[摘要]：

“美国梦”是每一个美国人都有机会提高他们的经济和社会地位。在美国，一个人的家庭背景不是他未来发展的限制因素，只要他们充分利用自己的才能就能达到自己的巅峰。在美国文学历史上有数以百计描述“美国梦”的作品。菲茨杰拉德是美国“迷惘一代”作家，“爵士时代”的领袖和桂冠诗人。“爵士时代”是历史上最昂贵的饮酒作乐的时期，整个民族都在纵情享受、追求幸福。然而，J.D. 塞林格的《麦田的守望者》从不同方面描述了霍尔顿”美国梦”的破灭。两部小说都反应了社会现实、空虚背后的精神危机，也揭示了美国不同时期的不同的问题。Jay 盖茨比和霍尔顿都是“美国梦”的牺牲品，他们的生命充满悲剧色彩。他们梦想的破碎正是二十世纪美国生活的体现。社会现实导致了“美国梦”的破碎。

[关键词]：美国梦；盖茨比；霍尔顿；破碎。

Abstract:

The idea of American Dream is that all Americans have the opportunity to improve themselves economically and socially. In American, it is said, a person’s circumstance at birth place has no limit on his or her potential; people can make use of themselves whatever they choose and rise as high as they are willing to climb in history. There were a large number of works in American Literature’s history describing American Dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald is famous American writer of the Lost Generation who is also the spokesman of “Jazz Age”-the most expensive orgy in history, the whole upper tenth of a nation living with the insouciance of grand dukes and the casualness of chorus girls.[1]  However, the J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye from the different aspect description the collapse of Holden’s American Dream. The two novels both reflect the social reality, spiritual crisis behind the vanity, and reveal the different problem in American different ages. Jay Gatsby and Holden are the victims of American Dream and their lives are full of tragedy. The wreckage of their dreams is just the reflection of American life in the twentieth century. It is the reality that leads their American Dream shattered.

Key words: American Dream; Jay Gatsby; Holden; Collapse.

1.    Introduction
American Dream is a belief that is commonly supported by most American people. The origin of the American Dream can be traced back to the early 17th century. Generally speaking, people going to America can be divided into two types: one type includes those who wanted to escape from the political and religious persecution of the Old World and to seek freedom of religious beliefs in the New World; others are the ordinary Europeans who dreamed of fortune and better living. Both kinds of people believed that the New World is a place of wonder where their wildest dreams can come true. So, American is the “happy land” in people’s eyes.