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1、On Gatsbys Tragic PursuitI. IntroductionAs we know，F. Scott Fitzgerald is a famous writer in the history of American literature. His works become so indispensable to American literature that any introduction show American literature without the mentioning of Fitzgerald, and his works will be conside
2、red incomplete. Fitzgerald was born in 1896; it is clear that his life bridged two centuries. During his early years, he experienced the money-oriented culture of the 1920s, and felt the disillusionment with the American system and the efficacy of individual effort after World War I. It was in the e
3、nvironment of attack upon American materialism that Fitzgerald came of age as a novelist, and just as his life bridged two centuries, his works, most of which reflected the 1920s, cover aspects reflecting two different eras: looking back to the romantic lyricism and expansive dreams of the nineteen-
4、century America, and forward to the jazz strains of the twentieth century. The 1920s is a period of transition linking the older, simpler, more naive and idealistic America and the bewildering, disparate, rootless, cynical America of the present. Fitzgeralds writing catches the tone of the age; in f
5、act, he so vividly captures the mood and manners of his age and successfully draws a finished, emblematic portrait of the American Roaring Twenties through his works that he is always remembered as the spokesman and laureate of the Jazz Age, an era receiving its name from his Tales of the Jazz Age (
6、1922). In the history of American literature, there is probably no writer who is more identified with a decade than Scott Fitzgerald is identified with the 1920s. Fitzgeralds major works include This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beauty and the Damned (1922), The Great Gatsby (1925) and Tender Is the
7、 Night (1934). Among them, The Great Gatsby, a novel praised by T. S. Eliot as “the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James” (Donaldson 268) is always recognized as Fitzgeralds masterpiece. Its clarity, vitality and flavor arouse enormous interest and admiration in literary crit
8、ics and readers. The novel explores the dark side of the Jazz Age, which, together with its stylistic brilliance, establishes Fitzgeralds position as a serious and talented writer of modernist literature. Today, almost 80 years after, the book is as flesh as it first came out and even gains weight d
9、uring these decades.The fact that The Great Gatsby could manage to outlive its age and shine in our time can find its illustration to a great degree in its craftsmanship. The craftsmanship is built upon a lot, and no doubt, the depth and broadness of the novels theme have contributed much to it.As a
10、 typical figure of the “Lost Generation”, F. Scott Fitzgerald expressed his gloomy yet hopeful sentiments towards the contemporary through The Great Gatsby, which is generally considered as his finest novel. This novel consummately summarizes the “roaring twenties” and devastatingly exposes the “Jaz
11、z Age”. It relates the tragedy that Gatsbys attempt to bring his own romantic ideals to the life of the rich is doomed to fail miserably. Gatsby is a poor youth from the Midwest. He falls in love with Daisy, a wealthy girl, but he is too poor to marry her. The girl is then married to a rich young ma
12、n, Tom Buchanan. Determined to win his lost love back, Gatsby engages himself in bootlegging and other “shady” activities, thus earning enough money to buy a magnificent imitation French villa. There he spreads dazzling parties every weekend in the hope of alluring the Buchanans to come. They finall
13、y come and Gatsby meets Daisy again, only to find that the woman is not quite the ideal lover who his dreams of. A sense of loss and disillusionment comes over him. Then Daisy kills a woman in an accident, and plots with Tom to shift the blame on Gatsby. So Gatsby is shot and the Buchanans escape.No
14、w Gatsbys life follows a clear pattern: there is, at first, a dream, then a disenchantment, and finally a sense of failure and despair. II. An Analysis of Gatsbys Tragic PursuitA. Gatsbys Tragic Pursuit of LoveGatsby dreams of pure love.Through the essence of the “rotten crowd” of Tom, Daisy and Jor
15、dan, Nick tells Gatsby “youre worth the whole damn bunch put together.” (F. Scott 150) The compliment that Nick gives Gatsby echoes the beginning of the novel when Nick emphasizes the “creative temperament” in Gatsby. It is commonly agreed that Gatsby is “great” and admirable because of his “extraor
16、dinary gift for hope” and his “romantic readiness,” but as far as we are concerned, Gatsby is great also because he is the only person who understands what love is and who has the power to dream and pursue for pure love in such a corrupted society.As mentioned in the introduction of this paper, the
17、20s of American is a period known as the prevailing of hedonism and of peoples spiritual hollowness. They have no faithfulness in each other, which is evident in peoples adultery and casualty in the relationship between men and women, as Fitzgerald suggests in the novel through the depiction of the
18、intoxication and gaiety of Gatsbys parties and the main characters attitudes towards love and marriage. In The Great Gatsby, through the Chapter Three, it is clear that what deals with the glamour and enchantment of Gatsbys lavish party, and indeed is a miniature of the aura of the American 20s. But
19、 the paper here focuses on the moth-like men and girls who go there: “When the Jazz History of the World was over, girls were putting their heads on mens shoulders in a puppyish, convivial way, girls were swooning backward playfully into mens arms, even into groups, knowing that someone would arrest
20、 their fallbut no one swooned backward on Gatsby.”(F. Scott 51)This is at the climax of the party, and when the party is over, Nick notices that: “Most of the remaining women were now having fights with men said to be their husbands. Even Jordans party, the quartet from East Egg, was rent asunder by
21、 dissension. One of the men was talking with curious intensity to a young actress, and his wife, after attempting to laugh at the situation in a dignified and indifferent way, broke down entirely and resorted to flank attacksat interval she appeared suddenly at his side like an angry diamond, and hi
22、ssed You promised! into his ear.” (F. Scott 52)In these passages, the implication and satire are obvious, in contrast to Gatsbys remaining solitude and aloof as a host is the indulgence of the partygoers. The “curious intensity” mentioned here is again in contrast to Gatsbys intensity and passion fo
23、r his dreaming of Daisy. But “in another sense the intensity is curious in that this is a society which is flippant and cynical, gay and hedonistic, but definitely not intense in its feeling for anyone or anything.”(Donaldson 78) This merry-making way of life usually results in the disloyalty betwee
24、n lovers, husbands and wives. As we know from the novel, five years ago, Daisy dose have a touching and sentimental romance with Gatsby. But that is because she believes Gatsby is the son of some wealthy family as herself. She chooses Tom to be her husband when she realizes that Gatsby cannot provid
25、e her with a luxurious life that she wants. But when Gatsby reappears with his wealth and his unwavering affectionateness for her, she seems to be moved and resumes her relationship with him, without the least sense of guilt to her husband for her betrayal. At last she conjures up with her husband w
26、hen Tom discloses the roots of Gatsbys money to her. She chooses Tom even though she knows well that he does not really love her. What she really wants is not a lover without the qualification to be a member of their society but a man who can not only gives her the security of life but is as irrespo
27、nsible and careless as her.The tragedy of Gatsby lies in that he believes in love, and loves a woman too far from his ideal. As has been analyzed in the previous passage, the basic motives of Daisys behavior derive from money and her selfishness, which defines that she cannot love Gatsby the same wa
28、y as he loves her and more importantly, she would retreat and protect herself at the moment of crisis by sacrificing her vulnerable lover, who lacks a sense of self-protection because of loving her too deeply. This is precisely the “weakness” of Gatsby as opposed to the more sophisticated and practi
29、cal Buchanans, for it is a deformed society where men like Gatsby and Wilson一men defined by emotion or ideals, “are ultimately destroyed, in the wasteland of modern America,” and “it is the flesh-ridden realists like Tom Buchanan who accommodateand survive.” (Cooperman 47)B. Gatsbys Tragic Pursuit o
30、f CareerJay Gatsby is a poor boy in the Mid-West, but he never gives up the dream of making a large fortune and climbing to the upper rung of the social ladder. When the First World War breaks out, Gatsby is called to the army. There, he falls in love with the “nice girl” in his ideal world. When he
31、 is away from the army after army service and is jilted by Daisy Fay, Gatsby is broke and alone. He went to New York. At that time, he was so hard up that he was still wearing his army uniform and had not eaten for “a couple of days.” He sought an unrespectable job at a poolroom. In any case, Gatsby
32、 begins his pursuit of the dream when he changed his name, now that his surname is gone, together with the frontier and westward movement; Gatsby decides to follow his trail east. Bringing his western individualism and the resolves of going to East, Gatsby finds a frontier equivalent in the New York
33、 underworld. This world that he enters is full of professional gamblers, bootleggers, financial conspirators and a new type of exploiters.Five years later, Gatsby is back and now rich from underworld connections. To recapture the past old dream, he purposely buys a house which lies across the bay fr
34、om Daisys. He begins to give lavish parties for the floating population in the hope that he can meet Daisy and renew the old ties.His efforts are not of no avail .He does manage to meet Daisy. He tries to convince her that their fond old dream can be materialized. Tom exposes some of Gatsbys crimina
35、l activities, and Gatsbys dream to win her over is shattered.That pursuit ends in tragedy.III. Causes of Gatsbys Tragic PursuitA. Internal Causes1. Gatsbys Attitude to Life Although Gatsby lives in a poor family, his life is full of yearning. He has positive and optimistic attitude to life. Through
36、his own efforts change his own life. This is the part of his diary:“Rise from bed . . . 6.00 A.M.Dumbbell exercise and wall-scaling .6.15-6.30A.M.Study electricity, etc . . . . .7.15-8.15A.M.Work. . .8.30-4.30P.M.Baseball and sports. . 4.30-5.00 P.M.Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it 5.0
37、0-6.00P.M.Study needed inventions . . . .7.00-9.00P.M.” （F. Scott 168）Although there are serious and persistent combats between Gatsby and the people around, these conflicts give away to the climax at the end when Gatsbys father carries out Gatsbys diary. This climax (diary) initiates authors sugges
38、tions on explorations and pursuit for life of the young people. On the last fly-leaf the diary was printed Gatsbys schedule, and his general resolves-these regulations although in real sense highlight peoples confused state of mind for they have to search for guidelines from Benjamin Franklin, who f
39、irstly specifies employment for the 24 hours of a natural day, they implies how the author yearn for moral standards which are quite crucial to the normal and healthy operation of the whole society“No wasting time; no more smoking or chewing; bath every other day; read one improving book or magazine
40、 per week; save $3,0 per week; be better to parents.” (F. Scott 168)From these we know the younger Gatsby has push; he should change their lives. He should change their position and fate. However, he come across a golden girlDaisy; he would have put all our energy on the Daisy.The tragedy of Gatsby
41、lies in that he believes in love, loves a woman too far from his ideal.“I cant describe to you how surprised I was to find out I loved her, old sport. I even hoped for a while that shed throw me over, but she didnt, because she was in love with me too. She thought I knew a lot because I knew differe
42、nt things from her. . . . Well, there I was, way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didnt care. What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do? ” (F. Scott 146)When Gatsby falls in love with Daisy, he
43、change the attitude toward life, love to see above all else. But Daisy love money. She is a golden girl. That pursuit ends in tragedy.2. Gatsbys Character“Jay Gatsby” is one of F. Scott Fitzgeralds most enduring characters, who becomes a victim of the American Dream, represents a portrayal truth to
44、the youths confused psychology in the modern society; and embodies Fitzgeralds fear and negative attitude towards the modem peoples feverish pursuit of materials.Gatsby is handsome and ardent youth before the war break out, with a clear and definite plan for his own future. Hence, there is no wonder
45、 why Daisy should fall in love with him at the very beginning. When they walk down the street, “his heart beat faster and faster as Daisys white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp
46、 again like the mind of God.”(F. Scott 94) Later, when he touches her lips, it blossomed for him like a flower. How beautiful the picture is! This minute description let people feel the repercussions of vigor and be deeply moved by their passion and naivete.After Gatsby goes for the war, Daisy stays
47、 in a low mood for a long time. Even on that wedding day with Tom, she cries and cries. Unfortunately, this kind of sweet yet not-so-mature love can far less enough to keep both of their hearts together. As time flies, all of Daisys indulgence in luxury, dependence on wealth, infatuation with vanity
48、 conflict with Gatsbys unabashedly romantic nature. And this fact is one thing that Gatsby is always reluctant to accept. Readers may be tempted to attribute Gatsbys tragedy either to Daisy, the woman who lures him into the “vanity fair”, or to Tom, the man who encourages Mr. Wilsons intensions to do Gatsbys harms, but actually the blame for his demise must be attributed to Gatsby himself. He childishly expects to find the youthful, unsullied and innocent character of Daisy. Instead he meets a mature woman long ago seduced by the lifestyle he desires. Just because he admires and pursues
