论《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦的破灭 英文

The Disillusion of American Dream in The Great Gatsby T he American Dream is the dream of a land in which life should be richer and better for everyone, providing them with opportunities according to their abilities or achievements. It encourages people to work through efforts, courage, creativity and determination to move towards prosperity, rather than rely on any other forces. In one time, it did help some people to fight for success. But as time flew, the American dream went to the other side. So in this case, the essay aims to discuss the disillusion of the so-called American Dream—— also the theme of The Great Gatsby, with the analysis of the tragedy of its main character——Gatsby. In the novel, Gatsby’s American Dream is not material possession. He only comes into riches so that he can fulfill his true dream---- to reunite with Daisy. However, his pursuit for love eventually turns out to be irony, making him losing everything even at the cost of his life. There are many reasons resulting in his destiny, mainly the social factor and he himself. First, the social factor. The novel has deeply exposed American people’s total depravity as well as cruelty in the materialism society of 1920s. For money and status, Daisy left Gatsby and married Tom; for money and status, she had an affair with Gatsby again; for money and status, she finally abandonned Gatsby once more. Ironically, while Daisy caused the car accident, it was Gatsby who took the responsibility and was even killed by Mr. Wilson.However, when Gatsby’s cold dead body was still lying in the water of pool, Daisy, the selfish woman, had already gone out for travel with her husband, leaving other people to “clean up the mess they made”. It was also quite bleak that there were very few people including Nick and old Gatz attending Gatsby’s funeral.Daisy, whom Gatsby devoted himself to, “hadn’t sent a message or a flower”at all. None of his parasites appeared on his funeral, either. All of this showed the cruelty of that materialism society. Second, self factor. Gatsby lived in a world where money took priority over moral integrity, which impacted negatively on Gatsby. In the past, Gatsby had an love affair with the affluent Daisy. But they separated because of the difference in their social status. Then Gatsby started to amass wealth. In the process of seeking for money and status, Gatsby began his evil business. To be rich, he engaged in criminal activities. Through his dealings with organized crimes, it could be seen that he did not adhere to the American Dream guidelines. So his American Dream was doomed to failure. In addition, Gatsby was blinded due to his ideal love for Daisy. Actually, Daisy was far from the idealistic figure in Gatsby’s mind. She was a realistic woman, attracted by substantial things—money and solid social status. However, because of his blinded love, Gatsby could not realize the true essence of Daisy, though he saw through that “h er voice is full of money”. Even if they could live together, Gatsby would have been disillusioned. In a short nut, The Great Gatsby exposes that in the materialismsociety, in any case, Gatsby would have failed to his idealistic dream inevitably, namely disillusion of American dream. It also indicates that the materialism way may lead to total depravity, which is still of importance to today’s new world, leaving people to think about.