The Disillusion of American Dream in The Great Gatsby
Thesis Title:
The Disillusion of American Dream in The Great Gatsby
Thesis 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 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假期里的一件事 extravagant critic, read The Great Gatsby three times and praid 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 Chine by Professor Wu Kunning, after that many Chine scholars began
study on The Great Gatsby, analyzing its artistic forms, its theme and its symbols. 东南西北的英文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.”(Zhang Lilong, 1998:108-109) Others analys Gatsby’s 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 rearches both domestic and abroad, we can e that The Great Gatsby is a great novel that everyone can have different interpretation from different aspects. However, a few rearches have studied about what ruined Gatsby’s dream and why his dream inevitably failed. Therefore, this paper will reveal the roots and caus of the failure of Gatsby’s dream.
1.The significance of your rearch:
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 reprentative writers in the “Lost Generation” The Great Gatsby stands for his masterpie
ce. The Great Gatsby 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 period, 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 human 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 ud in the novel, which aims for better understanding 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 author's 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 solutions
My viewpoint prented in this disrtation would be superficial and incomplete, for my own literary culturation and knowledge about this book are limited. I have tried my best to solve the problems via looking up in the library ,surfing the internet and asking help from my tutor.
4.人间天堂的意思Potential conclusions:
Fitzgerald expresd his sadness to the Lost Generation by describing a ries of tragedies successfully in The Great Gatsby which reflects the social reality of that age. The herobalcony是什么意思, Gatsby, is浣熊的英文 an individual living in that period, who lives a poor life in youth. In Ga
tsby’s eyes, the world is material without real and love. The distorted pursuit of material and 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 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 people only care themlves. Through an interpretive analysis of the social background of the American 1920s and characters of the hero未完全es, we have concluded that there are three roots of Gatsby’s failure. First, becau Gatsby’s dream, as the American dream, contain some limitations and contradictory aspects, it cannot survive in the rigid reality. Secondly, we can e Gatsby’s lf-destructive potentials——innocence and naivety from his idealism or romanticism. Finally, compared with Gatsby, there are too much lfish and immoral people and behaviors in this unequal
society. Gatsby’s innocence and naivety is doomed to failure in the corrupted American society. Therefore, Gatsby’s tragedy is inevitable in that age, and Gatsby’s tragedy also indicates the disillusionment of the American dtheory什么意思ream.
One of the reasons why it is still popular now although it has been over eighty years since it was first published 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 cha his dream. 蹼趾Dream is one of the most important things in our life, which guides the way of life. When we meet some barriers on our study or work, Gatsby’s passion stimulates us to surpass ourlves. It pushes us to make the dream come true. eksOn the other hand, Gatsby’s tragedy also gives us some revelations. Dream should be established on reality. Once our dream is far from the actuality, it cannot come true yet. Therefore, before drawing a blueprint亚瑟 圣诞 for our future, we must clear what we want to do and what we can do.
