摘 要

菲茨杰拉德是二十世纪最伟大的小说家之一，他的《了不起的盖茨比》是他最著名的小说,描绘了美国动荡的爵士时代。盖茨比为他的梦奉献了一生却在逐梦的过程中最终导致了他的悲剧。本文聚焦于他的悲剧爱情和悲剧的一生，并在探讨他悲剧形成的原因中揭露小说中体现出的异化的美国梦这一主旨。

关键词：弗·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德；《了不起的盖茨比》；悲剧；悲剧原因；美国梦

Contents

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

2.1 The Gatsby’s Tragedy...........................................................................2

2.1.1 The Tragedy of His Love.. ............................................................3

2.1.2 The Tragedy of His Life................................................................4

2.2 The Causal Analyses of Gatsby’s Tragedy...........................................5

2.2.1 The Barrier between the Upper Class and the Under Class..........5

2.2.2 Money Worship and Spiritual Emptiness......................................6

2.2.3 His Blindness and His Stubbornness.............................................7

1. Conclusion.............................................................................................8

Notes ..........................................................................................................9

Bibliography.............................................................................................10

A Study on the Tragedy of Gatsby in The Great Gatsby

1. Introduction

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 - December 21, 1940) is honored as one of the greatest American writers of the 20^th century. Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. His works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise(1920), The Beautiful and Damned(1922), The Great Gatsby(1925), and Tender Is the Night(1934). A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon(1941), was published posthumously. His works nowadays have been widely read today, the theme of his novels is about the American dream and also its shattering in his whole life. He focuses on presenting the real life in the Jazz Age. And his writings are still of great practical significance to us today.

The Great Gatsby is a novella, and a master work of Fitzgerald. It depicts the roaring twentieth--the Jazz Age, which is named in Fitzgerald’s The Jazz Age. This novel is regarded as his best and has received many authors’ and critics’ observation. The Great Gatsby narrates the myth of the American Dream represented by Jay Gatsby through ironic writhing. Gatsby, whose parents are peasants, wants to change his fate and he cuts off the connection with his parents to pursue his dream. When he meets Daisy in her richly decorated house, and he falls in love with her hopelessly. After several years when he knows Daisy’s marriage, he still wants holds the old dream. Then the story begins. However, he is finally betrayed by Daisy and killed indirectly by Daisy and Tom. Then his fate ends in that decadent age. The whole life of Gatsby can be seen as a tragedy.

Since the 1980s, foreign researchers have kept high passions in studying Fitzgerald. The studies of The Great Gatsby are about culture of consumption in the capitalist society^[1], plot, theme, image^[2], etc. In the late 1970s, A Survey of American Literature written by Zhu hong and Shi Xianrong firstly confirms its literary status. The main studies about The Great Gatsby are about The American Dream^[3], the theme of the waste land^[4], feminist^[5], etc.

The thesis consists of three parts. In the first part, the writer of this book, Fitzgerald, and the summary of the whole story are introduced. In the second part of demonstration, this paper focuses on Gatsby's tragic life in the story and explores the topic from the perspectives of causes which lead to his tragedy. Finally, drawing the conclusion that Gatsby is the prominent figure of tragedy in the Jazz Age, his tragedy reflects the shattering of the American dream.

1. Demonstration

2.1 The Tragedy of Gatsby

Tragedy is one of the most important style of drama and it comes from Ancient Greece. The first tragedy was born in Ancient Greece and tragedy of Ancient Greece is the origin of the western drama. Therefore, tragedy is the oldest style of drama. Tragedy consists of three kinds, including heroic tragedy, family tragedy, and fate tragedy. The hero of tragedy always suffers and struggles for his ideals or dreams, While his ending is always tragic.

Why Gatsby’s fate is a tragedy is because his ending is tragic for his lover’s betrayal and his unnatural death. Why his love is tragic is because his lover indirectly makes his death.