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1、从历史评论角度分析了不起的盖茨比An Analysis of The Great Gatsby from the Perspective of Historical CriticismAbstract: The Great Gatsby is one of the twentieth centurys brilliant works, and also F. Scott Fitzgeralds most outstanding work. This novel wins the writer a great deal of acclaim from a substantial number o
2、f researchers and scholars. This thesis is to make a tentative study and exploration of the writers own life experiences and its reflections in this novel, which is analyzed from three perspectives. The thesis begins with the background of the 1920s, including historical background and literature ba
3、ckground, which can help us know much better about the writer and the work. Then there is a brief summary of the general academic achievements made by many scholars and researchers. After that, detailed and specific analysis will be made on the similarities between Fitzgeralds and Gatsbys life exper
4、iences: Fitzgeralds dream and Gatsbys dream, The East and the West v.s. the East Egg and the West Egg, New York and the “Ash Valley”. Based on the above analysis, we can see that there are some similarities hidden in Fitzgeralds world and Gatsbys world.Key words: F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Great Gatsb
5、y; historical criticism; similarities摘要：了不起的盖茨比是二十世纪最优秀的小说之一，也是司各特菲茨杰拉德最具代表的作品。这部小说赢得了众多研究家与学者的普遍关注。本篇论文探究的是作者人生经历和它在这部作品中的反映。本文将从以下三个方面进行分析此观点。首先，本文介绍了十九世纪二十年代的背景，包括当时的历史背景与文学背景。这些能够帮助我们更好的了解作家与该作品。然后是对菲茨杰拉德的学者和研究者的学术成果的概述。这之后将详细展开菲茨杰拉德与盖茨比人生经历的相似之处的分析与研究:菲茨杰拉德和盖茨比的梦想，东西部和东西卵以及纽约市和“灰谷”。根据以上分析，我们可以发
6、现菲茨杰拉德的世界与盖茨比的世界之间隐藏着一些相似之处。关键字：菲茨杰拉德；盖茨比；历史批评；相似之处ContentsI. Introduction.1A. Historical background and the definition of historical criticism.1B. Literature background.1C. Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby.2II. Literature Review.3A. Theme.3B. Narrative techniques.4C. Cultural studies and feminist st
7、udies.4D. Morality studies.5III. The Similarities between the Reality and the Story.5 A. Fitzgeralds dream and Gatsbys dream .5 1. Fitzgeralds dream .52. Gatsbys dream .6B. The East and the West v.s. the East Egg and the West Egg .71. The East and the West .72. The East Egg and theWest Egg .8C. New
8、York and the “Ash Valley” .8IV. Conclusion .9Works Cited.10I. IntroductionA. Historical background and the definition of historical criticismThe 1920s in the United States has been described as a period of material success and spiritual frustration. First, the United States made a great deal of mone
9、y in the war and became, as a whole, a lot richer, so that there appeared an economic boom, a deceptive affluence, when the war was over. All of sudden automobiles and radios appeared which helped to widen the horizon of the people and increase their knowledge. The movie revolution and the music, no
10、tably Jazz, now becoming available to everybody, enriched and impacted the way of popular thinking. The country became urban in these years; a new tape of industrial economy developed. Mass production, mass consumption, and mass leisure became essential to economic and cultural life and were soon to
11、 dominate the nations culture and institutions. Unfortunately, also because of the First World War, the heroism, patriotism and the zeal for democracy that the romantic notion of war had inspired now proved to be false and tasteless to a generation who had faith in them. Excitement and enthusiasm su
12、bsided to make way for disillusionment. It was as if the party was over and an anti-climax of disillusionment and restlessness and disgust followed. Whats more, modern science destroyed mans ability to believe unquestioningly. At the same time, there was a general feeling among many who were living
13、through it, that this was “a sad period, the dream had failed, and the country was building up economic troubles all along and heading direct toward disaster” (Chang 154-56).Historical criticism means getting more information by reading related histories of the time-period that the story is written
14、in. This doesnt only make readers get the idea of the things they didnt understand but also helps them get a deeper understanding of the theme and details of the story. And by analyzing the evidence of the story, readers can see that there are always a lot the author inferred but didnt tell. These a
15、re surprises left for readers to search which from these they can learn a lot more about the story.BLiterature backgroundIn the age of fast-paced and “roaring” change, American fiction of the 1920s registered a sense of purposelessness, decadence and cultural emptiness. It also captured both “an exc
16、itement about the new and an anxiety about the historical loss” (Toming 239). Many masterpieces are based on writers own experiences of the First World War, the main characters changed deeply; they were no longer the nobody who was from a small town. These so called “the Lost Generation” writers dec
17、laimed the war on value outlook, the old heroism and life style and morality in the present time, such as T. S. Eliots The Waste Land, Faulkners Soldiers pay, Hemingways The Sun Also Rises as well as The Great Gatsby of Fitzgerald. “The protagonists are all soldiers back into the new world, they fin
18、d the human nature has been distorted, and there appeared a gap between the past and present living situation. Why? Its because the present life became decadent and dispirited” (Yang 214-15).Yet in the decade of 1920s American literature achieved a new diversity and reached a new diversity and reach
19、ed its greatest heights. In 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald said “An author ought to write for the youth of his generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterwards.” Fitzgerald wrote about what he saw during the 1920s, which he dabbled the Jazz Age, and The Great Gatsby is consid
20、ered a correct depiction of that era. C. Fitzgerald and his The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), a famous American writer. He is often acclaimed the spokesman of Jazz Age. He is so central to the American that it would be difficult to picture that time fully if he had not existed. Part o
21、f his central role has to do with the style with which he responded to his experience, which made him see certain aspects of the life of the twenties more clearly and deeper than his contemporaries. In his novels, Fitzgerald unfolds before us the fashion, the luxury, the deceit and the emptiness of
22、social life of 1920s. One of the distinguishing features of his works, like the others writers in his age, is parallel between his characters and his own experiences. Written on 1925, The Great Gatsby is one of the greatest literary documents of this period, which wins many favorable praises. And it
23、 is also the central to the literature of the twenties, and it is in the mainstream of American realism as it emerged after World War I.Fitzgeralds greatness lies in the fact that he found intuitively in his personal experience the embodiment of the nation and created a myth out of American life. Th
24、e story of The Great Gatsby is a good illustration. Gatsby is a young guy from the Midwest. He falls in love with Daisy, a wealthy girl, but is too poor to marry her. The girl is then married to a rich man, Tom Buchanan. Determined to win back his lost love, Gatsby engages himself in bootlegging and
25、 other “shady” activities, thus earning enough money to buy a magnificent house. Then he spreads dazzling parties every weekend, hoping one day the Buchanans will come. They finally come and Gatsby meets Daisy again. But the woman before him is not quite the ideal over of his dream and they can neve
26、r repeat the past. Then Daisy kills a woman (Toms mistress) in an accident and plots with Tom to shift the blame on Gatsby. Finally, Gatsby was shot and the Buchanans escape. The Great Gatsby caught superbly the spirit of a decade, and was classified as a book about the Roaring Twenties. It is one o
27、f those novels that richly evoke the texture of their time and become literary classics; they become a supplementary or even substitute from of history. Gatsby and the novel in which he lives have become firmly fixed in the popular culture, in academic evaluation of literary achievement. Now people
28、keep reading it. Ever since its publication, the novel has received warm discussion from critics. They analyzed the novel from different perspectives.II. Literature Review The researches and studies on Fitzgerald have been carried on both at home and abroad. He enjoys both national and international
29、 fame. Ever since the 1950s, Fitzgerald has been drawing attention from scholars and critics from many countries. A. Theme A great part of the critical attention has been focused on the theme. Many believe that the theme of The Great Gatsby is the American dream. “The theme of The Great Gatsby is th
30、e pursuit of American dream and the desertion of American dream,” Diao Keli argued in “On the Theme of The Great Gatsby” (Diao 82-88). To Zhang Lilong, “The Great Gather is actually a recall and summary of the process of the involvement of the American dream from historical and realistic perspective
31、s” (Chang 108-109). Some others pointed out that Gatsbys tragedy could represent that of all the Americans at that period of time. “The tragedy of Gatsby is also the tragedy of Fitzgerald. The tragedy is of all the pursuers of American dream.” Wang Yujuan says in “The Reasons of Great Gatsby and Ame
32、rican Dream”, and argues “the dream of Gatsby is also the dream of all typical Americans. The defeat of Gatsby is in fact the loss of all the Americans” (Wang 28).Critics abroad have paid much attention to the theme of The Great Gatsby as well. They regard its theme as the failure of the American dr
33、eam through Gatsbys personal experience. “The Great Gatsby is an exploration of the American dream as it exists in a corrupt period” “critics from several different generations have noted how Fitzgerald used his conflicts to explore the origins and fate of the American dream and the related idea of
34、the nation” (Callahan 48). B. Narrative techniques The unique narrative techniques also receive much attention. Cheng Aiming in his “The narrative Technique of The Great Gatsby analyzes the narrative technique of the novel from three aspects: the narrator, point of view, and writer, narrator, charac
35、ter, and reader. He concludes that the writer makes the character in this novel the narrator to develop the story skillfully” (Cheng 130). This unique technique creates aesthetic distance between the writer, the narrator, the characters and the readers, producing original artistic effect. Toming poi
36、nts out, “With this narrative point of view in place, the novel achieves a balance between involvement and distance, romantic passion and critical irony” (Toming 241).C. Cultural studies and feminist studies In the 1970s, the study of literature was influenced by cultural studies and feminist studie
37、s. The novels representation of women, race and sexual identity were interrogated. Some critics argued that Daisy was considered a person in her own right and not just an object of Gatsbys desire. Some noted a homosexual dimension in Nicks relationship to the men in the novel, and most recently the
38、conclusion that Gatsby is black has been made. From the authors aspect, some critics point out great similarities between Fitzgerald and Gatsby. Like Fitzgerald, what Gatsby schemes for, and ultimately does, is not for money itself but for the fact that it will take him near to his beloved. “In The
39、Great Gatsby，Fitzgerald exactly and beautifully canalized the various stands of his own temperament一his essential Westernness, his sensibility beyond the sensibility of the class he clung to” (Clarke 129). A comparison between Fitzgerald and Hemingway also arouses critics great interest. D. Morality
40、 studiesSome researchers and critics attached importance to Fitzgeralds morality. In recent years, some critics such as Henry Dan Piper and Frederick J. Hofman, are beginning to be conscious of the writers moral sense which is pervasive in almost all of his major works, and The Great Gatsby is no ex
41、ception. The awareness of this, as a matter of fact, helps to push a little forward the study of Fitzgerald, because this is also an essential and indispensable part of Fitzgeralds character and personality.III. The Similarities between the Reality and the StoryViewed above from all researches both
42、domestic and abroad, Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby is actually a great novel that everyone can have different interpretations from different perspectives. This paper is intended to have a try to analyze the theme of The Great Gatsby in terms of historical criticism. In achieving this, the following t
43、hree aspects will be explored to find the similarities between the reality and the story.A. Fitzgeralds dream and Gatsbys dream1. Fitzgeralds dream The novel deals with Gatsby, an idealists mythological tragedy of pursuing his dream, reflecting the disillusion of the “American dream.” The “American
44、dream” refers to the common belief held by the Americans that everyone can achieve success by means of intelligence and hard work. The original mythology of the “American dream” mirrors peoples wishes to build “this side of Paradise” on the American Continent, because in the Europeans eyes, this lan
45、d was rich in opportunities since the first immigrant. In his literary works, Fitzgerald was concerned on the other aspect of the “American dream,” namely, the degenerated American heroes who have experienced the splendid summit of their lives under the pen of such outstanding writers, as Henry Jame
46、s, Hemingway and Faulkner, but finally perish after the ruin of their illusions.The Great Gatsby, as F. Scott Fitzgeralds finest novel, is a sensitive and symbolic treatment of themes of contemporary life related with irony and paths to the legendary of the American Dream. The author identifies himself with his writing of the Jazz Age in 1920s and the corruptible American Dream; in The Great Gatsby he admires Gatsbys obsession in his incorruptible dream, although he still f
