A Brief Analysis of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby.docx

Abstract

Fitzgerald is one of the most important American writers in the 20th century. He is be recognized as a spokesperson of the Jazz Age and the most representative writers in the Lost Generation. Eliot had a comment in his Columbia Literary History of the United States “No other novelists were, collectively, so influential in the development of modern American fiction as Gertude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway.”[Emory Elliott, The Columbia Literary History of the United States (New York: Columbia University Press,1988), 873] His novel, The Great Gatsby, vividly and factually reappears the society of America in 1920s ----the pictures of the old social life of the Jazz Age. This thesis expounds the evolution and development of the American Dream, and analyzes the main characters’ dreams to state the connotation of the American Dream and exposes the theme of corruption and disillusion of the American Dream.

Key words: American Dream; evolution and development; connotation; corruption ; disillusion

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-１

2.The Origin and Evolution of the American Dream-３

2.1 The Origin of the American Dream-３

2.2 The Development of the American Dream-５

3. An Analysis of the American Dream in the Novel-６

3.1 Gatsby’s American Dream-６

3.2 Tom and Daisy’s American Dream-９

3.3 Myrtle’s American Dream-11

4. The Practical Significance of The Great Gatsby-13

5. Conclusion-14

References-v