了不起的盖茨比 论文

OUTLINE AbstractKey WordsI. IntroductionII. Background2.1 Life Experience2.2 Social RealityIII. Use of Symbolism3.1 The Symbolism of Name3.1.1 Daisy3.1.2 Gatsby3.1.3 Tom3.2 The Symbolism l of Setting3.2.1 East Egg and West Egg3.2.2 The Valley of Ashes3.3.3The Eyes of Dr.T,J,Eckleburg3.3 The Symbolism of Color3.3.1 Green-Hope, Dream, Envy3.3.2 Blue-Quiet Melancholy, Fantasy3.3.3 Yellow (Golden) - Fame, Fortune,Fall3.3.4 White-Purity, Indifference, Empty3.3.5 Grey-Desolation Ruins Desperation Ⅳ. ConclusionBibliography中文标题、摘要、关键词On the Function of the Symbolism in Expressing Themeof The Great GatsbyAuthor：xierongfeng Number：××× Tutor：liuguoyingAbstract: F. Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist and short story writer, is widely consider the literary spokesman of the “jazz age”-the decade of the 1920s .In 1925, Fitzgerald published his masterpiece, The Great Gatsby .In this book, he employs all kinds of names, settings and colors as symbols to reflect the characteristics of the age and to deepen the theme of the work. The author of the paper mainly analyzes the function of the symbolism in manifesting the theme- disillusion of American dream-of the work from there aspects of the symbols-name, setting and color.Key Words: Symbolism; American dream; The Great GatsbyⅠ.IntroductionF. Scott Fitzgerald was born in a not rich family, so he wanted to earn lots of money to become rich to enjoy high quality life. To satisfy his wife’s limitless requirements, he lived a very hard life. The tempo of his life slackened as hislife was shredded by Zelda’s insanity and his own self-destructive alcoholism. Through years of emotional and physical collapse he struggled to repair his lifeby writing for Hollywood-producing at the same time a series of stories that exposed his humiliation there. He became one of the greatest writers in American literature and wrote many works in his lifetime to manifest the life reality of that time. He was a spokesman for the so-called Jazz Age, setting a personal as well as literary example for a generation whose first commandment was: Do what you will. He fell from favor as a writer when the indulgent decade of his triumph went down under the impact of a worldwide Depressionin the 1930s.The Great Gatsby is regarded as his masterpiece. First published on April 10, 1925, the story is set in Long Island's North Shore and New York City during the summer of 1922. The novel tells of Gatsby ,an idealist , who tries to recapture his lost love but in vain and is finally destroyed by the influence of the wealthy people around him .Thestory deals symbolically with the failure of the American dream as personified in the rich and beautiful woman Daisy who belongs to corrupt society .The Great Gatsby evokes a haunting mood of a glamorous, wild time that seemingly will never come again. It is about the loss of an ideal and the disillusionment that comes with the failure embodied fully in the personal tragedy of a young man (Gatsby) whose “incorruptible dream”is “smashed into pieces by the relentless reality”. Gatsby’s failure to realize his ideal symbolizes the disillusionment of the American Dream. Also, Gatsby’s intensity of dream represents a state of commitment takes him in search of his personal grail; Gatsby’s failure magnifies to a great extent the end of the American Dream. However, the affirmation of hope and expectation is self-asserted in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s artistic manipulation of the central symbol in the novel, the green light,II. Background2.1 Life ExperienceF. Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 into a St,Paul middle-class family . Afteran unsuccessful undergraduate career at Princeton, he entered the Army as a second Lieutenant and while in training camp he met the beautiful girl who wasto become his wife, He married Zelda Sayre as his literary career got off to a meteoric start in 1920. Through the 1920s when money seemed plentiful and postwar morality encouraged a reckless pursuit of happiness, he and Zelda traveled in Europe and New York, acting out the glamorous life-style he wroteof in his most popular magazine fiction. He was a spokesman for the so-called Jazz Age, setting a personal as well as literary example for a generation whosefirst commandment was: Do what you will. The speed of his life slackened ashis life was shredded by Zelda’s insanity and his own self-destructive alcoholism. He fell from favor as a writer when the indulgent decade of his triumph went down under the impact of a worldwide Depression in the 1930s. Through years of emotional and physical collapse he struggled to repair his lifeby writing for Hollywood-producing at the same time a series of stories that exposed his humiliation there.2.2 Social RealityThe writer lived in the 1920s which is called the Jazz Age in American literature.Following the shock and chaos of World War I, American society enjoyed unprecedented levels of prosperity during the "roaring" 1920s as the economy soared. At the same time, Prohibition, the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers and led to an increase in organized crime. Although Fitzgerald, like Nick Carraway in his novel, idolized the riches and glamour of the age, he was uncomfortable with the unrestrained materialism and lack of morality that went with it.The American Dream is the faith held by many in the United States of America that though hard work, courage, and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations. Nowadays the American Dream has led to an emphasis on material wealth as a measure of success and/or happiness. American Dream also refers to the dream of material success, in which one, regardless of social status, acquires wealth and gains success by working hard and good luck. The novel is remarkable for its evocation of an atmosphere of conflict and paradox. The party is crowded and yet empty. The night is beautiful but garish. The scene not only epitomizes the Jazz Age, its superficiality and tawdriness and its equally powerful sweetness and charm, but also represents the author’s major theme: the disillusion of American Dream,III. Use of SymbolismSymbol means an act, a person, a thing, or a spectacle that stands for something else, usually something else palpable than that the named symbol. The relationship between the symbol and its referent is not often one of simple equivalence with. Allegorical symbols usually express a neater equivalence with what they stand for than the symbol found in modern realistic fiction. The term symbolism refers to the use of symbol, or to a set of related symbols; however it is also the name given to an important movement in later 19th-century and early 20th-century poetry: for this sense, see Symbolists. One of the important features of Romanticism and succeeding phase of Western literature was a much more pronounced reliance upon enigmatic symbolism in both poetry and prose fiction, sometimes involving obscure private codes of meaning, as in the poetry of Blake and Yeats. In the novel -The Great Gatsby, the writer has used many kinds of symbols, such as the symbolism of name, setting and color to manifest the theme of the novel and reflect the social reality of that time.3.1 The Symbolism of NameIn the novel, the author uses symbolism skillfully, characterizing the roles, deepening the theme and reflecting the characteristics of the times. We are talking about most is the sound and color of the symbolic significance, and often overlooked symbolic meaning of symbolic name in the novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald treated the naming of the characters in the novel can be described as Originality. We all have a certain extent generated a fixed views on the habit ofname, and the names of the characters in "The Great Gatsby” have the intention to help shape the characters, deepen the theme of the novel, to guide readers to understand the deeper level of the ideological content of the novel.3.1.1 GatsbyGatsby is the most important character of this novel. In order to win his beloved woman-Daisy back, he engages himself in bootlegging and other “shabby” activities, thus earning enough money to buy a magnificent imitation French villa. There he spreads dazzling parties every weekend in hope of alluring the Buchanan’s to come. They finally come and Gatsby meets Daisy again, only to find that the woman before him is not quite the ideal love of his dreams. Finally he was dead in innocently. His death is the product of carelessness and chance. Nick imagines it: I have an idea that Gatsby didn’t believe himself that it [the phone call from Daisy] would come, and perhaps he no longer cared. If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old worm world, paid a high price for living so long with a dingle dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about…like the ashen ,fantastic gliding toward him though the amorphous trees.( Fitzgerald,2005,168) In the novel. Fitzgerald both recreated “the American Dream”, the dream of innocent, pastoral AmericanCreated by man’s capacity for wonder, and also sees it as a nostalgic desire for that which time itself defeats, As Gatsby is an artistic surrogate, chasing with his “creative passion”a symbol that is both transcendent and corrupted, The Great Gatsby is a symbolist tragedy.3.1.2 DaisyDaisy is Tom Buchanan’s wife, her name is Daisy Fay, and her first and last names are important symbols in the novel. Fay means fairy, and Daisy is like the princess in a fairy tale and also means a little yellow flower. A daisy flower is yellow on the inside and contains white petals on the outside. Similarly, Daisy is pure and innocent outside for she always dresses in white, a symbol of purity and innocence, and drives a white car. However she is also coward and corrupt on the inside, symbolic of the color yellow. Daisy’s character symbolizes many of the rich girls of the author’s time. Since F. Scott Fitzgerald was not rich, he could not date or marry any of these girls, which is similar to Gatsby. Daisy’s character also contains much charm, although her personality is empty. Her character symbolizes the “alluring aspects of monetary wealth” and represents how devoid it can be once attained. Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship illustrates that money cannot bring happiness; money cannot bring the lost thing cone back. From the very beginning of their relationship, Gatsby realizes Daisy’s requirements for a wealthy lifestyle. When Daisygives birth to a daughter, she said,” that’s the best thing a girl can be in this word ,a beautiful little fool ”(Fitzgerald,2005,24) Daisy is clever enough to understand the limits imposed on her and has become indulgent because of them. The word careless also describes Daisy well. She has very much trapped in herself. Part of this is due to the fact that she had been spoiled all her life. She was born into money and had an endless assortment of men who would continue to spoil her.3.1.3 TomTom Buchanan, the wealthy ex-athlete from Yale, is a liar, a hypocrite, and a bully. Being born into a family that is wealthy has made Tom a spoiled man. He hasn’t really worked his entire life and instead spends his days in indulgence and ease. He has a shameless affair with Myrtle because it satisfies hisrequirements. He shows off their relationship in public because he dose not concern himself with the results of his actions, ha has never had to. This is also why he and Daisy escape in the end of the book. There was a situation they would have to face and they didn’t want to. So they ran to their money and fled the situation, leaving it to be dealt with by others, Tom will spend his whole life doing things like that because that who he is: A careless man whole won’t be bothered by the suffering he causes. The splendor of his surroundings is equaled only by his stupidity and “hard malice.” Today we would call him the perfect example of the upper-class fascist, who, obsessed with fear that the black races may overthrow “Nordic Supremacy,”sees himself “on the last barrier of civilization.” His fear, however, sharpens his cunning, and position in society gives him the opportunity to use it. Not only doses he lies to Myrtle Wilson, but with ruthless contempt, he exploits her husband, George, as an instrument of revenge on Gatsby. Morally speaking, he is the real murderer of Gatsby.3.2 The Symbolism l of SettingThe use of setting is nit only a crucial contribution part a story’s success but also a primary indicator of its author’s artistry. The use of setting represents an extraordinary achievement in Fitzgerald’s fiction-writing career. Through his powerful visions and descriptive skills, settings in his fiction are always featured charming but elusive, heavily weighed with symbolic connotations. They help him dramatize his perspectives of life. Each scene seems like a parable, functioning as suggestively as a microcosm of the whole American society. Fitzgerald believed that setting could be used as a rich source of imagery to objectively the social treed and individual desire at a certain time and to turn a story into a parable. The definition of the setting in fiction can be defined as a place presented by fixed descriptions, or indirect reference in the narrative or in the speeches of characters, a place that serves as the site as thenecessary showplace for a sequence of actions or for an evolving pattern of human relations. If we read The Great Gatsby carefully, we can see a telling example of how a setting can make an essential contribution to the book’s mood. And we can also understand that as a key factor in the creation of atmosphere, a given scene plays a major part in rising, developing, maintaining, and repeating feelings in fiction.3.2.1 East Egg and West EggThe address of the story had happened has been divided into two parts- East Egg and West Egg. In the beginning of the novel, Nike described the situation of these two Eggs. “I lived at West Egg, the –well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season…my own house is a eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires-all for eighty dollars a month. ” (Fitzgerald,2005,6) “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans . Daisy was my second cousin once removed, and I‘d known Tom in college. And just after the war I spent two days with them in Chicago. ”(Fitzgerald, 2005, 7)The early American culture originated in the eastern colonies. After the Revolutionary War, America separated from the rule of British, but its thought, culture and ideology in the eastern U.S. still maintained much colonial shadow. With the forward t of American West Movement, As for absence of the heavy pressure of history, the Western civilization often showing more passion andvigor, giving a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Eastern and western are not justtwo conceptions of regions any more, but on behalf of contradictions and conflicts in two values between tradition and modern, conservation and innovation. East Egg and West Egg has become an important scenepre-ambushed in the novel. In East Egg, there lived Tom and Daisy who was born in rich and powerful family. They are of graceful and elegant on the surface, but cruel and greedy in their hearts. In West Egg, there lived Gatsbywho was born in a poor family, was full passion and eager for success. The author set the historic and realistic situation into the symbolic regions. At the same time, the conflicts of regional conception ultimately reflected on the tragicfate of the characters which made the novel be of more far-reaching realistic significance,3.2.2 The Valley of AshesFitzgerald’s striking description of the “valley of ashes” in chapter2 of his book. The “valley of ashes” is the symbols in the work. “About half –way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joints the railroad and runs besides it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and , finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars crawl along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swamp up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight. (Fitzgerald, 2005, 29)” The valley of ashes is the barren wasteland where the blue collar, working class people live in The Great Gatsby and is covered with dust from the ashes to symbolize no hope for the future. He exemplifies the people who live in the valley of ashes. He is a “spiritless” and “anemic” pale blond man whose life lacks purpose and meaning. The Great Gatsby is symbolic of sterility and waste, and they emphasize the main themeof each work. Fitzgerald explores the more limited theme of the corruption of the American Dream by materialism. The rolling “fields of the republic “has become a garbage dump. Fitzgerald also makes vivid descriptions about the sterility, the failure of love, and the empty relationships in the wasteland. One aspect of sterility is the characters’ aimlessness. In fact, Fitzgerald’s decryptions of Gatsby’s parties are dominated by the notion of the aimless drifting of the crowd, like shadows.3.2.3The Eyes of Dr.T. J. EckleburgThe camera focuses next on the monstrous image of an oculist’s billboard: “The eyes of Dr.T, J, Eckleburg are blue and gigantic-their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground. (Fitzgerald, 2005, 29) The eyes of Dr.T,J, Eckleburg have many symbolic associations in The Great Gatsby. The size of the eyes, the missing face, and the departure of the original creator of the sign all suggest a superior being who no longer cares, who no longer involved with the petty lives of the pathetic creatures below. These staring, unblinking eyes” brood on over the solemn dumping ground,”offering no help or comfort to its inhabitants. Though Fitzgerald’s wording in describing the image of Eckelburg’s eyes the readers develop a mental of an omnipotent being who is constantly watching over the land. The readers discern that the eyes not only see everything but that the eyes are morbidly unhappy. This is Fitzgerald’s way of indicating that the people of the 1920s are disgraceful and undignified because of their selfishness. The god in Fitzgerald’s book is a new, but false god, who, the people believe, is an all seeing deity-indifferent, faceless, and blank. Fitzgerald incorporates the eyes into his novel to represent a pair of all seeing, all acquired.3.3 The Symbolism of ColorSymbolism is what makes a story complete, In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald smartly uses symbolism. Anything in a novel can be taken as a symbol. There several colors used for symbolism in this novel. For example, the colors white, yellow, blueand green are used through the book. Colors can accentuate the meaning of a story and explain certain actions of a character. Fitzgerald applied many important colors that elude the personality of his characters. The colors given are repeated multiple times so that they can be established. To fully understand the characters of the story, one must recognize the associated colors that are given.3.3.1 Green-Hope, Dream, EnvyTraditionally, the color green represents spring, hope, and youth. It is mainly associated with Gatsby and his hope in the novel. Green also represents envy in the novel, as Gatsby is an envious, jealous character towards Tom and his marriage to Daisy. In addition, to suppress the envy he feels for people with historical wealth round him, Gatsby throws extravagant parties. “Involuntarily I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of o dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone in the unquiet darkness. ” (Fitzgerald, 2005, 24) Nick is quite different from other characters in the story. He lacks the characteristic of unexhausted energy belonging to that time. He was spiritless, but worked hard and was loyal to his family. He was not affected by vanity, but just wanted to accumulate some money to live in the west and he believed God. Green also symbolized hope. The image of green lamp appeared three times respectively at the crucial points of development, and played a important role in the process of modeling the protagonist Gatsby’s character.3.3.2 Blue- Quiet Melancholy, FantasyBlue represents the unhappy relationship between Tom and Daisy. Their melancholy marriage is based on money and status rather than love. At Gatsby’s extravagant parties, blue is seen as a fantasy and different world of escape. The author uses blue symbolizing melancholy and calmness in order to make a contrast with the yellow symbolizing the state of clamor. All of this manifests the author’s critical attitude to the contemporary tendency-ostentation, pursuit for material enjoyment and money worship. “But above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Dr.T, J,Eckleburg. The eyes of Dr.T,J,Eckleburg are blue and gigantic-their retina are one yardhigh.”(Fitzgerald, 2005, 29) After understanding the symbolized meaning of this pair of eyes, we could move on the symbolized meaning of the color of the eyes. God has been seeing everything, and he knows that Gatsby’s dream will be doomed to be shattered and knows Wilson’s tragedy, Tom and Daisy’s coldness and mercilessness, so his eyes seemed sorrowful and melancholy.3.3.3 Yellow (Golden) - Fame, Fortune, FallYellow or gold mainly represent fortune, fame and old wealth, in contrast to green representing new wealth. An egg is white outside, therefore, presenting purity to society. In contrast, an egg is yellow inside, hiding a corruption and decay. Materialism has corrupted the citizens of East and West Egg because they center everything on money. When Gatsby entertains this wealthy class, the orchestra plays yellow cocktail music. Even Gatsby believes that he can win Daisy back with his money, thus he is described as wearing a caramel colored suit when he lies about his past to Nick. The color yellow was used mostly frequently when there was a death. One of the first things that Fitzgerald wrote when Myrtle died was when they laid her on a table in garage,” He reached up on tiptoes and peered over a circle of heads into the garbage, which was lit only by a yellow light in a swimming wire basket overhead.”(Fitzgerald, 2005, 172) Wilson was in daze state, and kept referring to his car only as the yellow car,”’It was a yellow car,’he said, ‘big yellow car, New.’”(Fitzgerald, 2005, 174) The car led to Gatsby’s death. Just before Gatsby was shot by Wilson, Gatsby decided he was going to take a swim in his pool.3.3.4 White-Purity, Indifference, EmptyThe color white was used frequently. The first time Nike met his cousin Daisy at her home, Daisy was dressed totally in white. “The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.”(Fitzgerald, 2005, 10) And Tom and Daisy’s house and the furniture are also in white. This fact might be interpreted as beauty, purity, cleanliness, wealth and innocence. Daisy wears white dresses and recalls her white childhood and the use of color helps her to characterize her as unattainable enchanted princess whobecomes personified as Gatsby’ dream. The use of white, in reference to Daisy’s wardrobe also symbolizes her laziness and uselessness in the story. She is completely devoid of any knowledge of the outside world. Something we found quite apparent was her obviously shallow, money grubbing motives. For example, when she is taken into Gatsby’s home and is shown Gatsby’s beautiful imported shirts, Daisy begins to cry, saying that these shirts are so beautiful. But what is she really wanted to express is her envy and jealousy of Gatsby’s new riches and all of his elaborate material possessions.3.3.5 Grey-Desolation Ruins DesperationGrey is the least noticeable and popular color in all the colors and is also a lifeless and hopeless color. It will make people desolate, bleak and depression.”This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and , finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars crawl along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swamp up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight.” (Fitzgerald, 2005, 29) The color green represents the hopelessness that surrounds the valley of ashes and the low class to which there is on escape.Ⅳ. ConclusionAfter a systematic analysis of the use of symbolism in The Great Gatsby,we can see that there is rich symbolism in The Great Gatsby which functionson several levers and a variety of ways. Fitzgerald is so creative and imaginative that he can be skillful enough to use the symbols to reveal thetheme of the novel and the fate of the characters. He sets those symbols in agreat harmony with the theme which efficiently conveys his own attitude and emotions. What’s more, the symbolic meanings of those images don’t affectthe vividness of the images themselves. 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