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1、The Disillusion of American Dream in The Great GatsbyThesis Title:The Disillusion of American Dream in The Great GatsbyThesis statement (Introduction):The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, is one of the greatest literary documents of this period as well as a masterpiece related with irony and pathos to
2、 the “American Dream.” It is a picture of the unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Many critics have made a lot of studies on it and wrote numerous critical essays. The English famous poet and critic T.S. Eliot who has never had a hasty and extravagant critic, read The Great Gatsby three ti
3、mes and praised the novel was “the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James.”(Donaldson, 1984:268) H. L. Mencken, a most influential critic of that time, declared this novel to be “no more than a glorified anecdote.” In 1983, The Great Gatsby was translated into Chinese by Profes
4、sor Wu Kunning, after that many Chinese scholars began study on The Great Gatsby, analyzing its artistic forms, its theme and its symbols. To Zhang Lilong, “The Great Gatsby is actually a recall and summary of the process of evolvement of the American dream historical and realistic perspectives.”(Zh
5、ang Lilong, 1998:108-109) Others analyses Gatsbys tragedy. Wang Yujuan argues that “the dream of Gatsby is also the dream of all Americans. The defeat of Gatsby is also the loss of the generation.” (Wang Yujuan, 1998:28)From all researches both domestic and abroad, we can see that The Great Gatsby i
6、s a great novel that everyone can have different interpretation from different aspects. However, a few researches have studied about what ruined Gatsbys dream and why his dream inevitably failed. Therefore, this paper will reveal the roots and causes of the failure of Gatsbys dream.1. The significan
7、ce of your research: Scott. Fitzgerald is a prominent novelist in the American literature, owned the title of the spokesman of the Jazz Age and the laurel of poet. He is also one of the most representative writers in the “Lost Generation” The Great Gatsby stands for his masterpiece. The Great Gatsby
8、 has assumed a meaning more than a Mere romantic love story. Actually, Gatsby s pursuit of his dream and his final tragedy exemplify to a great extent the end of the illusory American dream.The novel shows a vivid picture of the 1920s when America entered the short but unprecedentedly prosperous per
9、iod, and when many people thought America was the land of freedom and dreamed an “American dream which was actually a beautiful mirage. However, in the process of pursuing their dream people abandoned a lot of social values they treasured in the past and regarded money as the only tool of judging hu
10、man success. This is also the point that this thesis intends to express. Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. Theme discussion in the paper is done through analyzing the symbolism used in the novel, which aims for better understa
11、nding of the connotation of the novel. Also this paper tries to analyze the characteristic of Gatsby. His ignorance makes his failure at first. All of this can inspire us a lot.2. Methodology: Through consulting a large number of material, understand lost generation of the social background and the
12、authors life experience, carefully read the two works, deeply analyzed the two the character of the hero is the similarities and differences, to find the real reason for the American dream lost.3. Possible difficulties and solutionsMy viewpoint presented in this dissertation would be superficial and
13、 incomplete, for my own literary culturation and knowledge about this book are limited. I have tried my best to solve these problems via looking up in the library ,surfing the internet and asking help from my tutor.4. Potential conclusions: Fitzgerald expressed his sadness to the Lost Generation by
14、describing a series of tragedies successfully in The Great Gatsby which reflects the social reality of that age. The hero, Gatsby, is an individual living in that period, who lives a poor life in youth. In Gatsbys eyes, the world is material without real and love. The distorted pursuit of material a
15、nd social success is doomed to failure. Gatsby tries to change the world of material into the ideal world of their fantasy. With his great efforts, he gains wealth, proving his success. But, the dream they are chasing is vast, naive, and impractical. It is a fairy tale which never comes true in the
16、greedy society. Facing the relentless reality, both Gatsby and his dream are just buried in this heartless land. His personal experience is the realization of the American dream. The Great Gatsby shows all of the American experience in the 1920s, criticizes the society that money ranks first and peo
17、ple only care themselves. Through an interpretive analysis of the social background of the American 1920s and characters of the heroes, we have concluded that there are three roots of Gatsbys failure. First, because Gatsbys dream, as the American dream, contain some limitations and contradictory asp
18、ects, it cannot survive in the rigid reality. Secondly, we can see Gatsbys self-destructive potentialsinnocence and naivety from his idealism or romanticism. Finally, compared with Gatsby, there are too much selfish and immoral people and behaviors in this unequal society. Gatsbys innocence and naiv
19、ety is doomed to failure in the corrupted American society. Therefore, Gatsbys tragedy is inevitable in that age, and Gatsbys tragedy also indicates the disillusionment of the American dream.One of the reasons why it is still popular now although it has been over eighty years since it was first publ
20、ished is the spirit of Gatsby which inspires the young generation to pursue their dreams. In order to make his dream come true, Gatsby is so brave, tough and persistent. No matter what difficulties he faces, he never gives up to chase his dream. Dream is one of the most important things in our life,
21、 which guides the way of life. When we meet some barriers on our study or work, Gatsbys passion stimulates us to surpass ourselves. It pushes us to make the dream come true. On the other hand, Gatsbys tragedy also gives us some revelations. Dream should be established on reality. Once our dream is f
22、ar from the actuality, it cannot come true yet. Therefore, before drawing a blueprint for our future, we must clear what we want to do and what we can do. 5. Previous preparations: The title of my report is the Disillusion of the American Dream in F.Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby. Francis Scott
23、Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers in the twentieth century and he is also the representative of the Jazz Age. Defined by Fitzgerald,” Jazz Age refers to the years from 1919 to 1929. This was a period during which economy was booming and the values of people were c
24、hanging greatly. With the economic prosperity, moral decay has become more and more seriously day by day. The disillusion of the American dream is an often written theme in the American literature. A person who works hard can become successful; this is what the American Dream is centered around. How
25、ever, the American Dream changed as people became lust for money, high social position. The dream is now completely lost and can never be restored. The Great Gatsby written by Fitzgerald is one of the representative works that reflects this theme. It seems that it is just a love tragedy happening in
26、 that social background. Actually once taking a further understanding on the content of the novel, we can realize that various aspects of the society in those years have been described in the novel. In my paper, I hope give people a thorough understanding about the disillusion of the American dream
27、through the Great Gatsby and aim to use the reflection to warn people today and to guide people in walking on a right way on our todays society. I think we should realize that the blind worship to love is dangerous and harmful. In literary work, it makes Gatsby lose his life; in real life, it makes
28、many people lose their beliefs, moralities and spirit. So, how to write this paper? Firstly, I will makes a brief introduction to Fitzgeralds literary works, the rationale of this study, the summary of the story and the literature review on this novel. Then I will introduce the background, the origi
29、n, the evolution ,the disillusion of American dream and the relationship between the American culture and the American Dream. After that I will expose the disillusion of the American dream reflected in The Great Gatsby and analysis some characters in the novel, such as Gatsby, Tom, Daisy who are own
30、ing the American Dream and make great efforts to achieve their dreams. Then I will analysis some symbols in the novel which are related to the American Dream such as time, Valley of Ashes, Dr. Eckleburgs eyes, Gatsbys parties, automobile and some colors. Then I will talk about the relationship betwe
31、en the money and love in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby believes he can win Daisy back by the possession he owns. But he obtains nothing from his money and his dream is totally lost. At last I will expose of the essence of the American Dream was nothing but an idea materialistic wealth and objective pleas
32、ure and analysis the realistic significance in todays society. Firstly, I will makes a brief introduction to Fitzgeralds literary works, the rationale of this study, the summary of the story and the literature review on this novel. Then I will introduce the background, the origin, the evolution ,the
33、 disillusion of American dream and the relationship between the American culture and the American Dream. After that I will expose the disillusion of the American dream reflected in The Great Gatsby and analysis some characters in the novel, such as Gatsby, Tom, Daisy who are owning the American Drea
34、m and make great efforts to achieve their dreams. Then I will analysis some symbols in the novel which are related to the American Dream such as time, Valley of Ashes, Dr. Eckleburgs eyes, Gatsbys parties, automobile and some colors. Then I will talk about the relationship between the money and love
35、 in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby believes he can win Daisy back by the possession he owns. But he obtains nothing from his money and his dream is totally lost. At last I will expose of the essence of the American Dream was nothing but an idea materialistic wealth and objective pleasure and analysis the
36、realistic significance in todays society.6. Outline of the PaperThe Art of Symbolism in The Great GatsbyIntroduction1,Fitzgerald and the Great Gatsby 1.1 Fitzgeralds life and his works. 1.2 social and historical context of the Great Gatsby.2,Various symbols employed in the Great Gatsby 2.1 color sym
37、bols. 2.1.1 white. 2.1.2 Green.待添加的隐藏文字内容3 2.1.3 Yellow. 2.1.4 Blue. 2.2 climate and locale symbol. 2.3 Object symbol. 2.3.1 The valley of Ashes. 2.3.2 The eyes of Dr.T.J.Ecktelrury. 2.4 Character symbol. 2.4.1 Gatsby. 2.4.2 Daisy.3,The Disillusion of the American dream. 3.1 What is American dream. 3.2 The disillusion of Gasbys dream.Conclusion
