2。 Literature Review 论文网

    ‘The Great Gatsby’ as the representative work of Fitzgerald, told the readers that the American dream was shattered in the Jazz Age in the form of perfect art。 With the rise of the new criticism movement and the reader response theory in the twentieth Century, the study of the literature has shifted from the author-centered to the reader-centered and text-centered, and the fundamental changes have been taken place in the literary criticism。 Mao Xinde said: ‘in Fitzgerald’s works, he summed up American youth in this period time , especially youth spiritual dissatisfaction and depression in the middle-class society, depicts the fall to the old world。 He has a clear understanding and profound analysis of the rich and the poor and social contradiction between classes and opposition。’(Mao 37)People interest in the novel and begin to find the practical significance of the world contained in the work。 The traditional mode of American dream has always been a great sham, especially in this century, in early 20s。 When the capitalism of the United States developed to the monopoly stage, with the rapid development of capitalist industry and the increasing polarization, tycoons have made huge profits。 However, under the condition that various social problems exposed after the war, it was a obvious mirage that one can be success with character, diligent and thrifty。 In fact, it was often those who are cunning、greedy、unscrupulous people grab wealth。 

Academic research for the Chinese dream is emerged like “blowout” since it is put forward and has obtained certain theoretical results。 Meng Dongfang analyze the connotation, structure and path of the Chinese dream, and put forward that the Chinese dream is based on the Chinese culture。(Meng 5) Cui Hongbin compares and analyzes the characteristics of the American dream and the Chinese dream, and points out that the Chinese dream is not a continuation of the American dream。 It is not a replica, nor a criticism of the American dream。(Cui 7) However, there are still some problems such as the research method and the single orientation of the subject, research on Chinese dream is most used by theoretical methods and related empirical research is relatively less。

3。 The American Dream in ‘the Great Gatsby’

3。1 The American dream 

    In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, ‘life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement’ regardless of social class or circumstances of birth。 The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness。"(Adams 57)文献综述

 The American dream can be traced back to Colombo's discovery of the new world。 Since then, European immigrants have come here to look for wealth, to explore the territory, and establish the first colony in the small town of Virginia。 In December 1620, in order to get rid of the shackles of the Church of England and British religion and establish a belief-free country, the pilgrims came to the new continent by taking the May flower。 With self-discipline and hard-working spirit, they soon created a lot of material wealth in this vast land。 Since then, the American dream has become a dream of success rooted in the hearts of Americans ‘through self-struggle, from the poor to the rich, the successful experience of the United States was one of the most attractive and enduring legends in America。’(Cui 117)

     The gold rush in eighteenth and nineteenth century promoted the westward movement, and expanded the boundaries of the United States, commodity economy and capitalism in North America and people’s desire for wealth and power was growing increasingly。 In late nineteenth century, with the end of the civil war and the reconstruction of western United States。 American transformed from an agricultural society into industrial one; economy and technology developed rapidly。 Many Americans became successful through hard work and efforts in the pursuit of American dream。 It was further proof that the American dream would be a legend of ‘where there is a will, there is a way’。(wang 94) Only people believed that achieve material and spiritual pursuit could truly achieve and define the American dream。 The pursuit of spirit was the core and could explain the change of the American dream。