从《了不起的盖茨比》看美国禁酒令时期的社会问题_英语论文

An Analysis of Social Problems in the Prohibition Period Refleted by The Great Gatsby

摘  要

禁酒令时期是美国一段非常特别的历史。

在泡沫经济飞速的发展的背景下，禁酒令无疑压抑了美国人一部分天性，导致了当时美国社会产生了一系列的问题。治安混乱、私酒泛滥、黑帮崛起、政府腐败、法律权威受损等等。

而美国著名作家费兹杰拉德所写的《了不起的盖茨比》就是一部描绘这个时代的著作。里面的角色都是历史真实人物的化身，从这本小说里，我们能一窥当时社会的面貌。

将二者结合起来研究,一方面用历史真实的人物事件来研究小说中的人物情节，更好地了解小说人物。另一方面用小说中的人物情节作为参考，更深入地研究禁酒令时期的社会问题。通过对比研究，对小说和历史两方面都做出更好的研究。

关键词：美国禁酒令时期；《了不起的盖茨比》; 对比研究

Abstract

Prohibition period is a very special part of American history.

Under the background of the bubble economy, prohibition undoubtedly repressed American nature. It leads to many social problems at that time. Bad social security, inundation of hootch, rise of gangs, government corruption, damage to law’s authority and so on.

The Great Gatsby written by the famous writer F.Scott Fitzgerald is a work which describes that age. Characters in the novel are the embodiment of people existed in history. We can see what the prohibition period looks like in the novel.

Therefore, combining two of them to study, on the one hand, using historical people and events to study characters in the novel helps understand their roles betters; on the other hand, using the characters and events as reference helps deepen the study of the prohibition period. By comparative study, we can have better study at both sides.

Keywords: American prohibition period; The Great Gatsby; Comparative study

Contents

Introduction

1. A Brief Introduction to The Great Gatsby……………………………………..1

1.1 About F. Scott Fitzgerald…………………………………………………….1

1.2 Age，Characters，Story................................................................................1

2. A Brief Introduction to Prohibition……………………………………………2

2.1 The History of Prohibition……………………………………………………3

2.2 Timeline and Events of Prohibition…………………………………………..3

3. A Comparative Study of characters in The Great Gatsby and the history…..4

3.1 The background of the age……………………………………………………6

3.2 Characters…………………………………………………………………….6

3.2.1 Party guests and hootch drinkers……………………………………..6

3.2.2 Gatsby and the bootlegger……………………………………………6

3.2.3 Wolfsheim and the gang leader………………………………………7

3.2.4 Commissioner and corrupt government officials…………………….8

4. Prohibition’s Influence to American society……….…………………………8

4.1 Deterioration of the liquor industry…………………………………………..9

4.2 The rise of American gang……………………………………………………9

4.3 Challenge to law’s authority…………………………………………………10

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..11

References…………………………………………………………………………...12