浅析《了不起的盖茨比》中的象征主义_英语论文

On the Symbolism in The Great Gatsby

摘要

弗•斯科特•菲茨杰拉德是二十世纪初美国著名作家，也是爵士时代的迷惘一代的代表人物之一。在那个经济急剧膨胀的时代，随着人们对金钱的狂热追求，人们在行为和心理上发生了深刻的变化：个人消费迅速膨胀，生活的风尚变化了，人们的道德观念改变了。《了不起的盖茨比》正是在这样的背景下诞生的。在这部作品中，菲茨杰拉德多采用象征主义的手法真实而生动的描述了这一时期的美国风貌，并结合自身经历揭示了隐藏在他内心深处的情感。

    本文从象征主义的角度，分别从三个方面来分析这部文学作品，即《了不起的盖茨比》中场景、颜色以及人物的象征意义。它们所代表的象征意义从侧面揭示了二十世纪初期美国人对物质财富的狂热追求、社会道德的败坏，以及最终怀揣的“美国梦”的理想主义的破灭。

关键词: 《了不起的盖茨比》 象征主义  美国梦  

Abstract

F. Scott. Fitzgerald, a famous novelist in 1920s, is one of the representatives of the lost generation in the Jazz Age. In the era of the economic boom, with more people hysterically pursuing money, a majority of the American people have undergone profound changes in their behavior and inner hearts: Personal consumption has expanded rapidly; People’s lifestyle has changed abruptly and their moral value has been twisted greatly. The Great Gatsby was born in this background. This literary works vividly depicts the lifestyle of the Americans during that period of time by delicately using symbolism. In addition, it also combines the personal experience of Fitzgerald on the purpose of revealing the writer’s inner feelings.

From the perspective of symbolism, this thesis analyzes The Great Gatsby from three aspects, which are the symbolic meanings of the settings, the colors and the characters. When viewed from the other side, those symbols uncover the Americans’ rabid greed for wealth, the decadence of their social morality as well as the corruption of their idealistic American dream in the early 1920s .

Key words:  The Great Gatsby  symbolism  the American dream

Contents

Introduction 5

Chapter One The Symbolic Meanings of the Settings in The Great Gatsby 8

1.1 The Valley of Ashes 8

1.2 The Eyes of Dr. T. J. Ecklegurg 10

1.3 The East Egg and West Egg 12

Chapter Two The Symbolic Meanings of the Characters in The Great Gatsby 14

2.1 Jay Gatsby 14

2.2 Daisy Buchanan and Tom Buchanan 16

2.3 Nick Carraway 17

Chapter Three The Symbolic Meanings of the Colors in The Great Gatsby 19

3.1 Green: The Symbol of Hope, Illusion and Destruction 19

3.2 White: The Symbol of Purity, Guilt and Death 21

3.3 Gold: The Symbol of Wealth, Moral Decay and Death 22

Conclusion 24

Bibliography 24

Acknowledgments      26