The Disillusionment of American Dream

【Abstract】Fitzgerald is one of the most famous American writers in the 20th century. His masterpiece The Great Gatsby reflects the spirit of the era and the disillusionment of the American Dream. The paper makes an analysis of the theme in The Great Gatsby.

【Keywords】The American Dream. The Jazz Age

1 Introduction

F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most well known American modern novelists. His masterpiece is The Great Gatsby. Because of The Great Gatsby， Fitzgerald received high praise from T. S. Eliot， the famous literary critics. Eliot regards it as ‘‘the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James.

2 The Theme on the Surface Level

At the first glance， the twisted love seems to be the themes the novel.

Starting with Daisy， she marries Tom just because he has a lot of money. In fact， during that time， Daisy loves Gatsby， while Gatsby is very poor. What she cares about is the comfortable life， and money is the foundation of a comfortable life. Therefore， she chooses Tom as her husband， but not Gatsby. Afterwards， Gatsby obtains large amount of money， and Daisy is impressed by his wealth， which makes Daisy want to leave Tom and stay with Gatsby. From this episode， readers can see that what dominates her life is money， not love.

Tom doesnt love Daisy and Mertle at all. He marries Daisy just because her beautiful face and decent social status can match him； he has an affair with Mertle just for sexual desires， but not love at all.

Mertles husband is a poor man， and her life is not as good as she wants. When wealthy Tom appears， his money impresses her. Therefore， they have the affairs. For her husband， she even looks upon him because he is poor， so she doesnt care about him at all. What she loves most is money.

In the novel， Gatsby is the only person who understands love. He loves Daisy and takes Daisy and his love for her as the loftiest thing in his life. He keeps pursuing her all the way. Tragically， Daisy is not as perfect as he thinks. There are too many fatal character flaws in Daisy. Though Gatsby is still twisted with love， his attitudes towards love are much loftier than others. He is the only character in the novel who regards love as a belief.

3 The Theme on the Deep Level

The main theme of the novel encompasses a much larger scope， less romantic scope. “Although the whole story happened in the summer of 1922 and it is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island， New York， The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on the 1920s American as a whole， in particular the disintegration of the American Dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. （Bruccoli， 1998）

The Great Gatsby is about what happened to American Dream in the 1920s； a period when the dream has corrupted by the avaricious money， and then the dream becomes devoid and hollow.

Gatsby is deeply in love with Daisy， while what Daisy cares about is money. In order to get Daisys love， Gatsby put his energy to get money and become the rich. Daisy is the symbol of wealth. “Her voice is full of money”. （Fitzgerald， 2000）

After Gatsby falling love in with Daisy， his pure American Dream is corrupted. Before falling in love with Daisy， Gatsbys American Dream is pure. He writes these words on his notebook： “No wasting shatters， No more smoking or chewing， Read one improving book or magazine per week， Save $ 3.00 per week， Be better to parents.” （Fitzgerald， 2000） After falling in love with Daisy， he begins to focus on money and material success.

In this American-Dream-comes-true story， Gatsby does many illegal things to make fortune， leg booting and gambling. His real goal in life disappears， and he begins to pursuit an empty goal. He is corrupted by the empty rich society.

Everyone has his dream and aim in life. Dream is the motivation for the realizing of the dream； however， when people focus on money or material success， he will lose his real goal and himself in life. Gatsby is the representative. So when Gatsby becomes extremely rich， we can say he realizes his American Dream， but the good days do not last for a long time.

In fact， Gatsby is the product of that society. People around him give great influences on him. For the most people in the novel， money is everything. To a degree， Gatsby is great comparing with those materialistic， because not only does Gatsby pursuit the material success， but also he pursuits the spiritual success. ‘‘There are two discernible dreams in the novel?--the dream of material success and the dream of spiritual success.”（Whitley， 1985）

Though Gatsbys dream of spiritual success is not realized， it cant deny Gatsbys greatness in a certain degree， because at least he has tried his best to realize it. The more important point of the novel still relies on his pursuit of the material success， the disillusionment of his American Dream.

4 Conclusion

In this novel， Fitzgerald pinpoints the “American Dream”，and Gatsby is the representative person whose American Dream is disillusioned in that era.

References：

[1]Bruccoli， Mattew.， Fitzgerald. A to Z： The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. Facts on File， Inc.1998.

[2]Fahey， William. F. S. Fitzgerald and American Dream. New York University Press. 1973.

[3]Fitzgerald， F. S.， The Great Gatsby. Hunt Barnard Printing Ltd. 2000.

[4]Gidley， Machale. F.S. Fitzgeralds Works. The Random House Group Limited. 1976.

[5]Hoffman， Frederic. The Great Gatsby： a study. Addison Wesley Longman. 1962.

[6]Miller， James. F.S. Fitzgerald： His Art and His Techniques. New York University Press. 1967.

[7]Whitley， John. F.S. Fitzgerald： The Great Gatsby. The Amelot Press Ltd. 1985.

作者简介：

郑艺（1980～），女，讲师，吉林市人，东北电力大学外国语学院。