【正文】 y’s dream with the reality is obviously presented in his wellimagined autobiography. He cuts off the real past of himself and invents for himself a pletely new identity to meet the value of America popular culture. In support of his new identity, Gatsby adopts what he believes are the true mannerisms and surrounds himself with what he believes are the right props. However, Gatsby’s mannerisms and props often fail. The world he created is so fragile that it can not bear the slightest test of the reality.III. Cruelty of the SocietyIn Chapter 8, Tom and Gatsby quarrel for wining Daisy at the Plaza Hotel, it’s can be considered as the fight between the established rich and the newly rich. And Gatsby’s failure is doomed from the very beginning, for he is all alien in such cruelty society. At the beginning of the novel, there is an interesting description of the places where the main characters live, the East Egg and the West Egg. (Fitzgerald 1992: 5) Obviously, the home of Gatsby in West Egg and the Buchanans, in the East are not only indicative of the distinction of their wealth but also imply to the differences of their moral ethics, simple virtue of the West and corruption and sophistication of the East. The Conflicts between the New Rich and the Established Rich The Economic DifferenceGatsby lives in the West Egg, where is inhabited by the new rich, Gatsby being the representative. The East Egg is gathered by the “old rich”, Tom and Daisy being the representatives. The new rich are posed of businessmen, speculators, and industrialists. The old rich are mainly aristocratic families. Gatsby’s great party is of main characteristics of the new rich. They are evidenced in their overall cynicism and empty pursuit of happiness. The Jazz music is the main tune of their life. Their desires for pleasure and money surpassed all other goals. In order to accumulate enough money, Gatsby does not care to do illegal business. During the course of the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom, Tom disgrace Gatsby and takes the advantages of Gatsby’s illegal activities.“Who are you, anyhow?” broke out Tom. “You are one of that bunch that hangs around with Meyer Wolfshiemthat much I happen to know. I’ve made a little investigation into your affairsand I’ll carry it further tomorrow.” “You can suit yourself about that old sport,” said Gatsby steadily. “I found out what your ‘drugstore’ were.” He turned to us and spoke rapidly. “He and this Wolfsheim bought a lot of sidestreet drugstore here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong” “What about it?” said Gatsby politely. “I guess your friend Walter Chase wasn39。s dock. This parallel not only connects Gatsby39。 for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, pelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something mensurate to his capacity for wonder. (Fitzgerald 1992: 115) Here, the Dutch sailors bee representative of humanity having “for the last time” something that matches our “capacity for wonder. This spirit of the newly discovered continent in turn is reflected in Gatsby39。s Dream As many critics said, Gatsby is a steady and romantic hero who directs his life by a dream to which he was faithful to the end, for no one and nothing in America can match the vitality of Gatsby’s dream. Meanwhile his destruction is strongly coupled with the disillusionment of his dream, thus an analysis of it is necessary. Origins of Gatsby’s DreamIn the last chapter of the novel, Gatsby’s father proudly showed Gatsby’s schedule and general resolves written in 1906 on the last flyleaf of the “ragged” copy book called Hopalong Cassidy(Fitzgerald 1992: 110) to Nick. It tells how deeply young Gatsby has absorbed the ideas of Benjamin Franklin through his autobiography into his ambition to be successful, believing that a man can be what he want to be by hard working.Horatio Alger (18341899), writer of the book Hopalon Cassidy, is another person who had large influence on young James in forming his early belief. Alger has probably been the most widely read of all American writers. “His novels tend to follow the same pattern: a boy works his way up from poverty to respectability through hard work, thrift and good luck.” (Matterson 1990: 65) To Alger, everything is determined by the efforts and the character of the individuals. Gatsby actually starts by struggling for advancement in the Alger method. The parallel between Gatsby39。s luxury and jealousy of his writing. Tender Is the Night (1934) was pleted around that time. He spent the rest of his life writing stories and screenplay and died in 1940, at the age of 44. It was not until ten years after his death that the great genius of his writing came into full recognition. Social and Historical Context of The Great GatsbyThe decade of 1920’s of America had a sharply defined uniqueness than most recognized periods. World War I had left all European belligerents weak and numbed spiritually. America, however, not having been involved in the War for long, remained just as forceful as before. An economic boom marked the first few postwar years, and materialism spread rapidly all over the country, and people became more greedy and self absorption. The American dream turned to be a dream of money, and wealth became the symbol of success. However the gap between the wealthy and the poor was still painfully obvious in society. Prosperous in economy as it was，a lot changes in spiritual and social values were taking place in the 1920s, which deeply affected the younger generation. The attitude of the time was also a backlash against the experience of the war. Young people turned their backs to the values of their parents. Girls enjoyed the freedom in thei