英語專業(yè)畢業(yè)論文

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：二十世紀二十年代是當代美國社會初具雛形的年代。第一次世界大戰(zhàn)造就了新的一代人——迷惘的一代，爵士樂時代也由此拉開序幕。在這一時期，美國經(jīng)歷了深刻的文化與社會變革，美國人也必須在傳統(tǒng)價值觀和廣為年輕人接受的新價值觀之間做出選擇。在《了不起的蓋茨比》中，菲茨杰拉德刻畫了這個以玩世不恭、貪圖享樂為標志，社會和道德價值腐化墮落，美國夢的本質(zhì)發(fā)生蛻變并最終破滅的年代。本文將小說中的人物和事件與社會現(xiàn)實進行比較，對美國夢做了歷時性的分析，從而揭示小說所反映的社會意義——美國夢的破滅。

關(guān)鍵詞：社會意義；美國夢的破滅；爵士樂時代

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