Review on the Disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream

Abstract： As a spokesperson of the Jazz Age， the American famous novelist F· Scott Fitzgerald who published his masterpiece The Great Gatsby in 1925 is recognized as one of the most important novelists in American literature history. With profound meaning， it is considered as a classic novel revealing the illusory essence of the American dream. By narrating Gatsby's life， the author skillfully interprets the conflict between the dream and reality as well as the intense clash of the spiritual desire and substantial desire in real life. And ultimately Gatsbys destruction in such conflicts is linked with American history， which implies national tragedy of the United States and satirizes illusion of American dream.

Focusing on the theme of disillusionment of Gatsby's American dream， this article aims to discuss the theme of disillusionment of Gatsbys American dream form three aspects： Gatsbys American dream and the process of its disillusionment； the reasons for disillusionment； the significance of Gatsbys American dream.

Keywords： Frost Scott Fitzgerald； Great Gatsby； American Dream； Disillusionment.

Novels by F · Scott Fitzgeralds were mixed with a lot of his own life experiences and demonstrated the glitz and bustle in the 20s century in American society as well as the hidden subsequent decay and spiritual emptiness. The author explored the pursuit of the American dream characterized with wealth and pleasure and the consequences of illusory pursuit under such wrong values. [1]

Since The Great Gatsby came out， it has been considered as a fantasy novel revealing the essence of the American dream and won much appreciation and respect from literary critics. The famous poet and critic T. S. Eliot hailed the novel as “the American novels first step out since Henry James.”

A. Gatsbys American dream and the process of its disillusionment

In this novel， Gatsby has 2 American dreams： Firstly， "Dream of Getting Rich" was succeed； secondly， "Dream of Love" was disillusioned. Both Gatsbys dreams are materially and spiritually harmonious unity and indivisible. It is a typical American dream as well as a concrete manifestation of the traditional American dream.

With the most traditional American dream， young Gatsby set Franklin as an example trying to work hard to achieve his dreams through his own diligence and efforts. However， since he was affected Monopoly Dan · Cody， he started to make money unscrupulously. The emergence of a rich and beautiful lady from Upper society， Daisy， made Gatsby's American Dream a concrete incarnation. In order to win back the love of his old flame Daisy， Gatsby made a huge fortune overnight by trafficking of bootlegger and finally realized his "dream of getting rich."

Nevertheless， money was not his ultimate goal. The reason why he chased the money is only for his ideal ---“Dream of Love". He expected to draw Daisy's attention by wealth and rekindled their old romance. To realize his spiritual dream by material means signifies that Gatsby's spiritual American began to be decadent.

And as the incarnation of Gatsbys American Dream， Daisy is a vain and prudent representative from high society. Even if she was attracted by Gatsbys fortune and returned to Gatsby at the time being， she was doomed to have no-lasting love with him. Facing vanity and Gatsbys love， she chose the former and abandoned him in the end. She framed Gatsby with the car accident and indirectly killed him. Ironically， Daisy and her husband reconciled and even didnt attend Gatsbys funeral. Finally， “Dream of Love “was shattered. Loss of Gatsbys love and life marked his American Dream was disillusioned thoroughly. [2]

B. The reason for disillusionment of Gatsbys American dream

The disillusionment of Gatsbys dream can attribute to the corruption of American dream. Original individual pioneering spirit and the concept of pursuit of happiness were rotten into making money and achieve purposes unscrupulously. Gatsby was mistaken in his belief that the money could buy everything. He amassed huge wealth by illegal trafficking of bootlegger. Besides， considering Daisy as his life goal， Gatsby built his dream on a wrong foundation from the very beginning. Unluckily， he didnt realize that Daisy who is a degraded person only worshiping enjoyment and money counted for nothing. That Gatsbys dream was crumbled symbolized the entire American Dreams fall and deterioration.

Another reason for the extinction of the protagonists dream in this novel was insurmountable wide class gap. Although Gatsby dealt with people from high society， fully belonging to lower class， he would never be accepted by the American upper class. Even if Gatsby could offer Daisy luxurious life， he did not have a decent background and reputation equal to Tom. Therefore， he was eventually abandoned by Daisy again. [3]

C. The significance of Gatsbys American dream

At the end of the novel， narrator wanted to link Gatsby's dream with Dutch sailor's dream. Although the Dutch sailor also had American dream， at that time in their eyes， America was still an undestroyed and suited the titles of “having an astonishing ability” and “a piece of fresh green continent” .However， as for Gatsby， there was no surprising continent at all. What he could see was merely the green light blinking through darkness at the end of Daisys dock. What he chased was nothing more than Daisys shallow and flighty. Eventually all his loyalty and efforts for fulfilling American dream were in vain.

Both Gatsby and Dutch sailors had something in common—full of dreams and aspirations toward future. In a sense， Gatsby was the spiritual heir of the Dutch sailors. In reality， Gatsby was placed in that particular community to show what the descendants of the Dutch sailor had become. Describing the differences between them carefully was to announce the novels theme： "American Dream.” That Modern deceptive American Dream was fully casted on Gatsby was the core of the whole novels tragedy.

More importantly， the authors contacted Gatsby's dream with the modern American dream. But the modern American dream has been lost in “somewhere that I dont know in this chaos city" and in the “Republic swarthy field ". Broadly speaking， it shows significant differences between the ideal social system and the reality of the modern state.

Regrettably， somewhat similar in spirit， all these dreams can never be achieved. Ultimate failure is not because their wills are not strong enough or they dont make enough efforts but they step on a wrong way at the guidance of the deceptive American dream in a spiritual wilderness. Dreams just go away with the irretrievable past.

Fitzgerald once explained his views on Gatsby to his friends in a letter： "The main point of the novel is that although those hallucinations disappeared， as long as magical luster is still left， these illusions will make the earth overflow with vigor.” He felt that it would be unbearable if there is no longing for life or no belief of romantic dream. To a great extent， what Fitzgerald reviewed on dreams showed us modern American spiritual world. The goal of American dream is constantly narrowed and even deteriorated. Although facing cruel reality， people are defeated again and again， there are still so many people pursuing their American dreams by persistence. Thus， American Dream is an indispensable ideal of American society even if this ideal can never come true.

Conclusion

The Great Gatsby reflects the turmoil and chaos in the early 20th century in American society， and profoundly reveals moral confusion and spiritual crisis of a generation of Americans. Fitzgerald vividly depicted extremely extravagant luxury and the real process of disillusionment of American Dream in the Jazz Age. As a romantic dreamer who makes a great overnight fortune through illegal accumulation of wealth， Gatsby symbolizes the whole American dream. In this flashy secular world， to achieve ones dream only through illegal material accumulation marks dreams corruption. In a profounder sense， the key point of Gatsbys tragedy lies in his American Dream itself： he wasted huge amounts of energy and even paid the ultimate price of his life for self- illusions， flashy beauty. All in all， Gatsbys difficulties and failures are not only his personal failure， but the failure of the values American culture advertised. Most importantly， Gatsbys tragedy tighter with rotted American dream in the 20th century will provoke unlimited alerts and reflections in global readers.

[1] 杜永新，“美國夢的幻滅：蓋茨比形象的歷史與文化解讀”， 《外語教學》，第23卷，第6期（2002）：70-75.

[2] 毛信德： 《美國小說發(fā)展史》杭州：浙江大學出版社，2004年.

[3] 嚴 峰 梅，“幻滅了的美國夢---論了不起的蓋茨比”，《西安社會科學》第27卷第5期（2009）：198-199.

作者簡介：王艷麗，（1990，4—），女，漢族，遼寧省盤錦人，本科在讀，西南大學外國語學院英語專業(yè)，研究方向：英語文學