On the Shattering of American Dream in the 1920s

論文編號(hào):YY754  論文字?jǐn)?shù):4597

《了不起的蓋茨比》中的美國(guó)夢(mèng)

摘要
 菲茨杰拉德是第一次世界大戰(zhàn)后美國(guó)在20世紀(jì)20到30年代所興起的“迷惘的一代”的杰出代表，同時(shí)，20年代還是美國(guó)文藝復(fù)興運(yùn)動(dòng)的開始。第一次世界大戰(zhàn)后，美國(guó)社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展迅速，人們生活水平快速提高，美國(guó)進(jìn)入了所謂的“喧囂時(shí)代”，菲茨杰拉德正是這一時(shí)代美國(guó)作家中的佼佼者。
 
 “美國(guó)夢(mèng)”是影響美國(guó)人們一代又一代的一個(gè)特定詞匯。從最開始，美洲就是作為歐洲人的一個(gè)夢(mèng)而存在的。自哥倫布發(fā)現(xiàn)新大陸開始，歐洲人就覬覦美洲這片沃土。他們希望能夠在這片沒有被現(xiàn)代文明開發(fā)過的處女地上建立自己的家園，清教徒更希望能在這里弘揚(yáng)自己的宗教。他們打敗了土著居民，不費(fèi)吹灰之力就從土著人手中得到了這片土地。從那時(shí)起，美國(guó)夢(mèng)就已經(jīng)成為了人們生活中的一部分。美國(guó)夢(mèng)簡(jiǎn)單來(lái)說就意味著人們可以在這片自由的土地上，通過自己的努力獲取更多的財(cái)富和上進(jìn)的機(jī)會(huì)。
 
 正如上文所說，20年代的美國(guó)是整個(gè)美國(guó)歷史上最好的時(shí)代之一。在那時(shí)，人們過著更為富足、奢華的生活。整個(gè)美國(guó)都被“美國(guó)夢(mèng)”所籠罩，人們相信只要努力工作就能夠改變自己現(xiàn)在的生活。小說《了不起的蓋茨比》正是通過作者菲茨杰拉德生動(dòng)的筆觸向讀者展現(xiàn)了這樣一幅畫面，在這其中尤為突出的是當(dāng)時(shí)美國(guó)富人的生活。20世紀(jì)20年代還被稱為美國(guó)的“爵士時(shí)代”。
 
    本文主要關(guān)注的是《了不起的蓋茨比》中的美國(guó)夢(mèng)。筆者重點(diǎn)關(guān)注美國(guó)夢(mèng)的幻滅過程，在對(duì)小說進(jìn)行深刻分析的基礎(chǔ)上，本文向人們展示了一幅生動(dòng)的美國(guó)夢(mèng)的畫面。其中第一部分簡(jiǎn)要介紹了這部小說以及小說作者，第二部分分析了小說中的美國(guó)夢(mèng)，第三部分同時(shí)也是最重要的一部分，筆者對(duì)于美國(guó)夢(mèng)在今天的社會(huì)為何走向沒落作出了分析論述。

關(guān)鍵詞：美國(guó)夢(mèng)，破滅，自由, 財(cái)富

Contents
Acknowledgements i
Abstract in English ii
Abstract in Chinese iii

Ⅰ.  Introduction 1
 Ⅱ.  Brief Introduction of The Great Gatsby and the Author 4
 2.1  Brief Introduction to the novel and Gatsby’s dream 4
 2.2  The Author Fitzgerald’s Experience and his Dream 5
Ⅲ.  The American Dream in the novel 11
 3.1  The Start of American Dream 11
 3.2  The “Realize” of American Dream 12
 3.3  The Shattering of American Dream 12
Ⅳ.  The Reason Why American Dream Shatters 14
 4.1 The Material “American Dream” 14
 4.2  Personal Feeling of Nowadays American Dream 15
 4.3  The social Condition of the 20th century 15
Ⅴ.  Conclusion 16

Bibliography 17

Abstract
 Fitzgerald is one of the representatives of the American “Lost Generation” and his writing career started in 1920s when The First World War just ended. What’s more, the 1920s is also the time of Renaissance in the USA. The name of the writer is one of the most outstanding writers in the 1920s America. The author described the 1920s America in his own viewpoint and called this time as “the most colorful and enjoyable time in American history”.
 American Dream is a specific word which has influenced the American people from generation to generation. The United States has once been the dream of the European people after Columbus discovered the new land.
 Just as mentioned above, the 1920s America is one of the best times in American history. People lived a better and richer life at that time. The whole people were encouraged by the American Dream. They believed that as long as they worked hard, they would change their life. The novel The Great Gatsby written by Fitzgerald has been vividly described that scenes especially the living condition of the rich.
 This thesis mainly focuses on the American dream of the Great Gatsby and mainly analyses the shattering of the American dream. Through the description of the novel, this thesis shows a vivid scene of the American dream. The first part of the thesis gives brief introduction of the novel as well as the author; the second part analyses the American Dream in this novel; the last and the most important part the thesis analyses why the American Dreams shatters these days.

Key Words: American Dream; shattering; freedom; fortune