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Abstract
Francis Scott Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the most representative American writers in the twentieth century. He is the chronicler of 1920s America and “Poet Laureate” in Jazz Age. His novel vividly reflects the burst of the American dream in the 1920s, showing the “Wilderness era” spirit of the American upper class during the Great Depression.
The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, is widely considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald’s finest and the most influential work. The novel portrays a vivid picture of the 1920s’ America and mainly tells a tragic story of Gatsby who tries to win back his lover—Daisy. In order to win the love of Daisy, he becomes an upstart by illegal smuggling, and he mistakenly believes that money could let him buy love and happiness. Actually money does not bring him any benefits. He sacrifices himself in the end.
This thesis is a detailed study of the causes of the disillusionment of the American dream in the novel The Great Gatsby. It mainly analyzes Gatsby’s American dream and the reasons leading to his American dream’s disillusionment in an era of moral waste and decay and the lack of personal responsibility. In the book, Gatsby is a typical example of those who are eager to achieve the American Dream but finally sacrifice themselves. Although Gatsby dreams of achieving material wealth and love through his courage and hard work, all kinds of external and internal factors lead to the disillusionment of his hope in the end. Through the analysis of American Dream and the historical background of the novel, the thesis elaborates a vivid picture of the causes leading to the disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream in order to show the social significance of this work.
Key words: Gatsby; American dream; disillusionment; Jazz Age
Contents
Abstract
中文摘要
1 Introduction-1
2 External society—degeneration and indifference-2
2.1 Rigid social hierarchy-2
2.2 Abandoned social values-4
2.3 Hypocritical human relationships-5
3 Gatsby—a deformed man-6
3.1 Blind worship of money-7
3.2 Confusion of ideality and reality-9
3.3 Fantasy of pure love-11
4 Conslusion-13
References-15