An Analysis of the Disillusion of American Dream in The Great Gatsby

An Analysis of the Disillusion of American Dream in

The Great Gatsby

论《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦的幻灭

摘 要

弗朗西斯•司各特•菲茨杰拉尔德是美国“爵士时代”的代言人, 他在其代表作《了不起的盖茨比》中以细腻的笔触表现了二十世纪二十年代美国的风貌, 用主人公盖茨比的悲剧人生隐喻了“美国梦”的虚幻及其不可企及性，揭示了“美国梦”破灭的必然规律。

文中主人公盖茨比是为追求美国梦而最终牺牲自己的典例，他渴望以自己的信念和勇气来获取物质以及爱情上的收获。然而他的梦想只是一种虚幻的渴望，而不是建立在现实基础之上的追求，结果导致了他梦想的破灭。论文从作者和小说人物分析着手，通过对《了不起的盖茨比》的写作背景、作者自身的经历、故事的主要内容、 小说主人公盖茨比之梦的破灭等多方面的分析和解剖, 深刻地揭示了“美国梦”的发展与破灭。

关键词: 《了不起的盖茨比》；美国梦；破灭；爵士时代

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Abstract

Francis • Scott Fitzgerald is the spokesman of “the Jazz Age” in the United States. In his masterwork, The Great Gatsby, he uses delicate brushwork to show the style of American society in the 1920s. Hero Gatsby’s tragic life, as a metaphor for the illusion and entertainment of the “American Dream”, reveals the inexorable law of the disillusion of “American dream”.

The hero in The Great Gatsby reveals a typical example of those who is eager to pursue the American Dream but finally ended by sacrificing themselves. Though he dreams of achieving material wealth and love through his courage and hard working, all the factors from outside world and his character led to the disillusion of his dream. This profoundly reveals the development and disillusion of “The American Dream” by dissecting writing background of The Great Gatsby, the author’s own experiences, the main content of the story, novel leading character Gatsby’s shattered dream and other side.

Key Words：The Great Gatsby; the American dream; disillusion; Jazz Age

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Contents

摘要 ........................................................................................................................................................ I Abstract........................................................................................................................错误！未定义书签。

1. Introduction..............................................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction of the Author................................................................................1 1.2 Introduction of the Social Background............................................................1 2. The Formation of the American Dream.................................................................2 2.1 The Origin of the American Dream.................................................................2 2.2 The Essence of the American Dream...............................................................3 2.3 Gatsby’s American Dream...............................................................................3 3. The Disillusion of Gatsby’s American Dream.....................................................5

3.1 The Disillusion of His Love Dream.................................................................6

3.2 The Disillusion of His Wealth Dream..............................................................7 3.3 The Disillusion of High Social Status..............................................................7 3.4 The Lack of Critical Idea..................................................................................8 4. The Social Roots of Gatsby’s American Dream....................................................8 4.1 The Contradiction between the New Rich and Noble......................................9

4.1.1 Different Economic Status.....................................................................9 4.1.2 Society Struggle.....................................................................................9

4.2 Cruel Persecution of the Upper Class......................................,......................10 5. Conclusion.............................................................................................................10 Bibliography.............................................................................................................12 Acknowledgements...................................................................................................13

1. Introduction

The novel The Great Gatsby was regarded as Scott Fitzgerald’ s best works and critics generally view it as novel of reflect American social reality in the 20s. For the “American dream” the disillusionment of the topic to discuss, many critics thought that this was a classic about the American dream. Gates came from a poor family, didn’t understand the real role of wealth in realistic society. He pursued and madly clings to his lover, but not succeed, because of “the gap between rich and poor” . The author used Gatsby’s tragic life to reveal that the regularity of the “American dream” was bound to burst, and the “jazz age” was brutal, cold and selfish.

This present paper is an attempt to interpret from the following aspect: Chapter one, briefly introduces the Fitzgerald and his novel “ The Great Gatsby” , and the social and cultural background of the novel; chapter two, introduces the “ American dream”, including its definition, origin and so on; chapter three, analysis the reason of the disillusion of Gatsby’s American Dream and love dream; chapter four, introduce the social root of Gatsby’s American Dream; chapter five is the conclusion of this paper.

1.1 Introduction of the Author

Scott Fitzgerald was an outstanding writer in American literary world in the 1920s. He was one of the talented writers in American literature history. His works described the impact of wars on American culture, especially traditional capitalist class moral influence. Fitzgerald named the specific age “the jazz age” and his work reflected the spirit of American society in that time. He was the spokesman of this period, and was known as a poet laureate of “the jazz age”. His masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, was often taken as an popular story in America. 1.2 Introduction of the Social Background

Fitzgerald was active in the special period of American history. At this period, the great depression (1929) had not come, the traditional Puritan ethic had crumbled, and hedonism has begun to be popular. In Fitzgerald own words, “it was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age also full of

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satire”. (Scott Fitzgerald, 2010) Fitzgerald called this era as the “jazz age”, and he was called “laureate poet” by people in that time, because he was one of the most outstanding writers of this period. He keenly felt that people was eager for romance in this age, and he also saw their helplessness behind the luxurious life. His works reflected these phenomena vividly and expressed young people’ aspirations and ideals, because he thought this was the American characteristic. His works usually involved the feelings of fickleness and despair, because this was the fortune which people that age couldn’t escape.

2. The Formation of the American Dream

The American Dream was a dream that meant people have enough land where could live a better, richer and fuller life. What’s more, through personal efforts everyone had opportunity to have a better life. So they thought that one must work hard and through a hard struggle and then insisted on what they do. They considered that only in this way they could achieve a better ideal life. In other words, it was that strong belief makes them to work strenuously, and also urge them to get enough courage to make their dream come true. Besides, the low-born people could live beautiful lives to make up their lowly status through their own efforts. While with the development of the world economic, American Dream had been inserted into new meanings to adapt to different times. 2.1 The Origin of the American Dream

The American dream was a universal belief by a great number of people in the United States and also was a microcosm of the American culture spirit. In May 1931, when The great depression, James Truslow Adams was the first time to put forward The “American dream”. Adams in his book wrote that the American dream was our dream in the same land, each person’s life better and more abundance, more complete. His theme of the book was ‘let’s all classes citizens live a better and richer and happier life of the American dream’ ”. (James Truslow Adams, 2012) In another word, American Dream meant everyone, no matter what class he was, could be successful

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through his efforts. Since then, the American dream, became the common belief of Americans.

2.2 The Essence of the American Dream

From the perspective of narrow understanding, it was believed that as long as through unremitting efforts and struggle, and they could get a better life, people must through their own hard working, courage, creativity and determination to achieve their own value in the United States, rather than relied on specific social class or the assistance of others, this was the American dream. Simply speaking, as long as you worked hard, you could have anything. As long as the individual struggle, they could get success and then they could realize their own value. In general, the American dream was a kind of ideal life in the United States, representing the maximization of individual freedom, most of the material wealth and the equality of opportunity, which was mainly embodied in people’s economic success. Intuitively, the “American Dream” was such a picture: through talent and personal struggle, a man could enjoy the opportunities provided by the free market.

Free and democratic values became dominant and the basic tenets of American life, which is reflected in their ideological level, including individualism, liberalism and pragmatism. These are the ideology of the American dream. 2.3 Gatsby’s American Dream

Gatsby was the successor of the “American Dream”. He was the symbol of the American Dream, and he believed that the dream offered equal opportunity to every person, everyone who realized the ideal. His “American Dream” was originate from his childhood, when he was a boy, he had already set up his mind to be a successful person in the future. On the back page of his father’s treasured book, Gatsby wrote his lofty ideals. Just from that time, he determined to get rid of poverty to earn a satisfactory life. American Dream was the key point in The Great Gatsby, and it appears in the novel from the beginning to the end. There existed several different “dreams” in the novel which had already been given the name of love, wealth as well as some certain status. Gatsby’s “American dream” had been based on his “love dream”, and his “love dream” must be based on the “wealth dream”. He was tenacious

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in the pursuit of his “American dream”. Yet his “American dream” eventually still become disillusioned because of selfishness, greed, corruption is everywhere at that time.

We know that the United States is a country which was proud of its dreams, and the “American Dream” had deadly allured for all people: people hope to got the sublimation of the spirit in this land. It encouraged people to fulfill their wishes: a young man could get what he pursued as long as he tried his best. Benjamin Franklin, was excellent representative of the American dream, they proclaimed to the world: anyone could succeed in the United States, as long as he was diligent, honest, temperate, ambitious and confident.(Benjamin Franklin, 2012) He wanted to satisfy his vanity and show his potential by pursuing Daisy, and wanted to get rid of this kind of embarrassment and to be a personal of upper-class society. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moth--just wanted to have a meet with Daisy. (Fitzgerald, 2010) He intended to satisfy his vanity and show his potential by pursuing Daisy. Through his personal efforts, he became a rich man, became a member of the high society. It could give him courage and power. Gatsby’s “American dream” in his first performance was on the “wealth dream”. Gatsby’s original name was James Gates, his parents were unremarkable cultivators, he had always been eager to get rid of poverty, and became a member of upper class. When Gatsby was 17 years old, he met a man named Dan Cody, and he made a mark by wrong doing and Gates worshiped him very much. In order to follow Cody, he named himself Gatsby, and focused on the ideal of acquiring wealth. Because Dan Cody sober knew what stupid things people would did after they drunk. After Dan Cody died, he used the illicit way to sale wine. No matter how rich Gatsby was, he couldn’t get rid of his past: he was born in a poverty-stricken family. With people’ continuous doubt, his illegal business deals was eventually debunked. He worked so hard to create material wealth, but it did not help him to realize his pursuit, and his wealth dream burst. After he died, only Nick attended his funeral, the former house guests did not appear in his funeral, it showed that he didn’t get the upper class society approval.

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Gatsby’s “American Dream” was in his love dream, he believed that money could buy Daisy’s love. Daisy had such a strong attraction to him. Because money made Daisy become a noble princess and let her be away from the poor and humble life, which Gatsby was very familiar with and tried to escape. But Daisy was no longer a pure girl, and she only liked Gatsby’s money now. However, Gatsby’s love was so deep, so he didn’t think Daisy was a material girl, and he believed that Daisy was impressed by his love.

But unfortunately, Gatsby’s love dream was break with the disillusion of his American dream.

3. The Disillusion of Gatsby’s American Dream

Gatsby, came from a poor family, was not content with his real life even when he was a boy. He dreamed a fantasy world in which he was rich and full of power. In his youth, he considered to find ways to earn money, so he left home to look at the world outside. It was unusual for some others to do this, but it was a start for him. So from this, we could see that he had a heart that was unwilling to be a coward, and he didn’t want to get through all his lifetime unknown to public. So he thought he must be stronger and got what he wanted, just as he tried all his best to get Daisy’s love. So his ending was also largely affected by its character. In addition, Gatsby regarded Daisy as his lifelong goal, which was far away from reality and it also made his dream broken. As for Gatsby, he didn’t realize that Daisy was not that kind of pure little girl whom he had known before, and now she regarded money more important than pure love. So we could see that she had become a typical of the bourgeois aristocratic lady who was a realistic woman. Unfortunately, Gatsby could not see that. What’s more, Gatsby’s dream, no matter how lofty and great, would not be accepted by the bourgeois aristocracy, in other words, no matter what efforts he had made to pursue Daisy, she would not accept, let alone to restart their past life. That meant the lower class people just as Gatsby, could not be equal with the upper class people even though they tried their best. That was a truth. But Gatsby did not know it. So his

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dream shattered into pieces, what’s worse, at the end he broke his “American Dream” and lost his precious life.

All in all, Gatsby’s tragedy ending was thought-provoking. All the results proved that he didn’t have a right understanding about the reality. And he did not recognize that selfishness, which was the nature of the high society. In the end his dreams seemed to be smashed by the harsh reality.

Tom as a pragmatist was recognized by the mainstream American society. His character was cold, but his traditional concept of self protection was protected by American society. However, Gatsby was the representative of pursuit of pure love, he was clinging to his ideal. Both the two opposite characters had reflected the reality of high society.

Gatsby’s ideal was at odds with reality. He pursued the sort of fair competition to change their social status through individual efforts so that he could achieve the goal of getting rich. Under the background of bankruptcy, the traditional belief of the United States had inevitably burst. So the fundamental difference between values caused Gatsby’s tragedy. Gatsby realized Daisy’s dream is “full of money”, but he ultimately did not understand that they belong to different world, with different value. He had paid a high price. Until the moment that death came before him, he still stayed with Daisy. He wanted to take her away, and dreamed to live a happy life.

Throughout the novel, Gatsby’ s tragic ending was associated with the special social environment at that time. Selfishness and indifference was the essence and characteristics of the social relations. Love and friendship was based on money and material desires. Gates’ idealism revealed his inevitability of tragedy. 3.1 The Disillusion of His Love Dream

Gatsby was born in an ordinary family in the western United States; however, he determined to became a member of upper class. So he had a strict time schedule for his life. He was deeply attracted by Daisy’s luxurious life; also fell in love with this vain, false and proud girl. Daisy was the embodiment of Gatsby’dream. If Gatsby conquered Daisy, it represented he was accepted by the high society. But until the moment when death came before, Gatsby did not get Daisy’s false smile. Gatsby’s

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tragedy was reflected in that he put everything to his beautiful dream. Gatsby did not know that: Daisy-- the embodiment of his ideal, was only a beautiful body. Even though he knew that Daisy did not love him, and he clearly recognized her voice was “full of money”, however, he didn’t change his original intention, and still pursued Daisy doggedly. When Gatsby’s funeral was being held, Daisy and her husband were already on the road to travel in Europe. Nick got a virtual feeling-- betrayal of human reality, and then he expressed his disgust. With the feelings of a kind of tragedy, he was far away from the indifferent, hollow, false and dim metropolis, and returned to his hometown.

From all these, it could be seen that, in money-oriented society no matter what efforts Gatsby had made, his dream of love was doomed to be a tragedy. 3.2 The Disillusion of His Wealth Dream

In 1920s of America, people regarded money as a symbol, because from that he would have more opportunities to pursue his spiritual fulfillment than others. So, all people held the opinion that people can live a happy life by making a lot of money. And Gatsby was no exception. In Gatsby’s youth, he was living in an ordinary family. When he knew his sweetheart had married a rich heir, he was very sad and realized the importance of wealth and power. From then on, he tried to accumulate wealth by trafficking drug and smuggling wine by hook or by crook. Quickly, he thought he got Daisy’s love. And Gatsby believed that as long as he had great wealth, he could successfully enter the upper-class, and changed his own destiny.

No matter how he was similar to his upper class “friends”, however, no one recognized him. Since his blood relationship was inherent, he could not change it, just as Daisy was unwilling to stay with him again. At last, all his efforts tried in vain. 3.3 The Disillusion of High Social Status

Gatsby’s lifelong dream was to squeeze into the upper class and enjoyed equal treatment from the upper class ones, so he had made all his efforts to realize the dream. He dreamed of beautiful things which nobles were born to have: a large amount of money, a splendid mansion and a satisfactory marriage. In order to obtain all these things, he tried his best to earn money. He held parties day and night to show his

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wealth and got attention of these upper class people. The description in the novel shows us a vivid picture about the extravagance of Gatsby’s life: “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whispering and champagne and the stars...” (Scott Fitzgerald, 2010) Besides, in order to get a response from the upper class people, he lied to people about his birth and university life. In reality, he was not being allowed to get into the circle of the upper class. And at his parties, most of people doubted about his identity and everything he had possessed. All relations were based on the personal interests. We could see that people treated Gatsby falsely and that was the reason why nobody attended his funeral. Gatsby’s death was also indicate the disillusionment of his American Dream. 3.4 The Lack of Critical Idea

In this article, Gatsby also made personal efforts to get “success”, but his success was shameful, which was through trafficking and smuggling cigarettes and alcohol. Gates used this method to build wealth, which was lack of critical eye, which doomed Gatsby’s tragic ending. And his “explosive” success made Daisy know, so she chose to leave.

4. The Social Root of Gatsby’s American Dream

As we all know, the superstructure condition was up to the economy level, and this was applied to any country. Actually, from that we could also see that Gatsby’s tragedy was largely due to the society. Because the American society in the 1920s was filled with monopoly with vested interests, discriminating and excluding new entrants was becoming more and more prevalent. From Tom’s pride we could see that: he was the one who represented the upper class people. He possessed money, beauty, and luxury life. But Tom did not have the understanding of this special background, and what he thought was that he was the guardian of civilization. If there was marriage between the black and the white, or poor boy became a nouveau riche, he had obligation to prevent it. So in this social context, Gatsby, of course, who was deeply

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influenced by the society and it was hard for him to get rich through proper way, and doing illegal business deals was the only way if he wanted to get money. Under the influence of American social trends, Gatsby considered that the world was so simplistic and he just thought money was everything, with money one could buy everything, and he even dreamed to get Daisy’s love again. However, he didn’t realize the fact that although money was necessary, it was not everything. And not everything could be measured by money. His idea was absurd, and this was one of the reason for the disillusionment of his American Dream.

Gatsby was worth to be sympathized, he lived in the dream, and at last the dream was only a dream. Gatsby’s tragedy reflected the main contradiction of American Dream -- the contradiction between the ideal and the reality. Gatsby and Tom respectively represented the two forces of American society: one was the idealism which was far away from the reality and the other one was extremely selfish ruthless pragmatism.

4.1 The Contradiction between the New Rich and Noble

It was impossible for those people in high society to really accept Gatsby, and in their eyes, he was complete a nouveau riche, no matter how much wealth he had. Apparently, he lived the same life as the upper class people, but in fact, he could not get their moral recognition.

4.1.1 The Different Economic Status

There were essentially differences between him and upper class people, because Gatsby came from a poor family, and this kind of humble origin also decided Gates’s economic status was worse than the latter. Gatsby’s tragedy was not only the hero’s, but also the whole generation’s. Gatsby and Daisy were completely different, and they lacked of true spiritual resonance. There was a big difference between their social statuses. It was mentioned in the novel: be rich or not, they also differ from the poor, and there was a dividing line between the upper class and lower class obviously. This was insurmountable gap which hinted that his dream will burst. 4.1.2 The Society Struggle

Gatsby and Tom respectively represented the two forces of American society:

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one was the idealism which was far away from the reality and the other one was extremely, selfish ruthless pragmatism. But at this period, the great depression (1929) had not come, the traditional Puritan ethic had crumbled, and hedonism had begun to be popular. So as a prototype of idealism, Gatsby was doomed to fail. 4.2 Cruel Persecution of the Upper Class

Tom was the representative of the middle class, and he was the typical splurge of the accumulation of wealth, and he always showed off wealth to flaunt their superior status and superiority. He also had families keeping mistresses, but he didn’t accept his wife’s cheating. He was also good at calculating, and when he knew that Daisy had an affair with Gatsby, he secretly investigated Gatsby until Daisy exposed that Gates made illegal business. In the end, he won Daisy back. Though he won back Daisy and had a absolute victory, however, he didn’t stop here. After his wife killed people, he planned to take Gatsby as a scapegoat. He was the typical representative of American in the 20th century which had dominated the American moral types. He flaunted wealth to enjoy, to possess another woman and did many wild, fierce brutality things. We could see the destruction of the spirit from Tom’s behavior.

5. Conclusion

As a spokesperson for “lost generation”, Fitzgerald’s works are close to the times. By shaping the hero, his works reflect the contradiction between the ideal and the reality, it shows the American materialistic, spiritual decadence, and the social features of the supremacy of hedonism. Gatsby’s tragic life implies that the “American dream” is unreal and unattainable, and it doomed to be shattered. The failure of Gatsby is the symbol of the entire society’s decline. In this society, there are countless “Gatsby” who have been in the pursuit of temporary success, while what waiting for them is endless cruel tragic life. In the novel, we can feel Fitzgerald’s anxieties about the superficial prosperity of the 20th century; at the same time we can also feel this is the end of this age. The collapse of the traditional beliefs finally inevitably leads to the disillusion of the “American Dream”. We can see that

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the American Dream which the author refers to, is a dream filled with money. In this sense, we cannot agree with Gatsby, but from another perspective, although he has many despicable behaves, compared with Tom, Daisy and those people who only cared about themselves, obviously, he is great. Just as Nick said: “ It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.” (Fitzgerald, 2010)

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Bibliography

[1] Benjamin Franklin, The Autobilography of Benjamin Franklin [M]. Shanghai: Yilin Publishing House, 2012.

[2] Fitzgerald. F. S, The Great Gatsby [M]. Shanghai: World Book Publishing Company, 2010.

[3] Fitzgerald. F. S, Tales of Jazz Age [M] Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 2010

[4] James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America [M]. London: Penguin Books, 2014.

[5] Huang Yanfang. The Great Gatsby in the American dream disillusionment and sublimation of new historicism interpretation [D]. Master degree theses of master of central south university, 2010.

[6] Helen the prototype in The Great Gatsby interpretation [D]. Master degree theses of master of central south university, 2010.

[7] Li Gongwen. In The Great Gatsby - a solution of the American dream described as [D] Master degree theses of master of south China normal university, 2002. [8] Pan Shao. The Great Gatsby[M]. Beijing: China Translation and Publishing House, 1993. [9] Sun Zhangping. The collapse of the American dream - read Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby [D]. Nanjing normal university, master’s degree thesis. 2005,5.

[10] Yu Lie. All social cast “epiphyllum” , The Great Gatsby from the view of social criticism of theme [D]. Master thesis, southwest normal university. 2004.9. [11] Mephala. The American dream - the symbolism in The Great Gatsby embodies [D]. Master degree theses of master of Liaoning normal university. 2001.6

[12] Zheng Minyan. Seen in The Great Gatsby “American dream” of disillusionment [J]Journal of three gorges university, humanities and social proceedings,2008.

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Acknowledgments

With the finish of my thesis, my college life is coming to an end. Thanks to my supervisor, XXX, in helping me with the writing of my thesis and revising the entire manuscript.

As a senior, because of lacking of experiences, there are some limitations in my paper. At the same time, during my paper writing process, I get enthusiastic help from my teacher. From the subject to the final completion of thesis, XXX gives me great patient instruction and kindly care. Without her consistent and illuminating instruction, this thesis could not have reached its present form.

At last, I want to give thanks to my dear family for their whole heated consideration and genuine encouragement for me during these years. I also want to give my great gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates for they give me help and care in the process of completing my thesis.

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