THE_GREAT_GATSBY and American dream

Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) 弗· 司各特· 菲茨杰拉德( 1896- 1940) 是20 世纪美国文 坛上杰出的小说家, 也是“迷惘的一代”作家中的代表人 物, 素有“爵士时代的代言人和桂冠诗人”的称号。他一 生中写出了不少反映第一次世界大战后到经济危机爆发前 美国青年一代“美国梦”的破灭的作品。《了不起的盖茨 比》是他的代表作, 这部小说1925 年一经出版立即得到 了许多评论家的肯定和赞扬,被公认为20 世纪美国文学中 最优秀的作品之一。著名诗人兼评论家艾略特称它是“自 亨利· 詹姆斯以来美国小说迈出的一大步”。作者在这部 小说中以细腻哀婉、深沉凝练的笔调生动地向读者讲述了 盖茨比为实现其梦想所表现出的执着及其梦想遭遇失败的 故事, 描绘了由美国梦所引发的一场悲剧,并成功地塑造 了盖茨比这一形象。他的墓志铭是这样的：“于是我们奋 力前进，却如同逆水行舟，注定要不停地退回过去。”
• Fitzgerald’s greatness lies in the fact that he found intuitively, in his personal experience, the embodiment of that of the nation and created a myth out of American life. • 菲茨杰拉德的伟大之处在于通过个人经历， 他依靠直觉找到了一个民族精神的体现， 并创造了美国的神话。
财富梦
1.盖茨比的原名叫做“杰姆斯· 盖兹”, 这是他在十 七岁那年看到了自己远大前程的时候改的 2.《时间表》和《决心书》。“早晨6 点起床, 6: 15 做体操,7: 15 开始学电学等知识, 晚上7 点 到9 点学习有用的新发明。”, “每隔一天洗一次 澡, 每周读1 册有益的书或杂志, 每周储蓄5元” 等等。 《时间表》和《决心书》充分显示了一个青年健康 积极向上的人生观, 从中我们可以看到年轻时的 盖茨比是希望通过勤劳节俭来实现自己的理想。 但是在当时美国的社会条件下光凭个人努力是难 以获得成功的
时代背景
-20世纪早期 新发明改变人们的生活方式，兴奋不已 -第一次世界大战（1914-1918）摧毁欧洲一代人 许多美国人丧生
-一战对人们之前持有的乐观态度产生很大影响
-旧价值、旧政策和旧思想的悲剧性失败 -20世纪20年代的美国并未露出绝望情绪 高度繁荣 奢侈成为时尚
-兴旺的20年代成为掩饰痛苦和迷失感的一个幌子
Jay Gatsby
Nick
Tom Buchanan Daisy Buchanan
The Wilson’s
American Dreams
“American dream” was originated from the colonial period. It was Benjamin Franklin, the most important American Thinkers during the revolutionary period, who put forward this belief about the pursuit of happiness through one's courage, honesty and hard work. The American Dream can be described as a belief in freedom that allows all citizens and residents of the United States of America to achieve their goals in life through hard work. And "going from rags to riches" becomes a slogan for the great American dream. American dream plays a significant role in the process of one's success in the American society.
Dream of love and fortune
He tries his best to make money and learns everything required to be an upper-class man so that he can get access to his beloved girl. Money is important，but there are other barriers difficult to penetrate. The girl he loves is as vulgar and superficial as others in her circle, she is unable to meet Gatsby’s romantic fantasy. So his dream is destined to shatter, which indicates the disillusion of American Dream.
3.盖兹在17 岁那年, 碰到一个名叫丹· 科迪的人, 小盖兹非常 崇拜他, 把自己的名字改做盖茨比, 追随科迪, 逐渐放弃了 小时候的信念, 把思想集中在获取财富上。后来, 他为了获 得财富不择手段, 与迈耶· 沃尔夫山姆为首的黑社会勾结起来, 通过非法买卖, 聚敛了大笔财富。 4.但盖茨比无论怎样富有，当他试图融人他向往已久的上层社 的圈子时，却因为卑微的出身反而成了上层社会所谓名流猜 疑和造谣的绝好素材。随着人们不断猜疑，他的非法勾当最 终还是被汤姆揭穿了。他辛辛苦苦创造的物质财富，并没有 帮他实现追求，他的“财富梦”破灭了。他死后，在尼克为 他举办的葬礼上，昔日的座上客一个也没有露面，葬礼上的 凄凉冷清与往日宴会上的繁华喧闹显然构成了鲜明的对比， 表明他根本没有得到上流社会的认同。
• Just as Americans have given America meaning through their dreams for their own lives, Gatsby instills Daisy with a kind of idealized perfection that she neither deserves nor possesses. • American dream in the 1920s is ruined by the unworthiness of its object—money and pleasure.
The Great Gatsby
American Dream
F. Scott Fitzgerald
A spokesman of the “Jazz Age”
The Great Gatsby
Background
• -------------------------1920s------------------------• The First World War; The sense of life being dislocated and fragmented • Economic boom • Social revelution • The loss of faith • -------------------------1930s------------------------• The Great Depression
lifebeingdislocatedeconomicboomsocialrevelutiongreatdepression时代背景20世纪早期新发明改变人们的生活方式兴奋不已第一次世界大战19141918摧毁欧洲一代人许多美国人丧生一战对人们之前持有的乐观态度产生很大影响旧价值旧政策和旧思想的悲剧性失败20世纪20年代的美国并未露出绝望情绪高度繁荣奢侈成为时尚兴旺的20年代成为掩饰痛苦和迷失感的一个幌子文学特点现代心理学战争后的幻灭感现代荒原景象jazzagescottfitzgeraldcoinedtermjazzageretrospectivelydecadeafterworldwarstockmarketcrash1929duringwhichamericansembarkeduponwhathecalledlostgenerationgertrudesteinhemingwaylostgenerationincludedyoungenglishamericanexpatriateswomencaughtcutfromoldvalueyetunablenewerawhencivilizationshadgonemad
The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s
• The unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals. • When World War I ended in 1918, the generation of young Americans who had fought the war became intensely disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that they had just faced made the Victorian social morality of early-twentieth-century America seem like stuffy, empty hypocrisy(伪善）.
Plot Overview
• —Gatsby is a poor youth—fall in love with Daisy, a wealthy girl • —no money—Daisy married to a rich man • —bootlegging（非法制造私酒）, “shady” activities—enough money, d again, not quite the ideal love of his dream—a sense of loss • —Daisy kills a woman in an accident—shift the blame to Gatsby—Gatsby is shoot and Buchanans escape.
American Dream in the Great Gatsby
1. Gatsby 's "American dream " is his " dream of love ", but the “dream of fortune " is the precondition of " dream of love " . 2. He is persistent in the pursuit of dream. However, his dream is ultimately shattered in the selfish, greedy society.
The Lost Generation
• Gertrude Stein----Hemingway • The lost generation included the young English and American expatriates as well as men and women caught in the war and cut from the old value and yet unable to come to terms with the new era when civilizations had gone mad. • These writers adopted unconventional style of writing and reacted against the tendencies of the old writers in the 1920s.
• East Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made rich • A person from any social background could, potentially, make a fortune, but the American aristocracy scorned the newly rich industrialists and speculators. • The various social climbers and ambitious speculators who attend Gatsby’s parties evidence the greedy scramble for wealth.
文学特点
-现代心理学 -战争后的幻灭感 现代“荒原”景象
Jazz Age
• The novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the term “Jazz Age” retrospectively to refer to the decade after World WarⅠ and before the stock market crash in 1929, during which Americans embarked upon what he called “the gaudiest（最华而不实的） spree in history”.