从象征主义的角度分析《了不起的盖茨比》中的美国梦

弗朗西斯·司科特•菲兹杰拉德被认为是“爵士时代”的编年史作家和桂冠诗人，是二十世纪美国最著名的作家之一。他不仅是二十世纪美国社会“最放纵、最炫丽”的时代的一员，而且他敏锐地注视着那个时代所发生的一切。菲兹杰拉德的代表作《了不起的盖茨比》因其具有的社会意义和精湛的文学艺术引起巨大的社会轰动，被认为是二十世纪美国文学中最卓越的作品之一。在《了不起的盖茨比》中，菲兹杰拉德运用了多种写作技巧，其中象征主义的大量运用是该作品的显著特征之一。
本论文从社会、历史、以及文中主人公的性格等多方面探讨导致主人公盖茨比美国梦破灭的根源所在。美国梦的幻灭不仅有其深刻的社会历史原因，且与盖茨比的自我毁灭性格有关。通过分析我们可以看出盖茨比美国梦的历史渊源和实质，盖茨比性格中的天直单纯和不谙世故以及20世纪20年代美国社会的冷酷无情和道德沦丧。这些从根本上决定了美国梦的幻灭。在描绘象征意象中，灰谷、绿灯等象征意象反映了人们在精神荒原中希望的破灭。同时，通过对象征技巧的运用来揭露人们社会道德的沦丧，和美国梦破灭的原因。除此之外，在颜色的象征意义中，菲兹杰拉德运用绿色来揭示盖茨比的内心世界与美国梦破灭之间的联系。
论文主要通过历史和社会原因来帮助读者更全面地理解小说的内涵。

  关键词：《了不起的盖茨比》；美国梦；象征主义
An Analysis of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby from the Perspective of Symbolism

Abstract

As the most noted chronicler and laureate of the Jazz Age, F. Scott. Fitzgerald (1896-1940), is regarded as one of the most representative novelists in the 1920s’ America. In this period, Fitzgerald not only personally experienced the typically indulgent, gorgeous, moneymaking life but also observed the era with penetrating eyes. Fitzgerald’s magnum opus The Great Gatsby is considered as the most outstanding American novel in the twentieth-century because of its remarkable literary merits. In The Great Gatsby，Fitzgerald adopts many writing techniques, and symbolism is one of the distinguishing feature.
This thesis analyzes the formation, development and roots of the disillusionment of Gatsby’s dream from the social, historical reason and the protagonist’s own characteristics. The disillusionment of the American Dream not only because of the social and historical reason, but also related with the self-destructive factors of Gatsby’s characteristics. Through the analysis, the origins and essential nature of Gatsby’s dream, the naivety and innocence in Gatsby’s personality, the inexorability and the ethical fading of the 1920’ American society are clearly showed. All of these define Gatsby’s corruption of the American Dream in the end. In portraying the symbolic images, the valley of ashes and the green light deeply reflect the extinction of people’ hope in the spiritual wasteland. At the same time, Fitzgerald reveals the ethical fading of people and disillusion of the American Dream through the writing technique of symbolism. Besides, Fitzgerald also uses the symbolic meaning of color green to depict Gatsby’s subtle inward world and the relation between the corruptions of the American Dream.
The thesis mainly unifies historical and social analysis to help readers have a better understanding of the connotation of the novel.

Key words:  The Great Gatsby; American Dream; symbolism

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