the great gatsby(文学鉴赏论文)
The Great Gatsby论文
The Great GatsbyAbstract: The passage is mainly talking about the background and the author of the Great Gatsby. And then I am going to talk about Daisy who is the girl who Catsby love and what I think about her.Key Words: backgroud Daisy CatsbyF.Scott Fitzgerald was the author of The Great Gatsby who was considered as one of the most outstanding writers in the USA in the 20th century. His family was socially prominent an genteelly poor. He married with his wife after struggle for furtune. In this book, the protagonist Daisy was the epitome of his wife while Gatsby was miniature of the author. He write so many work such as This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned, Tender is the Night, The last Tycoon. But I think The Catsby is the most wonderful one. T.S.Elliot had ever said that the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James, beacause Fitzgerald depicted the extolled grandest and most boisterous, reckless and merry-making scene.Writen in 1920s, the novel show the picture following the First World War. American society enjoyed prosperity during the ‘roaring’ 1920s as the economy soars. They put aside traditional morals and values, but lead a voluptuous life. Gatsby is a poor youth from the Midwest who falls in love with a girl named Daisy from a wealthy family. Gatsby is too poor to marry her, so he left and asked her waiting for him. Daisy is married to a rich young man named Tom Buchanan. In order to win her back, Catsby entertained lavishly to catch the attention of Daisy. By accident, Nick Carraway, a relative of Daisy helps Catsby ti make an appointment with Daisy. But he finds Daisy is no longer the ideal love of his dream. Daisy and Tom do not love each other. Tom has mistress named Myrtle Wilson who is a wife of a owner of garage. One day, Daisy has a quarrel with Tom. She rushes out and drives Catsby’s car out. As a result, she kills Myrtle Wilson by accident. In order to protect themselves, Daisy and Tom lie to Myrtle’s husband and say that it is Catsby kills her eventually. Myrtle’shusband goes to Catsby’s house and shoots him down.I am not going to talk the great Catsby. Who I am going to talk about is Daisy who is a girl from wealth family. There is not doubt that the innocent love between Daisy and Catsby exists at first. She chooses to married to Tom who is very rich. In fact she worships material so I am not surprise at the death of Catsby. She is a selfish. What she really concerns is herself not the feeling of others, When she met Catsby again, she is not excited about finding the lover but thinks that she can get rid of the aweful life. She looks forward to the life of upper class. At the end, what she chooses is still her husband who can give her good condition and protect her. “The beautiful fool girl” is what she calls her daughter. I think she will be another ‘Daisy’ one day. It is irony that Daisy kills Myrtle but Catsby dies replacing her.The Great Gatsby is a good book. The Oxford Companion said that his finest novel, sensitive and symbolice treatment of themes of contemporary life related with irony and pathos to the legendry of the American dream.。
the_great_gatsby英文介绍及赏析
The Great Gatsby F.Scott.FitzgeraldContextFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, and named after his ancestor Francis Scott Key, the author of The Star-Spangled Banner. Fitzgerald was raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. Though an intelligent child, he did poorly in school and was sent to a New Jersey boarding school in 1911. Despite being a mediocre student there, he managed to enroll at Princeton in 1913. Academic troubles and apathy plagued him throughout his time at college, and he never graduated, instead enlisting in the army in 1917, as World War I neared its end.Fitzgerald became a second lieutenant, and was stationed at Camp Sheridan, in Montgomery, Alabama. There he met and fell in love with a wild seventeen-year-old beauty named Zelda Sayre. Zelda finally agreed to marry him, but her overpowering desire for wealth, fun, and leisure led her to delay their wedding until he could prove a success. With the publication of This Side of Paradise in 1920, Fitzgerald became a literary sensation, earning enough money and fame to convince Zelda to marry him.Many of these events from Fitzgerald’s early life appear in his most famous novel, The Great Gatsby, published in 1925. Like Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway is a thoughtful young man from Minnesota, educated at an Ivy League school (in Nick’s case, Yale), who moves to New York after the war. Also similar to Fitzgerald is Jay Gatsby, a sensitive young man who idolizes wealth and luxury and who falls in love with a beautiful young woman while stationed at a military camp in the South.Having become a celebrity, Fitzgerald fell into a wild, reckless life-style of parties and decadence, while desperately trying to please Zelda by writing to earn money. Similarly, Gatsby amasses a great deal of wealth at a relatively young age, and devotes himself to acquiring possessions and throwing parties that he believes will enable him to win Daisy’s love. As the giddiness of the Roaring Twenties dissolved into the bleakness of the Great Depression, however, Zelda suffered a nervous breakdown and Fitzgerald battled alcoholism, which hampered his writing. He published Tender Is the Night in 1934, and sold short stories to The Saturday Evening Post to support his lavish lifestyle. In 1937, he left for Hollywood to write screenplays, and in 1940, while working on his novel The Love of the Last Tycoon, died of a heart attack at the age of forty-four.Fitzgerald was the most famous chronicler of 1920s America, an era that he dubbed “the Jazz Age.” Written in 1925, The Great Gatsby is one of the greatest literary documents of this period, in which the American economy soared, bringing unprecedented levels of prosperity to the nation. Prohibition, the ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1919), made millionaires out of bootleggers, and an underground culture of revelry sprang up. Sprawling private parties managed to elude police notice, and “speakeasies”—secret clubs that sold liquor—thrived. The chaos and violence of World War I left America in a state of shock, and the generation that fought the war turned to wildand extravagant living to compensate. The staid conservatism and timeworn values of the previous decade were turned on their ear, as money, opulence, and exuberance became the order of the day.Like Nick in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald found this new lifestyle seductive and exciting, and, like Gatsby, he had always idolized the very rich. Now he found himself in an era in which unrestrained materialism set the tone of society, particularly in the large cities of the East. Even so, like Nick, Fitzgerald saw through the glitter of the Jazz Age to the moral emptiness and hypocrisy beneath, and part of him longed for this absent moral center. In many way s, The Great Gatsby represents Fitzgerald’s attempt to confront his conflicting feelings about the Jazz Age. Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald was driven by his love for a woman who symbolized everything he wanted, even as she led him toward everything he despised.Plot OverviewNick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, moves to New York in the summer of 1922 to learn about the bond business. He rents a house in the West Egg district of Long Island, a wealthy but unfashionable area populated by the new rich, a group who have made their fortunes too recently to have established social connections and who are prone to garish displays of wealth. Nick’s next-door neighbor in West Egg is a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby, who lives in a gigantic Gothic mansion and throws extravagant parties every Saturday night.Nick is unlike the other inhabitants of West Egg—he was educated at Yale and has social connections in East Egg, a fashionable area of Long Island home to the established upper class. Nick drives out to East Egg one evening for dinner with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her husband, Tom, an erstwhile classmate of Nick’s at Yale. Daisy and Tom introduce Nick to Jordan Baker, a beautiful, cynical young woman with whom Nick begins a romantic relationship. Nick also l earns a bit about Daisy and Tom’s marriage: Jordan tells him that Tom has a lover, Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the valley of ashes, a gray industrial dumping ground between West Egg and New York City. Not long after this revelation, Nick travels to New York City with Tom and Myrtle. At a vulgar, gaudy party in the apartment that Tom keeps for the affair, Myrtle begins to taunt Tom about Daisy, and Tom responds by breaking her nose.As the summer progresses, Nick eventually garners an invitation to one of Ga tsby’s legendary parties. He encounters Jordan Baker at the party, and they meet Gatsby himself, a surprisingly young man who affects an English accent, has a remarkable smile, and calls everyone “old sport.” Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone, and, through Jordan, Nick later learns more about his mysterious neighbor. Gatsby tells Jordan that he knew Daisy in Louisville in 1917 and is deeply in love with her. He spends many nights staring at the green light at the end of her dock, across the bay from his mansion. Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle and wild parties are simply an attempt to impress Daisy. Gatsby now wants Nick to arrange a reunion between himself and Daisy, but he isafraid that Daisy will refuse to see him if she knows that he still loves her. Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house, without telling her that Gatsby will also be there. After an initially awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy reestablish their connection. Their love rekindled, they begin an affair.After a short time, Tom grows in creasingly suspicious of his wife’s relationship with Gatsby. At a luncheon at the Buchanans’ house, Gatsby stares at Daisy with such undisguised passion that Tom realizes Gatsby is in love with her. Though Tom is himself involved in an extramarital affair, he is deeply outraged by the thought that his wife could be unfaithful to him. He forces the group to drive into New York City, where he confronts Gatsby in a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Tom asserts that he and Daisy have a history that Gatsby could never understand, and he announces to his wife that Gatsby is a criminal—his fortune comes from bootlegging alcohol and other illegal activities. Daisy realizes that her allegiance is to Tom, and Tom contemptuously sends her back to East Egg with Gatsby, attempting to prove that Gatsby cannot hurt him.When Nick, Jordan, and Tom drive through the valley of ashes, however, they discover that Gatsby’s car has struck and killed Myrtle, Tom’s lover. They rush back to Long Island, where Nick learns from Gatsby that Daisy was driving the car when it struck Myrtle, but that Gatsby intends to take the blame. The next day, Tom tells Myrtle’s husband, George, that Gatsby was the driver of the car. George, who has leapt to the conclusion that the driver of the car that killed Myrtle must have been her lover, finds Gatsby in the pool at his mansion and shoots him dead. He then fatally shoots himself.Nick stages a small funeral for Gatsby, ends his relationship with Jordan, and moves back to the Midwest to escape the disgust h e feels for the people surrounding Gatsby’s life and for the emptiness and moral decay of life among the wealthy on the East Coast. Nick reflects that just as Gatsby’s dream of Daisy was corrupted by money and dishonesty, the American dream of happiness and individualism has disintegrated into the mere pursuit of wealth. Though Gatsby’s power to transform his dreams into reality is what makes him “great,” Nick reflects that the era of dreaming—both Gatsby’s dream and the American dream—is over.Character ListNick Carraway - The novel’s narrator, Nick is a young man from Minnesota who, after being educated at Yale and fighting in World War I, goes to New York City to learn the bond business. Honest, tolerant, and inclined to reserve judgment, Nick often serves as a confidant for those with troubling secrets. After moving to West Egg, a fictional area of Long Island that is home to the newly rich, Nick quickly befriends his next-door neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby. As Daisy Buchanan’s cousin, he facil itates the rekindling of the romance between her and Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is told entirely through Nick’s eyes; his thoughts and perceptions shape and color the story.Nick Carraway (In-Depth Analysis)Jay Gatsby - The title character and protagonist of the novel, Gatsby is a fabulously wealthy young man living in a Gothic mansion in West Egg. He is famous for the lavish parties he throws every Saturday night, but no one knows where he comes from, what he does, or how he made his fortune. As the novel progresses, Nick learns that Gatsby was born James Gatz on a farm in North Dakota; working for a millionaire made him dedicate his life to the achievement of wealth. When he met Daisy while training to be an officer in Louisville, he fell in love with her. Nick also learns that Gatsby made his fortune through criminal activity, as he was willing to do anything to gain the social position he thought necessary to win Daisy. Nick views Gatsby as a deeply flawed man, dishonest and vulgar, whose extraordinary optimism and power to transform his dreams into reality make him “great” nonetheless.Jay Gatsby (In-Depth Analysis)Daisy Buchanan - Nick’s cousin, and the woman Gatsby loves. As a young woman in Louisville before the war, Daisy was courted by a number of officers, including Gatsby. She fell in love with Gatsby and promised to wait for him. However, Daisy harbors a deep need to be loved, and when a wealthy, powerful young man named Tom Buchanan asked her to marry him, Daisy decided not to wait for Gatsby after all. Now a beautiful socialite, Daisy lives with Tom across from Gatsby in the fashionable East Egg district of Long Island. She is sardonic and somewhat cynical, and behaves superficially to mask her pain at her husband’s constant infidelity.Daisy Buchanan (In-Depth Analysis)Tom Buchanan - Daisy’s immensely wealthy husband, once a member of Nick’s social club at Yale. Powerfully built and hailing from a socially solid old family, Tom is an arrogant, hypocritical bully. His social attitudes are laced with racism and sexism, and he never even considers trying to live up to the moral standard he demands from those around him. He has no moral qualms about his own extramarital affair with Myrtle, but when he begins to suspect Daisy and Gatsby of having an affair, he becomes outraged and forces a confrontation.Jordan Baker - Daisy’s friend, a woman with whom Nick becomes romantically involved during the course of the novel. A competitive golfer, Jordan represents one of the “new women” of the 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan is beautiful, but also dishonest: she cheated in order to win her first golf tournament and continually bends the truth.Myrtle Wilson - Tom’s lover, whose lifeless husband George owns a run-down garage in the valley of ashes. Myrtle herself possesses a fierce vitality and desperately looks for a way to improve her situation. Unfortunately for her, she chooses Tom, who treats her as a mere object of his desire.George Wilson - Myrtle’s husband, the lifeless, exhausted owner of a run-down auto shop at the edge of the valley of ashes. George loves and idealizes Myrtle, and is devastated by her affair with Tom. George is consumed with grief when Myrtle is killed. George is comparable to Gatsby in that both are dreamers and both are ruined by their unrequited love for women who love Tom.Owl Eyes - The eccentric, bespectacled drunk whom Nick meets at the first party he attends at Gatsby’s mansion. Nick finds Owl Eyes looking through Gatsby’s library, astonished that the boo ks are real.Klipspringer - The shallow freeloader who seems almost to live at Gatsby’s mansion, taking advantage of his host’s money. As soon as Gatsby dies, Klipspringer disappears—he does not attend the funeral, but he does call Nick about a pair of te nnis shoes that he left at Gatsby’s mansion.Analysis of Major CharactersJay GatsbyThe title character of The Great Gatsby is a young man, around thirty years old, who rose from an impoverished childhood in rural North Dakota to become fabulously wealthy. However, he achieved this lofty goal by participating in organized crime, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities. From his early youth, Gatsby despised poverty and longed for wealth and sophistication—he dropped out of St. Olaf’s College after only two weeks because he could not bear the janitorial job with which he was paying his tuition. Though Gatsby has always wanted to be rich, his main motivation in acquiring his fortune was his love for Daisy Buchanan, whom he met as a young military officer in Louisville before leaving to fight in World War I in 1917. Gatsby immediately fell in love with Daisy’s aura of luxury, grace, and charm, and lied to her about his own background in order to convince her that he was good enough for her. Daisy promised to wait for him when he left for the war, but married Tom Buchanan in 1919, while Gatsby was studying at Oxford after the war in an attempt to gain an education. From that moment on, Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy back, and his acquisition of millions of dollars, his purchase of a gaudy mansion on West Egg, and his lavish weekly parties are all merely means to that end.Fitzgerald delays the introduction of most of this information until fairly late in the novel. Gats by’s reputation precedes him—Gatsby himself does not appear in a speaking role until Chapter III. Fitzgerald initially presents Gatsby as the aloof, enigmatic host of the unbelievably opulent parties thrown every week at his mansion. He appears surrounded by spectacular luxury, courted by powerful men and beautiful women. He is the subject of a whirlwind of gossip throughout New York and is already a kind of legendary celebrity beforehe is ever introduced to the reader. Fitzgerald propels the novel forward through the early chapters by shrouding Gatsby’s background and the source of his wealth in mystery (the reader learns about Gatsby’s childhood in Chapter VI and receives definitive proof of his criminal dealings in Chapter VII). As a result, the reader’s first, distant impressions of Gatsby strike quite a different note from that of the lovesick, naive young man who emerges during the later part of the novel.Fitzgerald uses this technique of delayed character revelation to emphasize the theatrical quality of Gatsby’s approach to life, which is an important part of his personality. Gatsby has literally created his own character, even changing his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby to represent his reinvention of himself. As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality; at the beginning of the novel, he appears to the reader just as he desires to appear to the world. This talent for self-invention is what gives Gatsby his qual ity of “greatness”: indeed, the title “The Great Gatsby” is reminiscent of billings for such vaudeville magicians as “The Great Houdini” and “The Great Blackstone,” suggesting that the persona of Jay Gatsby is a masterful illusion.Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.(See Important Quotations Explained)As the novel progresses and Fitzgerald deconstructs Gatsby’s self-presentation, Gatsby reveals himself to be an innocent, hopeful young man who stakes everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. Gatsby invests Daisy with an idealistic perfection that she cannot possibly attain in reality and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her limitations. His dream of her disintegrates, revealing the corruption that wealth causes and the unworthiness of the goal, much in the way Fitzgerald sees the American dream crumbling in the 1920s, as America’s powerful optimism, vitality, and individualism become subordinated to the amoral pursuit of wealth.Gatsby is contrasted most consistently with Nick. Critics point out that the former, passionate and active, and the latter, sober and reflective, seem to represent two sides of Fitzgerald’s personality. Additionally, whereas Tom is a cold-hearted, aristocratic bully, Gatsby is a loyal and good-hearted man. Though his lifestyle and attitude differ greatly from those of George Wilson, Gatsby and Wilson share the fact that they both lose their love interest to Tom.Nick CarrawayIf Gatsby represents one part of Fitzgerald’s personality, the flashy celebrity who pursued and glorified wealth in order to impress the woman he loved, then Nick represents another part: the quiet, reflective Midwesterner adrift in the lurid East. A young man (he turns thirty during the course of the novel) from Minnesota, Nick travels to New York in 1922 to learn the bond business. He lives in the West Egg district ofLong Island, next door to Gatsby. Nick is also Daisy’s cousin, which enables him to o bserve and assist the resurgent love affair between Daisy and Gatsby. As a result of his relationship to these two characters, Nick is the perfect choice to narrate the novel, which functions as a personal memoir of his experiences with Gatsby in the summer of 1922.Nick is also well suited to narrating The Great Gatsby because of his temperament. As he tells the reader in Chapter I, he is tolerant, open-minded, quiet, and a good listener, and, as a result, others tend to talk to him and tell him their secrets. Gatsby, in particular, comes to trust him and treat him as a confidant. Nick generally assumes a secondary role throughout the novel, preferring to describe and comment on events rather than dominate the action. Often, however, he functions as Fitzger ald’s voice, as in his extended meditation on time and the American dream at the end of Chapter IX.Insofar as Nick plays a role inside the narrative, he evidences a strongly mixed reaction to life on the East Coast, one that creates a powerful internal conflict that he does not resolve until the end of the book. On the one hand, Nick is attracted to the fast-paced, fun-driven lifestyle of New York. On the other hand, he finds that lifestyle grotesque and damaging. This inner conflict is symbolized througho ut the book by Nick’s romantic affair with Jordan Baker. He is attracted to her vivacity and her sophistication just as he is repelled by her dishonesty and her lack of consideration for other people.Nick states that there is a “quality of distortion” to life in New York, and this lifestyle makes him lose his equilibrium, especially early in the novel, as when he gets drunk at Gatsby’s party in Chapter II. After witnessing the unraveling of Gatsby’s dream and presiding over the appalling spectacle of Gatsby’s funeral, Nick realizes that the fast life of revelry on the East Coast is a cover for the terrifying moral emptiness that the valley of ashes symbolizes. Having gained the maturity that this insight demonstrates, he returns to Minnesota in search of a quieter life structured by more traditional moral values.Daisy BuchananPartially based on Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda, Daisy is a beautiful young woman from Louisville, Kentucky. She is Nick’s cousin and the object of Gatsby’s love. As a young debutante in Louisville, Daisy was extremely popular among the military officers stationed near her home, including Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lied about his background to Daisy, claiming to be from a wealthy family in order to convince her that he was worthy of her. Eventuall y, Gatsby won Daisy’s heart, and they made love before Gatsby left to fight in the war. Daisy promised to wait for Gatsby, but in 1919 she chose instead to marry Tom Buchanan, a young man from a solid, aristocratic family who could promise her a wealthy lifestyle and who had the support of her parents.After 1919, Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy back, making her the single goal of all of his dreams and the main motivation behind his acquisition of immense wealth through criminal activity. To Gatsby, Daisy represents the paragon of perfection—she has the aura of charm, wealth, sophistication, grace, andaristocracy that he longed for as a child in North Dakota and that first attracted him to her. In reality, however, Daisy falls far short of Gatsby’s ideals. She is beautiful and charming, but also fickle, shallow, bored, and sardonic. Nick characterizes her as a careless person who smashes things up and then retreats behind her money. Daisy proves her real nature when she chooses Tom over Gatsby in Chapter VII, then allows Gatsby to take the blame for killing Myrtle Wilson even though she herself was driving the car. Finally, rather than attend Gatsby’s funeral, Daisy and Tom move away, leaving no forwarding address.Like Zelda Fitzgerald, Daisy is in love with money, ease, and material luxury. She is capable of affection (she seems genuinely fond of Nick and occasionally seems to love Gatsby sincerely), but not of sustained loyalty or care. She is indifferent even to her own infant daughter, never discussing her and treating her as an afterthought when she is introduced in Chapter VII. In Fitzgerald’s conception of America in the 1920s, Daisy represents the amoral values of the aristocratic East Egg set.Themes, Motifs & SymbolsThemesThemes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920sOn the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess.Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as 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. The dizzying rise of the stock market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, sustained increase in the national wealth and a newfound materialism, as people began to spend and consume at unprecedented levels. A person from any social background could, potentially, make a fortune, but the American aristocracy—families with old wealth—scorned the newly rich industrialists and speculators. Additionally, the passage of the EighteenthAmendment in 1919, which banned the sale of alcohol, created a thriving underworld designed to satisfy the massive demand for bootleg liquor among rich and poor alike.Fitzgerald positions the characters of The Great Gatsby as emblems of these social trends. Nick and Gatsby, both of whom fought in World War I, exhibit the newfound cosmopolitanism and cynicism that resulted from the war. The various social climbers and ambitious speculators who attend Gatsby’s parties evidence the greedy scramble for wealth. The clash between “old money” and “new money” manifests itself in the novel’s symbolic geography: East Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made rich. Meyer Wolfshiem and Gatsby’s fortune s ymbolize the rise of organized crime and bootlegging.As Fitzgerald saw it (and as Nick explains in Chapter IX), the American dream was originally about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. In the 1920s depicted in the novel, however, easy money and relaxed social values have corrupted this dream, especially on the East Coast. The main plotline of the novel reflects this assessment, as Gatsby’s dream of loving Daisy is ruined by the difference in their respective social statuses, his resorting to crime to make enough money to impress her, and the rampant materialism that characterizes her lifestyle. Additionally, places and objects in The Great Gatsby have meaning only because characters instill them with meaning: the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg best exemplify this idea. In Nick’s mind, the ability to create meaningful symbols constitutes a central component of the American dream, as early Americans invested their new nation with their own ideals and values.Nick compares the green bulk of America rising from the ocean to the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. 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 p ossesses. Gatsby’s dream is ruined by the unworthiness of its object, just as the American dream in the 1920s is ruined by the unworthiness of its object—money and pleasure. Like 1920s Americans in general, fruitlessly seeking a bygone era in which their dreams had value, Gatsby longs to re-create a vanished past—his time in Louisville with Daisy—but is incapable of doing so. When his dream crumbles, all that is left for Gatsby to do is die; all Nick can do is move back to Minnesota, where American values have not decayed.The Hollowness of the Upper ClassOne of the major topics explored in The Great Gatsby is the sociology of wealth, specifically, how the newly minted millionaires of the 1920s differ from and relate to the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families. In the novel, West Egg and its denizens represent the newly rich, while East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste. Gatsby, for example, lives in a monstrously ornate mansion, wears a pink suit, drives a Rolls-Royce, and does not pick up on subtle social signals, such as the insincerity of the Sloanes’ invitation to lunch. In contrast, the old aristocracy possesses grace, taste, subtlety,and elegance, epitomized by the Buchanans’ tasteful home and the flowing white dresses of Daisy and Jordan Baker.What the old aristocracy possesses in taste, however, it seems to lack in heart, as the East Eggers prove themselves careless, inconsiderate bullies who are so used to money’s ability to ease their minds that they never worry about hurting others. The Buchanans exemplify this stereotype when, at the end of the novel, they simply move to a new ho use far away rather than condescend to attend Gatsby’s funeral. Gatsby, on the other hand, whose recent wealth derives from criminal activity, has a sincere and loyal heart, remaining outside Daisy’s window until four in the morning in Chapter VII simply to make sure that Tom does not hurt her. Ironically, Gatsby’s good qualities (loyalty and love) lead to his death, as he takes the blame for killing Myrtle rather than letting Daisy be punished, and the Buchanans’ bad qualities (fickleness and selfishness) allow them to remove themselves from the tragedy not only physically but psychologically.MotifsMotifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.GeographyThroughout the novel, places and settings epitomize the various aspects of the 1920s American society that Fitzgerald depicts. East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social decay of America, and New York City the uninhibited, amoral quest for money and pleasure. Additionally, the East is connected to the moral decay and social cynicism of New York, while the West (including Midwestern and northern areas such as Minnesota) is connected to more traditional social values and ideals. Nick’s analysis in Chapter IX of the story he has related reveals his sensitivity to this dichotomy: though it is set in the East, the story is really one of the West, as it tells how people originally from west of the Appalachians (as all of the main characters are) react to the pace and style of life on the East Coast.WeatherAs in much of Shakespeare’s work, the weather in The Great Gatsby unfailingly matches the emotional and narrative tone of the story. Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion begins amid a pouring rain, proving awkward and melancholy; their love reawakens just as the sun begins to come out. Gatsby’s climactic confrontation with Tom occurs on the hottest day of the summer, under the scorching sun (like the fatal encounter between Mercutio and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet). Wilson kills Gatsby on the first day of autumn, as Gatsby floats in his pool despite a palpable chill in the air—a symbolic attempt to stop time and restore his relationship with Daisy to the way it was five years before, in 1917.SymbolsSymbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.。
the_great_Gatsby本科毕业论文终稿涉
SYMBOLISM IN THE GREAT GATSBYA Thesispresented toThe College of Foreign Languages Chongqing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsIn Partial Fulfillmentof the Requirements for the Degree ofBachelor of ArtsByYang ChunmeiJune 2014摘要象征主义是十九世纪末法国重要的文学思潮。
第一次世界大战前，它传播到欧洲多个艺术领域，许多作家认为，任何事物都应该有相应的内涵，内心世界和外部世界是相互渗透的，人们可以挖掘出隐藏在象征本体里的一切象征意义，因此，它提倡人们可以使用大量的意象来暗示微妙的内心世界，并将它们有机融合在一起。
《了不起的盖茨比》是弗·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德最具代表性和最受欢迎的作品之一，长期以来国内外众多学者从不同角度进行研究。
它强烈抨击了美国20世纪20年代物质主义盛行，人们内心世界的腐败和道德沦丧的社会现状。
作者巧妙地运用象征手法向读者展示一个灯绿梦渺的美国梦。
弗·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德挑选出小说中最能代表美国20世纪20年代期间社会现状的典型人物，通过他们各自对价值观截然不同的反应和所采取的行为，以此表明美国梦破灭的必然性。
关键词：象征主义；美国梦；物质主义；幻灭ABSTRACTSymbolism was regarded as an important literary trend in France at the end of the nineteenth century. Before World War I, it spread to various art fields in Europe, the writers who were for it believed that anything should have corresponding meaning, the inner world and outer world were inducted each other, and people can dig out hidden symbolism from everything. Therefore, it advocated that people can use substantial images to suggest the subtle inner world, and blend two of them together skillfully, one of the unique charms in the novel The Great Gatsby is the abundant use of symbols．In the novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbols to depict the various characters and deepen the theme; he connects the visual real world with the abstract inner world by using masses of potential symbolism, showing readers characteristics, personality as well as charms of protagonists vividly; meanwhile, the proper use of symbolism adds up infinite art charm and enhances ideological implication of the work, making the novel loved by a great number of readers.The Great Gatsby is one of the most representative and popular works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, it strongly criticizes the rich’s priority for materialism and the loss of morality as well as their corruption of the inner world，also in the novel the social reality of the United States in 1920s is deeply exposed with numerous symbols by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In order to show readers a lively and bright plot, he elaborately arranges each section, taking the protagonists for example, F. Scott Fitzgerald picks out the most typical characters from different social classes in the novel to reflect their respective values during 1920s in the United States, according to their different reactions and behaviors towards materialism and morality, the author aims to indicate the inevitable tragedy and evaporation of the American dream.Key words: symbolism, the American Dream, materialism, evaporationOutlineTitle: Symbolism in The Great GatsbyThesis Statement: Symbols in The Great Gatsby represent Gatsby’s disillusions of the American Dream as well as the social moral loss.1. Introduction2. Symbolism of Colors2.1 Green: Dream and Hope2.2 White: Innocence and Beauty VS Evil and Horror2.3 Blue: Gloom, Peace and Fantasy2.4 Yellow: Power, Wealth and Status3. Symbolism of Protagonists3.1 Daisy: Selfishness and Materialism3.2 Gatsby: visionary and tragic3.3 Nick: onlooking and Injustice4. The American Dream in The Great Gatsby4.1 The American Dream4.2 Disillusion of the American Dream4.3 Inevitable Evaporation of the American Dream5. ConclusionBibliography1 IntroductionThe United States had an unprecedented economic prosperity after World War I, the life quality of people showed an uprising trend, while their mental world was descending sharply under the brand--new social environment, that is, the younger generation of America were addicted to hedonism regardless of the traditional religious beliefs and morality, they indulge themselves in the unprincipled recreation, excessively emphasizing on materials but ignoring mentality, which resulted in the disillusion of the American dream.The publication of The Great Gatsby in 1925 is the reflection of “the Jazz Age” –“the period from 1918-1929, the years between the end of World War I and the start of the roaring twenties; ending with the rise of the Great Depression, the traditional values of this age see a sharp decline while the great American stock market soars.” (Wikipedia: the Jazz age) F. Scot Fitzgerald uses a unique narration way to describe hero—Gatsby’s life. As a narrator, Nick is tired of his hometown—Midwest life and comes to New York. He rents a small apartment in the suburb of West Egg. He is Daisy’s cousin, and neighbor of Gatsby who owns a luxurious mansion. Gatsby and Daisy once love each other when they are young, but end up with Gatsby’s poverty. Then he joins World War I, and Daisy marries Tom Buchanan—a wealthy guy and they give birth to a daughter. Five years later, the Buchanan move from Chicago to the west, and Nick starts to have frequent contacts with the Buchanan; during five years, Gatsby accumulates amounts of wealth by means of illegal activity and comes to New York following Daisy. He buys a luxurious villa—Gatsby mansion. Each Saturday he would hold a grand party to attract the married Daisy, fancying arousing her notice and restart the relationship. On an accidental occasion, Gatsby learns that Nick is Daisy’s cousin, so he begs Nick to arrange a meeting for them. After that date, both Daisy and Gatsby have frequent date. However, he gradually realizes that Daisy is vane and secular not as what she used tobe, Gatsby’s beautiful dream finally breaks, but he still insists on her and has a glimmer of fantasy, which makes him suffer from a miserable outcome in the end. Later, Daisy drives Gatsby’s car to run over and kills Tom’s mistress Myrtle Wilson after drunk driving, but Tom and Daisy put the blame on Gatsby with conspiracy brutally, resulting in Gatsby’s death by George Wilson’s gun shot. While Daisy and Tom travel to Europe, there are only two people—Nick and Gatsby’s father to attend Gatsby’s funeral. Gatsby becomes a victim of selfish and cruel Daisy.F. Scott Fitzgerald describes a picture of tragic American dream with poetic language and ample colors. There are many symbols in the novel. Symbolism will be analyzed respectively from the following aspects: colors, protagonists and the American Dream will be mentioned.2 Symbolism of ColorsAmong so many symbols in the novel, most of which are colors: white represents purity, innocence and emptiness, depravation; during the process of describing Gatsby’s dream, green night becomes an important image, it means not only dream and hope, but also a bubble; besides, yellow means wealth, status and evil, and so on. The following part will illustrate different colors thoroughly.2.1 GreenGreen is the color of nature, representing hope and dream. When he is seventeen, Gatsby wears a shabby green sweater, presenting an optimistic and hopeful image; when he falls in love with Daisy deeply, however, Gatsby is too poor to marry her. Daisy immediately marries a millionaire –Tom Buchanan. So Gatsby struggles out from the bottom of society, though, he is not for a life of luxurious and material comforts, but for the “pure love”, which is an ideal and indescribable romantic illusion, a permanent expectation for him. After Gatsby makes a fortune, he is still obsessed with his love—Daisy, he spares no effort to attract and pursue Daisy, since it is his only dream, in his mind, Daisy symbolizes all of what he dreams, in a word, Daisy is his hope, goals and incardination of love.And again at the end of the novel, it refers to green:“Gatsby believes in the green night: the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before Man, it eludes Man then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow Man will run faster, stretch out his arms farther…and one fine morning.”(Fitzgerald2013:113)here the symbolism of green night is American’s enthusiastic and reckless pursuit for the illusory American Dream. In Gatsby’s eyes, green night is his guide on the one hand, which makes him feel his dream is on the way and easy to grasp; on the other hand, it is so attractive, twinkling, and vague. Finally, when his ultimate dream is lost, the green light that symbolizes hope disappears forever from him, which leads to the access to dream becoming adark journey. F. Scott Fitzgerald links it with Gatsby’s blind pursuit for Daisy purposely, making the green light have an obvious irony. F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream is devastated by the excessive pursuit for materials, contributing to a futile effort. Green is Gatsby’s hope, but it is his impractical pursuit for the green light that results in his tragedy.2.2 YellowYellow is a symbol of power, wealth and luxury. It is one of the most widely used colors in the novel. In order to regain his true love, Gatsby conveys abundant information all the time to Daisy: his gorgeous and expensive car that he takes is yellow; his tie that he wears while dating with Daisy is golden; his cars, food, bars that he owns when he holds various, luxurious, grand, illuminated banquets, are all yellow; his comb that is shown to Daisy is also purely golden; In addition, Daisy is regarded as the golden girl, her name is a kind of flower with the color of yellow ; Jordan Baker has a withered golden hair, and his arms are golden; two of girls in the banquets are with golden skirts; it is the golden cocktail music that is played in the banquets all the time; All of the yellow symbols represent a noisy, wealthy and money-oriented atmosphere, it seems that everywhere in the society is full of the color of yellow.During the Jazz age, money is a symbol of success and status, people would rather desert their own moral conception and deceive each other without guilty just for money. In a word, yellow becomes seductive and charming, while Gatsby’s tragedy results in the golden lie, he struggles for the color all of his life, but his dream is destroyed at last. In such case, yellow symbolizes the characteristics of the society and the destiny of people.2.3 WhiteWhite generally symbolizes purity and innocence, but in the novel, it symbolizes horror and loneliness. The first time Daisy runs into Gatsby, she wears white clothes and drives a white car, which indicates that Daisy is pure and elegant, but Daisy’s inner heart is hollow and shallow; she lives in a white palace-stylebuilding and the curtains are white, all of which are a symbol of Daisy’s tiresome and empty spirit. White is a cold color, taking Daisy’s heart for instance, Gatsby almost uses up all of his youth and passion for her, including sacrificing himself, but she is so cold that ignores what Gatsby does for her and takes it for granted. In the eastern part of material world, her strong desire for money and material things has already twisted her into a greedy, selfish and vulgar woman.Besides, from the perspective of Gatsby, there are also a lot of symbols related to the white color: the villa that Gatsby buys and the suits that he wears, which means that he is as hollow as Daisy, he has nothing to do but pursue Daisy, even Gatsby owns more and more wealth, he has no way to save Daisy’s degraded soul, because it is the nature of Daisy. Gatsby spends his whole life on unpractical illusions, to some degree, he is rather stupid. Therefore, the color of white in the novel has a strong irony too.2.4 BlueBlue is the color of the sky and the sea, which means a broad scale, while it also means gloom and depression. In the novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes something connected with dream and unreality. He uses blue to describe Gatsby’s house: blue lawn that is an important part in his life, and blue garden; Gatsby also gets a blue navy clothes from the captain due to his upright characteristics. All of these symbolize Gatsby’s dream and melancholy.In Chapter two of the novel,the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue, with bleak look, watching the gray valley, indicating an unfortunate disaster. In the author’s opinion, this is God’s eyes; she knows that Gatsby’s dream is doomed to fail, so her eyes are sad and gloomy. And George Wilson believes that Doctor T. J. Eckleburg’s eyes are existence of God. After his wife dies by conspiracy:“He muttered, after a long silence. “I told her she might fool me but she couldn’tfool God. I took her to the window’—with an effort he got up and walked to therear window and leaned with his face pressed against it—‘and I said, “Godknows what you have been doing, everything you have been doing. You may foolme, but you cannot fool God!”’ standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shockthat he was looking at the blue eyes of doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which had justemerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night. ” (Fitzgerald 2013:100) In other words, F. Scott Fitzgerald presents the symbolisms of various colors vividly, green, on one hand, represents Gatsby’s hope and dream, he is as energetic as others; on the other hand, it seems like a prediction that Gatsby is doomed to fail. Yellow stands for wealth and status in the novel. Gatsby makes effort to climb up and accumulate money in order to cater for Daisy and prove that he also belongs to the upper class; actually, he never realizes his illusion from the beginning to the end. White is a symbol of horror and ignorant, Daisy is a typical epitome of the Jazz age. Blue is a symbol of gloom and depression in the novel. Doctor T. J. Eckleburg’s blue eyes seem to indicate the tragedy of all the people. Besides symbolisms of colors, the symbols of protagonists are worth analyzing.3 Symbolism of the ProtagonistsIt is evident that a vivid description of main character plays a key role in advancing the plots. The Great Gatsby selects several typical protagonists to reflect their different characteristics and values, and imply the hedonism during the Jazz age.3.1 DaisyDaisy is the heroine in the novel; she is Gatsby’s dream love. As a typical material girl, she is a symbol of money. She is a girl with beautiful appearance, attractive eyes, and erogenous voice. Five years ago, the poor Gatsby falls in love with the wealthy girl at the first sight, but he is so poor that he cannot afford the wedding expenses, they have to end the relationship finally. Because in Daisy’s eyes, money is the only judge to measure anything, love is no exception. For her, money is the only almighty God, the true, the good, and the beautiful are not qualified to surpass it. Daisy once loves him, but when she finds Gatsby is penniless, she never hesitates to abandon him and turns to Tom who is wealthy and illustrious but vulgar. In the material world, Gatsby’s love with Daisy is fragile and vulnerable. Daisy believes that love is not the bread of life, she is eager to live an abundant and carefree life. Actually, she is the incardination of the American Dream, which looks beautiful and pure, almost close to touch, but it is just an illusion, and finally vanishes.Though she owns abundant materials, she is very lonely and empty. While Nick has come to dinner with her family, when Tom and Jordan are chatting in another room, she uncovers her mask, tells all of her inner feelings sincerely. She complains about her unhappiness. Besides, in her daily life, although he often says something that seems to be foolish and jokes with others, she arms herself, pretends herself to be happy and live an ideal life like a carefree child, actually, she is unhappy, and no one is reliable for her to share her miserable life except Nick.3.2 GatsbyGatsby, the hero of the novel, is a sheer dreamer. He is the symbol of the American younger generation after the First World War I. Gatsby’s pursuit and evaporation for dream are also what the youth dream: individually heroic ideal and the miraculous American Dream makes them believe that one can reach their own inner world that they yearn for only if they try their effort, so they come to the world with hope, looking forward to establishing a kingdom of their own in the new world, but eventually they find that what they desire and pursue are just self-deceptive, the American Dream is never to be achieved. In his short life time, he uses all kinds of means to pursue Daisy, but what a pity is that even though he costs too much to win her heart, he is killed by his beloved indirectly, and even no one is willing to attend his funeral. From the beginning to the end, he is blindfold in his own relationship; he has never experienced the true love. At the age of 17 to 18, Gatsby regards young ladies as ignorance, so he looks down upon the girls, but poor Gatsby only loves Daisy crazily, in his eyes, Daisy is beautiful, and she has an outstanding family background, Gatsby is the only one that attracts Daisy among so many suitors, here it can be seen that Gatsby loves not Daisy herself but the wealth and social status that Daisy stands for, he eagerly climbs up to upper class, so he thinks that he loves Daisy not anything else, but it can be inferred that Gatsby is trapped into the hypocritical love without self-conscious. In order to win Daisy, he takes various illegal measures to accumulate amounts of wealth. After reunion with Daisy, who is a frivolous and materialistic person, Gatsby tries to invite her to his villa just to show how rich he is now. In his mind, Daisy is the incarnation of a holy and pure heart, just like her white skirt, even Gatsby finds Daisy is a secular woman, not the same one as she used to be, but he doesn’t want to give her up. Actually, Gatsby just wants to use wealth, materials and Daisy to mask his poor birth, and win the social recognition and admiration. In Gatsby's mind, as long as there are material wealth and social status, he can regain Daisy, and he can prove his self—value. Gatsby, through illegal means to win a huge amount of wealth, makes up his personal life, so that he can achieve his dream.After Gatsby makes material success, then he has been very close to achieve the dream, he has almost caught the dream. But the very moment, everything is destroyed. Gatsby should have realized that his dreams are entirely on the basis of material; his pursuit of an illusory ideal just makes him realize that Daisy's mind is full of money, but he never understands they belong to different worlds, representing different values. And his total unconsciousness is destined to die. But in the process of interaction for Nick and the gang, even though he has contempt and disdains Gatsby, Gatsby treats love sincerely and selflessly.3.3 NickNick, as both the story teller and the moral judge, he has an irreplaceable place in the novel; he is indispensable to the progression of the story as well as to the in-depth exposure of the American Dream. Nick, as the novel's first narrator, in this novel, he has created a kind of immersive feeling that is rising up, making the whole novel not only fascinating but also more dramatic. He observes all of what happens to Gatsby, as Gatsby’s friend and neighbor, Daisy’s cousin, Tom’s classmate, he has an inextricable link with them. He cannot stand the eastern United States because of the vague and moral indifference, he witnesses the destruction of Gatsby’s growing, all the disappointment and disgust for the eastern community, and in the course, in order to further improve and standardize his own responsibility and morality, he decides to go back west. What happens in the eastern part of the story that makes Nick feel so disappointed and disgus ted is that something swallows Gatsby’s spiritual things and makes him temporarily lose interest in any temporary moment of joy and sorrow, so that he is no longer interested in participating in swollen treasures, and no longer occasionally catches the glimpse of the human heart's honor. He feels disgusted about the reality, but he is also immersed in the ugly environment, he describes Gatsby as a great man even though he sells wine illegally and pursues Daisy in an inappropriate way. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”(Fitzgerald, 2013:1)According to his narration and comment, Nick shows a totally different type of life style between Gatsby and Daisy.In a sense, Daisy, from the beginning to the end, is a wretch, she never experiences a true love, for her, wealth and status are more important than love, she pursues something illusory in her whole life, which causes her empty and ignorant life. Gatsby and Nick, in the realization of their own American dream on the road, are losers. Gatsby, although achieves the material success, in spirit he collapses; Nick has been purified, although in spirit and perfection, but never gets the measure of success from the perspective of worldly material wealth. In the final analysis, all the three people are the victim of the American dream, which results in their tragedy.4 The American Dream in The Great GatsbyFor Americans, American dream is a faith that a person can achieve what he is eager for only if striving as much as possible, success would be on the way. Actually, it is not enough. The following parts will analyze the breakdown of American dream, the disillusion of American dream as well as the inevitable evaporation of American dream in detail.4.1 The American DreamWhen it comes to the breakdown of American Dream, there are two notable people that should be noticed.One is Norman Mailer. his fourth novel—An American Dream (1966),The book is written in a poetic style with metaphor that creates unique and hypnotizing narrative and dialogue. Mailer peels away the layers of the social norms to reveal a world of pure appetite and relentless cruelty.The other one is Edward Albee. He feels the reality of American society cannot be compromised and must be disclosed. In his play The American Dream (1961), he ironically criticizes people who only go for external things rather than seeking the practical, to meet the appearance of bodybuilding but ignore the internal weakness.Actually, The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that “all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”(Wikipedia: the United States Declaration of Independence)The American Dream is based on an ideal realm that everyone can develop their ability and finally become successful only if they are continuously making their own efforts; it is an equal opportunity to expect success in spite of family background. Americans have traditionally believed that only through hardwork, will they change destiny and obtain wealth. The American Dream is originally to achieve the dual progress in spirit and materials; however, it is gradually replaced by sheer money and pleasure. The American Dream is bait for encouraging young men to struggle and fight, and then can get what they seeks for. In fact, it is just an illusion that never comes true. Although it can make people inspired and enhance morale, it disappears quickly. The tragedy Gatsby can illustrate the point. Gatsby is embodied in the conflict of American life’s dream and reality; he is always living in his own fantasy and regarding it as reality, even pursuing it persistently. He was born poor, but he is eager for a better life.4.2 Disillusion of the American DreamFor each American, the American dream is a hope for success, it is a ladder from penniless to wealthy, and it attracts people to go to west and tries to become millionaires. Until the nineteenth century, the accumulation of wealth and material prosperity of the country suddenly gets to an unprecedented expansion, the American Dream is no longer full of positive and moral energy, spiritual need and material need are strongly conflicted, and people own more and more wealth but declined morality. The Great Gatsby is just the real description of the American society in 1920s, during which all traditional values turn into pure and mad pursuit for money. Gatsby’s dream is to combine love and money, at first, the reason why he pursues money is just to become wealthy and successful, and then he is to pursue his dream—the fantastic love, the two dreams belong to “love dream”. Therefore, the evaporation of love dream means all of his dreams are evaporated. Since Gatsby has rich materials, he is eager for restarting with Daisy. However, the American Dream cannot become true only with amounts of wealth in America; even Daisy is an ambitious, selfish, hypocritical and material girl, nevertheless, Gatsby regards her as the incardination of perfection, and pursues her at all costs, actually, it is just an illusion that cannot be realized. But he continues to chase the unrealistic dream blindly, which leads to his tragedy.4.3 Inevitable Evaporation of the American DreamThe Great Gatsby is considered as one of the typical American novel to reflect the atmosphere of the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes Gatsby, the hero of the novel, as a “great” man, because he has no other dream except for love, although he also has many deficiencies and does illegal wine making, from the beginning to the end in the novel, Gatsby has only one goal, that is pursuing Daisy in spite of any obstacles, just because of the “great” goal, he is able to accumulate amounts of wealth to the upper social status. However, in the postwar era, true love is difficult to pursue, material is beyond love; in addition, Gatsby even sacrifices himself for his love, Gatsby is to Daisy what Americans are to the American dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald describes the image of Daisy deliberately to reveal the disillusion of American dream, Daisy’s beauty means the American Dream is attractive and attempting, and Daisy’s selfishness and emptiness means the American Dream is unrealistic and nonsense. Gatsby is incapable to distinguish the reality and the dream, so he spends the whole life in pursuing the illusion and creating a fantastic world. He only realizes that even though Daisy’s voice is full of money, he never realizes that they belong to totally different worlds and stands for various values. What makes Gatsby tragic is that he contributes his beautiful ideal to a superficial girl, the destroying of Gatsby’s illusion means the disillusion of the American Dream, his tragedy also reflects the author’s and the American dream pursuers’ tragedy. Gatsby and Daisy have different social statuses, for them, there is an insurmountable division, indicating his inevitable tragedy.5 ConclusionsIn the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald successfully shapes an image of the victim--Gatsby, who has no connection with the upper class, but he becomes a millionaire through illegal means at last; From the perspective of materials, he is successful; but he fails in the unrealistic illusion; while Tom and Daisy stands for the upper class, but they have little morality, responsibility and dream, they are so poor in mental wealth. Through the novel, it seems to be an ordinary love story of Daisy and Gatsby to love and break up, but the author describes the girl as a symbol of youth, money and status who just pursues material wealth. In order to pursue his love, Gatsby pours into all his feelings and intellect, he is too naïve to believe that money is omnipotent including gaining love. Unfortunately, Daisy is a vulgar and selfish girl, he is not aware of the reality of the materialistic redundancy but spiritual boredom, he lives in fantasy, abandoned by Daisy and ignored by the society, which finally causes irreparable outcome, he is a typical American young man in 1920s, what happens to him is a portrayal of splurge century. F. Scott Fitzgerald deeply exposes the sharp social contradiction in the Jazz Age of America behind the economic prosperity and the serious moral crisis faced by the Lost Generation, and reveals the nature of American life with strong responsibility, he describes a real American situation in the 1920s. The Great Gatsby is like a dream, F. Scott Fitzgerald deliberately designs each image, on one hand, it symbolizes the tragedy of Gatsby’s life; on the other hand, it contains the ups and downs of the American Dream. It is a real portrayal of the younger generation’s disillusion and anxiety in the Jazz Age, and his dream becomes a permanent historical mirror to the era.。
写一篇外国文学名著梗概作文八百字
写一篇外国文学名著梗概作文八百字英文回答：The Great Gatsby is a classic novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story is set in the 1920s and follows thelife of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy and mysterious man who throws extravagant parties at his mansion in Long Island. The narrator, Nick Carraway, moves in next door to Gatsby and becomes drawn into his world of wealth, love, and deception. Gatsby is in love with Daisy Buchanan, a married woman he met before he went off to war. He has spent years amassing his fortune in the hopes of winning her back. The novel explores themes of the American Dream, love, and the corrupting influence of wealth.The story takes a tragic turn when Gatsby's past is revealed, and his love for Daisy leads to devastating consequences. The novel ends with a sense ofdisillusionment and the realization that the American Dream is unattainable for many.中文回答：《了不起的盖茨比》是弗·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德的经典小说。
【高中作文】the great gatsby
分类: 作文 > 英语作文 > 高中英语作文 > 高三英语作文 > the great gatsby_了不起的盖茨比英语读后感1000字
版权所有：碧意之时 创作时间：2017-11-19 22:50:01
At the end of the first World War, the second industrial revolution was just completed. As a victorious nation in the World War I, the United States surpassed Britain as the worlds largest power in capitalist world. The economy was flourishing and the whole country was thriving. Cars, lights and telephones facilitated peoples life. People feel no longer fight, is the time to enjoy, the young generation is more like entering a new era of joy of brilliant, they began to abandon the traditional moral standard, in the money worship, hedonism, luxury, scene of debauchery all day. The economic prosperity of the neglect of social cost. The story of the great Gatsby t
（英语毕业论文）《了不起的盖茨比...
摘要“美国梦”是贯穿美国历史,最能体现美国人的传统价值观念和民族精神的理想。
是对平等、自由、进取和成功的理想主义信念。
美国梦所体现出来的机会均等、人人都能通过自身的奋斗取得成功吸引着成千上万的人奔赴到这片热土。
但是，20世纪20年代爵士时代的发言人司各特•菲茨杰拉德在他的经典之作《了不起的盖茨比》中却为世人反应出了一个看似光鲜实则堕落腐败的社会，展示了盖茨比梦想破灭, 象征着他所代表的那一代人的“美国梦”的幻灭。
本文旨在通过运用文体学理论分析《了不起的盖茨比》中的人物特性及他们各自心中所追求的“美国梦”，最后探究美国梦破灭的根本原因。
本文最后发现通过变换叙述视角，运用倒叙的时间性叙述，以及运用不同的叙述焦点将有助于展现美国梦的破灭这一主题。
关键词：美国梦盖茨比幻灭文体学A Stylistlc Analysis on the Characters’ American Dream in TheGreat GatsbyAbstractAmerican Dream has penetrated during the whole American history, which greatly accentuates the ideal of traditional values and national spirit in the concept of American, which is also an idealistic belief of equality, freedom, progressiveness as well as success. That the chance are even, everyone could achieve success through his hard work which reflected in American dream attracts a myriad of immigrants abroad flooding into this promising land. However, the illustrious work The Great Gatsby of Scott Fitzgerald who is universally acknowledged as the spokesman of the 1920s Jazz Age of flaming youth has exhibited a rotten society under the guise of prosperity with the disillusion of the protagonist Gatsby‟s American Dream, in effect, the disillusion of Gatsby‟s American Dream is the disillusion of the American Dream of that whole generation. This thesis will adopt the theory of stylistics to make an analysis about the characters together with their American Dream in The Great Gatsby, and the fundamental reason procuring the disillusion of American Dream will be analyzed. The findings in this thesis reveal that the shift of point of view, flashback as the chronological sequencing and different descriptive focuses are helpfull in presenting the disillusionment of the American Dream．Key words: American Dream Gatsby Disillusion StylisticsContents摘要 (1)Abstract (2)1 Introduction (4)1.1 Introduction of The Great Gatsby (4)1.1.1 Introduction to Scott Fitzgerald (4)1.1.2 Introduction to the Novel (4)1.2 Introduction to the History of American Dream (5)1.3 Organization of This Paper (5)2 Literature Review (6)2.1 Researches Abroad (6)2.2.Researches at Home (7)3. Theoretical Framework (9)3.1 Point of View (10)3.2 Fictional Sequencing (10)3.3 Descriptive Focus (11)4 A Stylistic Analysis of the Characters and American Dream (12)3.1 Gatsby (12)3.2 Daisy (13)3.3 Myrtle Wilson (15)3.4 Nick Carraway (16)5 Money Procuring the Disillusion of American Dream (18)6 Conclusion (21)References (21)Acknowledgement (23)1 Introduction1.1Introduction of The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby which was published in America in 1925 for the first time opened to much critical acclaim for its profound ideological content and the artistic way the author developed the topic in it. The following part will make a brief introduction of the author Scott Fitzgerald as well as this illustrious novel.1.1.1 Introduction to Scott FitzgeraldFrom 1920 to 1930, American literature boomed. It was its the golden age During those 10 years, batches of excellent writers emerged and outstanding works came out in an unending flow. At that time, America had just experienced the First World War, its economy was prosperous, but the social conscience was particularly corrupt[1]. Francis Scott Fitzgerald was a shining star in American literature circle during this period. His life was short but it was full of epic glory. His writing career was only 20 years, but he left four classical novels and 160 short articles. Those achievements made him an outstanding novelist in 20th century literary. He is called the representative writer of “Lost Generation” by his contemporaries as well as later generations and also considered as the “Poet Laureate” in “Jazz Age” and the excellent chroniclers[2].1.1.2 Introduction to the NovelWith time passed by, an increasing number of Americans began to realize that not everyone could achieve their American dream. Great Gatsby is Fitzgerald‟ s most famous novel and is also one of the greatest American novels．When it was published, it was regarded as “the first step the American novel has taken since Henry James” by T﹒S Eliot. There is a very special feature of this book that it touches the deep inside[1]常耀信。
略论小说《了不起的盖茨比》中英语长句的翻译的论文-外语翻译论文
略论小说《了不起的盖茨比》中英语长句的翻译的论文外语翻译论文摘要：小说the great gatsby较突出的文学特色之一是文中大量结构复杂的长句的铺陈。
如何在翻译过程中再现其语义对译者的翻译能力提出了考验。
本文拟以高克毅和巫宁坤两位译者的译文为比较对象，探究两位译者在翻译长句时分别采用的翻译策略。
关键词：了不起的盖茨比；英语长句；翻译一、引言由于英汉两种语言在词汇、句型等诸多差异，英语句子特别是包含多重短语和从句的长句的翻译策略研究历来为研究者所重视。
许多学者提出了一些翻译技巧，如顺序法、逆序法、综合法、顺序倒译法、拆句改变顺序法、布局等值法等，不胜枚举。
而学者林克难则认为，仅孤立地考虑语序等因素是比较片面的，因为语义和语境等因素的影响也不可忽视。
所以，首先应透过字面研究原作者的意向，然后再考虑措辞造句，以及如何发挥译文的优势。
可见，林认为原作者的意向性应引起研究者足够的重视。
二、两译本比较研究菲茨杰拉德的复杂长句向来以结构完整精巧、描述生动形象、节奏感强和寓意深刻而著称。
而在他的代表作小说the great gatsby中这一特点尤为突出。
本文拟以学者高克毅先生和学者巫宁坤先生两位译者的译文为比较对象，探究两位译者在翻译长句时分别采用的翻译策略，以及两位译者在透过字面研究原作者的意向，然后再考虑措辞造句，以及如何发挥译文的优势的方面所做出的努力。
…, and so it came about that in college i was unjustlyaccused of being a politician, because i was privy to thesecret griefs of wild, unknown men. most of the confidenceswere unsought—frequently i have feigned sleep, preoccupation,or a hostile levity when i realized by some unmistakablesign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon; for the intimaterevelations of young men, or at least the terms in which they express them, are usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions.高:……,这样一来，我在大学时代就不幸被人目为小政客，因为同学中一些冒冒失失的相知不深的家伙都找着我私下来发牢骚。
介绍名人 伟大的盖茨比 The Great Gatsby 英语作文
The Great Gatsby>The Great Gatsby Essay:The Great Gatsby is a classic American novel written by F Scott Fitzgerald. It is a novel best described as a Satire on the American ideals of the 1920s. The novel has been set up in the time of early 20th century in the American society where people least cared about each other. The societal devices of greed, betrayal, poverty, desire and satisfaction are collectively depicted by the three strata of the American society of the 1920s.F Scott Fitzgerald, through his most popular literary piece- The Great Gatsby, gives a vivid peek into the interrelations among the born rich, earned rich and the poor people of the society. The great American dream of the said time makes the readers question if materialism is power?Long and Short Essays on The Great Gatsby for Students and Kids in EnglishWe are providing a long essay on The Great Gatsbyof 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the same topic along with ten lines about the topic to help readers.Long Essay on The Great Gatsby 500 Words in EnglishLong Essay on The Great Gatsby is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.The Great Gatsby is a critically acclaimed classic American novel. The author of the book is F Scott Fitzgerald. This is the author’s most popular book that has the honour of many elite references in societal strata. The other works of F Scott Fitzgerald include the romantic egotist, this side of paradise, the beautiful and damned, tender is the night and the love of the last tycoon.The Great Gatsby is set up in the 1920s. The ambience created by the story is set up in America of the post-war economic evolution. The story is in the form of a narration. The narrator is Nick Carraway, who has returned from his long stay in the East. He is a born, rich character who inherited wealth from his ancestors.Jay Gatsby is Nick’s neighbour. Nick watches the lavish parities Jay Gatsby hosts every evening but attends one of the party after Jay invited him. The lavish parties at Mr Gatsby’s place depict how carefree the American liveswere in the time that led them to attend strange parties with strange people. The fact that Mr Gatsby hosts parties every evening tells us the tale of an American Dream.Mr Gatsby has an unforgettable past that decays his will to live irrespective of his wealth and luxuries. This character building by the author tells us how materialism can never dominate desire.The other important characters of the story are Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan. They are related to Nick Carraway and very mysteriously acquainted with Mr Gatsby. It is with the help ofthese characters that the author brings the vivid picture of the American society in the 1920s.You can now access more Essay Writing on this topicMany readers have critically acclaimed the Great Gatsby but absorbingly praised by more of them. It is called as the best American novel that showcases America in its raw and naked form. This is why the title of an American dream is synonymously is used as a theme for the story.The reason for it being called an American dream is that it shows the perfect picture of thesociety of America where wealth was every soul only dreams and materialistic possesions attracted elite attention. The story is very simple if you might incept but highly impactful with the reason of true possessions of life.The Great Gatsby has been adapted into cinema many times because of its extraordinary interpretation. The most recent adaptation was in 2013, with Baz Luhrmann and Leonardo Decaprio as the directors and screenplay writers. Leonardo was also the lead in the movie as the character of Jay Gatsby.With a higher value of literary significance, The Great Gatsby is widely read by generations of book lovers. It is also taught in higher studies to grasp the literary significance it holds. It is a book one must read to have realizations of the real values of life.The book has an impactful ending where the readers can witness how the past curbs the future and how the future is nothing but a result of past aspirations.Short Essay on The Great Gatsby 150 Words in EnglishShort Essay on The Great Gatsby is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.The Great Gatsby is a highly acclaimed, sometimes referred to as the Best American novel of all times. The story is a vivid peek into the agreeable society of America in the 1920s. The magic of power, wealth, desire, betrayal and discontentment, all teams up to present the ideals of materialism that rules the society but fails to bestow gratification. This clear depiction of the societal stratification is anticipated by the three classes of American society- the rich, the poor and the earned rich.The three classes, in the novel, have interrelated themselves by contentious association. The get-together events among the classes and within the classes are an interpretation of the things that make up the nonchalant American life in the early 20th Century.The story has Jay Gatsby as the protagonist, and Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan as the other important characters who shape up the story and their actions proceed to the pithy climax of the story.10 Lines on The Great Gatsby Essay in English1. The Great Gatsby is often termed to as the finest work of fiction by any American writer that surpasses the literary artistry.2. The Great Gatsby is a highly acclaimed classic that satire upon the American lives depends on the class in the 1920s.3. The Great Gatsby is written by F Scott Fitzgerald.4. The protagonist and the narrator of the story are Nick Carraway.5. Nick caraway’s proportional evolution from the initiation to the end turns out to be worthwhile in the context of the story.6. The story mostly revolves around Jay Gatsby.7. Jay Gatsby is a self-made man who has earned enough money to host lavish parties every night.8. The otherimportant characters are Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan. 9. The societal stratification of the said time is perhaps the central theme of the story. 10. The other themes include the conflict between power, wealth, betrayal, desire, carelessness and discontentment, that pack up the complete meaning of The Great Gatsby.FAQ’s on The Great Gatsby EssayQuestion 1.When is the story of The Great Gatsby set up?Answer:The Great Gatsby is set up in the early 1920s, post-war economic growth era. The venue of the story is a nonchalant American society.Question 2.Does The Great Gatsby have a prequel and a sequel?Answer:No. The Great Gatsby does not have any prequel or sequel. The story is limited to one volume and is certainly the most factiously impactful American story.Question 3.What happens to Jay Gatsby in the end?Answer:The story revolves around Jay Gatsby and his lavish guff parties. The story proceeds to give us a vivid picture of what jay Gatsby is and what he wants. His character leads to an abrupt end of Gatsby but a very meaning end of the story.Question 4.What should be the literary level for me to read The Great Gatsby?Answer:You do not need to have a literary standard to read The Great Gatsby. It’s a fine novel in easy words which can be read and understood by anyone.。
the_great_gatsby(了不起的盖茨比)_英文介绍及赏析
The Great Gatsby F.Scott.FitzgeraldContextFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, and named after his ancestor Francis Scott Key, the author of The Star-Spangled Banner. Fitzgerald was raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. Though an intelligent child, he did poorly in school and was sent to a New Jersey boarding school in 1911. Despite being a mediocre student there, he managed to enroll at Princeton in 1913. Academic troubles and apathy plagued him throughout his time at college, and he never graduated, instead enlisting in the army in 1917, as World War I neared its end. Fitzgerald became a second lieutenant, and was stationed at Camp Sheridan, in Montgomery, Alabama. There he met and fell in love with a wild seventeen-year-old beauty named Zelda Sayre. Zelda finally agreed to marry him, but her overpowering desire for wealth, fun, and leisure led her to delay their wedding until he could prove a success. With the publication of This Side of Paradise in 1920, Fitzgerald became a literary sensation, earning enough money and fame to convince Zelda to marry him.Many of these events from Fitzgerald’s early life appear in his most famous novel, The Great Gatsby, published in 1925. Like Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway is a thoughtful young man from Minnesota, educated at an Ivy League school (in Nick’s case, Yale), who moves to New York after the war. Also similar to Fitzgerald is Jay Gatsby, a sensitive young man who idolizes wealth and luxury and who falls in love with a beautiful young woman while stationed at a military camp in the South.Having become a celebrity, Fitzgerald fell into a wild, reckless life-style of parties and decadence, while desperately trying to please Zelda by writing to earn money. Similarly, Gatsby amasses a great deal of wealth at a relatively young age, and devotes himself to acquiring possessions and throwing parties that he believes will enable him to win Daisy’s love. As the giddiness of the Roaring Twenties dissolved into the bleakness of the Great Depression, however, Zelda suffered a nervous breakdown and Fitzgerald battled alcoholism, which hampered his writing. He published Tender Is the Night in 1934, and sold short stories to The Saturday Evening Post to support his lavish lifestyle. In 1937, he left for Hollywood to write screenplays, and in 1940, while working on his novel The Love of the Last Tycoon, died of a heart attack at the age of forty-four.Fitzgerald was the most famous chronicler of 1920s America, an era that he dubbed “the Jazz Age.” Written in 1925, The Great Gatsby is one of the greatest literary documents of this period, in which the American economy soared, bringing unprecedented levels of prosperity to the nation. Prohibition, the ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1919), made millionaires out of bootleggers, and an underground culture of revelry sprang up. Sprawling private parties managed to elude police notice, and “speakeasies”—secret clubs that sold liquor—thrived. The chaos and violence of World War I left America in a state of shock, and the generation that fought the war turned to wild and extravagant living to compensate. The staid conservatism and timeworn values of the previous decade were turned on their ear, as money, opulence, and exuberance became the order of the day.Like Nick in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald found this new lifestyle seductive and exciting, and, like Gatsby, he had always idolized the very rich. Now he found himself in an era in which unrestrained materialism set the tone of society, particularly in the large cities of the East. Even so, like Nick, Fitzgerald saw through the glitter of the Jazz Age to the moral emptiness and hypocrisy beneath, and part of him longed for this absent moral center. In many way s, The Great Gatsby represents Fitzgerald’s attempt to confront his conflicting feelings about the Jazz Age. Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald was driven by his love for a woman who symbolized everything he wanted, even as she led him toward everything he despised.Plot OverviewNick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, moves to New York in the summer of 1922 to learn about the bond business. He rents a house in the West Egg district of Long Island, a wealthy but unfashionable area populated by the new rich, a group who have made their fortunes too recently to have established social connections and who are prone to garish displays of wealth. Nick’s next-door neighbor in West Egg is a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby, who lives in a gigantic Gothic mansion and throws extravagant parties every Saturday night.Nick is unlike the other inhabitants of West Egg—he was educated at Yale and has social connections in East Egg, a fashionable area of Long Island home to the established upper class. Nick drives out to East Egg one evening for dinner with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her husband, Tom, an erstwhile classmate of Nick’s at Yale. Daisy and Tom introduce Nick to Jordan Baker, a beautiful, cynical young woman with whom Nick begins a romantic relationship. Nick also l earns a bit about Daisy and Tom’s marriage: Jordan tells him that Tom has a lover, Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the valley of ashes, a gray industrial dumping ground between West Egg and New York City. Not long after this revelation, Nick travels to New York City with Tom andMyrtle. At a vulgar, gaudy party in the apartment that Tom keeps for the affair, Myrtle begins to taunt Tom about Daisy, and Tom responds by breaking her nose.As the summer progresses, Nick eventually garners an invitation to one of Ga tsby’s legendary parties. He encounters Jordan Baker at the party, and they meet Gatsby himself, a surprisingly young man who affects an English accent, has a remarkable smile, and calls everyone “old sport.” Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone, and, through Jordan, Nick later learns more about his mysterious neighbor. Gatsby tells Jordan that he knew Daisy in Louisville in 1917 and is deeply in love with her. He spends many nights staring at the green light at the end of her dock, across the bay from his mansion. Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle and wild parties are simply an attempt to impress Daisy. Gatsby now wants Nick to arrange a reunion between himself and Daisy, but he is afraid that Daisy will refuse to see him if she knows that he still loves her. Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house, without telling her that Gatsby will also be there. After an initially awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy reestablish their connection. Their love rekindled, they begin an affair.After a short time, Tom grows in creasingly suspicious of his wife’s relationship with Gatsby. At a luncheon at the Buchanans’ house, Gatsby stares at Daisy with such undisguised passion that Tom realizes Gatsby is in love with her. Though Tom is himself involved in an extramarital affair, he is deeply outraged by the thought that his wife could be unfaithful to him. He forces the group to drive into New York City, where he confronts Gatsby in a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Tom asserts that he and Daisy have a history that Gatsby could never understand, and he announces to his wife that Gatsby is a criminal—his fortune comes from bootlegging alcohol and other illegal activities. Daisy realizes that her allegiance is to Tom, and Tom contemptuously sends her back to East Egg with Gatsby, attempting to prove that Gatsby cannot hurt him.When Nick, Jordan, and Tom drive through the valley of ashes, however, they discover that Gatsby’s car has struck and killed Myrtle, Tom’s lover. They rush back to Long Island, where Nick learns from Gatsby that Daisy was driving the car when it struck Myrtle, but that Gatsby intends to take the blame. The next day, Tom tells Myrtle’s husband, George, that Gatsby was the driver of the car. George, who has leapt to the conclusion that the driver of the car that killed Myrtle must have been her lover, finds Gatsby in the pool at his mansion and shoots him dead. He then fatally shoots himself.Nick stages a small funeral for Gatsby, ends his relationship with Jordan, and moves back to the Midwest to escape the disgust h e feels for the people surrounding Gatsby’s life and for the emptiness and moral decay of life among the wealthy on the East Coast. Nick reflects that just as Gatsby’s dream of Daisy was corrupted by money and dishonesty, the American dream of happiness and individualism has disintegrated into the mere pursuit of wealth. Though Gatsby’s power to transform his dreams into reality is what makes him “great,” Nick reflects that the era of dreaming—both Gatsby’s dream and the American dream—is over.Character ListNick Carraway - The novel’s narrator, Nick is a young man from Minnesota who, after being educated at Yale and fighting in World War I, goes to New York City to learn the bond business. Honest, tolerant, and inclined to reserve judgment, Nick often serves as a confidant for those with troubling secrets. After moving to West Egg, a fictional area of Long Island that is home to the newly rich, Nick quickly befriends his next-door neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby. As Daisy Buchanan’s cousin, he facil itates the rekindling of the romance between her and Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is told entirely through Nick’s eyes; his thoughts and perceptions shape and color the story.Nick Carraway (In-Depth Analysis)Jay Gatsby - The title character and protagonist of the novel, Gatsby is a fabulously wealthy young man living in a Gothic mansion in West Egg. He is famous for the lavish parties he throws every Saturday night, but no one knows where he comes from, what he does, or how he made his fortune. As the novel progresses, Nick learns that Gatsby was born James Gatz on a farm in North Dakota; working for a millionaire made him dedicate his life to the achievement of wealth. When he met Daisy while training to be an officer in Louisville, he fell in love with her. Nick also learns that Gatsby made his fortune through criminal activity, as he was willing to do anything to gain the social position he thought necessary to win Daisy. Nick views Gatsby as a deeply flawed man, dishonest and vulgar, whose extraordinary optimism and power to transform his dreams into reality make him “great” nonetheless.Jay Gatsby (In-Depth Analysis)Daisy Buchanan - Nick’s cousin, and the woman Gatsby loves. As a young woman in Louisville before the war, Daisy was courted by a number of officers, including Gatsby. She fell in love with Gatsby and promised to wait for him. However, Daisy harbors a deep need to be loved, and when a wealthy, powerful young man named Tom Buchanan asked her to marry him, Daisy decided not to wait for Gatsby after all. Now a beautifulsocialite, Daisy lives with Tom across from Gatsby in the fashionable East Egg district of Long Island. She is sardonic and somewhat cynical, and behaves superficially to mask her pain at her husband’s constant infidelity. Daisy Buchanan (In-Depth Analysis)Tom Buchanan - Daisy’s immensely wealthy husband, once a member of Nick’s social club at Yale. Powerfully built and hailing from a socially solid old family, Tom is an arrogant, hypocritical bully. His social attitudes are laced with racism and sexism, and he never even considers trying to live up to the moral standard he demands from those around him. He has no moral qualms about his own extramarital affair with Myrtle, but when he begins to suspect Daisy and Gatsby of having an affair, he becomes outraged and forces a confrontation.Jordan Baker - Daisy’s friend, a woman with whom Nick becomes romantically involved during the course of the novel. A competitive golfer, Jordan represents one of the “new women” of the 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan is beautiful, but also dishonest: she cheated in order to win her first golf tournament and continually bends the truth.Myrtle Wilson - Tom’s lover, whose lifeless husband George owns a run-down garage in the valley of ashes. Myrtle herself possesses a fierce vitality and desperately looks for a way to improve her situation. Unfortunately for her, she chooses Tom, who treats her as a mere object of his desire.George Wilson - Myrtle’s husband, the lifeless, exhausted owner of a run-down auto shop at the edge of the valley of ashes. George loves and idealizes Myrtle, and is devastated by her affair with Tom. George is consumed with grief when Myrtle is killed. George is comparable to Gatsby in that both are dreamers and both are ruined by their unrequited love for women who love Tom.Owl Eyes - The eccentric, bespectacled drunk whom Nick meets at the first party he attends at Gatsby’s mansion. Nick finds Owl Eyes looking through Gatsby’s library, astonished that the boo ks are real. Klipspringer - The shallow freeloader who seems almost to live at Gatsby’s mansion, taking advantage of his host’s money. As soon as Gatsby dies, Klipspringer disappears—he does not attend the funeral, but he does call Nick about a pair of te nnis shoes that he left at Gatsby’s mansion.Analysis of Major CharactersJay GatsbyThe title character of The Great Gatsby is a young man, around thirty years old, who rose from an impoverished childhood in rural North Dakota to become fabulously wealthy. However, he achieved this lofty goal by participating in organized crime, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities. From his early youth, Gatsby despised poverty and longed for wealth and sophistication—he dropped out of St. Olaf’s College after only two weeks because he could not bear the janitorial job with which he was paying his tuition. Though Gatsby has always wanted to be rich, his main motivation in acquiring his fortune was his love for Daisy Buchanan, whom he met as a young military officer in Louisville before leaving to fight in World War I in 1917. Gatsby immediately fell in love with Daisy’s aura of luxury, grace, and charm, and lied to her about his own background in order to convince her that he was good enough for her. Daisy promised to wait for him when he left for the war, but married Tom Buchanan in 1919, while Gatsby was studying at Oxford after the war in an attempt to gain an education. From that moment on, Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy back, and his acquisition of millions of dollars, his purchase of a gaudy mansion on West Egg, and his lavish weekly parties are all merely means to that end.Fitzgerald delays the introduction of most of this information until fairly late in the novel. Gats by’s reputation precedes him—Gatsby himself does not appear in a speaking role until Chapter III. Fitzgerald initially presents Gatsby as the aloof, enigmatic host of the unbelievably opulent parties thrown every week at his mansion. He appears surrounded by spectacular luxury, courted by powerful men and beautiful women. He is the subject of a whirlwind of gossip throughout New York and is already a kind of legendary celebrity before he is ever introduced to the reader. Fitzgerald propels the novel forward through the early chapters by shrouding Gatsby’s background and the source of his wealth in mystery (the reader learns about Gatsby’s childhood in Chapter VI and receives definitive proof of his criminal dealings in Chapter VII). As a result, the reader’s first, distant impressions of Gatsby strike quite a different note from that of the lovesick, naive young man who emerges during the later part of the novel.Fitzgerald uses this technique of delayed character revelation to emphasize the theatrical qualit y of Gatsby’s approach to life, which is an important part of his personality. Gatsby has literally created his own character, even changing his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby to represent his reinvention of himself. As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality; at the beginning of the novel, he appears to the reader just as he desires to appear to the world. This talent forself-invention is what gives Gatsby his qual ity of “greatness”: indeed, the title “The Great Gatsby” is reminiscent of billings for such vaudeville magicians as “The Great Houdini” and “The Great Blackstone,” suggesting that the persona of Jay Gatsby is a masterful illusion.Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.(See Important Quotations Explained)As the novel progresses and Fitzgerald deconstructs Gatsby’s self-presentation, Gatsby reveals himself to be an innocent, hopeful young man who stakes everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. Gatsby invests Daisy with an idealistic perfection that she cannot possibly attain in reality and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her limitations. His dream of her disintegrates, revealing the corruption that wealth causes and the unworthiness of the goal, much in the way Fitzgerald sees the American dream crumbling in the 1920s, as America’s powerful optimism, vitality, and individualism become subordinated to the amoral pursuit of wealth.Gatsby is contrasted most consistently with Nick. Critics point out that the former, passionate and active, and the latter, sober and reflective, seem to represent two sides of Fitzgerald’s personality. Additionally, where as Tom is a cold-hearted, aristocratic bully, Gatsby is a loyal and good-hearted man. Though his lifestyle and attitude differ greatly from those of George Wilson, Gatsby and Wilson share the fact that they both lose their love interest to Tom.Nick CarrawayIf Gatsby represents one part of Fitzgerald’s personality, the flashy celebrity who pursued and glorified wealth in order to impress the woman he loved, then Nick represents another part: the quiet, reflective Midwesterner adrift in the lurid East. A young man (he turns thirty during the course of the novel) from Minnesota, Nick travels to New York in 1922 to learn the bond business. He lives in the West Egg district of Long Island, next door to Gatsby. Nick is also Daisy’s cousin, which enables him to o bserve and assist the resurgent love affair between Daisy and Gatsby. As a result of his relationship to these two characters, Nick is the perfect choice to narrate the novel, which functions as a personal memoir of his experiences with Gatsby in the summer of 1922. Nick is also well suited to narrating The Great Gatsby because of his temperament. As he tells the reader in Chapter I, he is tolerant, open-minded, quiet, and a good listener, and, as a result, others tend to talk to him and tell him their secrets. Gatsby, in particular, comes to trust him and treat him as a confidant. Nick generally assumes a secondary role throughout the novel, preferring to describe and comment on events rather than dominate the action. Often, however, he functions as Fitzger ald’s voice, as in his extended meditation on time and the American dream at the end of Chapter IX.Insofar as Nick plays a role inside the narrative, he evidences a strongly mixed reaction to life on the East Coast, one that creates a powerful internal conflict that he does not resolve until the end of the book. On the one hand, Nick is attracted to the fast-paced, fun-driven lifestyle of New York. On the other hand, he finds that lifestyle grotesque and damaging. This inner conflict is symbolized througho ut the book by Nick’s romantic affair with Jordan Baker. He is attracted to her vivacity and her sophistication just as he is repelled by her dishonesty and her lack of consideration for other people.Nick states that there is a “quality of distortion” to life in New York, and this lifestyle makes him lose his equilibrium, especially early in the novel, as when he gets drunk at Gatsby’s party in Chapter II. After witnessing the unraveling of Gatsby’s dream and presiding over the appalling spectacle of Gatsby’s funeral, Nick realizes that the fast life of revelry on the East Coast is a cover for the terrifying moral emptiness that the valley of ashes symbolizes. Having gained the maturity that this insight demonstrates, he returns to Minnesota in search of a quieter life structured by more traditional moral values.Daisy BuchananPartially based on Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda, Daisy is a beautiful young woman from Louisville, Kentucky. She is Nick’s cousin and the object of Gatsby’s love. As a young debutante in Louisville, Daisy was extremely popular among the military officers stationed near her home, including Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lied about his background to Daisy, claiming to be from a wealthy family in order to convince her that he was worthy of her. Eventually, Gatsby won Daisy’s heart, and they made love before Gatsby left to fight in the war. Daisy promised to wait for Gatsby, but in 1919 she chose instead to marry Tom Buchanan, a young man from a solid, aristocratic family who could promise her a wealthy lifestyle and who had the support of her parents.After 1919, Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy back, making her the single goal of all of his dreams and the main motivation behind his acquisition of immense wealth through criminal activity. To Gatsby, Daisy represents the paragon of perfection—she has the aura of charm, wealth, sophistication, grace, and aristocracy that he longed for as a child in North Dakota and that first attracted him to her. In reality, however, Daisy fallsfar short of Gatsby’s ideals. She is beautiful and charming, but also fickle, shallow, bored, and sardonic. Nick characterizes her as a careless person who smashes things up and then retreats behind her money. Daisy proves her real nature when she chooses Tom over Gatsby in Chapter VII, then allows Gatsby to take the blame for killing Myrtle Wilson even though she herself was driving the car. Finally, rather than attend Gatsby’s funeral, Daisy and Tom move away, leaving no forwarding address.Like Zelda Fitzgerald, Daisy is in love with money, ease, and material luxury. She is capable of affection (she seems genuinely fond of Nick and occasionally seems to love Gatsby sincerely), but not of sustained loyalty or care. She is indifferent even to her own infant daughter, never discussing her and treating her as an afterthought when she is introduced in Chapter VII. In Fitzgerald’s conception of America in the 1920s, Daisy represents the amoral values of the aristocratic East Egg set.Themes, Motifs & SymbolsThemesThemes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920sOn the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess.Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as 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. The dizzying rise of the stock market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, sustained increase in the national wealth and a newfound materialism, as people began to spend and consume at unprecedented levels. A person from any social background could, potentially, make a fortune, but the American aristocracy—families with old wealth—scorned the newly rich industrialists and speculators. Additionally, the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, which banned the sale of alcohol, created a thriving underworld designed to satisfy the massive demand for bootleg liquor among rich and poor alike.Fitzgerald positions the characters of The Great Gatsby as emblems of these social trends. Nick and Gatsby, both of whom fought in World War I, exhibit the newfound cosmopolitanism and cynicism that resulted from the war. The various social climbers and ambitious speculators who attend Gatsby’s parties evidence the greedy scramble for wealth. The clash between “old money” and “new money” manifests itself in the novel’s symbolic geography: East Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made rich. Meyer Wolfshiem and Gatsby’s fortune s ymbolize the rise of organized crime and bootlegging.As Fitzgerald saw it (and as Nick explains in Chapter IX), the American dream was originally about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. In the 1920s depicted in the novel, however, easy money and relaxed social values have corrupted this dream, especially on the East Coast. The main plotline of the novel reflects this assessment, as Gatsby’s dream of loving Daisy is ruined by the difference in their respective social statuses, his resorting to crime to make enough money to impress her, and the rampant materialism that characterizes her lifestyle. Additionally, places and objects in The Great Gatsby have meaning only because characters instill them with meaning: the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg best exemplify this idea. In Nick’s mind, the ability to create meaningful symbols constitutes a central component of the American dream, as early Americans invested their new nation with their own ideals and values.Nick compares the green bulk of America rising from the ocean to the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. 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 p ossesses. Gatsby’s dream is ruined by the unworthiness of its object, just as the American dream in the 1920s is ruined by the unworthiness of its object—money and pleasure. Like 1920s Americans in general, fruitlessly seeking a bygone era in which their dreams had value, Gatsby longs to re-create a vanished past—his time in Louisville with Daisy—but is incapable of doing so. When his dream crumbles, all that is left for Gatsby to do is die; all Nick can do is moveback to Minnesota, where American values have not decayed.The Hollowness of the Upper ClassOne of the major topics explored in The Great Gatsby is the sociology of wealth, specifically, how the newly minted millionaires of the 1920s differ from and relate to the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families. In the novel, West Egg and its denizens represent the newly rich, while East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste. Gatsby, for example, lives in a monstrously ornate mansion, wears a pink suit, drives a Rolls-Royce, and does not pick up on subtle social signals, such as the insincerity of the Sloanes’ invitation to lunch. In contrast, the old aristocracy possesses grace, taste, subtlety, and elegance, epitomized by the Buchanans’ tasteful home and the flowing white dresses of Daisy and Jordan Baker.What the old aristocracy possesses in taste, however, it seems to lack in heart, as the East Eggers prove themselves careless, inconsiderate bullies who are so used to money’s ability to ease their minds that they never worry about hurting others. The Buchanans exemplify this stereotype when, at the end of the novel, they simply move to a new ho use far away rather than condescend to attend Gatsby’s funeral. Gatsby, on the other hand, whose recent wealth derives from criminal activity, has a sincere and loyal heart, remaining outside Daisy’s window until four in the morning in Chapter VII simply to make sure that Tom does not hurt her. Ironically, Gatsby’s good qualities (loyalty and love) lead to his death, as he takes the blame for killing Myrtle rather than letting Daisy be punished, and the Buchanans’ bad qualities (fickleness and selfishness) allow them to remove themselves from the tragedy not only physically but psychologically.MotifsMotifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.GeographyThroughout the novel, places and settings epitomize the various aspects of the 1920s American society that Fitzgerald depicts. East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social decay of America, and New York City the uninhibited, amoral quest for money and pleasure. Additionally, the East is connected to the moral decay and social cynicism of New York, while the West (including Midwestern and northern areas such as Minnesota) is connected to more traditional social values and ideals. Nick’s analysis in Chapter IX of the story he has related reveals his sensitivity to this dichotomy: though it is set in the East, the story is really one of the West, as it tells how people originally from west of the Appalachians (as all of the main characters are) react to the pace and style of life on the East Coast.WeatherAs in much of Shakespeare’s work, the weather in The Great Gatsby unfailingly matches the emotional and narrative tone of the story. Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion begins amid a pouring rain, proving awkward and melancholy; their love reawakens just as the sun begins to come out. Gatsby’s climactic confrontation with Tom occurs on the hottest day of the summer, under the scorching sun (like the fatal encounter between Mercutio and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet). Wilson kills Gatsby on the first day of autumn, as Gatsby floats in his pool despite a palpable chill in the air—a symbolic attempt to stop time and restore his relationship with Daisy to the way it was five years before, in 1917.SymbolsSymbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.The Green LightSituated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn, the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and in Chapter I he reaches toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. Because Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is broadly associated with the American dream, the green light also symbolizes that more generalized ideal. In Chapter IX, Nick compares the green light to how America, rising out of the ocean, must have looked to early settlers of the new nation.The Valley of AshesFirst introduced in Chapter II, the valley of ashes between West Egg and New York City consists of a long stretch of desolate land created by the dumping of industrial ashes. It represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the plight of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result.The Eyes of Doctor T. J. EckleburgThe eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising。
《了不起的盖茨比》赏析
The plot synopsis
Nick came to New York from home in the Midwest, is next to his residence book hero gatsby luxurious mansion. Here every night in held a grand banquet.
-- 精品--
This paragraph to appreciate
• I do not know the younger girl. She lie low is on the imperial concubine couch, immobilized, chin tilted slightly, as if something is about to fall down, the above and she is trying to keep its balance. Her eyes turn don't turn, doesn't seem to see me in. But in fact I was surprised, almost did to apologize for my coming to bother her.
反正贝克小姐的嘴唇是动了几下，几乎看不 出来地朝我点点头，然后赶紧让她的头回到原 位——她下巴顶着的那样东西显然歪了一点， 把她吓坏了。我又差点脱口说出道歉的话。
-- 精品--
This paragraph to appreciate
That summer, the music from my neighbor's house in the middle of the night often. The blue of the garden, a lot of men and women like moths in twitter, walking up and down between the champagne and the stars.
the great gatsby
The Great GatsbyThemesThe Decline of the American Dream in the 1920sOn the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess.Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as 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. The dizzying rise of the stock market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, sustained increase in the national wealth and a newfound materialism, as people began to spend and consume at unprecedented levels. A person from any social background could, potentially, make a fortune, but the American aristocracy—families with old wealth—scorned the newly rich industrialists and speculators. Additionally, the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, which banned the sale of alcohol, created a thriving underworld designed to satisfy the massive demand for bootleg liquor among rich and poor alike.Fitzgerald positions the characters of The Great Gatsby as emblems of these social trends. Nick and Gatsby, both of whom fought in World War I, exhibit the newfound cosmopolitanism and cynicism that resulted from the war. The various social climbers and ambitious speculators who attend Gatsby’s parties evidence the greedy scramble for wealth. Th e clash between “old money” and “new money” manifests itself in the novel’s symbolic geography: East Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made rich. Meyer Wolfshiem and Gatsby’s fortune symbolize the rise of organized crime and bootlegging.As Fitzgerald saw it (and as Nick explains in Chapter 9), the American dream was originally about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. In the 1920s depicted in the novel, however, easy money and relaxed social values have corrupted this dream, especially on the East Coast. The main plotline of the novel reflects this assessment, as Gatsby’s dream of loving Daisy is ruined by the difference in their respective social statuses, his resorting to crime to make enough money to impress her, and the rampant materialism that characterizes her lifestyle. Additionally, places and objects in The Great Gatsby have meaning only because characters instill them with meaning: the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg best exemplify this idea. In Nick’s mind, the ability to create meaningful symbols constitutes a central component of the American dream, as early Americans invested their new nation with their own ideals and values.Nick compares the green bulk of America rising from the ocean to the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. Just as Americans have given America meaning through their dreams for their own lives, Gatsby instills Daisy with akind of idealized perfection that she neither deserves nor possesses. Gatsby’s dream is ruined by the unw orthiness of its object, just as the American dream in the 1920s is ruined by the unworthiness of its object—money and pleasure. Like 1920s Americans in general, fruitlessly seeking a bygone era in which their dreams had value, Gatsby longs to re-create a vanished past—his time in Louisville with Daisy—but is incapable of doing so. When his dream crumbles, all that is left for Gatsby to do is die; all Nick can do is move back to Minnesota, where American values have not decayed.在20世纪20年代的美国梦的衰落从表面上看，“了不起的盖茨比”是一个故事，一个男人和一个女人之间的爱情的挫败。
英语论文-虚无飘渺的美国梦—试析《了不起的盖茨比》的文体特征
虚无飘渺的美国梦——试析《了不起的盖茨比》的文体特征1．引言《了不起的盖茨比》（The Great Gatsby）是美国二十年代著名小说家司各特·菲茨杰拉德（Scott Fitzgerald，1896-1940）的杰作，它以完美的艺术形式向读者诉说了一场美国梦的破灭。
这篇小说从内容来说不过讲述了一个“负心女子痴心汉”的故事，但是它给读者造成的感染力决不止爱情的失落。
从小说的字里行间中，读者能感受到一种“距离感”，那就是：一切美好的事物都是海市蜃楼，美国梦仅仅是个虚无飘渺的空中楼阁。
本文依据文体学的有关理论，从小说的语言特征出发，试图发掘《了不起的盖茨比》怎样达到这种优美而悲伤的文体效果。
2．功能语言学在小说中的应用利奇（Leech, Geoffrey）和肖特（Short, Michael）在他们的著作《小说的文体》（Style in Fiction, 1981：174）中根据功能语言学的理论从三方面对小说文体进行分析：描写角度（point of view），叙述顺序（fictional sequencing）和描写焦点（descriptive focus）。
这三方面分别与韩礼德所提出的语言的三个“元功能”——人际功能，语篇功能和概念功能相对应。
描写角度是指一篇文学作品中叙述者对叙述事件的态度或意见。
作者可以第一人称“我”的角度进行叙述，也可从小说中某一人物的角度入手，或者以一个第三者的身份来叙述。
在《了不起的盖茨比》这部作品中，作者创造了一个名叫尼克·卡罗威（Nick Carraway）的人物，把他作为整个故事的叙述者，同时他又参与和目睹了故事的发生、过程和结束。
这一双重的描写角度拉大了读者与盖茨比这个故事的距离，无形中给整篇小说造成了一种深沉幽怨的氛围。
以下两段分别取自不同的描写角度：(1) When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented every thing for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightenedsensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. … ( P2-3, The Great Gatsby, 上海译文出版社, 1994 )(2) I decided to call to him. Miss Baker had mentioned him at dinner and that would do for an introduction. But I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. …( P34, 同上)（1）和（2）都用第一人称“I”作为小说的“叙述者”（the narrator），但（1）和（2）的叙述角度有一定区别。
the_great_gatsby(了不起的盖茨比)_英文介绍及赏析
The Great Gatsby F.Scott.Fitzgerald.Character ListDaisy Buchanan - Nick’s cousin, and the woman Gatsby loves. As a young woman in Louisville before the war, Daisy was courted by a number of officers, including Gatsby. She fell in love with Gatsby and promised to wait for him. However, Daisy harbors a deep need to be loved, and when a wealthy, powerful young man named Tom Buchanan asked her to marry him, Daisy decided not to wait for Gatsby after all. Now a beautiful socialite, Daisy lives with Tom across from Gatsby in the fashionable East Egg district of Long Island. She is sardonic and somewhat cynical, and behaves superficially to mask her pain at her husband’s constant infidelity.Daisy Buchanan (In-Depth Analysis)Tom Buchanan - Daisy’s immensely wealthy husband, once a member of Nick’s social club at Yale. Powerfully built and hailing from a socially solid old family, Tom is an arrogant, hypocritical bully. His social attitudes are laced with racism and sexism, and he never even considers trying to live up to the moral standard he demands from those around him. He has no moral qualms about his own extramarital affair with Myrtle, but when he begins to suspect Daisy and Gatsby of having an affair, he becomes outraged and forces a confrontation.Jordan Baker - Daisy’s friend, a woman with whom Nick becomes romantically involved during the course of the novel. A competitive golfer, Jordan represents one of the “new women” of the 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan is beautiful, but also dishonest: she cheated in order to win her first golf tournament and continually bends the truth.Myrtle Wilson - Tom’s lover, whose lifeless husband George owns a run-down garage in the valley of ashes. Myrtle herself possesses a fierce vitality and desperately looks for a way to improve her situation. Unfortunately for her, she chooses Tom, who treats her as a mere object of his desire.Analysis of Major CharactersDaisy BuchananPartially based on Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda, Daisy is a beautiful young woman from Louisville, Kentucky. She is Nick’s cousin and the object of Gatsby’s love. As a young debutante in Louisville, Daisy was extremely popular among the military officers stationed near her home, including Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lied about his background to Daisy, claiming to be from a wealthy family in order to convince her that he was worthy of her. Eventually, Gatsby won Daisy’s heart, and they made love before Gatsby left to fight in the war. Daisy promised to wait for Gatsby, but in 1919 she chose instead to marry Tom Buchanan, a young man from a solid, aristocratic family who could promise her a wealthy lifestyle and who had the support of her parents.After 1919, Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy back, making her the single goal of all of his dreams and the main motivation behind his acquisition of immense wealth through criminal activity. To Gatsby, Daisy represents the paragon of perfection—she has the aura of charm, wealth, sophistication, grace, and aristocracy that he longed for as a child in North Dakota and that first attracted him to her. In reality, however, Daisy falls far short of Gatsby’s ideals. She is beautiful and charming, but also fickle, shallow, bored, and sardonic. Nick characterizes her as a careless person who smashes things up and then retreats behind her money. Daisy proves her real nature when she chooses Tom over Gatsby in Chapter VII, then allows Gatsby to take the blame for killing Myrtle Wilson even though she herself was driving the car. Finally, rather than atte nd Gatsby’s funeral, Daisy and Tom move away, leaving noforwarding address.Like Zelda Fitzgerald, Daisy is in love with money, ease, and material luxury. She is capable of affection (she seems genuinely fond of Nick and occasionally seems to love Gatsby sincerely), but not of sustained loyalty or care. She is indifferent even to her own infant daughter, never discussing her and treating her as an afterthought when she is introduced in Chapter VII. In Fitzgerald’s conception of America in the 1920s, Daisy represents the amoral values of the aristocratic East Egg set.。
the great gatsby essay
Fiona PuMs. SinghENG 3U5 December 2010Two Men In The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, who was one of the most splendid writers in United Stated. The 1920s in the United States has been described as a period of material success, because they made a large amount of money in the war. This novel is one of the greatest literacy documents of that period, which wins many praises. And it is also the central to the literature of the twenties, and it is in the mainstream of American realism as it emerged after World WarⅠ. The novel appears to be about love, idealism and disillusionment, but further examination reveals its hidden depth, the temptation and extinguishment of “American Dream”. ”The Great Gatsby is actually a recall and summary of the process of the involvement of the American dream from historical and realistic perspectives”(Chang 108-109).In this story, Jay Gatsby is a typical character in 1920s; his experience is a mirror of “Jazz Ages”. And Tom Buchanans is a main role in this novel setting off other characters. From the beginning of this novel, an obvious phenomenon appears, which is the two main characters of this story, Tom and Gatsby. They are both rich man, Tom was a child from a wealthy family, and that’s why Daisy would marry him at first. Like Fitzgerald said: “His family were enormously wealthy […] It was hard torealize that a man in my own generation was wealthy enough to do that” (Fitzgerald 10). Likewise, Gatsby was wealthy, too, that many people around admired him, just because of his money, there is a great comparison between him and Nick or people who lived in East Egg, “Nick identifies with and admires Gatsby and wants to believe in the possibility of a man with little or no inheritance (like Gatsby and himself) becoming wealthy and successful in America” (Stocks 9). And there is another point we can see over The Great Gatsby, these two men both have a huge fancy on Daisy. She is in the center of Gatsby’s heart, and she is full of his mind, he thought about her every time, but she didn’t know. ”Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 83), so he wanted to meet Daisy in one way or another, because he couldn’t wait anymore to show his love to Daisy. Tom is a miserable character in his marriage; he married a woman who never loved him, but he took care of Daisy a lot in the daily life, like “that day I carried you down from the Punch Bowl to keep your shoes dry”(Fitzgerald 139). His love was shown up by these small movements, however, his money is actually what Daisy loved, not him.Not only is there something similar between Gatsby and Tom, but many differences there as well. Tom is wealthy, because he was born in a rich family, he can live comfortably without any payment of effort. By contrast, Gatsby gets money by himself, although it’s from selling grain alcohol all over the country, so after 5 years he can buy a big house across the bay. What is more, Gatsby is enthusiastic and unselfish with Daisy, instead, Tom has a lover outside, Myrtle Wilson. Gatsby waited Daisy for many years, even he knew she had been married. At the second half of thisnovel, his sacrifice shows the unselfish love for her which moved most readers, nevertheless, Tom is selfish, he was unsatisfied with any relationship between Daisy and Gatsby, however he has a lover, that is the simple reason that he “encourage” Mr. Wilson to kill Gatsby. Thus, whereas Tom and Daisy and their marriage survive, Gatsby is killed for running over Myrtle--something Daisy did--and for being Myrtle's lover--something Tom was. It is ironic that despite the repeated imagery of Tom and Daisy together in a frame of light, in the end it is Gatsby who is framed by Tom and Daisy (Sutton 37-39).For the choice between Tom and Gatsby, complication of factors and contradictory came into Daisy’s mind, but finally, she made up her mind to stay with Tom, regardless of his negative light. For the simple reason that she is a practical woman, first time she married Tom for keeping her adequate and wealthy standard of living, second time she chose Tom again, as she wasn’t willing to break her stable life for Gatsby. And after she heard that:”He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter”(Fitzgerald 141), she confirmed that Tom was her proper choice. That is the reason she gave up her true love and continued to stay with Tom, who didn’t love.In a word, The Great Gatsby is not a love tragedy among Americans from the upper class, but also record of American society of 1920s.Words Cited:Chang, Yaoxin. A Survey of American Literature. Tianjin: Nankai University Press, 2003.Sutton, Brian. "Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Explicator 59.1 (Fall 2000): 37-39. Rpt.in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol. 157. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Dec. 2010.</ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CH1420061763&v=2.1&u=lond97840&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w>Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner's, 1925.。
英语论文】《了不起的盖茨比》的文体分析(英文)
毕业设计（论文）题目 A Brief Stylistic Analysis on “The Great Gatsby”《了不起的盖茨比》的文体分析专业英语学生姓名学号指导教师2006年4月29日Abstract:The Great Gatsby is regarded as one of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpieces. The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s American as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American Idealism in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. This paper concentrates on the delusions of American dream which is conveyed in this novel, and also attempts to analyze the characteristics of writing devices employed in this novel from the aspects of stylistics.Key words: F. Scott Fitzgerald linguistic presentation metaphor simile1. Introduction1.1 A brief account of the authorScott Fitzgerald was born at the family home on Laurel Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. F. Scott Fitzgerald holds the franchise. A glittering success as a writer when he was just twenty-four, but Fitzgerald died still a young man, at forty-four. Fitzgerald's parents were Roman Catholic, and he was raised in the church and sent to a Catholic boys' school on the East Coast before attending college. As a boy, Fitzgerald was anxious to be a popular socialite. His youthful flirtations with St. Paul girls, the parties he attended, and the private prep school he was finally sent East to attend are the stuff on which his early stories “Basil and Josephine” and “The Rich Boy” are founded. One of his very finest short stories, “Winter Dreams,” encompasses a more realistic look at his yearning distance from the country-club, upper-class world, a world to which his mother's family had given him entrance, but of which he never felt comfortably part.He wrote several plays when a young teenager, and staged them with classmates and friends at home in St. Paul. From 1911 to 1913, at the catholic preparatory Newman School in New Jersey, Fitzgerald saw his work published in the school magazine and participated in theatricals. It was at Newman that Fitzgerald met Monsignor Francis Fay, the dedicatee of This Side of Paradise as well as the model for Monsignor Darcy in that novel. Msgr. Fay encouraged the bright young man to enter the priesthood, but Fitzgerald was never more than briefly interested.Fitzgerald was one of the best known American authors of the 1920s and '30s and is closely associated with the optimism and excesses of that era's "Jazz Age." Fitzgerald's stories often featured people like himself: middle-American types infatuated with the wealth and status of upper-crust society. In the mid-1920s he lived in Paris where he was friends with Ernest Hemingway and other literary expatriates. Fitzgerald was a popular celebrity of the day and he and his wife, Zelda, became famous for their extravagant lifestyle, drinking bouts and (eventually) erratic behavior. His major published novels include This Side of Paradise (1920), The Great Gatsby(1925), and Tender Is the Night (1934).1.2 A brief account of the storyGatsby is American Everyman. His extraordinary energy and wealth make him pursue the dream. His death in the end points at the truth about the withering of the American Dream. The spiritual and moral sterility that has resulted from the withered American Dream is fully revealed in the article. However, although he is defeated, the dream has gave Gatsby a dignity and a set of qualities. His hope and belief in the promise of future makes him the embodiment of the values of the incorruptible American Dream .1.3 The major theme of the storyThe Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald embodies may themes, however the most salient one relates to the corruption of the American Dream. The American Dream is that each person no matter who he or she is can become successful in life by his or her own hard work. The dream also embodies the idea of a self-sufficient man, an entrepreneur making it successful for himself. The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American dream in the 1920s, a time period when the dream had been corrupted by the avaricious pursuit of wealth. The American dream is sublime motivation for accomplishing ones goals and producing achievements, however when tainted with wealth the dream becomes devoid and hollow.2. Stylistic analysis of “The Great Gatsby”2.1 Characteristic traits of the characters are revealed in different ways.In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, all the characters are, in one way or another, attempting to achieve a state of happiness in their lives. The main characters are divided into two groups: the rich upper class and the poorer lower class, which struggles to attain a higher position. Though the major players seek only to change their lives for the better, the American Dream is inevitably crushed beneath the harsh reality of life, leaving their lives without meaning or purpose.Gatsby is great, because he is dignified and ennobled by his dream and his mythic vision of life. He has the desire to repeat the past, the desire for money, and the desire for incarnation of unutterable vision on this material earth. For Gatsby, Daisy is the soul of his dreams. He believe he can regain Daisy and romantically rebels of time. Although he has the wealth that can match with the leisured class, he does not have their manners. His tragedy lies in his possession of a naive sense and chivalry.Tom Buchanan, Daisy's husband, belongs to the traditional moneyed class; Tom does not pursue any particular profession, he simply lives on his wealth. He is a former football-player and physically strong. But the surplus of his physical power contrasts with his limited intellectual capacities. He is arrogant, self-confident and not intellectual. He is also a racist and a totally careless and brutal person, a heavy drinker and has lack of style and education.Daisy suggests the flower for which she was named. She is fresh and bright, yet fragile. She is a golden girl, beautiful, rich, innocent and pure in her whiteness, which is mixed with the yellow of gold (money). But this is just her outward appearance. In reality she promises more than she gives, like money. She wants to be liked and popular but she is just dishonest, false, artificial and superficial. Her whole behavior is childish and everything is put on like a facade.Jordan, Daisy's friend, Jordan Baker's most striking quality is her dishonesty. She is tough and aggressive- a golfer who is so hardened by competition that she is willing to do anything to win. Jordan is the smart new woman, the opportunist who will dowhatever she must to be successful in her world. In many ways Jordan Baker symbolizes a new type of woman that was emerging in the Twenties. She is hard and self-sufficient, and she adopts whatever morals suit her situation.She is hard and self-sufficient and does what she wants to do. Her name, body and style are blunt. She is an opportunist who will do what ever she must do to be successful in her world, which is the world of the rich and influential people.Myrtle Wilson is Tom’s mistress. She hates her cheerless and wretched life at the gas station in the valley of ashes and wants to flee into the city full of jollity, money and glamour. She only is able to realize that with Tom's money. She is a very sensuous and vital woman therefore Tom loves her.2.2 Lexical featuresIn section (1) and section (2), we can see that there are many differences in choosing lexicon.2.2.1 In section (1) many multi-syllabled adjectives and abstract nouns are used, such as, riotous (adj.)，excursion (n.)，privileged (adj.)，glimpse (n.)，unaffected (adj.)，sensitivity (n.) . besides, there are many formal words used in this part in meaning, such as, exempt，register. Therefore the usages of lexicon in section (1) are formal and gorgeous.2.2.2In section (2) there are no other multi-syllabled adjectives used except the word “curious”, and there are no abstract nouns either. But a lot of verbs are used, such as decide，call，mention，do，give，stretch，sworn. The usages of lexicon in this section are formal and simple.2.2.3From the lexical features, in section (1) the writer describes Nick Carraway’s psychology by using a lot of multi-syllabled adjectives to modify the abstract nouns. While in s ection (2) the writer mainly describes Nick Carraway’s actions.2.3 Syntactic features2.3.1Complex sentences are used in section (1) , there are only three sentences which describe the internal complex feelings and life experiences of Nick Carraway. So in this section a lot of attributive clauses and coordinate clauses are used as the modified components. For example, 1) Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name tothis book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented every thing for which I have an unaffected scorn. 2) When I came back…. If personality is an unbroken…, as if he were related to….2.3.2 In section (2) long sentences are used , but they are very simple, only one objective clause and several coordinate sentences are used. For example, ...Miss Baker had mentioned him at dinner and that…. …he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him,… Therefore, the complex and simple sentences are used in turn, it reflects the writing style of the author and also can make readers easy to understand the novel.2.4 Phonological features and Graphological features2.4.1There are different points of view in The Great Gatsby. The first person “I” is used in section (1) to show that Nick Carraway recalled what had happened in the past and to express Nick Carraway’s thoughts and feelings. So it is more subjective to express the effect of the novel by using complex sentences, while compared with section (1), in section (2) it is more objectives to narrate Nick C arraway’s meeting with Gatsby from an onlooker ---- Nick Carraway himself. In a word, some similar points of view are used in the whole novel. At the same time in this novel, there are few dialectal speeches, it uses more formal and simple language, so it can better contribute to reveal the major theme of the novel.2.4.2In The Great Gatsby, presentational sequencing is used to organize the structure of the novel. For example, in section (3), it describes the situation of the first meeting between Nick Carraway and Gatsby. It exactly shows that the writer uses presentational sequencing to arrange the story. Using this kind of method is to show the sense art in the novel.2.5 Figures of speechAnother some salient features of The Great Gatsby are figures of speech. The Great Gatsby is rich in simile.2.5.1In section (4) the writer describes Miss Daisy and Miss Baker’s lying on an enormous couch as sitting upon an anchored balloon. their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been back in after a short flight around the house. Thissimile gives readers a new curiosity, it also reflects the life of the upper class for those women who did nothing.2.5.2In section (5), the sentence “ Her voice is full of money” is a metaphor, the usage of metaphor here can give readers an aesthetic sense. It looks as if it were an imagery poem, and it describes the clear and understandable sound of her singing as the abstract idea ---- money. This can guide readers into the plots of the novel.2.5.3Using the simile in this novel can create the unimaginable effect. The writer uses the indirect method to make readers to think, to feel and to appreciate the interesting plots of the novel. Therefore, it can create a kind of “ feeling of distance” between the readers and the novel, which makes the tragic plots in The Great Gatsby more exciting.3. ConclusionThe Great Gatsby was published in 1925, it reflects the real world in the Jazz Age. It describes the hollowness of the Upper Class at that time. At the same time, it tells us that The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American dream in the 1920s, a time period when the dream had been corrupted by the avaricious pursuit of wealth. In The Great Gatsby, Fitgerald applied imagism and symbolism to present moral history of his contemporary times from the view of Nick. The application of symbolism made his work surpass the narrow individual world, connect the subjective with the objective, and amplify as well typifies individual experiences. As many critics have pointed out, the method Fitzgerald adopts in The Great Gatsby is a brilliant one. He starts the novel in the present in the first three chapters, Having established the characters and setting in the first three chapters, he then narrates the main events of the story in Chapters IV to IX, using Chapters IV, VI, and VII to gradually reveal the story of Gatsby's past. The past and present come together at the end of the novel in Chapter IX. As the story moves toward its climax, we find out more and more about the central figure from Nick until we, too, are in a privileged position and can understand why Gatsby behaves as he does. Thus the key to the structure of the novel is the combination of the first person narrative and the gradual revelation of the past as the narrator finds out more and more. The two devices work extremely effectively together, but neither would work very well alone.References:1. Carter, Ronald, 1997, Investigating English Discourse, New York: Routledge.2. Garrett, George, 1985, “Fire and Freshness: A Matter of Style in The Great Gatsby”. In Matthew J. Broccoli (ed.). New Essays On The Great Gatsby, New York: Cambridge University Press.3. Leech, Geoffrey N. & Short Michael H., 1981, Style in Fiction, New York: Longman.4. 郭鸿，1998，《英语文体分析》，北京：军事谊文出版社。
The Great Gatsby了不起的盖茨比
The novel takes place following the First World War. American society enjoyed prosperity(繁荣兴旺) during the “roaring” 1920s as the economy soared（飞升）. At the same time, Prohibition（禁止禁令）, the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol as mandated（命令，指 令） by the Eighteenth Amendment（修正草案）made millionaires out of bootleggers（私卖酒）. After its republishing in 1945 and 1953, it quickly found a wide readership and is today widely regarded as a paragon （模范）of the Great American Novel, and a literary classic. The Great Gatsby has become a standard text in high school and university courses on American literature in countries around the world and is ranked second in the Modern Library's lists of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.
FamouБайду номын сангаас lines
• Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people I have ever known.
the great gatsby
A Brief Summary of the Story
Analysis of Main Characters
Jay Gatsby: handsome, impressive, goodmannered, innocent, hopeful, passionate, hard-working, active, loyal, sober, blind
Nick Carraway: quiet, reflective, tolerant, open-minded, moral, kind-hearted Daisy Buchanan: beautiful, charming, fickle, bored, selfish and sardonic, indifferent, disloyal, shallow Tom Buchanan : arrogant, hypocritical, immoral, greed narrow-minded, cool, disloyal, rude, bad-tempered, shallow Jordan Baker: beautiful, cynical, boyish, self-centered, dishonest
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Content: •Position and comments •American Dream •Movies of different versions •A brief summary of the story •Analysis of Main characters •Structure and art figures •Themes •Symbols •Conclusion
美国文学选读 The Great Gatsby 分析
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1890 - 1940)II. His masterpiece: The Great Gatsby1.The story summary:The entire story takes place in one summer in 1922.The novel describes the life and death of Jay Gatsby, as seen through the eyes of a narrator who does not share the same point of view as the fashionable people around him.The narrator learns that Gatsby became rich by breaking the law. Gatsby pretends to be a well-educated war hero, which he is not, yet the narrator portrays（描绘）him as being far more noble than the rich, cruel, stupid people among whom he and Gatsby live.Gatsby’s character is purified by a deep, unselfish love for Daisy, a beautiful, silly woman who, earlier, married a rich husband instead of Gatsby and moved into high society.Gatsby has never lost his love for her and, in an era when divorce has become easy, he tries to win her back by becoming rich himself. He does not succeed, and in the end he is killed by accident because of his determination to shield Daisy from disgrace.None of Gatsby’s upper class friends come to his funeral. The narrator is so disgusted that he leaves New York and returns to his original home.Chapter NineNick makes plans for the funeral.Gatsby's Funeral, three people show up.Nick returns to the west.Nick meets with Tom BuchananNick gets a last view of Gatsby's house.小说表面上是一个爱情故事，但实际却是对社会现状的讽刺批判。
The Great Gatsby
The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is the most impressive book I have ever read.It’s a tragic story happened in a society which considered money to be the most important thing. Apparently, this novel was greatly related to the writer’s own experience. The story begins with a man named Gatsby who fell in love with a pretty, innocent girl called Daisy before the cruel war broke out. After being sent to the war zone, he had been having the girl on his mind but the girl soon forgot him, marring another rich man. This attributed to the man’s efforts of making a large sum of money hard by illegal ways crazily. Then the most beautiful but lamentable picture appeared: Gatsby always opened his arms to the green light in front of Daisy’s house at the other side of the sea in the dark nights. He didn’t realize that she had changed to a material girl who was not innocent ant more. So Gatsby was always ready to go back to her and do everything for her. Though he discovered that her voice was filled money, he still loved her. At last, Daisy accidentally killed a woman in a head-on collision. Gatsby decided to take the responsibility and she chose to frame up Gatsby who was then shot to death by the victim’s husband. When the funeral of Gatsby began, Daisy and her husband were on a trip to Europe.I love this story because I was greatly impressed when I read it. We are sometimes too stubborn to our initial dreams which we regard as the most meaningful aims. We can’t stop chasing it by every efforts, for example, maintaining a relationship with someone you love, having a large fortune and a higher social status. But we just forget what we really want and the happiness we should have. So sometimes we need to stop our steps and ask ourselves what is your life meaning. I used to consider exam’s grades to be the most important thing but when I was trapped in the elevator last Saturday, I couldn’t stop crying and calling my mother crazily although I knew there was no signal. It was at that time that I realized I should give more attention and care to my family. Their love and support are what I want. That’s what I learned from this book.。
the-great-gatsby-essay
B00135717American Literature 21/6The Great Gatsby: symbolism. Colours are significant in literary works. Trace Fitzgerald’s use of colour and light, making conclusions as to their deeper meanings.A few moments before Gatsby’s murder, Nick indulges in describing how Gatsby “must have felt” while waiting for a phone call which was never to come. He assumes that Gatsby understands at that moment that his quest was vain, that he has been “living too long with a single dream”. Nick, in his attempt to see through Gatsby’s eyes, pictures “a new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about…like that ashen fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees.” Yet, he doubtlessly never ceased to see such a disenchanted image of the world, Fitzgerald’s use of colour and light throughout the Great Gatsby, tends to establish a correlation between Gatsby’s dream, its improbable reaching and his desperate attempts to fulfil it; Gatsby fights for his dream and fill a dull white and greyish world with colours, even though it turns out to be a sparkling lure.It is particularly relevant to point out that the predominant colour in the book, white, is not a colour as such, it is obtained by blending all the existing colours. This particularity emphasizes the void and sterility of each character’s quest, of their dreams, the blending of which forms the American Dream. The reader witnesses the reversal of all the symbols traditionally attributed to the white colour. Daisy recalls her youth with Jordan, the “white girlhood [they] passed together. [Their] beautiful white“and she cannot even finish uttering her statement. When she dated Gatsby, “she dressed in white and had a little white roadster”. As far as young girls are concerned, white traditionally symbolizes purity, virginity, innocence, simplicity, etc. many qualities which cannot legitimately be attributed to Daisy. Gatsby knew she had loved many men, which heightened her value in his eyes. She is neitherB00135717American Literature 22/6pure, nor simple. She theatrically admits to be “sophisticated”. “Sometimes, she and Miss Baker talked at once, (…) with a bantering inconsequence (…), that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire.” White is then linked to coldness, winter, sterility, death. Indeed, the two women are described many a time as ghosts. When Nick first encounters the two women, they are dressed in white, totally motionless “pparalysed with happiness”, as Daisy puts it in a very sunny and almost unreal setting; the wind blowing in the curtains, their “ballooning” dresses turning them into apparitions, spectres. They are even more frightfully assimilated to cold, impressive, unreachable idols, “Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down in their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans.”In the same way, most of the characters Fitzgerald described in the novel are associated with the colour white, even minor characters. Wilson “walked through as if he were a ghost”, “a white ashen dust veiled his dark suit and his pale hair as it veiled everything in the vicinity”, Myrtle’s sister Catherine has a “sticky bob of red hair, and a complexion powdered milky white”, Mr McKee has a “white spot of lather on his cheekbone”. Nick is “dressed up in white flannels” while attending to Gatsby’s parties. Tom blabbers about “The Rise of the coloured empires”, he fears that “the white race will be entirely submerged”, and indeed, the tenants of the “white civilization” are described as being as void as mere silhouettes, immaterial ghosts. The same depressing colour is attributed to places. The action mainly takes place on East and West Egg, the egg conveys the idea of a round, closed whole, a –white world in itself. “Across the courtesy bay, the white palaces of fashionable East Eggglittered along the water”, the Buchanans live in a “cheerful redandwhite Georgian Colonial mansion”. The counter place, much despised by Nick, the Valley of ashes, shouldB00135717American Literature 23/6contrast violently with the islands. Yet, it is described as grey, with “ashgrey men”, whitish ashes are only slightly dirtier than the Egg’s glittering white. There is no escape to this dullness, even abroad, Gatsby recollects war memories with Nick and mentions “wet grey villages in France”.There is one exception in this dull white, unreal, ghostly white world: that is Gatsby. His dream, Daisy’s conquest, leads him into filling his world with colours, those colours becoming as much lures meant to attract her. Gatsby / Trimalchio resembles the peacock, displaying all the colours of its tail to charm females…”Wear the gold hat, if that will move her.” The white character of the world is to be opposed to “the inexhaustible variety of life” which “simultaneously [enchants] and [repels]”. . “In [Gatsby’s] blue gardens boys and girls [come] and [go] like moths among the whispering”, he displays “enough coloured lights to make a Christmas tree of [his] enormous garden”, he disposes dozens of coloured cocktails and flowers, he buys “five crates of orange and lemon” every Friday. Gatsby sends a girl a “gas blue with lavender beads” dress, as different as possible from the white garments he used to see Daisy wearing, they would not suit another woman. The clothes he madly displays in front of Daisy have rather improbable motives and colours which strongly contrast with the white environment! “shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and applegreen and lavender and faint orange, with monograms of Indian blue.” Nick must sense this as he tells Gatsby his place “looks like the World’s Fair”, in the same way, Tom describes Gatsby’s car as a “circus wagon”. Gatsby’s character, who used to be sublimed by the mystery surroundinghim, is brutally demystified as a tragic clown, simply by the use of colours which emphasize his inadequacy to the world he lives in, the vanity/hollowness of an idealistic dream, eternally out of his reach. Yet this also explains the fascination he exerts on people and on the narrator B00135717American Literature 24/6in the first place: “I could think of nothing except the luminosity of his pink suit under the moon”.“Now it was again a green light on the dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.” The colours in Gatsby’s life are as many means of enchanting the “new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about…like that ashen fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees” that Nick describes at the end of the book. He is wrong though when he says this “material without being real” world is new. This green light symbolizes Gatsby’s dreams, his expectations and ultimately the American dream. Green stands for hope, it may also remind of traffic lights, a signal intended to drive people into “going ahead”. Nonetheless, the green light also embraces a more dramatic signification, it points out the corrupted way Gatsby tries to fulfil his dream by hinting at green dollars. Money shattered his dream from the first moment, when he knew he was not rich enough for Daisy. Gatsby is not the sole victim of this lure; the disabused Daisy also suffers from it in her marriage, in her relationships with men: “If you want to kiss me any time during the evening, Nick, just let me know (…) or present a green card. I’m giving out green“The green light on the dock is a very powerful mirage. And Fitzgerald’s use of light throughout the novel tends to confirm this image. Light is almost always referred at by its reflection on things, the illusion it creates. The French windows at the Buchanan’s are“glowing now with reflected gold”, “everybody had seen [Gatsby’s car]. It was a rich cream colour, bright with nickel (…) terraced with a labyrinth of windshields that mirrored a dozen suns.” The light, far from bringing “enlightenment”, confuses the perception of reality; the perception of people, “confident girls (…) glide on through the seachange of faces and voices B00135717American Literature 25/6and colour under the constantly changing light” as well as the perception of material elements, “Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps”. Gatsby only sees an apparition, he can only see the sophisticated appearance of the Daisy, this is her tragedy; “Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware (…) of Daisy, gleaming like silver”. The mirage fakes reality; it is this prism standing between one’s vision and reality, which ultimately influences one’s perception. Even though the valley of ashes is in the darkness, “impenetrable clouds” dimming the light, T.J Eckleburg’s big “blue and gigantic” eyes see through another symbolic prism, the huge yellow glasses, a grotesque yet powerful image, which did not preserve its creator from sinking into “eternal blindness”. Gatsby in his attempts to come closer to Daisy and win her back “burns his own wings at her sun”1, he goes too far. Blinded by his quest and his uncoordinated, wild efforts, he loses his identity and any chances he might have had of having her back. Daisy understands this when they meet thanks to Nick, she does not appreciate Gatsby’s house which he had designed for her, she does not understand him, and sobs the whole time. “It makes me sad because I have never seen such –such beautiful shirts before” she says after Gatsby’s displaying of his entire gaudy wardrobe in search of an approval. She understands they have hardly anything in common left. As for the absorbed Gatsby, “it possibly [occurs] to him” that “the colossal significance” of one ofhis prisms, one of his enchanted objects, has “vanished forever”. “Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon”, now the green light was just a light and Daisy an inapproachable ghost whose apparition Gatsby can witness but whom he cannot touch.B00135717American Literature 26/61(random food for thought) I do not have time to deal with the comparison in this essay, nor is it the subject. But the parallel between Gatsby and Richard II (IV, 1) just struck me. The man who has no name, but a more or less usurpated title/status, the mockery king of snow and Gatsby as I tried to picture him as a kind of Clown colouring/enchanting his world, and eventually melting himself away. (?)KING RICHARD II: No lord of thine, thou haught insulting man,Nor no man's lord; I have no name, no title,No, not that name was given me at the font,But 'tis usurp'd: alack the heavy day,That I have worn so many winters out,And know not now what name to call myself!O that I were a mockery king of snow,Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke,To melt myself away in waterdrops!Good king, great king, and yet not greatly good,An if my word be sterling yet in England,Let it command a mirror hither straight,That it may show me what a face I have,Since it is bankrupt of his majesty.HENRY BOLINGBROKE: Go some of you and fetch a lookingglass.。
- 1、下载文档前请自行甄别文档内容的完整性，平台不提供额外的编辑、内容补充、找答案等附加服务。
- 2、"仅部分预览"的文档,不可在线预览部分如存在完整性等问题,可反馈申请退款(可完整预览的文档不适用该条件!)。
- 3、如文档侵犯您的权益，请联系客服反馈,我们会尽快为您处理(人工客服工作时间：9:00-18:30)。
A young dream catcher
——about “the great Gatsby”
What can we define Gatsby? A clever man who makes lots of money in that society? A tragic man who failed in his first lover’s hands? Or a normal man in that times who has a American dream? May be that’s all right, we can’t say Gatsby is a person, he is a representor that we can see the truth in that times by him.
“the American dream” teach young people that if you hard enough and pay for enough, you will be success. everything is fair to everyone, so Gatsby try to become rich because he think that’s why his lover ,Daisy, leaves him.
We can see Gatsby’s American dream is come true,but even though he has lots of money and knows many gentlemen and noblewomen, he was not happy, he hold on parties but just want to attract Daisy’s attention. No one knows what he want, no one understand him, even he call others “old sport”, but who is his “old sport”? he just want to cheat himself that he is adapt to this environmental and this society, which full of lies and fickleness. He try to pretend he is not lonely and he behavior optimistic because he is affected by the American dream which around the whole young people.
Gatsby has a dream that become rich and let his lover back, yes,
he get these goal, but he lost more. He make money by illegal ways and waste money without limitation, he lost sane. Daisy stay with him just for his money, he lost the true of love. Tom trap him and he lost life. we can say that American dream bring up him and destroy him, he believe that he can get everything by himself, but he doesn’t know the society is so complex that more difficult than he think before.
At last, Gatsby follow the green light which on the Daisy’s house until die. That green light maybe means hope to Gatsby, but he can’t touch in the end, like him has never touch the American dream in his heart.
Make your choice ,not regret
——about “The Road Not Taken”
Robert Frost say，two roads diverged in a yellow wood. but in my view, what he want to say is not just two roads. Road is just a symbol of choose which appear in our life, we may make many choose, which maybe let us live comfortable or hard, but what road we have chosen ,we just need go on, because we can’t go back and choose other roads.
The poem said, “I took the one less traveled by”, if I were the one who face two roads, I also do as poem said. Why? I think life which full of challenge is good for us grow up, I will deal with many things when I walk on that “road”, I may cry, may afraid, may feel nervous, but who cares? I know I have tried, I have done my best, that’s enough. I remember a motto which said” what we should focus on is process, not result”. To our life, the meaning is what we have done but not what we have got, sometimes I may lost some important thing because I choose that hard way and I begin feel regret what choice I have made, but what I should do is hold on, challenge still exist, I still have to get over it, that’s what I have choose by myself, Challenge will always come, for once, must accept it.
Or one day, as Robert write in the poem: I shall be telling this with a sign somewhere, ages and ages hence. we maybe regret not choosing another
road, maybe in that way, we can walk comfortably and easily, maybe we can get success and needn’t pay for a lot, but who knows, life is just once for everyone, it’s foolish that always think about what we have done, we have no time to waste ,we must act! we should see the future and fight for it, we should know everything will be ok if we try to do, why we don’t have try and just sigh the whole day?
Robert choose the hard way in his life, the road which no step had trodden black, as we can see, he succeed ,so ,make your choice for your life, think about it, and choose a road to travel without come back, go on, and grow up.
SM学院
学号：29
By XHN。