摘要：

弗朗西斯·司各特·菲茨杰拉德是美国爵士时代的引导者，同时也是美国20世纪杰出作家之一。他的作品《了不起的盖茨比》是对美国梦破灭进行反讽的一部杰作，同时作者在书中运用多种颜色词描述相关背景以及人物性格。本文从探究《了不起的盖茨比》中颜色词及其象征意义的角度出发，对作品中颜色词含义及其象征的本质内涵——美国梦的破灭，进行较为全面的分析，从而对作者的写作风格有更加深刻的了解。

关键词：《了不起的盖茨比》；颜色词；象征意义；美国梦的破灭

Abstract:

F. S. Fitzgerald was the leader of the American Jazz Age and one of the most prominent authors in the 20th century. His work The Great Gatsby was an outstanding masterpiece to satirize disillusionment of the American Dream. Meanwhile the author used several kinds of color words to describe characters and relevant background. The thesis is based on the analysis of color words and their symbolic meanings and essential connotation--- disillusionment of American Dream and makes an overall understanding of the work. Then readers can have a deeper understanding of the author’s writing style.

Key words: The Great Gatsby; color words; symbolic meaning; disillusionment of         American Dream 

1. Introduction
    F. Scott Fitzgerald was the leader of the Jazz Age in the United States and regarded as one of the most outstanding novelists in the 1920s. Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby was a novel written by him with the background of New York City and the Long Island in the 1920s. The background of the novel was set in the upper class of white people in the modernized American society and developed by the illustration of Nick. The Great Gatsby made a solid foundation of Fitzgerald position in modern American literature, making him the spokesman of the Jazz Age and one of the representatives of the lost generation in 1920s. The author used the method of symbolism and color words to express disillusionment of the younger generation after the First World War. The Great Gatsby had tremendous influence in founding Fitzgerald’s position in the world literature history.
Fitzgerald used simple words to tell a seemingly unimportant love story, which had no connection with the history to be rich or the process to be succeeded. However, it was this story that made readers feel sad and regretful. When the girl from a rich family met a poor guy in an army, a sad love story began. As was described in the novel, when Gatsby kissed Daisy, he stopped for a while. Because he knew that once he kissed that girl, his heart would not be that free anymore.