浅谈《了不起的盖茨比》中的美国梦——由建立到破灭火—英语毕业论文.doc

学士学位论文 本科毕业论文An Analysis of American Dream in The Great Gatsby: From the Establishment to the Disillusionment浅谈《了不起的盖茨比》中的美国梦——由建立到破灭院系名称 外国语学院专业名称 英语语言文学年级 学生姓名 指导老师 i中 文 摘 要美国著名作家菲兹杰拉德被称为“美国梦的代言人”，在他的小说中，我们难以区分是他的生活如一部小说，还是他的小说就是他的一段真实的生活的写照，因为他已完全融入其中尤其是其代表作《了不起的盖茨比》，文中主人公盖茨比是为追求美国梦而最终牺牲了自己的典例，他渴望以自己的信念和勇气来获取物质以及爱情上的收获，然而由于他的梦想是一种对虚幻的渴望，而不是建立在现实的基础之上的追求，最终导致了他美国梦的破灭，本论文通过对美国梦和小说创作历史背景的研究向我们阐述了这一梦想破灭的各种原因，从而展现作品中体现的社会意义关键词：美国梦；了不起的盖茨比；破灭；原因ABSTRACTF. Scott Fitzgerald is the literary spokesman of the “American Dream”. His novels include many aspects of his unique experiences in that period. It is not easy to distinguish his novels with his real life, because his works have already involved himself physically and mentally. Especially in his masterpiece The Great Gatsby, the hero reveals a typical example of those who were eager to achieve the American Dream but finally sacrificed themselves. Although Gatsby dreams of achieving material wealth and love through his courage and hard work, all kinds of external and internal factors lead to the disillusionment of his hope. Through the analysis of American Dream and the historical background of the novel, this thesis elaborates a vivid picture of the reasons leading to the disillusionment of American Dream in order to show the social significance of this work. Key words: American dream; The Great Gatsby; disillusionment; reasonTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION 1Chapter Ⅰ BACKGROUND INFORMATION 21.1 Fitzgerald and His Literary Works 21.2 Lost Generation and the Jazz Age 21.3 The Main Plot of the Novel 31.4 American Dream 4Chapter Ⅱ THE ESTABLISHMENT AND THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF Gatsby’s AMERICAN DREAM 52.1 The Establishment of Gatsby’s American Dream 52.1.1 Gatsby’s Dream of Wealth 62.1.2 Gatsby’s Dream of High Social Position 62.1.3 Gatsby’s Dream of Love 72.2 The Disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream 7Chapter Ⅲ THE REASONS FOR THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF Gatsby’s AMERICAN DREAM 93.1 Hypocritical Interpersonal Relationship 93.2 The Worship of Money 103.3 Unrealistic Dream of High Social Position 113.4 The Wrong Understanding of Love 12CONCLUSION 13Bibliography 14Notes 14An Analysis of American Dream in The Great Gatsby: From the Establishment to the DisillusionmentINTRODUCTIONThe thesis is a brief longitudinal study of American Dream in the novel The Great Gatsby. This thesis analyzes the establishment of Gatsby’s American Dream and the reasons leading to his American Dream’s disillusionment. Through this thesis, we can have a dialectical view of the reasons why Gatsby can not realize his American Dream. The main body of the thesis is made up of three parts. The first part is a general introduction to the great author Fitzgerald, his novel The Great Gatsby and its writing background. In order to trace back to the reasons that result in the disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream, the second part reviews the establishment and the disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream. The third part focuses on analyzing the reasons for his American Dream’s disillusionment. In the end, the thesis comes to a conclusion that the disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream is unavoidable. Chapter Ⅰ BACKGROUND INFORMATION1.1 Fitzgerald and His Literary WorksFitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 and St. Paul Minnesota was his hometown. While he was a student in Princeton University, the young man developed his hobby and skill in writing. When the First World War broke out, he became a soldier. In a training camp in Alabama, he met and fell in love with Zelda Sayre. This woman finally married Fitzgerald and became the model for most of the beautiful female characters in his novels. This Side of Paradise, the Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night and The Great Gatsby were his four well-known novels. The last one The Great Gatsby, which established Fitzgerald’s significant position in American modern literature, is often viewed as a mirror of American society in the 1920s. In 1925, Fitzgerald published his most famous novel The Great Gatsby. The novel reflected the selfishness and bossy of American vested interest groups represented by Tom and pointed out that Gatsby’s tragedy is caused by his fantasy of life and his lack of comprehension of the uppertendom’s essence. 1.2 Lost Generation and the Jazz Age Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was one of the greatest writers in the twentieth century, and his works reflected the Jazz Age. He is regarded as a member of the Lost Generation in the 1920s. Lost Generation is a term used to refer to the generation appeared after World War I. The term was popularized by Ernest Hemingway 。