了不起的盖茨比：哪句台词触动了你？

台词1：

All the bright precious things fade so fast...and they don't come back. 所有的光鲜亮丽都敌不过时间，并且一去不复返。

台词2：

Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.

每当你觉得想要批评什么人的时候，你切要记着，这个世界上的人并非都具备你禀有的条件。

台词3：

There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.

世界上只有被追求者和追求者，忙碌者和疲惫者。

台词4：

Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is

mine: I am one of the few honest people I have ever known. 每个人都认为他自己至少具有一种主要的美德，

我的美德是：我是我所结识过的少有的几个诚实人中间的一个。

台词5：

A sense of fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth. 人们的善恶感一生下来就有差异。

台词6：

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. 于是我们奋力向前划，逆流向上的小舟，不停地倒退，进入过去。

 

第二篇：了不起的盖茨比

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

Contents

Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... I Abstract in English ....................................................................................................................... II Abstract in Chinese ..................................................................................................................... III

I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1

1.1 Literature Review ................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Purpose and Significance ....................................................................................................... 1

II. Biographical Background ........................................................................................................ 2

2.1 Fitzgerald?s Life and Career ................................................................................................... 2

2.2 An introduction of The Great Gatsby .................................................................................... 3

III. The Influence of the American Dream on Gatsby ............................................................... 3

3.1 Origins of the American Dream ............................................................................................. 3

3.2 Essence of the American Dream ............................................................................................ 4

3.3 Gatsby?s Dream ...................................................................................................................... 5

3.3.1 Origins of Gatsby?s Dream .............................................................................................. 5

3.3.2 Elements of Gatsby?s Dream ........................................................................................... 6

IV. Self-Destruction in Gatsby’s Dream ...................................................................................... 7

4.1 Fantasy of Pure Love ............................................................................................................. 7

4.2 Unquestioning Belief in the Power of Money ....................................................................... 9

4.3 Dimness of the Essence of the Old Rich ............................................................................. 10

V. The Conflicts between the East Egg and the West Egg ....................................................... 11

5.1 Economic Difference ........................................................................................................... 12

5.2 Social Conflict ..................................................................................................................... 12

5.3 Cultural Conflicts ................................................................................................................ 13

VI. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 14

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 16 Declaration

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广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

Acknowledgements

Firstly, I avail myself of this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisors Zhang Xiaozhu and Xiong Huiqin who have given me a lot of help and encouragement in my preparation of this thesis. I have benefited greatly from their precious suggestion, enlightening guidance and careful modification in the writing of this thesis. What?s more, I am deeply moved by their serious attitude towards academic work.

I would also like to thank those who have taught and helped me during my study in the Department of Foreign Languages, Lijiang College, Guangxi Normal University, especially professor Sun Jianguo, lecturer Tan Jie. They have given me enlightenment on various areas and helped me develop research ability.

感 谢 词

首先我想借次机会想向我的导师××致以我最衷心的感谢。在这篇论文写作过程中她们给予了我莫大的帮助与鼓励。她们提出的宝贵建议, 她们的博学善导, 使我受益非浅。她们一丝不苟的工作态度, 让我倍加钦佩。

同时我也要感谢所有教过我, 帮助过我的老师, 特别是××。他们在各方面引导我, 帮助我提高研究能力。

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广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

Castle in the Air：the Inevitability of the Withering of Gatsby’s

American Dream in The Great Gatsby

Department of Foreign Languages, Lijiang College, Guangxi Normal University

123456789 ×××

Supervisor: Lecturer ×××

[Abstract] Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), the famous American writer in the first half of the twentieth century, is regarded as the spokesman for “the Lost Generation” in American literature. In 1925, The Great Gatsby was published, which is thought to be one of the best works of Fitzgerald, offering a vivid picture about American life in the 1920s.

The Great Gatsby is a symbolic disintegration of the American dream in an era of moral waste and decay and the lack of personal responsibility. In this novel, Fitzgerald discusses a variety of themes, such as justice, power, greed, and the American dream, which many Chinese and foreign scholars have analyzed. This paper focuses on the roots of the withering of Gatsby?s American dream in The Great Gatsby by means of an analysis on creation background and hero?s characters, and aims at making people understand this novel more deeply, building a right and healthy moral value.

Through analyzing, we can see that there are three factors lead to Gatsby?s tragedy. First, Gatsby?s dream contains some limitations and contradictory aspects, so it cannot exist in the cruel society. Secondly, Gatsby?s innocence and naivety make him out of the upper class. Gatsby is not their opponent in the corrupted American society. Finally, compared with Gatsby, there are too much selfish and immoral people and behaviors in this unequal society.

[Key words] The Great Gatsby; American Dream; Inevitable Disillusion

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广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

空中楼阁——《了不起的盖茨比》中盖茨比美国梦破灭的必然性

广西师范大学漓江学院外语系英语专业 123456789 ×××

指导老师：××× 讲师

[内容摘要] 弗·司各特·菲茨杰拉德(1896-1940)是二十世纪初美国著名作家，被认为是美国文学中“迷惘一代”的代言人。一九二五年，他出版了代表作《了不起的盖茨比》。这部小说被公认为是他最优秀的作品, 向人们生动的展示了二十世纪九十年代的美国社会。《了不起的盖茨比》描述了在一个道德沦丧和颓废以及个人责任感缺乏的社会里美国梦的破灭。本文着重分析《了不起的盖茨比》中盖茨比美国梦破灭的根源。在这部小说中，菲茨杰拉德探讨了众多发人深思的话题，如公平，权利，贪婪以及美国梦。国内外的学者们对小说中的这些主题都做了深入研究。本文通过对创作背景以及主人公的性格分析来探索盖茨比美国梦破灭的必然性。从而使人们加深对小说的理解，并且树立起正确且健康的道德观念。透过分析，本文总结出了导致盖茨比悲剧的三个因素。第一，盖茨比的美国梦夹杂着一些不可避免的局限和矛盾，这些局限和矛盾不可能在这残酷的世界中得到解决。第二，盖茨比无知，天真的性格使他隔绝于上流社会。在腐败的美国社会中，盖茨比无法成为他们的对手，更不可能实现自己的理想。最后，对于盖茨比而言，社会上充满了自私和不道德的人或者行为。

[关键词] 了不起的盖茨比；美国梦；破灭的必然性

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广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

I. Introduction

1.1 Literature Review

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 extravagant critic, read The Great Gatsby three times 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 Professor 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.”(Zhang Lilong, 1998:108-109) Others analyses 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 researches both domestic and abroad, we can see that The Great Gatsby is a great novel that everyone can have different interpretation from different aspects. However, a few researches have studied about what ruined Gatsby?s dream and why his dream inevitably failed. Therefore, this paper will reveal the roots and causes of the failure of Gatsby?s dream.

1.2 Purpose and Significance

This paper tries to analyze Gatsby?s tragic roots on purpose to offer a window onto the writing device, get an all-sided understanding of the novel and build right moral values in modern time. The Great Gatsby is an insightful mirror of the 1920?s American society?s imperfections because its deep thought and profound theme impart us an important enlightenment. Gatsby?s blindness and ignorance give rise to his tragedy. His failure of pursuing unrealistic dream teaches us that ideality should establish on actual condition. Just as the old saying goes, look before you leap. We should think twice before planning future, especially when 1

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

we are not academically, financially and psychologically well-prepared.

II. Biographical Background

2.1 Fitzgerald’s Life and Career

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was a Jazz Age novelist and short story writer who left behind him 5 novels, 178 short stories, numerous essays and plays. French critic Jacques Vallette thinks highly of Fitzgerald, calling him “the soul of America.”

Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in an Irish family in St. Paul, Minnesota. He grew up in the staid American middle west, but his life and writings are related with the fashionable East Coast. In 1913, he went to Princeton University. Because of academic difficulties he left college in 1917, and then enlisted in the army as a lieutenant at a staff headquarters. In 1920, he finished and published his first novel, This side of Paradise, which was a tremendous and commercial success. In April 1921 Fitzgerald and Zelda were married and settled on Long Island in 1922. He supported their life by doing the job as a hack writer, contributing short stories frequently to the journals, such as the popular Saturday Evening Post and the critical Scribner?s. During these years, Fitzgerald published his second novel, The Beautiful and the Damned (1922) and some short stories. However, Fitzgerald felt that there was little progress since then. Some people criticized that his works were lack of intellectual sophistication and immaturity, especially in relation to ideas. He wanted to write “something new—something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.” (Bruccoli, 1991: 170) Thanks to Joseph Conrad, it was his writing that greatly encouraged Fitzgerald in the way of creation. It made Fitzgerald clear that, as an artist, his power had nothing to do with how brilliant a mind he had and how deep he thought. For Conrad the sources of aesthetic power rooted in the individual self. The charm of artist is not to our wisdom or ideas, but to our enduring “capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives; to our sense of pity, beauty, and pain?” (Andrew Hook, 1992: 3) Inspired by Conrad, Fitzgerald published some works in the following years, such as The Great Gatsby in 1925, Tender is the Night in 1934. His last work, the Hollywood novel The Last Tycoon (1941), was left unfinished at his death.

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广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

2.2 An introduction of The Great Gatsby

When the American economy was in a period of great prosperity in 1920s, along with many changes in spiritual and values were taking place. Younger generation turned their backs on the values of their parents. Nobody is really concerned about politics and spiritual matters. Almost everybody cares about how they can seek pleasure all day. They not only had low spirits, but also were degenerate.

The Great Gatsby shows a theme of how the American dream affects all of the characters: each of them has their own aspiration for their future life, but, ironically, their aspiration is only revolved around wealth. The main part of their life is to enjoy happiness from money. Fitzgerald combines his own experiences with his nation?s experiences and reflects the features of his time through this novel.

The Great Gatsby happens in the early 1920s, just after World War I. The story is set in New York City and on Long Island known as the West Egg and the East Egg. The hero, Jay Gatsby, is a pursuer of the American dream who is once a nobody from the Midwest. In order to regain his lover Daisy?s love, the embodiment of the American dream in his eyes, Gatsby tries his best to make his way into the riches even by illegal means. Everybody suspects him, but everybody is willing to partake in his luxurious parties anyway. However, he finds his efforts in vain, and he is killed indirectly by Daisy and her husband in the end.

Fitzgerald?s The Great Gatsby was not a great success during his lifetime, but after his death it became a smash hit. It has since become a symbol of the American literature, and is taught at many high schools and universities in the United States. Four films, an opera, and a play have been adapted from the novel.

III. The Influence of the American Dream on Gatsby

3.1 Origins of the American Dream

The American dream arose in the colonial period and developed in the 19th century. The First World War led to the switch of the world?s order, each participated country got seriously wounded more or less, except the United States of which mainland was not involved in the war. Americans made a large amount of money by selling munitions and became the richest country in the world. America was determined to concentrate on economic growth, technological 3

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

development, and commercial expansion. Wei Qian believes that mass production, mass consumption, and mass leisure became essential to economic and cultural life and were soon to dominate the nation?s culture and institutions. (Wei Qian, 2006:12) At that time, people felt that money was everywhere, and everyone also had opportunity to earn them.

The old values in society were breaking down and great changes happened among the new generation. Thousands of Americans speculated and gambled on the stock market and many new millionaires were born over night. So there emerged a group people. They just chased a material well-being life and a more capitalistic and materialistic attitude but lack of spiritual pursuit. In 20th century, historian James Truslow Adams expounded the American dream in detail in his book Epic of America (1931), which popularized the American dream to all of the Americans. As to ordinary Americans, the American dream is a power that can bring any kind of fulfillment, no matter the spiritual or the material in the world.

3.2 Essence of the American Dream

It is said that the American dream is a kind of life which should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. To Li Hongwen, 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. (Li Hongwen, 2002:15) Actually, the American dream is a state of mind. It seems to be the geographic space and physical freedom. One's efforts allows one to succeed independently while providing an improved future for one's children and making a contribution to the world that one can be proud of.

The American dream exists because people live in a nation founded on certain extraordinary principles. The great majority of Americans take them for granted. Every American knows that they are especially lucky to live in a land where they have an enduring right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. While almost them are very clear about what life and liberty mean, however, there is some confusion about the pursuit of happiness. And it's that misunderstanding which causes them to misunderstand the American dream. In most Americans? eyes, what the American dream promises is not a right to happiness, but a right to achieve it on one?s own. 4

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

3.3 Gatsby’s Dream

Gatsby?s dream is multileveled. Lockridge writes that Gatsby?s dream has three “basic and related parts: the desire for money, the desire to repeat the past, and the desire for incarnation of ?unutterable visions? in the material earth.” (Lockridge,1968:38) For Gatsby, Daisy is the embodiment of these dreams represented the material earth. He wants to recapture a wonderful life with Daisy. Gatsby continues to believe he can regain Daisy and repeat the past, which is a vital factor in causing his tragedy.

3.3.1 Origins of Gatsby’s Dream

In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is the representative of ?self-made? figure to against the old aristocrat. The ?self-made? dream appeared from the 18th century to the 1920s. The American dream became an unshakable ideal for generations which had aroused the prosperity of the American capitalism, attributing one?s material success to self-improvement and hard working. In the last chapter of the novel, Gatsby?s father proudly shows Nick a schedule. This schedule is an echo of Benjamin Franklin?s concerning of Thrift，health and the goal of advancement. It tells how young Gatsby has absorbed the ideas of Benjamin Franklin through his Autobiography into his ambition to be successful, believing that a man can be what he makes himself to be by hard working and sincere devotion. “Money for Franklin was not an end in itself, but a means, a way by which happiness could be achieved.”(Donalson, 1984:27) For Gatsby, money is a means to the realization of his dream.

Fitzgerald, in the novel, criticizes the dream through the experience of Gatsby. From youth Gatsby sticks to the Franklin mode of self-improvement and tries to realize the American dream but fails. However, Tom finally wins back Daisy not by gaining her love but for her snobbery, by implying how Gatsby?s way of making money has disqualified him from their upper class. From this perspective, “Fitzgerald examines the ways in which the American dream of equality and opportunity is contradicted by the rise of a leisure class who, with their estates and polo playing, ape the European aristocracy” (Matterson, 1990:28) and exposes to us the hypocritical essence of the fairy tale like American dream.

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广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

3.3.2 Elements of Gatsby’s Dream

It seems that, to Zhou Xinping, the development of Gatsby?s dream change with the social class he involved. In his adolescence, the dream of self-advancement which he draws up by imitation of Benjamin Franklin and Horatio Alger first takes shape during the turmoil of imaginings (Zhou Xinping, 2002:21). At this time, he plans to be a rich person, but he is not clear what wealth and success would be like, until the day when he meets the western baron Dan Cody and his yacht at the Lake Superior shore. For young Gatsby, the yacht stands for “all the beauty and glamour in the world.” Cody soon becomes Gatsby?s image of the wealthy and successful man. From Cody, Gatsby receives “his singularly appropriate education” (Gatsby, 1993:64). Gatsby starts to develop his own social style, and learns his way of accumulation of wealth. Moreover, he changes his name from Jimmy Gatsby to Jay Gatsby in an attempt to embrace this new conception.

The final stage of his imaginative development is formed when he meets Daisy and falls in love with her. At that time, Gatsby needs an image of something beyond him to which he can pursue. When he kissed her for the first time, he has “wed forever his ineffable vision to her perishable breath” and “the incarnation was completed.” (Gatsby, 1993:71) As to Gatsby, Daisy has become the center of his dream. In his eyes, Daisy is excitingly desirable not only as a woman but also as a way of life. Her house, her dress, her behavior, her life style and everything around her was amazing. She is from the other side of Gatsby?s world:

“Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserve, of the freshness of many clothes ,and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor.”(Gatsby, 1993:95)

Gatsby fails to marry her because he had no comfortable family and he had no real right to protect her. In order to win her back, he must have “the same status” as herself and a large number of wealth to give her “a sense of security” (Gatsby, 1993:95).So Gatsby works harder to earn enough money through every possible means without the least sense of guilt during the following years.

“The nature of Gatsby?s dream is itself, actually, a definition of his pathetic tragedy, for this dream, far from being opposed to the more brutal and less imaginative materialism represented by the Buchanan, is fashioned according to the precepts of the materialism itself. 6

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

It is the ideal of the Hollywood ?silver screen? and fashion-magazine; it is the ideal of surface without substance” (Cooperman, 1996:21).

In a word, Gatsby?s dream is full of vitality and intensity. Nothing in reality could match it.

IV. Self-Destruction in Gatsby’s Dream

4.1 Fantasy of Pure Love

As has mentioned in the introduction, the American 1920?s was an era known as the prevailing of hedonism and of people?s spiritual inanity. They have no faith in each other, which is evident in people?s adultery and casualty in the relationship between men and women. Through the description of the gaiety of Gatsby?s parties, Fitzgerald suggests this relationship and the main characters? attitudes towards love and marriage.

In Chapter 3, the climax of the party, the novel describes the glamour of Gatsby?s lavish party：

When the Jazz History of the World was over, girls were putting their heads on men?s shoulders in a puppyish, convivial way, girls were swooning backward playfully into men?s arms ,even into groups ,knowing that someone would arrest their fall—but no one swooned backward on Gatsby (Gatsby, 1993:33)

When the party is over, Nick notices:

Most of the remaining women were now having fights with men said to be their husbands. Even Jordan?s party, the quartet from East Egg, were rent asunder by 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 attacks ― at interval she appeared suddenly at his side like an angry diamond, and hissed “You promised!” into his ear. (Gatsby, 1993:.34)

The implication and satire in this passage is obvious. As a host, Gatsby?s loneliness and dolefulness is different from the indulgence of the partygoers. The “curious intensity” is again in contrast to Gatsby?s intensity and passion for his dream of Daisy.

Tom is such kind person who is “forever seeking” whatever he needs. He surely does not care much for his wife. When he and Daisy were newly married, he even fornicates with a hotel chambermaid. He is the first one who commits adultery and takes it for granted.

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广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

Daisy, likewise, is no more a faithful lover than her husband. In the beginning, she believes Gatsby is the son of some wealthy family as herself, and she has a sentimental romance and touching with Gatsby. But when she realizes Gatsby cannot provide her with a luxurious life that she wants, she chooses Tom to be her husband without any hesitation. After Gatsby reappearing with his wealth and his steadfast love for her, she seems to be moved and tries to resume her relationship with him, without any guilt to her husband. For Daisy, what she really wants is not a romantic lover without the qualification to be a member of their society but a man who can gives her the guarantee of a comfortable life and a respected status.

While Tom and Daisy clearly separate romance from reality, Gatsby, by contrast, directs his life by the dream of his true love——Daisy.

He wants “nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ?I never loved you.? After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house——just as it was five years ago.” (Gatsby, 1993:70)

This dream of marrying her in his earlier years doesn?t change even when he becomes an adult. Since the moment when Daisy becomes the “incarnation” of his dream, in order to win her, Gatsby starts his struggling career which aims at gaining wealth and going ahead to the upper class. Daisy is the first and the only woman who he loves in his life. His love for Daisy keeps him away from other women and he “never so much as look(s) at a friend?s wife.”(Gatsby, 1993:.47) That?s the reason why “no girls would swoon backward on Gatsby” at his parties. Gatsby has been so devoted to her, loving her that he is simply blind of her essential defect.

The inevitable tragedy of Gatsby lies in that he not only believes in true love but also loves a woman who he believes to be ideal to him but, in fact, too far from his life. As has been analyzed in the previous passage, the basic motives of Daisy?s behavior which derive from money and her selfishness decides that she cannot love Gatsby as the same way he loves her. When facing troubles, she would protect herself by sacrificing her vulnerable lover who lacks a sense of self-protection because of loving too deeply. This is the fatally weakness of Gatsby as opposed to the more sophisticated and pragmatic Buchanans. Gatsby lives in a deformed society where men like Wilson and Gatsby “are ultimately destroyed, in the wasteland of modern 8

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

America,” and “it is the flesh-ridden realists like Tom Buchanan who accommodate ― and survive.” (Cooperman, 1996:47)

4.2 Unquestioning Belief in the Power of Money

For Gatsby, the material world should be elevated to a spiritual level and the acquisition of material objects ought to become a religious ritual because not only his materialism itself is an ideal for him but also he believes it is the magic power to fulfill his ultimate dream of regaining Daisy.

In The Great Gatsby, one of the most memorable scenes is the reunion of Gatsby and Daisy after five years? separation. When Gatsby wants to shows off his huge mansion to Daisy and Nick, but finally it becomes the show of his numerous colorful shirts. The shirts like all of his possession have a very special meaning indeed. That?s why Nick thinks “he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes” when Gatsby does not cease looking at her. (Gatsby, 1993:59)Gatsby so cares about Daisy?s response to his assets. He thinks they are far more than “material objects.” Gatsby?s attitude towards material objects is different from the materialism of a Buchanan man like Tom.

This naive belief and misplaced faith in the material power comes from the Benjamin Franklin-mode American dream and also from his love and loss of Daisy due to lack money. He is “overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the struggles of the poor.” (Gatsby, 1993:94) Inspired by the American dream and stimulated by his love for Daisy, Gatsby uses all kinds of means to gain great material success. At last, he tastes the power brought by money: enjoying lots of “business connections” to guarantee him with more money, turning his life in West Egg into endless parties. More importantly, Daisy, his dream girl, comes to him again after seeing his success.

Gatsby thinks that his wealth will make him equal to Daisy, and bring Daisy back to him. But the truth tells Gatsby that his thinking is too na?ve because he does not know that he can never be equal to Daisy, let alone to be a member of their established rich society. No matter how much money or power he may possess, in the eyes of Tom and Daisy he is still “nobody from nowhere” because he has “no comfortable family standing behind him,” (Gatsby, 1993:95) 9

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

which denies Gatsby to be a qualified opponent. Gatsby?s dream of Daisy should end up with disillusion.

4.3 Dimness of the Essence of the Old Rich

Actually, The Great Gatsby is not a novel praising the flourish society. It is a criticism of the distorted society dominated by the rich, by revealing how they preserve and maintain their social status, closing their circle against outsiders. Looked back at Fitzgerald?s life, this criticism of the rich is obviously due to his feeling that he was out of time which made him far from their circle. Gatsby?s being unable to win Daisy for lack of money is exactly the reflection of Fitzgerald?s own experience. But the difference between them is that Fitzgerald understood the rich well, and “saw that they maintain power and prestige partly through creating an idea of ?breeding? and manners in order to exclude others from their circle,” (Matterson, 1990:62) while Gatsby is ignorant about that. Gatsby could acquire the wealth associated with upper class, but not their status. He obviously lacks the sense of the fundamental decencies that comes with the right background, which makes him unqualified and disrespected in social activities, even when he becomes wealthy finally. The best example is an interesting scene in Chapter 6 when Tom, Mr. Sloan, and the lady with Mr. Sloan, drop in to Gatsby? home, they show nothing less than utter disrespect for him. Mr. Sloan?s reluctance to be there and eagerness to get away are obvious to Nick. And when the lady invites Gatsby and Nick to dinner, Nick knows at once that Mr. Sloan does not want Gatsby to come along with them. To make Gatsby decline the invitation himself, Nick gives Gatsby a hint. But Gatsby is ignorant about the fact that they don?t want him to come together, saying they “couldn?t wait,” as he changes his clothes to go with them，and so he is humiliated when they ride off without him. (Gatsby, 1993:66)This is a typical example of how the established rich communicate by a certain code which would reject any outsiders, especially the new rich and the poor. Gatsby is simply innocent that such a code even exists.

As analyzed above, Gatsby is the inheritor and representative of the American dream. He believes in Jeffersonian the idea of “a society open to all, and without barriers.” (Matterson, 1990:28) It is this ideal that stimulates Gatsby?s dream of climbing the ladder to success and being accepted by the society?s old rich. When he loses Daisy, he still strengthens his naive belief that he will gain respect from the old rich, and Daisy would come to him again once he possesses 10

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

enough wealth. But unfortunately, Gatsby never can see the inherent divisions between his “new money” and “old money” of the old rich, which keeps him far away from his dream of being a member of this society.

It is the ignorance of the manners and attitudes that go with the inherited money that makes Gatsby appear “vulgar and ostentations” in the eyes of others, no matter how generous and gentle he is. People have a doubt about the origin of his tremendous wealth and spread all possible rumors about him. This is because Gatsby inherently lacks the mannerism of the rich, in spite of being “self-made” wealthy. Gatsby is never able to be part of Daisy?s world even if he fills his garage with slap-up cars, his closet with fashion clothes, his lawns with gaiety, and his mannerism with affectation, in that as a member of the established American aristocracy of wealth, Daisy could never live with a man who existed on Gatsby?s social level. He would always be a “Mr. Nobody from nowhere,” as Tom calls him. That?s why Tom is so confident of his complete winning over Gatsby when he discovers the origin of Gatsby?s wealth. His triumph over Daisy “relies on her knowledge that they belong to the same class, a class superior to that of the gangster Gatsby.” (Matterson, 1990:64)

The tragedy of Gatsby is that until his death he does not realize the fact that Daisy can never be obtained only by money. He still hopes that she will divorce with her husband and come to him again.

V. The Conflicts between the East Egg and the West Egg

The Long Island is known as a small “melting pot.” There are two unusual formations of land called the East Egg and the West Egg. The East Egg is gathered by the “old rich”, Tom and Daisy being the representatives. The West Egg, where Gatsby lives in, is inhabited by those new rich, Gatsby being the representative. The old rich are mainly aristocratic families while the new rich are made up of industrialists and businessmen.

Just as Yu Liequan said, Gatsby?s behaviors are determined by his environment in which he lives in. Gatsby?s fate is a boat floating on the sea of the conflicts between the East Egg and the West Egg(Yu Liequan, 2004:27).

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广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

5.1 Economic Difference

Gatsby?s great party is of main characteristics of the new rich. Their cynicism, greed, and endless pursuit of pleasure are showed perfectly. They are eager for money and pleasure which surpass all other goals. In order to accumulate enough money, Gatsby can do everything including doing illegal business. During the course of the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom, Tom takes the advantages of Gatsby?s illegal activities and disgrace Gatsby:

“Who are you, any how?” broke out Tom. “You are one of that bunch that hangs around with Meyer Wolfshiem——that much I happen to know. I?ve made a little investigation into your affairs——and I?ll carry it further tomorrow.”

“You can suit yourself about that, old sport,” said Gatsby steadily.

“I found out what your ?drug-store? were.” He turned to us and spoke rapidly. “He and this Wolfsheim bought a lot of side-street drug-store here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That?s one of his little stunts, I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him and I wasn?t far wrong.”

“What about it?” said Gatsby politely. “I guess your friend Walter Chase wasn?t too proud to come in on it”(Gatsby, 1993:134).

From the dialogue, readers can know Gatsby's way of going to riches. Gatsby's tone of the last sentence of the conversation shows he thinks there is no wrong in it and it saves poor people.

On the contrary, Tom and Daisy stands for the old rich. They have the characteristics of the aristocratic grace, taste, wisdom, and elegance. They never care about the poor and the weak. When Gatsby does not come back, Daisy makes the decision to marry Tom because Tom satisfies her desires. Their marriage is established on the material abundance.

5.2 Social Conflict

The East Egg and the West Egg both are rich, though they have different social status. The East Egg, symbolizing the people living along the East Coast, enjoys a higher social status. They think they are the aristocrats. They can dominate others including the new rich. When Nick goes to visit Buchanan, he describes Tom: “He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of 12

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

always learning aggressively forward” (Gatsby, 1993:7). Tom?s voice, “a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of Fractiousness he conveyed. There was a contempt in it, even toward people he liked” (Gatsby, 1993:7). When Nick wants to answer Daisy?s question that who is Gatsby, Tom hides his tense arm imperatively under Nick?s, compels him “from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square” (Gatsby, 1993:12).

It is obviously that the West Egg worships a life of garishness and the flash manners while East Egg expects breeding, taste, and leisure. All of these characteristics are showing vividly in the big party. The big mansion, the whole orchestra, the piles of food and the lights, all show an extravagant life.

5.3 Cultural Conflicts

The East Egg stands for reflection and sobriety while the West Egg represents the value of powerful optimism, vitality and individualism. Gatsby?s house is a powerful evidence of his self-reliance and his falls and downs. Though Gatsby was born in a poor family, he still believes that he will have a brilliant future for his own. He is full of vitality and confidence. So he leaves his family alone, working hard in Cody?s yacht, but he gets nothing. Yet, after making contributions and getting many medals in the war, he is still poor. What worse is that he loses his lover. Compared with Gatsby, Nick and Tom are more sober and reflective. Nick has always been “inclined to reserve all judgments” (Gatsby, 1993: l). When Mr. Sloane and Tom pass Gatsby?s house and have a pause there, Tom and Gatsby have a conversation:

“I believe we?ve met somewhere before, Mr. Buchanan.”

“Oh, yes,” said Tom, gruffly polite, but obviously not remembering. “So we did. I remember very well.”

“About two weeks ago.”

“That?s right. You were with Nick here.”

“I know your wife,” continued Gatsby, almost aggressively.

“That so?”(Gatsby, 1993: 103)

Here Tom shows his aristocratic politeness even when he could not remember seeing Gatsby before. But when Gatsby says he knows Tom?s wife, Tom shows his calmness by just saying “that so?”

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广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

The greatness of the novel, is the conflict between two American cultures, the idea of one is material wealth and leisure, the idea of the other is less restricted and spiritual. The big difference in culture becomes a barrier which is not good for the communication between the East Egg and the West Egg. People from the East Egg always think they are more honorable and well-bred than the West Egg people. They refuse to get in touch with the lower people in that these behaviors will belittle themselves. It is a shame to the East egg. Admittedly, it is hard for Gatsby join in Daisy?s world.

VI. Conclusion

Fitzgerald expressed his sadness to the Lost Generation by 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 Gatsby?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 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 Gatsby?s failure. First, because Gatsby?s dream, as the American dream, contain some limitations and contradictory aspects, it cannot survive in the rigid reality. Secondly, we can see Gatsby?s self-destructive potentials——innocence 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. 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 dream.

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 14

广西师范大学漓江学院2012届本科生毕业论文

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, which guides the way of life. When we meet some barriers on our study or work, Gatsby?s passion stimulates us to surpass ourselves. It pushes us to make the dream come true. On 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 for our future, we must clear what we want to do and what we can do.

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