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《了不起的盖茨比》，文中小说深刻展示了爵士乐时代人们被迷惘、幻灭 感充斥的生活状态。这是一部讲述关于自我的目标缺失、理想脱离实际的小说。主人公盖茨比便是这样一个生活在已逝的过去和无望的未来的典型。然而，他的意义远不止代表了最后一代具有浪漫精神的人，其悲剧更是深刻揭露了社会的阴暗及人性的弱点。

本文首先将作者及作品进行简短的介绍，然后分析盖茨比一生所追求的理想，他所追求的理想主要是在主要是在三个方面，是对财富，地位以及爱情的追求。这些追求所导致的一些问题与结果。其次分析盖茨比的悲剧，一是他和黛西爱情的幻灭。二是将他生前别墅里的热闹景象和死后的冷清进行对比，凸显出主人公的悲凉。再次是分析导致盖茨比悲剧的几点原因，一方面是他自身的原因，他将黛西和他的追求太理想化，他把一切都想得太过于美好，却忽略了人性的真实性。还有一方面是社会原因，当时的社会阶级分化严重，导致主人公为了进入上流社会而不惜放弃一切。最后将文章进行一个总结。

关键词: 《了不起的盖茨比》 菲茨杰拉德 悲剧 美国梦

Contents

1.Introduction 1

2.Demonstration 3

2.1 Gatsby’s Dream 3

2.1.1 Gatsby’s Pursuit of Wealth 3

2.1.2 Gatsby’s Love for Daisy 5

2.1.3 Gatsby’s social status 6

2.2 Gatsby’s Tragedy 8

2.2.1 Gatsby’s Disillusionment of Love 8

2.2.2 Gatsby’s Death and Funeral 9

2.3 The Cause of Gatsby’s Tragedy 11

2.3.1 Idealized personality of Daisy 11

2.3.2 Social reasons 12

3. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

Bibliography 16

An Analysis of Gatsby in The Great Gatsby

1.Introduction

Fitzgerald was born in September 24, 1896 in Minnesota, St Paul. He tried to write scripts when he was young. At school, he organized troupe and wrote for the school literary magazines. He dropped out school afterwards because of his poor health. Fitzgerald enlisted in the army in 1917, and he was busy with military training all day long. After mustering out of service, Fitzgerald insisted on writing.

The publication of The Great Gatsby in 1925 established his status in the history of modern American literature, and Fitzgerald became one of the representative writers of the ‘Jazz Age’ and the ‘lost generation’ in the 20s. Fitzgerald reflected his own sense of emotions in the novel of The Great Gatsby, and the characters in the novel are the epitome of his life. Based on his own experience, the author vividly reflected the disillusionment of ‘American dream’ at that time, and showed the spirit of the ‘American wilderness era’ in the period of the Great Depression.

Essentially, in the novel, Gatsby and Daisy's amativeness and separation was a very ordinary love story. However, the author made the description much more skillful, he made Daisy become a symbol of money, status and youth. In order to pursue his American Dream, Gatsby exhausted his lifetime. Finally Gatsby put an end to his own life because of this dream. He was so naive to think that as long as he has money, Daisy would come back to him. Unfortunately, he was wrong, the character image of Daisy was too perfect in Gatsby’s own world. He misread the social scene of debauchery and seemingly spiritual emptiness boring society. He lived in his own creation of the world, he was eventually abandoned by Daisy, and he was also left out in the cold by the whole society. Gatsby's encounter is a true portrayal of the ‘Jazz Age’.

The great Gatsby has been warmly pursued from publication. There has been a surge of research into the work and even of the author himself in the whole world because of its beautiful language, superb narrative skills, ups and downs and the profound social significance. Based on people and social background of a series, foreign researchers launched a deep research point of a variety of inquiry. There are many different angles of study, so the research results are various. Written by Mattew J.Bruccoli A Life in Letters: A New Collection Edited and Annotated by Mattew J.Bruccoli.(Mattew J.Bruccoli 1995)^[1]Combined with previous research abroad and the author's own inquiry, it has produced many new perspectives and gained more results.

The Great Gatsby had no place in China at the beginning, because its theme was incompatible with the society of China at that time, and Chinese scholars did not feel relieved to think about it. After the end of the cultural revolution, Chinese scholars tried to study the book. But at that time the thought was confined, and it was only used as a negative teaching material class. The professor was been punished because he lent the book to his students. Until then, some scholars conducted a fair and objective introduction and study of foreign works and their writers, and the the book was first recognized in 1978. Professor Wu's Research on Fitzgerald is a monograph on Fitzgerald and his works, which fills the gap of American literature research in our country. In this book, Professor Wu gives a detailed account of the impact of the great Gatsby and its structure, and a profound analysis of its artful narrative, graceful language, and typical character analysis. The researches on Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby have reached a new level, the research angles are more diverse, and the research papers are increasing year by year. Thus, China's research into the novel and the author has entered a new column.

Although the novel-- The Great Gatsby, and the famous American scholar-- Fitzgerald have been studied by thousands of scholars, later generations still need to savor it. Combining with the character of the hero, this article analyzes the historical origin and essence of his pursuit of his dream. The moral decay and indifference of the American society at that time led to the eventual disillusionment of Gatsby's American dream, thus exploring the inevitability of the American dream's breaking.

In this paper, firstly, the author and his work are briefly introduced. Then analyze the dreams that Gatsby pursued throughout his life. The dreams that he pursues are mainly in three aspects: the pursuit of wealth, position and love. Secondly, analyze Gatsby's tragedy, one is that the disillusion of love between Daisy and Gatsby. The another is to compare the liveliness in his villa and the desolate after death, showing the melancholy of the hero. Thirdly, analyze the reasons for Gatsby's tragedy. On the one hand, the tragedy caused by himself. Because he idealizes Daisy and his pursuit. On the other hand, there are social reasons. Finally, there is a summary of the article.

2.Demonstration

2.1 Gatsby’s Dream

2.1.1 Gatsby’s Pursuit of Wealth

Gatsby was born in a poor family in the West. Although he was poor in his childhood, he was a diligent and disciplined boy. His heart was filled with enthusiasm and perseverance to fight for his dreams, so he went to the East and wanted to succeed in his career. Gatsby looked down upon his parents and tried to shake off the poverty of his parents, and he changed his name in order to get rid of his poverty and to edge himself into the upper class.