【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 nd even responsible for fixing the 1919 World Series. He and Gatsby?s illegal business gives evidence to the rise of crime and illicit activities in American society during the Roaring Twenties. Additionally, the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, which banned the sale of alcohol, created a thriving underworld aiming to satisfy the massive demand for bootleg liquor among rich and poor alike. In the 1920s, the development of productive forces liberates women from the heavy burden of housework. The chances of taking jobs are better than ever, making them more independent and rebellious. Women want to live as they hope and they begin to behave against the old rules and morals。 women seek for firstclass citizenship and 中原工學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院本科 畢業(yè)論文 4 try to play more satisfying roles in the society。 women especially the young wore short skirt, silk stockings, heavy makeup and short, bobbed hair, announcing their presence by their appearance, all as Daisy?s friend Jordan, an extremely cynical woman golfer with a masculine icy demeanor who cheated to win her first tournament does in the novel. Another example is Tom?s mistress Myrtle Wilson, an earthly, vital, and voluptuous woman who is desperate to improve her life. She shares a loveless marriage with Gee Wilson, a man who runs a shabby garage. She has been having a longterm affair with Tom, and is very jealous of his wife, Daisy. After a fight with her husband, she runs out into the street and is hit and killed by Gatsby?s car. They were the socalled “flappers”. The flapper later became a popular model. “All over the country skirts rise, hair is shortened and traditional morals get loose.” (Zhang, Wang, 20xx) Tom and Daisy are two typical people with loose morals. Daisy, a selfish woman, is nothing but a moneyworshipper, which can be seen from her crying over Gatsby?s piles of shirts. She only cares for herself and nobody else. So does Daisy?s husband, Tom, an egoist symbolizing the degenerated East. He is a brutal, hulking man who, like Daisy, es from an immensely wealthy Midwestern family. He would never hesitate at all in doing anything for his own good at the expense of others. He is a hypocrite who lives by double standard: though he himself an extramarital affair with Myrtle, he is outraged by the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby. He asserts to Gatsby that he and Daisy have a history that Gatsby will never understand, and announces to Daisy that Gatsb y gains his fortune through illegal means. Tom and Daisy?s extreme selfishness can be reflected from Nick?s following criticism: “Tom and Daisy— they smashed up things and creature and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess— they had made? ” (Fitzgerald, 1925) Inequality In The Great Gatsby, inequality can be seen from two aspects: I) the gap between the established rich and the newly rich。 II) the gap between the rich and the poor. First we discuss the former aspect. As the story goes on, we learn that Gatsby?s real name is James Gatz. He was born to an impoverished farming family in North Dakota. 中原工學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院本科 畢業(yè)論文 5 When he is a young lieutenant in the army, Gatsby meets Daisy and falls in love with her. He lies about his background to Daisy, claiming to be from a wealthy family in order to convince her that he is worthy of her. Then he works briefly for a millionaire, and bees acquainted with the people and customs of high society. Inspired by all these experiences above, later he devoted his life to acquiring huge fortune. Gatsby es from the lower class and is in nature a kind, persistent, agreeable and innocent man as sharply contrasted to the selfish, careless and cruel Tom and Daisy. He corrupts himself in the quest of the corrupted Daisy because of his innocence. His fate turns out to be a tragedy because he is not conscious of the fact that he will never fill the gap between the two different classes: “He knew that Daisy was extraordinary, but he didn?t realize just how extraordinary a ?nice? girl could be. She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsbynothing.” (Fitzgerald, 1925) Social discrimination still exists in the 1920s and the divisions among the classes cannot be overe. There is no such a thing as equality, on which the American democracy bases. “In various unrevealed capacities he (Gatsby) had e in contact with such people, but always with indiscernible barbed wire between.” (Fitzgerald, 1925) After Gatsby?s death, Daisy does not go to his funeral and she does not even send a message or a flower. Actually it is Gatsby who wins readers? hearts. But he has never been accepted by the class that he so earnestly wants, nor won back the lost Daisy even at the expense of his life. Then let us e to the second aspect, the gap between the rich and the poor. In the story, Gee B. Wilson and Henry Gatz can be the representative