试析《了不起的盖茨比》所反映的社会意义.doc

英语专业毕业论文

The Disillusionment of the American Dream

—The Social Significance of The Great Gatsby

Abstract: The 1920s was a decade when the outline of contemporary America clearly formed. World War I created a new generation, the Lost Generation and a new time, the Jazz Age—a time of profound cultural and social changes. American people had to make a choice between traditional values and new standards adopted by young people. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as a time of decayed social and moral values. Cynicism, greed, and pursuit of pleasure became the symbols of this period. They changed the nature of the original American Dream and finally ruined it. The intention of this study is to explore the social significance reflected in the disillusionment of the American Dream through the comparison between the characters and events in the novel and the social reality and the diachronic analysis of the American dream.

Key words: social significance; the disillusionment of American Dream; the Jazz Age

摘要：二十世纪二十年代是当代美国社会初具雏形的年代。第一次世界大战造就了新的一代人——迷惘的一代，爵士乐时代也由此拉开序幕。在这一时期，美国经历了深刻的文化与社会变革，美国人也必须在传统价值观和广为年轻人接受的新价值观之间做出选择。在《了不起的盖茨比》中，菲茨杰拉德刻画了这个以玩世不恭、贪图享乐为标志，社会和道德价值腐化堕落，美国梦的本质发生蜕变并最终破灭的年代。本文将小说中的人物和事件与社会现实进行比较，对美国梦做了历时性的分析，从而揭示小说所反映的社会意义——美国梦的破灭。

关键词：社会意义；美国梦的破灭；爵士乐时代

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 A Panorama of American Society in The Great Gatsby 2

2.1 Materialism 2

2.2 Immorality 3

2.3 Inequality 4

3 The Fall of the American Dream Reflected in The Great Gatsby 6

3.1 The definition of the American Dream 6

3.2 The evolution of the American Dream 7

3.3 The disillusionment of the American Dream 7

4 Conclusion 9

References 10

Acknowledgements 11