Abstract American dream is a certain image at a certain period of time of the faith of America. At first, the American dream focuses both on material and spirit, and all the people want to acquire wealth through their hardworking and have the potential to live a happy and successful life. But with the development of the industrialization, the pace of life becomes faster and faster, meanwhile people’s mind become vacant. At last the American dream has turn to the pursuit of money and capital. But no matter how it changes, the essence of the American Dream should always be spiritual and faithful. The American Dream in The Great Gatsby is an eternal subject while mentioning this novel. The disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream is doomed for his personal experience and morality, his social circle and the whole social environment. The thesis will discuss the inevitability of the disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream from these three perspectives and all relate to the faith.47714

Keyword: The Great Gatsby；American Dream; Crisis of Faith

摘要美国梦是美国社会在特定时期的社会信仰的形象化。美国社会起初的美国梦既有其精神实质又具备物质表现，那时候几乎所有美国人都希望通过辛勤劳动或努力工作获得财富，从而去收获其人生的幸福感。但是随着社会工业化的进程不断加快，美国人民生活的节奏也在不断加速。在这种高速化的社会进程下，美国人民的物质世界不断膨胀，相反其精神世界变得十分空虚。最后其对美国梦的追求变成了对美国梦的物质表现——即金钱和名誉的追求。从根本上来说，无论人们对美国梦的定义怎么因人而异或因时而异，其本质应该始终是一种信仰。

而美国梦的发展进程更是在《了不起的盖茨比》一书得到了经典的描述和完美的再现。在小说中，盖茨比美国梦的破碎是必然的，这种必然性体现在他的个人素质与经历上，他所处的社交圈对他的影响上，更体现在美国二十年代的整体社会背景上。本文将从盖茨比的个人因素，社交原因与社会环境入手，分析《了不起的盖茨比》一书中盖茨比美国梦破灭的必然性。

毕业论文关键词：《了不起的盖茨比》；美国梦；信仰危机

Contents

Acknowledgements ...i

Abstract (English Version) ..ii

Abstract (Chinese Version) iii

Chapter1 Introduction

    1.1 F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby

    1.2 Literature Review

    1.3 Thesis Structure

Chapter2 Personal Factors--Gatsby’s American Dream             

    2.1 The Formation of Gatsby’s American Dream 

        2.2 The Distortion of Gatsby’s American Dream--Misguided Faith

        2.3 The Disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream--Absent Faith 

Chapter3 Interpersonal Factors--Other Characters in The Great Gatsby

        3.1 Daisy Fay and Tom Buchanan

        3.2 Myrtle Wilson and George B. Wilson 

Chapter4 Social Factors--the Doomed Disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream 

    4.1 The Material Factors

      4.1.1 The Hierarchy System

      4.2.2 Economy and Consumerism

      4.2.3 Science

    4.2 The Spiritual Factors

Chapter 5 Conclusion

Bibliography

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby 

Francis Scott Fitzgerald, born in 1896, was one of the greatest writers in the 20th century. In his lifetime, Fitzgerald finished four novels: This Side of Paradise,1920; The Beautiful and Damned, 1922; The Great Gatsby, 1925; and Tender Is the Night, 1934, among which The Great Gatsby was the most famous . And his fifth novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, the unfinished one, was published posthumously. He also wrote more than one hundred and sixty short stories. Fitzgerald was the represent of the roaring 20s. In his works there were always broken dreams of the young. With the publication of This Side of Paradise in 1920, Fitzgerald becomes rich and famous, and was then a literary sensation. The Great Gatsby in 1925 helps him reach the pinnacle of American literature.