans in Europe during the 1920s. All in all writers and their works in those years were haunted with complicated sensations which have shown us all the difficulties and frustrations in their life.PartⅡAmerican Dream and its Disillusionment2.1 The American DreamBefore we take a look to the causes and effects of the disillusionment of American dream, let’s first try to understand the definition and content of Americ an Dream.2.1.1 The Definition of American DreamIn different social and historical backgrounds, the concepts of American Dream are different, and for different people, they have different understandings of American Dream and the ways to pursue their American Dream are also various. The definition of the so-called American Dream can be distinguished in broad sense and narrow sense. For the former, American Dream is the equality, freedom and democracy in the land of the United States. The later one means, everyone in America ,if only work hard and never give up, he could achieve his dream and could live a better life in this piece of land, that is to say, people should make their efforts ,such as diligence, courage and determination to realize dreams rather than depend on the help from others.This term that American Dream was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America which was written in 1931. He states, “The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for whatthey are, regardless of the fortuitous ci rcumstances of birth or position.” This ideology is based itself on the principle that one should be responsible for oneself, and taking every opportunity to gain success by courage and hard working.2.1.2 The Essence of American DreamAs for the American Dream, it is a belief that a better life could be achieved through hard work and strives. There are several elements lie in the American Dream: the US has provided equal opportunities for everyone; the success based on own talents and efforts, not the background and extraction; everyone was born equally; and everyone has his own right to achieve success.“For any American no matter what his origin was, could succeed in changing their social positions and making their dreams come true through their own efforts, and get ting new, free and better life.”（Zhao Hongwei, 2）This is the basic often of "American dream". It is the idea that the American way of life offers the equal possibility of unlimited economic, social, etc. One can always work their way up from the rags to riches just like Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the US.In brief, the main content of American culture was emphasis on individuals' value, optimistic, pursuing of democracy and freedom, the promotion of deportation and competition and the need of realism and practicality. There was a common truth that everyone who lived in that period actually had an American Dream and eager to achieve it and everyone has an American Dream which is to have a good opportunity to realize personal dream.2.2 Disillusionment of American Dream Reflected in the NovelIn this novel, we could discover so many characteristics of the disillusionment of American dream. All of them have been reflected from the words and actions of heroes and heroines2.2.1 Gatsby’s American DreamAs for the great Gatsby, his American Dream is to have much money and then win Daisy, who is in love with Gatsby five years ago but now is the wife of rich Tom. Gatsby thinks that only if he has much money, at least has more money than Tom, should he win Daisy’s love. So it is rea sonable for him to pursue material wealth in order to win the love of Daisy.Gatsby’s attempt to achieve his American Dream which is to recapture the love of Daisy Buchanan whom he had known five years before the action of the novel begins, when he is a young and poor officer in the United States army and Daisy is a young unmarried woman, who used to live a luxuriant life with much money and great fame. And the only way should Gatsby make his American Dream come true is to get a lot of money which is much difficulty for a normal soldier to earn. He does all the things Daisy asks him to do. And nobody can do this out of reason. In order to win Daisy, Gatsby dare to have illegal trade of alcohol to make a fortune, because he clearly knows that he must offer Daisy a better life which is luxuriant if he wants to win Daisy. Through his great effort, he gets much money authentically although it is from illegal business.Gatsby's success in fortune is great, his strong will of love and achieving life goal is also great; he becomes the big name of the society, and becomes the upper class's deputy. Everyone is glad to come to his party, everyone admires his property, and everyone wants to be his friend, even Daisy has taken much notice of him and falls in love with him again. Gatsby is also great when he loses his life in order to protect Daisy from the accident.However, “the falling of his American Dream, that Daisy goes together with her husband to another city happily while Gatsby is murdered mistakenly, improves that all his great characterize means nothing. In other words, Gatsby’s final American Dream, which is to win Daisy, is totally a failure.”（杨慧群, 3）Furthermore, when Gatsby died, no one turns up for his funeral, though hundreds of people have eaten at his place. It is a sad comment on human nature that when a man dies, he is alone, absolutely alone. The only things that accompany him are his good deeds especially those done spontaneously and without expectations. And the saddest thing is tha t Daisy, doesn’t feel any regret or sorrow for Gatsby’s death, has gone traveling with his husband Tom. There is nothing left for Gatsby. All the things of his life have gone with his death, including his wealth and love. From the above analysis of Gatsby’s American Dream, there is a conclusion that whatever it is broken or not,Gatsby’s American Dream is to get as much money as he can even through every illegal means, and then he can have the economical strength to achieve his final goal——win the love of Daisy.Gatsby spends his whole life in attaining money and status so that he can reach a certain position in life and then he can win Daisy back. That is what motivates him to move to West Egg, and makes money by any means necessary, holds extravagant parties in every weekend, does everything what Daisy requires him to do and so on. There is a position in life that he yearns for and will do all that it takes to achieve it, and the final goal for his American Dream is to get Daisy’s love. It is doomed to be a failure if Gatsby wants to be in love with Daisy, and live with her forever.2.2.2 Nick Carraway’s American DreamIn this novel, we see disorientation in achieving the American Dream in Gatsby, while in Nick Carraway, the narrator, we see a far more rational mind in dealing with this. Nick Carraway was made in the book the representative of the traditional moral codes of America. He comes from the Midwest and wants to make money in the Long Island. For he is also attracted by the beauty, the wealth, and the sophistication of “the wasteland”, so at any rate, he is another dream seeker. However as witnessing Gatsby’s tragedy, he realizes what has gone wrong with American dream from the beginning to the end. Thanks to the traditional moral conducts that rooted in him and his following his father’s advice on toleration, he never get lost. Finally, he got the essential emptiness of American dream and achieves the penetration of Tom and Daisy’s corruption, grossness, and cowardice. Nick does not make quick judgment, and thus is able to gain access to “many curious natures” The world of Gatsby is inhabited in main by three groups of people and Nick has contact with them all. So the function of Nick in this book can never be ignored. He is there to make the readers understand the roles in this book from an objective point of view and then get better comprehension of Gatsby’s idealized love and the reality of the society. Both Nick and Gatsby in this novel emerge as moral symbol: Gatsby as the embodiment of spiritual desolation or waste, Nick as a hope for moral and spiritual growth.2.2.3 Tom, Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker’s American DreamIn this book, Tom, Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker represent the corruption of American dream. Comparing with Gatsby, they were born with wealth and status but devoid of purpose. Daisy’s lament is especially indicative of this: “What will we do with ourselves this afternoon?” cried Daisy, “and the day after that, and the next thirty years?”(Fitzgerald, 1).Daisy Buchanan, is the dream and cause of his wasted dream. As a representative of those women who are not expected to be well educated, to work, and have developed a kind of parasitic dependency. Daisy is, however, physically attractive, romantic, and sentimental, but emotionally frigid, having a destructive influence on the man with whom she is associated. All her charm is just a gesture of life rather than a quality of living.Tom Buchanan, the husband of Daisy, is ruler and representative of the moral wasteland that has replaced American idealism. All his bulky gestures tell us that in the moral wasteland, idealism is a source of weakness rather than strength; he devoted to nothing but the impulse of his own flesh and the demands of his own ego, completely regardless of any concept of either a moral code or a personal loyalty.For Tom and Daisy Buchanan, it is nothing worries about any potential crisis around them, for they have no moral responsibility at all. Whenever what happens, they will shield themselves with their upper class social status and retreat into their money or leave other people to clean up the mess they’ve made.Jordan Baker, at any rate, is no less a creature of the moral wasteland than is Daisy or Tom Buchanan. As a “lovely”girl who dresses i n “white” and always seem to be “cool” and apathetic, Jordan Baker is an opportunist in her own way. Being a 23-year-old women’s golf champion becomes involved with Nick during the course of the summer of 1922. She looks like “incurably dishonest” however,though Nick finds Jordan haughty and careless, he finds himself being attracted by her anyway. On the other sides, Jordan once “loved” Nick, for she had sensed the honesty and moral firmness in Nick’s heart, and realized that only when staying with a man like Nike can she be free from the mess and continues to be on her own way. But in the end Jordan gets engaged to another man after not seeing Nick for a short time, leaving Nick angry and letting him realizes the same irresponsible exploitation in Jordan as that he sees inTom and Daisy. Jordan’s action seems to intentionally echo Daisy’s leaving Gatsby to marry Tom five years ago.Part III The Cause of Disillusionment of American Dream3.1 The Jazz Age and the Roaring TwentiesThe spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a general feeling of discontinuity associated with modernity, a break with traditions. Everything seemed to be feasible through modern technology. New technologies, especially automobiles, moving pictures and radio proliferated modernity to a large part of the population. Formal decorative frills were shed in favor of practicality in both daily life and architecture. At the same time, jazz and dancing rose in popularity, in opposition to the mood of the specter of World War I. As such, the period is also often referred to as the Jazz Age. The Jazz Age, was, in the words of Malcolm Cowley, “not so much a historical period as a legend of glitter, of recklessness, and of talent in such profusion that it was sown broadcast like wild oats.” It was a legend of “American adolescence before pain set in.” Fitzgeraldbecame “the angel of the twenties” and his writings those of a man inside that legendary period.3.2 Social Environment and People factorsAnother reason for the disillusionment of Gatsby’s American dream may be people factors. Gatsby’s love for Daisy was to the point of obsession, it was really touching, but he chose the wrong object to pay for their own love, Daisy was a secular, hedonistic money worshiper. She could never work hand in hand with Gatsby. And she would not pay a high price for the ideal, and make enormous sacrifices. Her life was of no true love, but cannot be without money. Gatsby’s tragedy is that he has not been able to understand Daisy’s motives, can not understand that she belonged to the complexity of the world. He only saw the world’s surface, bright and elegant, but did not see it hidden in the cold and heartless. In order to protect their rights and status, people in this world has taken hypocritical means.In short, he loved the wrong person and did not wake up until he died. What always existed between him and Daisy was an unbridgeable gap between social status. He’s life was such a tragedy which rooted in his blind pursuit of life and love and fantasy, as well as the lack of knowledge about the upper middle class society, where all the lofty spirit are gone. He started from scratch, but society was swallowed by the dark coldness. He would not take in any case struggle to Daisy and will not become part of high society forever.Gatsby’s failure, to some extent, has indicated the failure of the American Dream, his struggle is the embodiment of American spirit, the failure of him is the declaration of recession in the American spirit. His tragedy arose because he built his ideal on the illusion than reality, his desires to succeed, but when he realized the dream of money he fell into the spirit of the post-crisis. He preferred to escape in stead of facing it bravely. The competition between Tom and Gatsby was not only a battle between rivals in love, but also a battle between representatives of the two different social classes. So his failure is inevitable. The former lovers, Nick and Jordan, were the spectators of the whole story, they have witnessed this dirty and evil history. The height of material prosperity has brought desolation and twisted soul, which hidden under the appearance of carnival fun. The whole community is suffering from this mental illness --- a no way out of the lossand suffering. Therefore, the disillusionment of American dream has become a necessity.ConclusionAfter collecting information and completing this essay, we can understand better the appearance, development and disillusionment of Gatsby’s love and dream. Now we can not only feel empathetic about Gatsby’s intricate and pessimistic life, but also see the inhumanity and cruelty of society.Through this novel, Fitzgerald shows the collapse and disillusionment of pe ople’s dream, no matter what kind of concepts it has, money, social status or simply of happiness. The most catastrophic collapse, however, is the American dream itself. Here, heroes and heroines in this book including Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Nick and Jordan together serve as metaphors by Fitzgerald to reveal the paradox of American dream: when materialism is elevated into having spiritual values, it can only confuse its disciples.He also pointed that, for the reality of life can not compare to idealistic dream, as well as the ideals are usually far too perfect to be paralleled in reality. Then the collapse of American dream is unavoidable.However, this novel is not only a criticism of the corruption of money on American dream. It is also an appealing for abandoning materialism and returning to traditional moral values. What’s more, Nick Carraway, the narrator, provides a successful foil for the degradation of the American dream. He is the voice of morality and humanity in this novel and the only one who register the human loss and measures the disparity between Gatsby’s unrealistic dream and the reality upon which it was based.All in all, this novel, The Great Gatsby, can be absolutely termed as the masterpiece of Fitzgerald. From it we can get some hidden information about the author himself. Fitzgerald said that sometimes he doesn’t know whether he and his wife are real or they are just characters in his novel. This novel, actually, ensured Fitzgerald’s position as a serious and talented writer. In more rece nt years Tony Tanner claimed it to be “the most perfectly crafted work of fiction to have come out of American.”BibliographyB enson, Will. The Great Gatsby and the obscene word. College Literature, 2005.Fitzgerald, F.Scott. The Great Gatsby. Penguin Classics, 1994.Harbison, John. Where Is the Old, Warm World?, From the Great Gatsby. HALLEONARD PUB CO, 2001.Lauter, Paul, Richard, Yarborough, Jackson, Bryer, Charles, Molesworth &King-Kok,Cheung. The Heath Anthology of American Literature:V olumeD:Modern Period (1910-1945). Heinle, 2005.Malcolm, Cowley. What is the Meaning of the Jazz Age. New York UniversityPress, 1986Miller, James E. F. Scott Fitzgerald----His Art and Technique. New York University Press, 1964.TruslowAdams, James. The Epic of America. New York University Press, 1931 Burnam, T. A Re-Examination of The Great Gatsby. College English,1952.Wang Qiong. The Narrative Technique in “The Great Gatsby” from the Point View of Narration. Journal of Huzhou Teachers College, 1996.Wu Dingbai. An Outline of American Literature. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1998.Yang Qishen. Selected Readings in American Literature, V olume 2. Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Press, 1987.Zhao Hongwei. The definition of American Dream2003, Shanghai Language Education Press, 1998.杨慧群.菲兹杰拉德的小说了不起的盖茨比浅析.江苏广播电视大学学报, 2002.Dai Yawa. On disillusionment of American Dream from the Great Gatsby.:1010/Teacher/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=1345, 2007.。

毕业设计（论文）任务书（指导教师填表）研究所（教研室）主任签字： 2011 年1月6日河南科技大学毕业设计（论文）开题报告（学生填表）院系：外国语学院河南科技大学毕业设计（论文）题目申请表（指导教师填表）院系：外国语学院研究所（教研室）：英语系填表日期：2010年12月15日注：1.课题类型一栏填写：工程设计、硬件设计、论文或软件工程。

2.课题来源一栏填写：科研、生产或自拟。

3.本表一式两份，一份由院系保存，一份由研究所（教研室）保存。

河南科技大学毕业论文题目An analysis of Gatsby’s Tragic Roots in The Great Gatsby 浅析《了不起的盖茨比》中盖茨比的悲剧根源姓名院系外国语学院专业英语指导教师2011 年 5月20日ABSTRACTFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was a Jazz Age novelist and short story writer who is considered to be among the greatest twentieth-century American writers. The Great Gatsby, one of the finest novel of Fitzgerald, is regarded as a brilliant piece of social commentary, offering a vivid peek into American life in the 1920s.In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald offers up commentary on a variety of themes — justice, power, greed, betrayal and the American dream, which many Chinese and foreign scholars have analyzed. And this thesis mainly analyze The Great Gatsby from the perspective of Gatsby’s tragic roots.This paper consists of three parts. PartⅠbriefly introduces F.Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby. PartⅡmainly describes Gatsby’s American dream.Part Ⅲoffers three factors to support the reasons of Gatsby’s tragic roots.From the point of view of Gatsby’s tragic roots, the paper aims at making people understand this novel more deeply and contributing to building healthy values in today’s society.KEY WORDS: The Great Gatsby; American Dream; Tragic Roots摘要菲茨杰拉德是公认的二十世纪美国最杰出的爵士时代的小说家。

本科毕业论文中文题目：浅析《了不起的盖茨比》中的美国梦外文题目：An Analysis of American Dream inThe Great Gatsby院系英语学院专业英语（翻译）年级学号浅析《了不起的盖茨比》中的美国梦摘要：《了不起的盖茨比》是美国作家弗·司各特·菲茨杰拉德1925年所写的一部以20世纪20年代的纽约市及长岛为背景的短篇小说。

《了不起的盖茨比》的问世，奠定了弗·司各特·菲茨杰拉德在现代美国文学史上的地位。

本论文讨论了美国梦与美国下层阶级之间的关系。

论文首先介绍了美国梦的基本情况，即历史回顾、历史起源和它的发展，旨在找出美国梦在20世纪20年代失败的原因。

随后论文阐述了美国梦和美国下层阶级的矛盾，论述理想美国梦和物质对美国下层阶级诱惑之间的矛盾,以及理想美国梦与美国下层阶级道德观的改变之间的矛盾。

关键词：《了不起的盖茨比》；美国梦；美国下层阶级An Analysis of American Dream in The Great GatsbyAbstractThe Great Gatsby is the most renowned masterpiece of F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, depicting a story that happened in New York city and Long Island during the 1920s. Due to its birth, Fitzgerald has gained his reputation in contemporary American literature history. This paper consists of two parts. The first part of the paper introduces American dream which concludes historical retrospect, historical origin and its development, aiming to trace back to the reasons that give rise to the failure of American dream. Then, the paper demonstrates the conflict between American dream and the lower classes of American society, including the conflict between American dream and the lure of material world real, and the conflict between American dream and change of moral standards of American lower class.Key words: The Great Gatsby; American Dream；American lower classAcknowledgementsFirst and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Zuo, both for her intellectual guidance and for her warm and constant encouragement during the process of writing this thesis. With patience and prudence, she labored through drafts of this thesis and pointed out defects in my theorizing. Therefore, I owe all the merits in this thesis, if any, to her, though I am fully aware that the thesis might still contain some mistakes, for which I bear the whole responsibility.My cordial and sincere thanks go to all the teachers in the College of English, whose interesting and informative courses have benefited me a lot during my college years. The profit that I gained from their profound knowledge, remarkable expertise and intellectual ingenuity will be of everlasting significance to my future life and career.I am also very grateful to my classmates, who have given me a lot of help and courage during my stay in the University and throughout the process of writing this thesis.Last but not the least, big thanks go to my family who have shared with me my worries, frustrations, and hopefully my ultimate happiness in eventually finishing this thesis.Contents中文摘要 (ⅰ)Abstract (ⅱ)Acknowledgements (ⅲ)Introduction (1)Ⅰ. The American Dream (3)A.Origin of American Dream (3)B.Development of American Dream (5)Ⅱ. The Contradiction Between American Dream and the American Lower Class in the 1920s (7)A.The Contradiction Between Ideal of American Dream and MaterialTemptation for American Lower Class in the 1920s (8)B.The Contradiction Between American Dream and Change of Moral Standardsof American Lower Class in the 1920s (12)Conclusion (15)Notes (18)Bibliography (19)An Analysis of American Dream in The Great GatsbyIntroductionFitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 24, 1896. He was the only son of an upper middle class Catholic family. While he was at Princeton university, the young Fitzgerald developed his talent in writing. When the First World War broke out, he enlisted in the army, and in a training camp in Alabama, he met and felt in love with Zelda sayre, the southern belle who became his wife and who was the model for most of the beautiful and gay heroines of his fiction. His life with her was a mixture of great happiness and great misery and pain. In 1925, Fitzgerald published his most famous novel the Great Gatsby. Before long, his wife became mentally ill. Fitzgerald declined as a writer. He worked regularly as a script—writer in Hollywood from 1937 to 1939, when he succumbed to alcoholism. He died of heart attack in 1940. His wife, Zelda, was sent to a sanitarium and died in a fire started by herself in the sanitarium.Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers, whose works were the samples of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. Many critics have seen Fitzgerald’s artistic achievement in terms of his ability to depict the American society, its history and its people1. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the Lost Generation of the 1920s. He finished four novels, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night and his most famous, the celebrated classic, The Great Gatsb y—his masterpiece which is often taken as an account of the story of America. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age.The thesis consists of two parts. In order to tracing back to the reasons that give rise to the degradation of American Dream, the first part bases its explanation on the retrospect of American history and American Dream. Then, the second part will be primarily focused on the conflict between American Dream and the lower classes of American society, including the conflict between American Dream and reality, andthat between American Dream and the lure of material world.I. The American DreamOne of the things that makes America such an unusual place is that it is perhaps the only society in history in which a vast number of its members are living their private dream. It is a world that teaches the primacy of the personal, of oneself, which ironically leaves people powerless.1 Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States mentioned in his inaugurated speech that This is our moment. This is our time----to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many, we are one. The American dream means that everyone, no matter what social status is, can achieve his goal through his own hard work. The ideology is based on the origin of the America, as a belief carved in people’s minds.The lifestyle of Americans provides infinitive possibilities for individuals on the basis of the political economy.2 The best example is Abraham Lincoln. He was a person who had nothing at his early years, but he became the 16th president of the United States through his own efforts.A.Origin of American DreamBecause the Roman pope didn’t agree that the England king Henry Ⅷdivorced with his wife, he decided to break up with Roman pope in political relationship and establish new national church, England church. But this kind of new church didn’t reform in its meaning and ritual. This caused dissatisfaction of the protestant who wished to purify the state church, and then came the puritans. Puritans believed that one’s success on his work or career is the sign of God’s select. The moral principle of the puritans is diligent work and good qualities.3 But some ideas of puritans was a threat to the England state church which led to extreme persecution ofsome people. Some were thrown to jail, while others were punished to death. In order to escape from the political persecution or seek new life from new continent, some Englanders began their journey to the North America. In 1620, 35 puritans and 67 non-puritans drifted to North America in a ship called May Flower. Before they landed, 41 travelers signed a treaty—Mayflower Compact. The original text like this: “In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.”4It was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony and the oldest historical document about immigrants towards North America. The compact not only regulates equality and justice, but also implies the spirit of hard work and struggling of the puritans. Even though American dream has different definitions in different periods, yet under political persecution, these Anglo-Saxons wished political equality to create new life. This is the origin of American dream. In this area with abundant resources which were not developed, people must work hard if they wanted to become wealthy and as long as they worked hard, they can improve their living standards. Since 1783, under the encouragement of federal government and state government, “ going to the West and going to the West to seek one’s American dream” has become urgent need and practical action for most of Americans. The abundant western land didn’t belong to government, didn’t belong to someone, but belonged to those who arrived earliest and developed it.B.Development of American DreamIn the early 1930s, from 1929 to 1933 when the United States went through Economic Depression, Adam, a historian mentioned American dream in an article, that is, American dream is that common people can change their own future through their own efforts in this state. When this concept was put forward, most Americans were inspired, at the same time, many Europeans and people around the world poured to the United States and tried to become a part of the American culture. Some succeeded, but most people failed. Nevertheless, American dream was still goal for most Americans.If the early American society was agricultural economy, then after industrial revolution, the realization of American dream can be finished by commercial activities.5Most of individual possessions in the United States were brought by those successful merchants and these merchants used less capital to start an enterprise. Compared with agriculture, Americans preferred business, because doing business was a quick way to make individual become wealthy. Before 100 years, the Americans established huge national industry, such as Morgan who founded bank, Fort who invented car production line whose common character was from a person with nothing to millionaire. These facts made most Americans adore these commercial heroes as heroes who developed an uncultivated land. In 1990s, people began to do business on Internet. Such companies as Amazon and Yahoo developed to big companies under the impact of the financial threat. Such successful entrepreneur as Steve Paul Jobs who invented apple computer and Bill Gates, the giant of Microsoft Corporation, their successful experiences encouraged most Americans invest to open their own companies. Americans like a word very much, that is, I’m my own boss. American dream has new connotation, that is, people can gain material success through one’s own efforts and by applying commercial wisdom. The core of American dream is high living standards.Nowadays, all kinds of immigrants with different background and skills havefound ways to enter the United States. American dream still has huge attract to immigrants from different periods, and the United States is still the melt to attract immigrants around the world. The reality is that those immigrants with powerful economy and good educational background are easy to gain success in the United States. In the end of 2006, financial crisis caused by American subprime mortgage crisis stroke the whole world and the American economy began to decline. But for most Americans, America was still a place with equal opportunities and one can gain success through one’s own efforts.II. The Contradiction Between American Dream and the AmericanLower Class in the 1920sThe American Dream is the national Dream of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.6The concept of a lower class in the United States is used to describe those at or near the lower end of the socio-economic hierarchy. As with all social classes in the United States, the lower class is loosely defined and its boundaries and definitions subject to debate and ambiguous popular opinions. Sociologists such as W. Lloyd Warner, Dennis Gilbert and James Hensley divide the lower classes into two. The contemporary division used by Gilbert divides the lower class into the working poor and underclass. Service and low-rung manual laborers are commonly identified as being among the working poor. Those who do not participate in the labor force and rely on public assistance as their main source of income are commonly identified as members of the underclass. Overall the term describes those in easily-filled employment positions with little prestige or economic compensation who often lack a high school education and are to some extent disenfranchised from mainstream society.7The contradiction lies in two aspects: one is between ideal of American dream and Material Temptation for American Lower Class in the 1920s; another is between Ideal of American Dream and change of moral standards of American lower class in the 1920s.A. The Contradiction between Ideal of American Dream and Material Temptation for American Lower Class in the 1920sIn An Informal History of the Nineteen Twenties, the author points out that the so-called American Dream is a fantasy to pursue one’s own happiness without following the present situation of the American society, which is an epidemic disease of the American teenagers in the 1920s. Fitzgerald sharply notices the hypocrisy and harm of this idea and beat the death knell of American Dream with the tragedy of Gatsby.8From this comment, people can see that The Great Gatsby has revealed some nature of American society from a new perspective and has exposed the huge difference between the American Dream in real life and the American spirit of the origin in the United States. The American spirit represents these thoughts adored and cherished by Americans which are democracy, freedom and equal rights. America is a society with pursuing success and in every corner of the United States, you can see the desire for success, endeavour made for success and praising for the efforts of success. The spirit of the American nation is composed of the desire for success and the faith for success. The American spirit is considered to be the spiritual power which makes the United States become a powerful nation in only 200 years and creates various kinds of American myth. The American spirit raises all efforts for achieving individual values into divine duties and rights given by God. In An Informal History of the Nineteen Twenties, the author points out that Americans believes that there is a close relationship between successes in the world and faith in God.9Those Americans who lives in North America prove and strengthen this consciousness in their independent business and social practice. Success has then become the core value of American life. Americans know that accumulating fortunes doesn't simply mean owning fortunes. Under this condition, Americans don't care whether he was a poor man in the past and don’t care his background, and as long as he wins success, he is a hero. Americans advocate wining success by one’s own qualities and efforts and advocate becoming wealthy by hard work, which forms their unique individualand independent consciousness.However, since in the 1920s, the international circumstances and economic basis of American life have taken great changes. The economic prosperity has provided unprecedented opportunities for those Americans with dream of becoming wealthy and provided unprecedented possibilities of being opportunistic. Such consciousness as honest labor and equal competence are challenged in life. Stock exchanges produce many upstarts and the illegal management has become the effective method to accumulate fortunes. Though desire for success and efforts made for success is still powerful, the way and method of fighting has been greatly changed. However, Americans who adv ocate success and praise success don’t care about it, on the contrary, they still are addicted to fighting of success and the delight of success.In The Great Gatsby, people can see that so-called success in real life has two sides. One aspect is that it shows the infinite possibilities for individual development. Another aspect is that these infinite possibilities for individual development are just about occupations --- money, fortune, rights and dignity which are just meaningless occupations. Fitzgerald emphasizes the latter aspect in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald pointed out that money made many Americans’ original dream changed. They didn’t follow what the American spirit had taught them, on the contrary, as long as they could become wealthy, they could do anything to achieve this goal and they didn’t care whether their method was legal. What they knew and cared was just how to make themselves happy everyday.Before the 1920s, the American people have their own dreams which are very original and beautiful, they want to achieve their goal through their hard work in a legal way, and in their eyes, money doesn’t mean anything to them. While in the 1920s, Americans, especially for those who belong to American lower class, their American dream was tortured, what they cared was not achieving their dream through their hard work in a legal way. The most important thing for them was money. As long as they can become wealthy, they can do whatever they could, no matter whether their method was legal or not. Gatsby used to be deeply influenced by Benjamin Franklin, believing that industry and hard work can make him succeed. He firmly confirmedthat he could become a successful person, as long as he did what Franklin had done. However, the reality went against his willing. When he met Daisy, he was a poor guy. And because of this reason, Daisy married Tom who was rich young man belonging to American upper class. In Gatsby’s eyes, Daisy was all he had. She was the symbol of the perfect, purified and rich. Even though she married Tom, she was still the goddess in his heart. So in order to regain Dai sy’s heart, his dream changed. At this time, his dream in his life was just only one goal, that is, making money. The way to achieve this goal was not very important to him, and he didn’t care whether the way was legal or not. Therefore, he abandoned his former belief and became a person who sold alcoholic in an illegal way to accumulate fortune. He innocently believed that as long as he had money, he can achieve all his wishes, including regaining Daisy’s heart. For Gatsby, American dream only means money, he can do anything he wants as long as he has money.The United States in the 1920s was described as a period of material success and spiritual frustration or confusion and purposelessness. At that time, American dream in people’s eyes, especially in American lower class’ eyes, lost its traditional meaning. The capitalism entered into the phase of imperialism and the industry of capitalism was developing rapidly at a surprising speed, which deepens the gap between the rich and the poor. And the capitalists have accumulated a lot of fortunes. In a society like this, if a person wants to gain success through hard work and wisdom, it is just a dream which is impossible to realize. Gatsby is the typical representative. When he was young, he dreamed of becoming a person like Franklin, who gained success through his own efforts and wisdom. But in a society of the 1920s, it is impossible for Gatsby to realize his dream. Because American dream at his time has changed. At his time, success just means money. As long as you can get rich, you are successful. In fact, almost everyone at his time were pursuing money and longing for money. If illegal activities can make them earn money, they would use illegal method. All friends of Gatsby were like this. Their fortunes have been achieved through illegal activities. What Gatsby did was illegal and he got his money through these illegal activities. And we can find this point from the beginning of The Great Gatsby to itsend. The fundamental reason for this is that there is a big problem in that society and individual can’t avoid being influenced by the society.B.The Contradiction Between American Dream and Change ofMoral Standards of American Lower Class in the 1920sCompared with other countries, the history of America is rather short, but has its unique quality, that is to say, every important historical event can cause great influence on American literature. Such representatives of Lost generation as Hemingway and Fitzergerald actually were the products of the First World War，and most of writers who belonged to this school were young writers who took an antipathy to war and feared war, but can’t find the way out of thoughts. So they became the Lost generation for losing their way.10 What war brought to people was influential, change for people’s moral standards.What made the special period from any others were many aspects. During this period, the most important event was the First World War which was the United States involved in foreign affairs for the first time. The war had great influence on the United States. In order to make the world safe, people entered the war with unexpected enthusiasm. By selling munitions, America earned a huge fortune and suddenly became the wealthiest country in the world. This misled most of Americans. People in the United States believed that money was everywhere, and everyone had the opportunity to make money. Because of the war, the world’s order was broken. Any country who participated in the war got seriously wounded. The death toll of the war was 6 million. Besides, it made the economy of most of the countries decline. However, it was on the contrary for the United States. For America, there was no any fighting which led to stimulating its economy and technology. Because of the development of its economy, America decided to emphasize on developing its technology and commerce. As a result, such new products as automobiles, televisions and radios had been made. And these products helped to widen the horizon of its people and increase their knowledge. The entertainments enriched people’s life, notably Jazz music. Mass production, mass consumption, and mass leisure became essential to economic and cultural life and were soon to dominate the nation’s cultureand institutions. The trend of social revolution was going on. Furthermore, these changes were not good for Americans, because these changes changed people’s moral codes. Old moral codes were breaking down. Even though most of Americans became wealthier than before, they were becoming more indifferent, selfish and ruthless.The United States in the 1920s was described as a period of material success and spiritual frustration and confusion or purposelessness. Car has caused great influence on American society in the 1920s. Car is the pillar industry of the United States and America is called “the country on the wheel”. Without cars, it is impossible to imagine what the country will be like. So car has become a important part of the American values and has become a vital part of social status and American culture related to moral values. So after WWI, car has become the fashion pursued by young men. Preference for car then becomes adore for fortune and material and makes American society vast, vulgar and showy without real worth. In The Great Gatsby, people can see that car has many symbol meanings.This degradation of moral standards can be seen in the Great Gatsby clearly. At very beginning of the novel, people wanted to flatter Gatsby, wanted to become good friend of Gatsby, because he had a lot of money. But when Gatsby died, nobody came to attend his funeral. From this point, people can see how indifferent they were.Car has become the symbol of individual fortune and social status. In the 1920s, even though the car industry has developed very fast in the United States and the cost of car production has been dropped, at that time, car has still belonged to rare things and it is still a dream for most Americans to have a car. Naturally, car becomes the tool to show off for a few Americans. And Gatsby is one of them. He wants to regain Daisy’s heart by showing off and the expensive car is one of his tools to show off.His car was very glorious, like his mansion, liner and luxurious banquet which were all the material foundation to regain Daisy’s heart were the carriers to convey his information of being rich to Daisy. Wilson who had no his own car had a dream of owning his car and his dream had been beyond the car itself. Actually, he was dreaming that he could enjoy the life of the upper class. And Ms Wilson saw the car as the symbol of individual identity. Ms Wilson went to date with Tom. She let four cabspassed and then chose a new cab whose color was purple. The new car of course feels good than the old one and the purple is the color of the rich, as if she could become a rich lady when she sat in the impressive cab. From Ms Wilson’s choice of the cab, we can see that she was a flamboyant and treasure-loving woman.American moral standards in the 1920s collapsed, gender relationships have been heavily destroyed and the relationship between men and women are very chaotic. Some people think it is car that destroyed the traditional relationship between husband and wife, because car has increased more opportunities for date. Car may have caused impact on people’s living pleasure and moral standards. Barker was the first close contact with Nick in Tom’s car; the adultery of Tom and Ms Wilson began in a cab; the car became the new place for courting. Car was one of the reasons which destroyed the traditional gender relationships, but it was not the major reason. The main reason was the change of American people’s moral standards in the 1920s.ConclusionFitzgerald is the most representative novelist of the 1920s in the United States. His work, The Great Gatsby was the mirror of the times, the Jazz Age. On the surface, it is a brilliant dramatization of social and economic corruptions, while beyond these surface concerns, the novel points out the contradiction between American dream and the American lower class in the 1920s. The hero tries and fails to change the world of hard material objects into the ideal world of their fantasy. Their world like the world of many of their fellow Americans—is material without being real. The morbid pursuit of material and social success is doomed to failure. The dream they are chasing is vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. It is a fairy tale which never comes true.The basic reason why Jay Gatsby, the representative of the American Lower Class in the 1920s cannot succeed is that the American dream at that time had been changed thoroughly. The original American dream is to realize one’s value and achieve one’s goal through one’s hard work, while American dream in the 1920s is to make money which is the only motivation for them. In this condition, the American dream has been distorted. So, people in the 1920s cannot realize their American dream.Even though most of Americans cannot achieve their goals with the distortion of the American dream in the 1920s, yet people cannot say it is impossible to realize American dream under any circumstances. The 1920s was a hard time for Americans, because the values of most Americans had been distorted which led to the failure of American dream. But in contemporary times this kind of condition has changed. In contemporary times, the Americans have their faith and believe that they can succeed and realize their American dream by their hard work. And the Americans can achieve their dream by three main ways: the first way is to have American spirit; the second way is to make full use of opportunities; the last one is to take advantage of your own life experience. These three ways are presented lively in a film called Slumdog。

美国梦美国梦（American Dream）源于英国对美国的殖民时期，发展于19世纪，是一种相信只要在美国经过努力不懈的奋斗便能获得更好生活的理想，亦即人们必须透过自己的工作勤奋、勇气、创意、和决心迈向繁荣，而非依赖于特定的社会阶级和他人的援助。

通常这代表了人们在经济上的成功或是企业家的精神。

1931年James Truslow Adams 在其作品《“美国梦”的定义》中这样写到：“不论社会阶层还是出身背景，每个人都应该有机会凭借其能力和取得的成就获得更好、更富裕、更充实的生活。

”“美国梦”这一信念根植于《独立宣言》。

该宣言称，“人人生来平等”, “造物主赋予他们某些不可剥夺的权利,包括“生命安全、自由和追求幸福的权利。

”1.我们继续奋力向前划，逆水行舟，不停地倒退，回到往昔。

2.“每逢你想要对别人品头论足的时候，”他对我说，“要记住，世上并非所有的人，都有你那样的优越条件。

”3.个人决心：不要浪费时间去Shafter家或者（名字，字迹不清）不再吸烟或嚼烟每隔一天洗澡每周读一本有益的书或杂志每周存5块3块钱对父母好.小说人物尼克（旁白）：来自中西部，耶鲁大学毕业，保险销售员，一战退伍老兵，住在西卵，是盖茨比的隔壁邻居。

杰伊盖茨比(原名詹姆士盖兹)——一个年轻的、神秘的百万富翁后来被揭穿是个私酒走私者,原来住在北达科塔州,有着不为人知的从商经历。

当他还是一战中一名年轻小军官的时候就已经认识了黛西，并且深深地爱上了她。

Daisy-年轻而充满女性魅力和吸引力，但是十分肤浅。

尼克的第二个表妹,曾经搬走了,与盖茨比分手后成为富家子弟汤姆布坎农的妻子。

通常人们认为黛西这一角色的灵感来自菲茨杰拉德年轻时与芝加哥Ginevra王的女继承人的浪漫情史。

汤姆布坎农-生活在东卵的百万富翁, 黛西的丈夫。

布坎南和威廉·米切尔有着相似处,Chicagoan Ginevra嫁给了国王。

布坎南和米切尔对马球有兴趣”。