1、1毕 业 设 计（论文）题 目从了不起的盖茨比中的男性形象看美国梦的破灭专 业 英 语 学生姓名 学 号 110341039 指导教师 22015 年 4 月 21 日ContentsAbstract 3摘要 31. Introduction42. Male Characters American Dreams62.1. The Tragic Hero Gatsby62.2. The Dramatic Narrator Nick72.3. The Ugly Upper-class Tom83. Fitzgeralds American Dream 9 3.1. Fitzgeralds Purs
2、uit for Love and Wealth103.2 Fitzgeralds Ration in the “Jazz Age” 113.3 Fitzgeralds Sense of Failure 134. The Relationship between the Male Characters and Fitzgerald 154.1. Gatsby and Fitzgerald164.2. Nick and Fitzgerald174.3. Tom and Fitzgerald185. Conclusion 20Bibliography213AbstractThe Great Gats
3、by is one of the greatest novels in Modern American literature. It is a highly symbolic meditation on the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. On the one hand, Fitzgerald shows a running theme of how the American Dream affects all of the cha
4、racters in The Great Gatsby, especially the major male characters, Gatsby, Nick and Tom. He also uses the distinctive writing style to introduce the three major male characters. On the other hand, according to Fitzgeralds personality and experience, the three male characters are generally considered
5、 being written autobiographically reflecting the different sides of the authors characters, which attracts readers to some extent.Key words: American Dream, Daisy Buchanan, Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby摘 要了不起的盖茨比是美国现代文学史上最优秀的作品之一。它反思了一个空前繁荣、物质过剩时代的美国梦的破灭，展现了美国梦对人们日常生活的消极影响，尤其是对男性人物（盖茨比、尼克、汤姆）的影响上。尽管他
6、们对自己的生活都充满了雄伟的抱负，但变质了的美国梦却粉碎了他们的梦想。此外，菲茨杰拉德还运用独特的手法描述了这三个特殊的男性人物；通过对这三个人物与菲茨杰拉德的对照可以看出：作者从某种程度上说是在讲述自己的经历，盖茨比、尼克、汤姆实际上是作家个性特点三个不同侧面的反映，这也是小说之所以成功的魅力所在。4关键词: 美国梦；黛西布坎南；菲茨杰拉德；了不起的盖茨比ON THE MALE CHARACTERSIN THE GREAT GATSBY1. Introduction Reading Fitzgeralds works, we can remind of many literary value
7、s from them. People usually show more interests on Fitzgeralds masterpiece, The Great Gatsby. Some articles about The Great Gatsby have been published, such as American Dream and Character Symbolization in the Novel The Great Gatsby1,On Nick Carraways Dual Roles in The Great Gatsby2,Gatsby: Another
8、Fitzgerald3,etc. These arguements are both odds and ends, not integrated. So, the aim of this article is to perfectly introduce the three male characters (Gatsby, Nick and Tom). And as we have known, only having enough understanding of the author and his personal life, the article can be drawed clea
9、rly.Although at that time, Mark Twain and William Dean Howells thought that America would become the hope of the whole world, F. Scott Fitzgerald gradually found that that so-called new world was totally a disaster. F. Scott Fitzgerald, who lived in the midst of the “roaring twenties” and was part o
10、f it all-driving fast cars, drinking hard whisky, and showing an immense delight in those, was perceptive enough to recognize that America was “a moon that never roses.” And as much as he enjoyed the “roaring” of the post-war boom years, he also foresaw its doom and failure. Fitzgerald was born on S
11、eptember 24, 1896, in St. Paul. In his younger age,he attended a private school in New Jersey, then he went to Princeton University. Academic difficulties forced him out of Princeton midway through his junior year; he 1 Chen Mei, Jin Yue. Journal of Qiqihar University (Phi for instance, hed brought
12、down a string of polo ponies from Lake Forest” (Fitzgerald 2004: 8) His self-confidence and utter belief in his superiority are an example of how he thinks about himself in relation to all other people, especially to the low-class man, Wilson. He uses his social status and 9physical strength to domi
13、nate those around him. For example, he subtly taunts Wilson while having an affair with his wife, experiences on guilt for his immoral behavior, and does not hesitate to lash out violently in order to preserve his authority over Myrtle in Chapter 2. He is so desperately an empty man that he consider
14、 himself as exterior belongings. He is trying to find his identity by looking for happiness in nice cars (it is a ridiculous yellow luxury vehicle), money and a good woman.Toms dream of power and superiority leads to his moral decline by ruining his marriage with Daisy and ultimately her wishes of h
15、aving a truly happy marriage. Not only does his lack of morals affect Daisy and her happiness, it also fosters the situation of Gatsbys and Georges death. “I told him the truth, he said. He came to the door while we were getting ready to leave, He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadnt told him who
16、owned the car. He broke off defiantly. What if I did tell him? That fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisys, but he was a tough one. .” (Fitzgerald 2004: 239)Tom is the ultimate example of how the effect of the American dream caused the society to change
17、their morals and exhibit action that is detrimental to society in general.3. Fitzgeralds American Dream“American Dream” is the most common but important concept in America, related to the early history of this country. But time has endowed the conception with dramatically different meaning. Original
18、ly, people in America upheld a thought of American Dream to strive for a peaceful and abundant country which can offer its people the basic needs of life, nevertheless, thats not the case in 1920s. First thirty years of 19th century witnessed a significant and dramatic change in Western world, 10imp
19、acting on the whole society, bringing people with pain, alienation and puzzles. Meanwhile, a newly emerged musical form derived from the slave songs and their spirituals. Due to the widely spreading and appeal, the 1920s was also called the Jazz Age. No longer representing a traditional merit of the
20、ir ancestors hardness and diligence, the American Dream then was deformed into greedy for money because of the World War and Great Depression, depriving common people of their sense of security and beliefs. Influenced by such a fast changing world, Americans were more practical and material than eve
21、r. The old American Dream had long gone and Fitzgerald was one of the victims. It was during this period Fitzgerald experienced his pattern of life: from a beautiful dream to the cruel disenchantment and finally to a state of thorough failure as well as despair.3.1. Fitzgeralds Pursuit for Love and
22、WealthSimilar to Gatsby in the book, Fitzgerald had been enlisted to the army during the World War One, during which one of the most major events was his meeting with a beautiful society girl Zelda Sayre. Born in a judges home in Montgomery Alabama, Zelda was always in want of large sum of money and
23、 wealth, both of reach is out of Fitzgeralds reach at the time when both of them were deep in love with each other. Because of his humble birth and incapability of offering Zelda the life she had used to, Zelda soon left him alone. But a person like Fitzgerald was so obsessed in his love of Zelda that he did his greatest efforts to rewrite to gain her back. Fortunately, he made it. With his first novel This Side of Paradise published and overwhelmed the whole
