【導(dǎo)讀】第一次世界大戰(zhàn)造就。了新的一代人——迷惘的一代，爵士樂時(shí)代也由此拉開序幕。在這一時(shí)期，美國。新價(jià)值觀之間做出選擇。在《了不起的蓋茨比》中，菲茨杰拉德刻畫了這個以玩。本文將小說中的人物和事件與社會現(xiàn)實(shí)進(jìn)行比較，對美國夢做。了歷時(shí)性的分析，從而揭示小說所反映的社會意義——美國夢的破滅。

　　

【正文】 ey. Now his dream seems to 中原工學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院本科 畢業(yè)論文 8 be true, but he earns all his money by illegal means instead of toiling honestly. “As we know, in the bourgeois society not everyone can make his fortune, only a few people can, and these people make their fortune by crushing others, or by some means of cruel and evil force or trickery.” (Yang, 1995) In Gatsby?s quest of wealth, obviously the American Dream has deviated from its original way. If Cody?s success can be considered as the result of the good opportunity of gold rush, Gatsby?s being rich overnight by illicit ways is of an entirely different nature. Gatsby at most can be called an upstart, and cannot gain other?s respect as Franklin once did. As the novel progresses, 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 corrupts himself in the quest of the corrupted Daisy, and even though he does so, he has neither been recognized by the upper class nor by the ordinary people. “It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it,” said Truslow. (Truslow, 1931) These words show that American Dream has already degraded to an illusion among Americans, which can no longer gain people?s trust. 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. (Deng, Tuo, 1997)His dream of her disintegrates, revealing the corruption caused by wealthworship 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 bee subordinated to the amoral pursuit of wealth. As Nick reflects it, 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 turn 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. 中原工學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院本科 畢業(yè)論文 9 4 Conclusion In the end of the novel, Nick pares the green bulk of America rising from the ocean to the green light at the end of Daisy?s dock and says that Gatsby had believed in the green light, the asmic future that year by year receded before them. The novel is concluded by these words. As Gatsby?s quest for Daisy is broadly associated with the American Dream, the green light also symbolizes that more generalized ideal. These words show Nick?s value for the past, the original American dream with which the Americans achieve their true values. In some sense, Nick functions as Fitzgerald?s voice. In the novel, Gatsby tries to recreate the vanished past, but like 1920s Americans in general, fruitlessly seeking a bygone era in which their dreams had value, Gatsby is incapable of doing so. When his dream breaks, all that is left for Gatsby to do is to die while all Nick can do is to move back to Minnesota, where American values have not decayed. Through the parison between the characters and events in the novel and the social reality and the diachronic analysis of the American dream, we e to the conclusion that the social significance of the novel lies in the disillusionment of the American dream. (Word count total: 3238) 中原工學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院本科 畢業(yè)論文 10 References [1]鄧 (Deng)年剛 , 脫 (Tuo)侄 . 理想之夢的破滅 —— 《了不起的蓋茨比》與“ 美國夢” [J]. 外國文學(xué)研究 , 1997 (3): 112114. [2]杜 (Du)永新 . 美國夢的幻滅 : 蓋茨比形象的歷史與文化解讀 [J]. 外語教學(xué) , 20xx (23): 7075. [3]高 (Gao)慧 . Doom of American Dream— The Social Meaning of The Great Gatsby [J]. SCIENCE amp。 TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION, 20xx (24): 220220. [4]李 (Li)曉東 . The Hypocrisy and Corruption Underlying Wealth and Superficial Splendor[J].麗水師專學(xué)報(bào) , 1995(4): 4345. [5]Xu Qinsun. The Total Effect of The Great Gatsby [J]. 云南高教研究 ,1994(44): 1318. [6]Yang Weilue. Causes of Gatsby?s Tragedy— A ment on the novel The Great Gatsby[J].廣西大學(xué)學(xué)報(bào) , 1995(4): 8086. [7]姚 (Yao)文俊 . 蓋茨比 —— 美國夢在“爵士樂時(shí)代”的化身 [J]. 佳木斯大學(xué)社會科學(xué)學(xué)報(bào) , 20xx (20): 7273. [8]張 (Zhang)思銳 , 王 (Wang)勤 . Great Gatsby : A Mirror of America in the 1920?s[J]. 陜西師范大學(xué)學(xué)報(bào) , 20xx (31): 289294. [9] Adams, James Truslow. The Epic of America [M]. Boston: Little, Brown, and pany, 1931: 34. [10] Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1985. 中原工學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院本科 畢業(yè)論文 11 Acknowledgements I would like to give my greatest respect to my tutor To ng Zhimin. Thanks for her patience, encouragement, and professional instructions during my thesis writing. Also, I would like to thank Professor Guo Wanqun, who has taught me how to write dissertations on the thesiswriting classes. Needless to say, all the remaining errors are my own responsibilities.