Abstract

F. S. Fitzgerald is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest novelists in 1920s in American literature. The Great Gatsby is one of Fitzgerald’s most famous works. Since its publication in 1925, it has been a focus for critical attention. A main feature of The Great Gatsby is its vivid portrayal of various female characters. Therefore studies on this aspect have never stopped. Focusing on three female characters from different walks of life: Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle, this paper analyzes their moral degradation and explores possible reasons for their negative images. 
This paper consists of four chapters. Chapter One presents a brief introduction to Fitzgerald and his masterpiece The Great Gatsby. Chapter Two introduces the moral degradation of the three women characters. Among other personalities, they are all money-oriented, dishonest and irresponsible. Chapter Three explores the reasons for the negative images of the three women characters. Their moral decadence results partly from the social and cultural influence of the Jazz Age and partly from the author’s negative attitudes towards women. And the last chapter is the conclusion.

Key words: images  female characters  The Great Gatsby  Fitzgerald   

摘要

弗朗西斯·菲茨杰拉德是20世纪20年代美国文坛的一位重要作家。《了不起的盖茨比》是菲茨杰拉德的代表作之一。自1925年问世以来，小说一直受到评论界的广泛关注。小说的主要特征之一是书中个性鲜明的女性角色，而关于这些女性形象的评论从来没有停止过。本文主要分析小说中刻画的三位来自不同社会阶层的女性人物黛西、乔丹和茉特尔的负面形象，并探讨造成她们负面形象的原因。
    全文共分四章。第一章主要介绍作者菲茨杰拉德和他的杰作《了不起的盖茨比》。第二章分析小说中三位女性的非道德形象。她们都有着金钱至上、不诚实、不负责任的特点。第三章主要分析形成三位女性负面形象的原因。她们的道德堕落一方面源于爵士时代社会和文化的影响，另一方面源于作者本人对女性所持的否定态度。最后一章是结论。

关键词: 形象；女性角色；《了不起的盖茨比》；菲茨杰拉德

Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Introduction to Fitzgerald and His Literary World
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was a distinguished American novelist and short story writer. He is widely considered as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. He is a member of the “Lost Generation” and a universally acknowledged spokesman of the Jazz Age.
Born in 1896, Fitzgerald was raised in a St. Paul middle class family. He received an expensive education first in a private school, and later in Princeton. He enlisted in the army in 1917. During his 15 months of service in the army, he met and fell in love with a wild seventeen-year-old beauty named Zelda Sayre. Though Zelda liked him very much, she still told that she was too expensive for him. However, a year later, with the success of the novel This side of Paradise, Fitzgerald won Zelda’s heart and began his onerous life of making money to satisfy the needs and wants of this woman.