ON THE HERO’S TRAGEDY IN THE GREAT GATSBY

WU Qiang-rong

(Foreign Languages School，Shanxi Normal Uninersity，Linfen，Shanxi 041004，China)

ON THE HERO’S TRAGEDY IN THE GREAT GATSBY

WU Qiang-rong

(Foreign Languages School，Shanxi Normal Uninersity，Linfen，Shanxi 041004，China)

The Great Gatsby is the representative work of F.Scott Fitzgerald，the famous American novelist in the 20th century.In a deep and concise tone，it tells readers a tragedy about the break of the American Dream.Gatsby lived in the Jazz Age and pursued his dream persistently but finally failed.Through his tragedy，we can discover the social root of his failure，the impetuousness of the Lost Generation and the disenchantment of the American Dream.

Gatsby;tragedy;the American Dream

The Great Gatsby is considered to be Fitzgerald’s summary of his times.The work depicts Gatsby’s painstaking struggle process from a penniless vagrant to a“great”rich man and his persistent pursuit of his first lover.The work is a vivid reflection of the Jazz Age in the 20th century and uncovers the temptability，deceptiveness and the final break of the American Dream.

1 Gatsby’s Tragedy:the Ruin of the A-merican Dream

Gatsby’s tragedy，on the one hand，lies in his boundless pursuit of material wealth.After the World War I，America whose vitality had not been undermined greatly，entered a prosperous era which also featured in unprecedented pomp and indulgence in seeking joy.This is an age when people，especially the young felt at a loss.People lost their“home of spirit”and became the Lost Generation without any belief or virtue.What left behind was only the pursuit of material wealth and the seek for the satisfaction of desire.Gatsby comes from a poor family and he was adopted by a merchant whose origin is unknown and he drifted along aimlessly on this merchant’s yacht.After his performance of military service，according to the arrangement of demobilization work，he stayed in the Oxford University for five months.Then he mingled with owlers and hooligans and accumulated a great deal of sudden wealth by operating illegal wine and bond business and thus entered the upper class.He was addicted to illusory dreams，pursued extravagance and lived for enjoyment.But he was not happy despite of tremendous wealth.

On the other hand，Gatsby’s tragedy lies in his blind pursuit of love.When he was young he fell in love with Daisy，but the two finally broke up because of Gatsby’s impoverished origin.When he was recruited to take part in the World War I，Daisy married Tom from a rich family.But her marital life was unhappy because Tom had a mistress.When Gatsby appeared in front of Daisy again and asked her to make a choice between Tom and him，Daisy was unable to make up her mind and unwilling to leave Tom away.In a drunken driving，Daisy killed Tom’s mistress unintentionally.In order to protect Daisy，Gatsby bore the legal liabilities.However，Daisy was determined to discard Gatsby and she conspired with Tom to shift the blame on Gatsby.Finally，the mistress’s husband shot Gatsby to death.In Gatsby’s funeral，however，Tom and Daisy even didn’t appear.Gatsby thought thathaving money means having an access to everything，but he misjudged the nature of Daisy and exhausted all his energies and even his life just for the sake of that illusory love.This is Gatsby’s tragedy，but it also reflects the tragedy of the whole generation.

2 The Root of Gatsby’s Tragedy

The root of Gatsby’s tragedy lies in the fact that his spirit pursuit is much crazier than his material pursuit.That legendary American Dream finally broke up in the impetuousness of the Jazz Age and such a tragedy is destined.On the wealth aspect，Gatsby is roughly the same with Tom.However，material wealth does not play a decisive role for exchange of thoughts.This actually uncovers the reason for Gatsby’s failure.Gatsby is an emotional person who is full of imagination.He has romantic dreams and put great emphasis on the spiritual world.However，these are just what Daisy lacks.Gatsby regards that the realization of his American Dream and lofty ideals is more important than the pursuit of wealth.What he truly loves is a kind of adventurous and creative lifestyle which has ideals and aspiration.Unfortunately，such a lifestyle is unimaginable for Daisy.She couldn’t realize Gatsby’s

dream with him together because they didn’t belong to the same social circle and Daisy wouldn’t betray his circle.For her，Gatsby is just a disgraceful upstart.On account of such deep reasons and tragedy bases，Gatsby’s dream is doomed to destruction in the face of the cruel reality.

3 Conclusion

Gatsby’s dream is a typical American Dream.His struggle reflects the persistent，independent and upward spirit that American people appreciated while his failure declared the decay and decadence of the American post－war spirit.Material civilization’s high prosperity only brings people mental aridity and distortion and the whole society bogged down into the hesitation and pain.Although the irreconcilable contradictions between Gatsby’s dream and the reality finally lead to Gatsby’s failure，his death sounded the alarm for the other disillusioned people from illusory dreams and inspired them to rethink social reality and throw themselves into the reality with a more confirmed belief.

［1］常耀信.A Survey of American Literature［M］.天津:南开大学出版社，2008.

［2］冯梅，等.英美文学教程(美国卷)［M］.北京:科学出版社，2009.

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2011-06-20