摘 要

《了不起的盖茨比》出版于1925年，它是美国作家弗·司各特·菲茨杰拉德所写的一部小说，并成为了美国现代文学史上的一篇名作。小说讲述了一个名为盖茨比的男人在年轻的时候失去了他的挚爱—一个名为黛西的富家女子。为了夺回黛西的芳心，他想尽一切办法，甚至不惜牺牲自己的性命，以挽回自己失去的爱情。然而，黛西的自私、刻薄、愚蠢根本配不上盖茨比对她的忠诚。因此，在黛西的人物塑造上就产生了一个逻辑性的错误。我们无法相信，一个肤浅、刻薄而又愚蠢的女人居然被这样一个聪明、而又具有英雄气质的盖茨比深深爱着。本研究拟分析小说中次要角色黛西的形象，并探讨这一人物塑造上的矛盾之处，以及这种矛盾背后的创作动机，从而深化对小说主题的理解。

关键词：黛西；矛盾；人物塑造；创作动机

Contents

1. Introduction ....................................................................................................1
2. Demonstration ..........................................................................................2

2.1 The contradiction in character of Daisy .....................................................2

2.1.1 Attractive and gorgeous ...........................................................................2

2.1.2 Stupid and shallow ...................................................................................3

2.2 Daisy as a goddess admired by the heroic protagonist ................................3

2.2.1 Gatsby’s qualities as a heroic protagonist ................................................4

2.2.2 Gatsby’s admiration for and loyalty to Daisy ...........................................4

2.2.3 Daisy’s mean and stupid manipulation of Gatsby ....................................5

2.3 Cause for conflict in characterization of Daisy.............................................6

2.3.1 Social background: age of gold craze ...................................................... 6

2.3.2 The writer’s relation to his wife .............................................................7

2.3.3 Daisy created as a symbol rather a real woman ....................................... 7

3. Conclusion .................................................................................................... 8

Work Cited .................................................................................................... 10

Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 11

Problems with and Significance of Daisy as a Minor Character in The Great Gatsby

1.Introduction

The Great Gatsby is one of the masterpieces of the American author, F. Scott Fitzgerald. He was born on September 24, 1896, the son of a furnisher. He tried to write scripts when he was young. When he became famous, he got married to his wife Zelda Sayre. But she paid much attention to ostentation and extravagance and then mentally broke down. The situation caused Fitzgerald considerable distress. He caught lung disease in 1936. At the same time, his wife fell ill and almost dying. He ultimately took to drink, and then died of complications from a heart attack.

The Great Gatsby is a story about a man named Gatsby, who lost his heart to a wealthy woman named Daisy of his youth. When returning from the war, he manages to be a rich man who could win Daisy’s heart. Gatsby believes that the only reason Daisy left is because he was poor, he moves in high-society circles in America to catch her attention. Daisy already married to Tom, but she always teases Gatsby in dating. Gatsby is in a partial stupor. He falls in her wishes all the time as much as possible and thought they are already deeply in love with each other. Daisy is not what Gatsby thought to be. She is just trying to get off with Gatsby and takes it as a stimulus saving her from her dull life.

Over the years, critics have shown great interest in this novel and achieved fruitful results. However, most of the domestic and foreign scholars focused an theme of “American Dream” and the hero—Gatsby. Few people discuss this novel’s minor character—Daisy. As a result, the study takes the contradiction in Daisy’s personality as the starting point. It tries to explore the causes for the contradiction, especially the author creative motive for such contradiction.

This main body of the essay is divided into three parts. The first part analyzes the contradiction in character of Daisy. The second explores conflicts in characterization of Daisy as reflected in her relation to Gatsby’s tragedy. The last part focuses on causes for conflicts in characterization of Daisy by examining the social background against which the novel was written and the novelist’s creative motive.

2. Demonstration

2.1 The contradiction in character of Daisy