摘要

    《了不起的盖茨比》在英语文坛上已久负盛名，评论家从各个方面对盖茨比进行解析，多是赞赏盖茨比的执着善良，或是批判他的沉沦堕落，可往往忽略了盖茨比美国梦的萌生与发展。正是美国梦给了盖茨比前行的动力和支撑，也是他所有行为的指向标。本文将探讨美国梦的发展历程及其原因，揭示美国梦破灭的必然性。
关键词：了不起的盖茨比，弗•司各特•菲茨杰拉德，美国梦    

Abstract

    The Great Gatsby has enjoyed .a high reputation in the history of English literature. Critics have analyzed Gatsby from many perspectives, mostly praising the persistence and goodness of his personality, or criticizing his degradation and depravity, but they often ignored the origin and development of Gatsby’s American Dream. It was the developing American Dream that provided Gatsby with motivation and support to move on to his goal. This paper will probe into the development and reasons of Gatsby’s American Dream, and reveal the inevitability of the disillusionment of the American Dream.

Key words: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald，American Dream

1. Introduction
    F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. He obtained irreplaceable position in history of American literature and was known as the spokesman of Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby was regarded as his greatest work, which profoundly reflected spiritual and social features of America in 1920s, and the inexorable law of the collapse of American dream. The American Dream was the main line through the whole novel, the formation, development and disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream revealed the expectation and disillusionment of the whole American generation and the cruel and selfish society at that time.