Abstract: The Great Gatsby is a masterpiece written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the most outstanding American writers in the 20th century. Daisy is the major female character in this novel, and lots of critics consider her as an indifferent, selfish and mammonish woman. The author of this thesis thinks that Daisy was born in a rich family. She is accustomed to abundant material life and she may also be selfish and practical, but she does not lose her good nature at first. And she does have faith in love. However, she lives in a commercial society, in which money talks and women are treated as commodities. Under that circumstance, love without solid material as the basis cannot beat reality. Daisy cannot just count on love to live. Standing between the choice of love and life, she chooses life and meanwhile she undergoes an ethic metamorphosis. There is some evidence showing she is a victim of her age, and the writer of this thesis will analyze her character and ethic metamorphosis from the perspective of American Consumption culture. At the beginning of this essay, a brief introduction of the social background and some basic ideas about American consumption culture will be given. In the next part, the author of this thesis will analyze the character of the “original” Daisy according to her words and behaviors to prove that, at first, she is a girl who has faith in love, and she is not that indifferent and the next part will focus on how Daisy behaves now and then this Daisy will be compared with the original one to demonstrate that this one has undergone an ethic metamorphosis. The following part is to use the theory of consumption culture to analyze the reasons for Daisy’s ethic metamorphosis. The last part is the conclusion of this paper.
Key Word: Daisy; Ethic metamorphosis; consumption culture

摘要：《了不起的盖茨比》是20世纪美国最杰出的的作家之一斯科特•菲茨杰拉德的代表作。黛西是这部小说里的女主角，很多批评家认为她是一个冷漠、自私而又拜金的女人。但是，本文作者认为，黛西本性北非如此。黛西出生在一个富贵之家，从小就活在物质富足的环境里，她有她性格自私自利和现实的一面，但总体而言，她开始也是一个相信爱情的人。在一个消费社会里，金钱至上，女人被看作是商品，没有物质基础的爱情不足以与现实抗衡。所以，爱情并不能支撑黛西在那样的社会里活下去。在爱情和生存之间，黛西选择了生存，并在选择的同时承受了社会对她的道德腐蚀。有相关证据显示，黛西也是那个时代的受害者。本文作者会从消费文化的角度去分析黛西的性格特征和她受到的道德腐蚀。这篇论文共有四部分：在第一部分，是关于小说的社会背景和关于当时美国消费文化的一些基本概念以及前人的研究成果的简单介绍。第二部分，本文作者会从黛西的语言和动作去分析黛西未被彻底腐蚀前的性格特征，试图证明原来的她出生在富贵之家，有自私的一面，但并非一个无情之人。接下来的部分会聚焦与会分析经历蜕变后的黛西，第三部分，主要是用消费文化理论去解释黛西蜕变的原因和其蜕变的必然性。最后一部分就是全文的总结。
关键词：黛西 道德腐蚀 消费文化