Greatness and Vulgarness

Why did you choose this particular book?

When I first come across the title of the book The Great Gatsby, I wondered why the man Gatsby is great and how. The word “great” is always on our lips: we say a man is great, a party is great, a situation is great. It seems that evrything can be great, it is somewhat like an interjection exhaled by us whenever we feel “great”. However, the original meaning of this word is meant to be awesome，majestic, magnificent and momentous. So it really kept me intrigued that why the author use so simple and so complicate a word “great” to discribe the hero in the title.

Title

Abstract：It is a kind of book review of The Great Gatsby , I firstly give a brief introduction to the auther F. Scott Fitzgerald, then concisely represent the plot and the analysis of the main characters in this novel. At last I talk about the greatness and vulgarness represented in this novel and make a study of the reason why Gatsby failed to realize his dream.

Key word: F. Scott Fitzgerald, plot, character analysis, greatness, vulgarness, Gatsby.

Title

1.      Brief Introduction of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is born in September 24, 1896 Saint Paul, Minnesota, to an upper middle class Irish Catholic family and died of heart attack on December 21, 1940. though an intelligent child, he did poorly in school and was sent to a New Jersey boarding school in 1911. Despite being a mediocre student there, he managed to enroll at Princeton in 1913. when he was at the college, he always have academic problems and never graduated. But in 1917, he was enlisted in the army as World War I neared its end.
  Fitzgerald became a second lieutenant, and was stationed at Camp Sheridan, in Montgomery, Alabama. There he met and fell in love with Zelda Sayre. He wanted to marry her but she hesitated for he is not so rich. Until his work This Side of Paradise was published in 1920 which owned Fitzgerald great fame in literature, and enough money that Zelda finally agreed to marry him.

After marriage, they lead a wild, reckless life-style of parties and decadence.

He amasses a great deal of wealth at throwing parties buy luxuries. As the giddiness of the Roaring Twenties dissolved into the bleakness of the Great Depression, however, Zelda suffered a nervous breakdown and Fitzgerald battled alcoholism, which hampered his writing. He published Tender Is the Night in 1934, and sold short stories to The Saturday Evening Post to support his lavish lifestyle. In 1937, he left for Hollywood to write screenplays, and in 1940, while working on his novel The Love of the Last Tycoon, died of a heart attack at the age of forty-four.

He is a famous American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself and is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

2.     Plot

It is a sad story about the man Gatsby which is narrated in a third person’s view by Nick Carraway. Nick is a young bachelor from a patrician Midwestern family and Daisy is the second cousin of Nick. He rented a small bungalow between two mansions in West Egg, a wealthy community on Long Island Sound. Across the bay was East Egg, inhabited by the "old aristocracy," including Tom and Daisy Buchanan. One day he visited his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom, in their house he also met Jordan Baker, a well-known female golfer. It is she that firstly mentioned Gatsby and told Nick that Tom has a mistress in New York City. This mistress come to the stage in Nick and Tom’s later trip to New York. On the way, they stop at a shabby garage owned by   George Wilson where Nick is introduced to the owner's wife, Myrtle. She is a fat woman and is the evry mistress of Tom.

Jay Gatsby is Nick’s next-door neighbor, who owns that splendid maison and throws big parties almost every night. The parties are really big and wild, a lot of people who even don’t know Gatsby appear in the parties and there are different kinds of rumors pervaded in the crowd. Nick is also curious ablout him. Attending himself at the party after an invitation one weekend, he acquaints  Gatsby a little dramatically.

At first, Nick feels a bit sick about Gatsby, but later, he changes his mind through the things happens following.

The main line of the story firstly come to the scene at the lunch in New York City with Meyer Wolfsheim. When Nick sees Tom and tries to introduce Gatsby he finds that Gatsby has disappeared. His strange look and sudden disappearance buries a hint to the following story.

And later the story or Gatsby’s secret gradually come to the surface. Jordan Baker reveals to Nick that Gatsby had fallen in love with Daisy long ago as an Army Lieutenant stationed near Daisy's hometown, Louisville. After the war, Gatsby came here and bought his mansion near Daisy and Tom, where he hosts parties hoping she will visit. Jordan says Gatsby would like Nick to arrange a meeting with Daisy. Nick agrees and invites Daisy and Gatsby to his house. Thus they renew their relationship

Daisy invites Gatsby and Nick to her mansion, and Tom discovers that relationship between Daisy and Gatsby. When they are leaving, Tom insists changing the cars with Gatsby, as he stops by Wilson's garage for gas he shows off Gatsby's car. And at the hotel Tom put their affair to the air. Gatsby demands Daisy to say that she loves him and never loves Tom; while Daisy hesitated and she says she loves both of them. Tom scornfully tells Gatsby that he will never win. Gatsby retorts that the reason Daisy married Tom was because he (Gatsby) was too poor to marry Daisy. Tom visibly loses composure and reveals that Gatsby is a bootlegger. Gatsby tries to defend himself to Daisy. Tom knows Daisy's materialistic nature and by taking away Gatsby's air of financial security, Daisy is now beyond his reach. With the situation between Tom and Gatsby tense, Daisy runs out of the hotel with Gatsby following her to Gatsby's car, where she insists on driving home as it will calm her nerves. Tom believing he has beaten Gatsby, leaves with Nick and Jordan.

George Wilson, suspicious that his wife is having an affair argues with her. Myrtle runs outside as Gatsby's car coming near and she mistaken Gatsby as Tom, and finally strucked by the car and died. Daisy and Gatsby speed away. Later Tom, Jordan and Nick notice a commotion by Wilson's garage on their way to East Egg and stop. While George mourns, moaning over his wife's body, a bystander tells of having seen a yellow car strike Myrtle. As George takes in this information, Tom tells George the car wasn't his but George doesn't seem to listen and Tom, Jordan and Nick leave.

Later Nick gets the truth of the accident from Gatsby that it is Daisy who was driving when the car struck Myrtle. Next morning Nick finds Gatsby depressed, unsure wether Daisy still loves him and awaits a call from her. Regarding himself as Gatsby’s closest friend, Nick suggests Gastby to leave for some days. But it is obvious that Gatsby will never leave the place where Daisy is there.

On another hand, Wilson finally finds Gatsby’s home. He kills him and then commits suicide.

In Gatsby’s funeral, few people would like to come though Nick has made great efforts. In the end, only Nick, Gatsby's father and the "owl-eyed" man who admired the books in Gatsby's library, appear in Gatsby’s funeral.

Later Nick accidentally come across with Tom, who admits that he revealed to George Wilson that Gastby is the owner of the car, leading the deranged man finally finds Gatsby and kills him.

Digusted with Tom, Daisy and Jordan, Nick returns permenently to the Mid weast, reflecting on Gatsby’s dreams and the sad and cyclical nature of the past.

3.     Character Analysis

Nick Carraway: Nick Carraway is a young bachelor from a patrician Midwestern family After World War I, he returns to the Midwest before settling in New York City to "learn the bond business." As the neighbour of Gatsby, he naturally acquaintes Gatsby and become a close friend of him. He is somewhat a hinge in the relationship of all the characters in the novel as well as the narrator. It is him who promoted the development of the story. He witnesses the affair of Tom and his mistress Myrtle, arranges the meeting of Daisy and Gatsby, partakes their arguments and finally settles Gatsby’s funeral. He is a part of the story as well as a outlooker of the story of Gatsby. From the novel we can see that he is absolutely a moral man. Firstly, he is a common young man who are tolerant, reserve and good-tempered, but gives me an impression of nonchalance. He cares little, when he sees the mistress of Tom, he shows no anger or criticize. But later, as with the develpoment of his relationship with Gastby, I see his change, his gradually being a full character who has a clearcut of what is wright and what is wrong. Through Gatsby’s tragedy, he learns the hypocracy, indifference, decadence, shelfishness of the so-called upper class. Above all, he is a man of great moral. He disgust Tom and Daisy for their selfishness and cowardness, he detest those so-called friends of Gatsby who even dare not attend his funeral. Beliving himself the close friend of Gatsby, he suggests him to leave after the accident, arrange the funeral himself after Gatsby’s death. Without doubt, he is a loyal friend. And through the development of the story, he himself gets matured in his moral sense and deepens his congnition of the world.

Jay Gatsby: Hero of the novel, Gatsby is firstly a poor young man from village and has a hard time in his youth. And we can see that he is abosolutely a intelligent and disciplined man of the disposition of a romantic poet. At the end of the novel, we see a schedule  and general resolvesof Gatsby. Busy engaged in self-improving, he really would be a great man, if he left his dream of Daisy behind and looked forward. As his father says he would help build the country. Come back to the point, as a poor young guy, he serendipitously meets the Captain and later owns a position in the army, while after the captain’s death, he would lose his position whenver possible, while then he fall in love with Daisy, a decent beauty in his mind. While they don’t get married for he is so poor a guy then. He asks her to wait for him and then go to the war. Not resolute enough, Daisy gives up to the reality and marry Tom. Gatsby come back withgreat fortune but only to find his beloved one has alreay been other’s wife. By all manners of means, he meets Daisy again, but died as a price. His life is a tragedy as all his life he lives in his lonely and illusory dream. He unscrupulously gains his wealth trying to win back Daisy’s heart with his material wealth. Inherently he is romantic, when he is poor, his courtship to Daisy is romantic but that does not win him her final chose, later, ironically, he uses the vulgar means( his great wealth and lavish parties) to win Daisy’s love which he thinks is romantic. However, in front of that accident, Daisy gives him up again and chose to run away with Tom to protect herself. and our poor Gatsby is killed innocently. I don’t know what he thinks the moment of his death. But I know at that moment, his dreamsall vanish into the air, his dream of love, his dream of wealth, all those dissolve into ashes and finally evaporates in that money-eyed and hypocritic world. “He didn’t know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.”

Daisy Buchanan: As Gatsby’s love, Nick’s cousin, and Tom’s wife, she however is a shallow flabby and coward woman though attractive and beautiful.  But in my mind, she was not so shallow and vulgar as she is later in the novel. Five years ago, with her attractive figure and charming voice, she wins Gastby’s love, I believe there must be also something beautiful in her inward world. And she really does love Gatsby that time, but she falls into the main stream of the hypocitical world and goes after for material wealth. She finally gives up to the reality and choses to marry Tom, a wealthy but flabby man. she has no reason to reject the courtship in the value of that world. In such a decadent world, she is not resolute enough to stick to her innocent love, she is designed to degenerate, leaving only a beautiful but vacuous body. Five years later, with her illusory image still in Gatsby’s mind, Daisy herself has already become a shallow and selfish woman worships money and status. Under Gatsby’s persue with great fortune, she decides to leave her husband and go away with him, however, when Tom reveals that Gatsby is a bootlegger, she feels Gastby’s wealth and status is not secure, she again sways, what’s more, after the accident, she relentlessly abandon Gastby and run away with Tom and indirectly killed Gastby. But she is even indifferent to his death and not attend his funeral. She is completely degraded, as Gastby once said to Nick: her voice is full of money.

Tom Buchanan: Tom is the husband of Daisy. He is a typcal representative of the upper class of that time: wealthy, arrogant, selfish, flabby and hypocritical. He thinks he loves Daisy, but he has an affair with Myrtle, a fat and frippery woman who is also the wife of George B. Wilson. He wasonce a famous football player but now outdated. When he finds Gastby loves Daisy, his words become acrimonious and his behaviour become stupid. This is not blameful but compared with Gatsby, his flabby origin comes to the scene and then his wealth and high status become a irony for him. After he finds that Gatsby loves Daisy, he insidiously makes an investigtion to Gatsby, and tries to win back Daisy by disclosing his dark business. Later it is he insists swiching the car with Gatsby, which later contributes Myrtle’s mistaking Gatsby with him and finally leads to that accident. It can be said that it is he that directly caused the accident and the tragedy. While in front of deranged George Wilson, he conceals the truth. His selfishness,and cowardness in fully embodied in the development of the story.

Jordan Baker: She is the friend of Daisy, and have an intrest of Nick. In the novel, she also plays a role who reveals the story in anoter person’s view. While she lies a lot and is also every selfish.

George B. Wilson: He is a mechanic and owner of a garage and also the husband of Myrtle. From the story we can see that he is ship before his wife who never say a word aloud to her. But tragically he could not win his wife’s heart. When he finally gets suspicous of his wife and desides to beat her, his wife died in the accident. To unleash his sorrowness to his wife or his anger towards his poor experience, he kills Gastby and commits suicide.

Myrtle Wilson: George Wilson's unstable wife and Tom Buchanan's mistress.she is also a woman worships Tom’s wealth and status.

Klipspringer: a sponger who virtually lives at Gatsby's mansion.

Henry C. Gatz: Gatsby's somewhat estranged father.

4.     comment:

Greatness and Vulgarness

   

“He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.”

In the end of this novel, we can see these paragraph narrated by Nick, making us wrenching deep in the heart for Gatsby’s innocent death and for the ruin of his dream. The maximal tragedy is to smash the best things before one’s eyes. Through all the novel, Gatsby’s qualities win the Nick’s friendship and respect as well as our readers’. I’m deeply moved by his selfless sacrifice for Daisy and his obsession with his dream, his green light across the river.

The Great Gatsby, the line to divide great and vulgar is blurred in Gatsby. He has many great qualities which win our hearts but also intrigued in the darkside of the society, his gaining of wealth, his business, all these can not and should not be negleacted.

He is great for his consistence in love. Never does he once abandons his deep love for Daisy. We can learn from the novel that he throws splendid parties with great music and dizzy lights and champagne. Hundreds of people both invited and uninvited come to the party making lots of whisperings. While in such a flashy and noisy background, Gatsby himself “never drinks and stand alone on the marble steps with his tanned skin drawn attractively light on his face anf his short hair looked as though it were trimmed everyday”. The stricking comparison between the decadence and friuppery of the party and the neatness and dignity of Gatsby making his loneliness more impressing. The various people and splendid parties and music and the bouquet of champagne  in his own house never reach to his soul. It seems that he is isolated like a lonely islet surrounded by the roaring sea. However, all these loneliness are all for one girl: Daisy, his dream. Never has he once swings and left the dream behind even to his death though he himself realizes that her voice is full of money. And all his strange behavour can be explained once we relate them to Daisy. He strechs his arms to the darkness facing the river. Since, Daisy lives across the river. He is hugging his Daisy instead of the darkness in his own mind. All his decorations in his house are designed to win Daisy’s favour, when Daisy firstly visits his house, we see how neverous he is. He dismisses his servents to avoid their talking of Daisy which will harm her fame. He would rather to take the accusation after the accident, what he cares is only that whether she is safe and fine. He refuse to leave the house for he is waiting for Daisy’s acception to leave with him, and finally pays his life as the price. All his short life is streched only for his Daisy.

He is great in his manners and his discipline. “He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with quality of eternal assurance in it...it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.” “ He looks from one group to another with approving eyes.” In the novel it is easy for us to find these kinds of discription of his manner. And at the end of the novel we see a schedule  and general resolvesof Gatsby. All these assure us that he is a gentle man. This quality is also represented in the comparison with Tom and with Daisy. They are careless people and always go away after making a mass and this time they indirectly killed Gatsby.

However, Gatsby’s greatness is set off by the vulgarness of other characters and environment in the novel. In that dark world, the cloud of hypocricy and selfishness and decadence embraces that time, and Gatsby’s appearance likes a dim light, and this is the few light’s extinguishing piles up the desparate atmosphere. In the novel, Daisy, the goddess in Gatsby’s mind, however is such shallow, selfish and money-worshipping woman. Inside her beautiful and charming appearance is her vulgar inner soul. The author arranged this stricking gulf between Gatsby’s dream and the reality, highlighting the sorrowness in readers’ heart. And Tom’s vulgarness also serves as a contrast image to highlight Gatsby’s greatness. Though he is the so-called upper class, we can see his decadent inner qualities: arrogant, selfish, flabby and hypocritical. And Klipspringer, a sponger who virtually lives at Gatsby's mansion, calls back after Gatsby’s death only for his shoes for a picnic. At last, only three person arttend Gatsby’s funeral. Compared with those thronged and noisy parties, his funeral is obviously an irony of the people and of the time.

However, Gatsby is also vulgar. In those five years, how he gained  his wealth and what is his business that own him so large a fortune? Though it is not detailed in the novel, but we still can get a hint from the discriptions of others, from Tom, Meyer Wolfsheim and still some others. It is obvious that his business is not legitimate. And that later become Tom’s stake to win Daisy. He discloses he is a bootlegger and makes Daisy sways. To own the credentials to win Daisy’s love, he devotes himself in gaining posessions insidiously. We readers aways neglect this point for his deep love of Daisy and automatically forgive him.

In the time of vugarness, Gatsby seems doomed to fail. And we can say that in some extent, it is he himself who caused his faliure. Busy engaged in self-improving, he really would be a great man, if he left his dream of Daisy behind and looked forward. As his father says he would help build the country. His stubbornness and unwilling to come to the reality lead him to his final death. He does have a great inner soul, however, misguied by the time and people, he mistakenly believes that money and status will win him his dream and finally falls into vulgarness.

Conclusion: Gatsby is great, however, he lives in a time of vulgarness and among the vulgar people, he is doomed to fail. His death is a condenm of the world of that time and a condemn of the so-called upper class. A lot of themes like the decadence of the upper class and darkside of people are reflected in this book, and the way of plotting the story and the beautiful languange, to dig them out, I should read morecarefully.

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA——BOOK REPORT

Why did you choose this particular book? Typical reasons might be:

I like Hemingway and his books especially The Old Man and The Sea. The old fisherman is so brave and his spirit of the sentence “A man can be destroyed but not defeated” is so well. So I choose this book

一 Title

Abstract：

The Old Man and the Sea tells the frustrated experience that the old fisherman fishes in the course. The theme is deep, and it is a song of praise of heroism. “But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated” has been the classic saying and the old man also has been the most typical and the most representative of the Hemingway’s “tough guy”. When Hemingway talked about the successful factors later, the little boy was mentioned in the same breath with the old man. This paper starts with the details and it is divided into two main parts to discuss the indispensable roles of the little boy in the novel. It is him who helps to perform the theme of “grace under pressure”: during 40 days, the old man with the little boy went to fish but without taking a fish, when his situation was getting worse step by step, the little boy’s leaving was the heavy pressure that achieved the extreme stern for certain. However , it was so “heavy pressure” that his manner was graceful when the old man faced afterwards defeat and his optimistic, generous life attitude was worthy tasting by people carefully; it is him who plays the role of leading, inspiring to the readers, and increasing the appeal of the work, enriching the content of the work: although the little boy appears only at the beginning and the ending in the novel, there is nothing in his inner state but the old man, so his attitude and emotions towards the old man affects the readers’ emotions for the old man quietly and gradually. And it is unavoidable that his inner feeling leads and impacts the readers’ emotions.

Terse words, vivid images, copious emotions and profound thoughts were the outstanding features of The Old Man and the Sea. The novella was one of Hemingway’s masterpieces, which solidly confirmed the renown of him and made him one of the most influential writers in American history.

In this novel, two opposites existing side by side depended on each other and were unified, namely, Hemingway created the delightful characters and plots. On the other hand, he created tragic ambience in the whole novel. People could find the plot of tragedy from the old man. At the same time, they could also feel the inspiring strength from him; the big marlin lived in the Gulf Stream, a place far away from the old man, but it was doomed to be a tragedy when the old man went far out. It fought against the old man for three days and nights which was also inspiring.

This thesis has analyzed the old man and the big marlin separately to demonstrate that they contained both delightful and tragic facets, which brought about the novel’s success and novelty. The combination of the two facets was the soul of the whole story and gave the novel oneness.

Key word:

Code hero; pressure; grace; a set of values; undefeated; the little boy; the old man; grace under pressure; The Old Man and the Sea

二 Title

1. A brief introduction to Hemingway, Ernest

1899–1961, American novelist and short-story writer, b. Oak Park, Ill. one of the great American writers of the 20th century

Life

The son of a country doctor, Hemingway worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star after graduating from high school in 1917. During World War I he served as an ambulance driver in France and in the Italian infantry and was wounded just before his 19th birthday. Later, while working in Paris as a correspondent for the Toronto Star, he became involved with the expatriate literary and artistic circle surrounding Gertrude Stein. During the Spanish Civil War, Hemingway served as a correspondent on the loyalist side. He fought in World War II and then settled in Cuba in 1945. In 1954, Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. After his expulsion from Cuba by the Castro regime, he moved to Idaho. He was increasingly plagued by ill health and mental problems, and in July, 1961, he committed suicide by shooting himself.

Work

Hemingway’s fiction usually focuses on people living essential, dangerous lives—soldiers, fishermen, athletes, bullfighters—who meet the pain and difficulty of their existence with stoic courage. His celebrated literary style, influenced by Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein, is direct, terse, and often monotonous, yet particularly suited to his elemental subject matter. Hemingway’s books are Three Stories and Ten Poems (1923), In Our Time (short stories, 1924), and The Torrents of Spring (a novel, 1926), attracted attention primarily because of his literary style. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises (1926), he was recognized as the spokesman of the “lost generation” (so called by Gertrude Stein). The novel concerns a group of psychologically bruised, disillusioned expatriates living in postwar Paris, who take psychic refuge in such immediate physical activities as eating, drinking, traveling, brawling, and lovemaking. His next important novel, A Farewell to Arms (1929), tells of a tragic wartime love affair between an ambulance driver and an English nurse. Hemingway also published such volumes of short stories as Men without Women (1927) and Winner Take Nothing (1933), as well as The Fifth Column, a play. His First Forty-nine Stories (1938) includes such famous short stories as “The Killers,” “The Undefeated,” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” Hemingway’s nonfiction works, Death in the Afternoon (1932), about bullfighting, and Green Hills of Africa (1935), about big-game hunting, glorify virility, bravery, and the virtue of a primal challenge to life. From his experience in the Spanish Civil War came Hemingway’s great novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), which, in detailing an incident in the war, argues for human brotherhood. His novella “The Old Man and the Sea” celebrates the indomitable courage of an aged Cuban fisherman. Among Hemingway’s other works are the novels To Have and Have Not (1937) and Across the River and into the Trees (1950); he also edited an anthology of stories, Men at War (1942).Posthumous publications include A Moveable Feast (1964), a memoir of Paris in the 1920s; the novels Islands in the Stream (1970) and True at First Light (1999), a safari saga begun in 1954 and edited by his son Patrick; and The Nick Adams Stories (1972), a collection that includes previously unpublished pieces.

His awards:

During his lifetime, he was awarded with Silver Medal of Military Valor in World War I Pulitzer Prize in 1953 (for The Old Man and the Sea) Nobel Prize in literature in 1954 (also partly for The Old Man and the Sea). In 2001, two of his books, The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, would be named to the list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library.

A simple version

The Hemingway code heroes and grace under pressure: They have seen the cold world, and for one cause, they boldly and courageously face the reality. They have an indestructible spirit for his optimistic view of life. Whatever is the result is, they are ready to live with grace under pressure. No matter how tragic the ending is, they will never be defeated. Finally, they will be prevailing because of their indestructible spirit and courage.

The iceberg technique:

Hemingway believes that a good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or action. The one-eighth that is presented will suggest all other meaningful dimensions of the story. Thus, Hemingway’s language is symbolic and suggestive.

2. Plot：

The old man and the sea "is no complicated plot of the story, it's being able to become a give a person with aesthetic feeling works of art, literature lies in the" multi-layer Hemingway confirm sex: is a foundation of works of art, and in the novel can be put to use. Just as he once said: "I am trying to model a real fish and real shark. If we can make them shaping excellently real, they will mean a lot. "Any a great work of art, its main dyke wager sun can be simply summarize. In the novel, he adopted various symbol, image, making the novel connotation heavy and complicated, full of rich subject.

Failure theme

Failure is most important in life creating Hemingway's theme. From his first film "we of The Times to the islands of current appeared posthumously, his hero are valiant struggle, but inevitably fail. "The old man and the sea" in the old man is such a fight loser. He works with Hemingway other similar characters and same, it is in the life the sea and doom indomitable struggle, finally ended in failure. He was a failure, but his failure completely different from that no goal, no price, meaningless failure because he was in consciously pursuit and finish his “born to dry” mission of failed, is in maintenance and defends their dignity "and" glorious "of failed. He failed, but it is only the physical strength and failure, his faith and hope but never burst he failed, yet he did not yield to failure. This in and failure in the struggle of failure only makes him mentally victorious; in the "towards failure of poise on" the victory. This is Hemingway to celebrate "butch" spirit, It is a kind of the human spirit, namely person mentally is indestructible and obtain good guarantee for the future. This is what works to express a theme - "person to bravely face failure."

3. Character Analysis：

The old man was optimistic. He still talked about the baseball and went to the Terrace to drink and chat though he was in a bad situation at that time. He used the lie to deal with the poor life. He still met the first sunshine every morning and went to fish on the sea no matter what the result was. He did not live on fishing, but fishing had already become part of his life and part of his memory. This was a true man, living, being tolerant to everything-- derision, solitude and even the leaving of the boy.

The old man was confident. His rich experience and skill of fishing acquired day by day made him confident. He believed that he would hook a big fish. He even wished to meet a group of fish which had lost their way. He left the sea shore and began his heroic voyage on the eighty fifth day.

The old man was patient. The fish which stayed in the 600 foot under the sea was clever. The fish under the quiet surface was competing with the patience against the old man and struggling against the old man as if this was the last moment of the peaceful world. The old man was enduring the danger bought by the fish. Moreover, he was enduring hunger, exhaustion, fatigue, hurt and loneliness. He was overcoming the fish. Moreover, he was overcoming himself. “Fish”, he said softly, aloud, “I'll stay with you until I am dead.”(Hemingway, 37) Life, at this time, was not a wager, but contending.

4. Comment:

Hemingway's story began by depicting the interaction between the two primary characters as they prepared their fishing gear for the following day near a Gulf Stream harbor in 1940’s. The opening profile was Santiago, the “old man” in the title, and the character throughout the story. He was a Cuban fisherman, described as being old in every way except his eyes, which “were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated”（Hemingway, 4）. Although Santiago had not caught a fish for eighty-four days, he ignored the jeers and pity of other fishermen, and returned to the sea in his skiff day after day. Santiago's attitude seemed to be that although he was faced with tragedy -- as everyone was sooner or later in life -- he would not cease struggling. Relying on memories of his youth, news of the Great DiMaggio's recovery from injury, and thoughts of the boy, Santiago had the courage to resolutely go on taking pains throughout the story. By struggling against a big marlin for three days and nights, he finally killed it. But several groups of sharks frequently attacked the dead marlin on the way. He did not take the whole of it back at last but just its head, tail and the whole spine.  

This novel has been studied by so many people and given different perspectives as follows: Iceberg Theory Embodied in The Old Man and the Sea: “One eighths of an iceberg is above the water, while seven eighths is underneath the water. Profound levels of meaning and strong emotions will not enchant you until you dive into the water”.

Analysis on Metaphor Used in the Novel: “Ernest Hemingway employed metaphors. In the novels that Ernest Hemingway wrote, he used metaphors to reflect his life experiences and opinions. He believed that in life everyone must find their own niche and used the metaphor of the ocean and the boats on it to demonstrate this”

 The Role of Mandolin and His Relationship with Santiago:” Conversations between Santiago and Mandolin were added to the beginning and the end of the fishing tale. The conversational frame established a relationship between Mandolin and Santiago which let the old man complete his significant exploration and return with marlin carcass”. The Old Man Was the Incarnation of Christ:“ The old man had experienced two processes of being nailed by the crucifix. These plots showed he had no difference with that of Christ” Analysis of Heroism Reflected in The Old Man and the Sea:“ He hooked a big marlin. This was one of his successes. He drove away the sharks from time to time on his way home even though his fish was almost eaten up by the sharks. This was his second success-- the success in spirit”. Studies about these aspects mentioned above were really deep and comprehensive. They gave a lot of references to readers and helped them with comprehension this novel. The opinions were reasonable, receivable and valuable. However, few people have talked about the tragic ambience blended harmoniously in this novel. They had even ignored one thing-- everything has double characters. This novel was actually a combination of the tragic and delightful facet. The characters in the story contained the two aspects which were oppositions in logic, but unity seen from the whole story. So this thesis will give the novel new soul and provide another way of appreciating it to millions of readers.

5. Conclusion:                         

The old unlucky poor man-- Santiago had a tragic fate, but, at the same time, he was a winner who could not be defeated. When his big fish was eaten up by the sharks, he asked himself: “‘what beat you?' ------' Nothing,' he said aloud, ' I went out too far' (Hemingway, 92) ". The old man admitted his failure bravely. But he still believed his strength absolutely. He believed that he was still courageous although he was lost, and he believed that he was not defeated by the sharks in spirit because what had been exterminated was the sharks, not him. Then he finished the surplus work calmly.

The big fish could live happily in the deep ocean originally but it was killed by the old man although it struggled for many days. It could not escape this kind of fate. This was the tragedy for it. However, Hemingway showed its beauty and dignity during the whole process by describing its firmness and intelligence. It was nearly eaten up by the sharks after it was killed. But it’s beautiful backbone surprised people. Hemingway combined its tragedy and noble quality together to form the complete fish.

According to the author's experiences, he had experienced a lot and made contribution to his country. In this sense, he was also a hero. However, he was defeated by the pain of the illness. His health was worsening day by day. He finally shot himself to end this pain. In this novella, the author put his own image onto the old man-- Santiago. He described Santiago's tragedy, but emphasized that a man could be destroyed, but could not be defeated. He said Santiago was a success in spirit, which was also the way he used to deal with his own fate.

6. Famous remark:

1. Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

2. Man is not much beside the great birds and beasts.

3. Pain does not matter to a man.

4. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.

5. But, then, nothing is easy.

6. The clouds over the land now rose like mountains and the coast was only a long green line with the gray blue hills behind it. The water was a dark blue now, so dark that it was almost purple.

7. Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is. 

8. It is silly not to hope, he thought.

9. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert. Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.

10. They were strange shoulders, still powerful although very old, and the neck was still strong too and the creases did not show so much when the old man was asleep and his head fallen forward.

11. His shirt had been patched so many times that it was like the sail and the patches were faded to many different shades by the sun.

The Demise of American Dream

Why did you choose this particular book? Typical reasons might be:

1. You like the author.

2. You like this type of book (i.e. mystery, western, adventure or romance, etc.).

3. Someone recommended the book to you.

4. It was on a required reading list.

5. You liked the cover.

The Great Gatsby is a standard text in high school and university courses on American literature in countries around the world, ranked second in the Modern Library's lists of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century, “the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James, because Fitzgerald depicted the extolled grandest and most boisterous, reckless and merry-making scene” commented by T．S．Elliot. All these enchanting achievements and compliments increasingly drive me to The Great Gatsby, so much so that I directly rule out any other option.

For another, I’m obsessed with American dream which is deeply rooted in American history. For over centuries, American dream has changed gradually in accordance with the varying backdrops. Earlier, I’ve dabbled into An American Tragedy, Sister Carrie, etc., aware of the phenomenon of so-called demise of American dream. I desire to go deeper about how American dreams are doomed and how life is predetermined.

Armed with the above two missions, I commence journeying in The Great Gatsby.

The Demise of American Dream

[Abstract] Compared to the entire glorious civilization, the American capitalist society in the 1920s was extremely ruthless, hypocritical and deformed. The Great Gatsby, the finest novel written by the renowned American writer, Fitzgerald, is a vivid example in point to repudiate and satirize that very Jazz Age. Gatsby, born humble, kept dreaming throughout his life. In the pursuit of his dream of fortune and dream of love, he paid a disastrous price, pathetically cut off in the flower of youth at the hands of the upper class.

By analyzing 5 major characters and Gatsby’s two dreams, this essay will try to convey that Gatsby is the victim of that corrupted capitalist society and his tragedy mirrors the demise of American dream.

 [Key words] Fitzgerald, Gatsby, character, the demise of American dream

Brief Introduction to F. Scott Fitzgerald 

F. Scott Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940), an American author of novels and short stories, is widely judged to be a member of the "Lost Generation" and one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. In his vivid and graceful works, he revealed the stridency of an age (Jazz Age) of glittering innocence, portrayed the hollowness of the American worship of riches and the unending American dream of love, splendor, and fulfilled desires.

Born into a fairly well-to-do family in St. Paul, Miniesota, in 1896, F. Scott Fitzgerald attended but never graduated form Princeton University. Here he mingled with monied classes from the eastern seaboard who so obsessed him for the rest of his life. In 1917, he was drafted to serve in World War I. He spent much of his time writing and rewriting his first novel, This Side of Paradise, which published in 1920, became an immediate commercial success. A week later, he married the beautiful Zelda Sayre, an embodiment of romantic notions of Southern Belle.

Together they embarked on a rich life of endless parties. Dividing their time between America and fashionable resorts in Europe, the Fitzgeralds became as famous for their lifestyle as for the novels he wrote. He once said, “Sometimes I don’t know whether Zelda and I are real or whether we are characters in one of my novels”.

Yet somehow he managed to continue writing and published his second novel The Beautiful and Damned in 1922 and The Vegetable (From Postman to President) in 1923. His masterpiece The Great Gatsby, came out in 1925, was met with excellent reviews, with T. S. Eliot being among the first to comment on the book, calling it “the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James”. It was also at this time that Fitzgerald wrote many of his short stories (Tales of the Jazz Age in 1922) which helped to pay for his extravagant lifestyle.

The bubble burst in the 1930s when Zelda became increasingly troubled by mental illness. Tender is the Night (1934) which showed the pain he felt was not well received in America. For the final three years of his life, he turned to script-writing in Hollywood when he wrote the autobiographical essays collected posthumously in The Crack-Up and his unfinished novel, The Last Tycoon. On December 21, 1940, he died at the age forty-four.

1.     Setting

The Great Gatsby chronicles an era that Fitzgerald himself dubbed the "Jazz Age". It refers to a period of time after World War I, beginning with the Roaring Twenties and ending in the 1930s with the beginning of the Great Depression.

After the misery of World War I and the flu epidemic, American society enjoyed unprecedented levels of prosperity during the "roaring" 1920s as the economy soared. Individuals were so exuberant to be alive that hedonism started to prevail and creep towards every corner. Just as Fitzgerald once put it, “All the gods have been dead, all the wars finished, and all the values about humanity has been completely shaken”. The Age witnessed unrestrained materialism, appalling selfishness and lack of morality, scented with corruption.

At the same time, it was also a period of Probation that banned the sale and manufacture of alcoholic drinks. Mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, it made millionaires out of bootleggers and led to an increase in organized crime. Gatsby is the example in point.

3. Plot^[1]

Young Nick Carraway, the First-person narrator, decided to forsake the hardware business of his family in Middle West in order to "learn the bond business" in New York City. In 1922, he rented a low-cost cottage located in West Egg on Long Island. Across the bay was East Egg, inhabited by the "old aristocracy", including Tom Buchanan and Daisy (his second cousin). At a dinner party at the house of Tom Buchanan, he renewed his acquaintance with Tom, his wife, Daisy and met an attractive female golfer, a friend of Daisy's, Jordan Baker form whom he leaned Tom’s infidelity.

One day Tom took Nick to call on his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, the wife of George Wilson, an owner of a second-rate auto repair shop. Nick accompanied Tom and Myrtle to their Manhattan love-nest. Nick didn’t leave the party thrown by the couple until Tom broke Myrtle’s nose for only speaking Daisy's name.

After receiving an invitation from Gatsby, his wealthy and mysterious neighbor with no lack of contradictory rumor, Nick attended the lavish party given by Gatsby. For the first time, Nick met Gatsby, young and personal. An odd yet close friendship between Nick and Gatsby begins.

Nick became increasingly confused when Gatsby disclosed a seemingly far-fetched version of his upbringing and introduced an underworld figure Meyer Wolfsheim to him. It’s Jordan Baker that eventually revealed to Nick that Gatsby was holding these parties in hope that Daisy, his former love who deserted poor and unknown Gatsby for rich and influential Tom, would visit by chance. Nick promised to arrange an "accidental" meeting between Daisy and Gatsby. The reunion was initially awkward but Gatsby and Daisy began a love affair, so did Nick and Jordan.

At the Plaza Hotel in New York, Tom accused Gatsby of trying to steal his wife and also of being dishonest as a criminal bootlegger. Gatsby defended himself and urged Daisy to say she never loved Tom. During their argument, Daisy sided with both men by turns.

On the ride back to the suburbs, Daisy insisted on driving home along with Gatsby in his yellow car, followed by Tom, Nick and Jordan. All of a sudden, Myrtle ran outside of the garage as Gatsby's roadster approached (believing it to be Tom), only to be hit and killed by the car while Daisy and Gatsby speeded away. Later Tom, Jordan and Nick noticed the car accident. Tom led Wilson into a private place and preemptively convinced Wilson that the yellow car was not his but Gatsby’s because they switched cars earlier in the day and that Myrtle was having an affair with Gatsby.

By this point, Nick has abandoned his role as an outsider observing Gatsby's life and instead become his close friend. When Nick found out about the truth of the accident, he advised Gatsby to run away for a week but the latter refused for his illusion of Daisy’s love. Having tracked the owner of the roadster through Tom, Wilson murdered Gatsby before committing suicide while Tom was packing for an escape trip with Daisy.

Despite the best of Nick's efforts to make Gatsby’s funeral respectable, still few people only three attended it. After severing connections with Jordan and a brief run-in with Tom, Nick returned permanently to the Midwest, reflecting on Gatsby's desire to recapture the past.

4. Character Analyses ^[2]

Without characters, there would be no plot and, hence, no story. Hence, the character development is the key element in a novel’s creation, and character analysis is crucial to understanding the novel. Therefore, major characters will be elaborately analyzed.

Nick Carraway (a bond salesman from the Midwest, a World War I veteran, and a resident of West Egg): He is not only a narrator but an outsider and a witness, bearing close relationships with many characters, Gatsby's next-door neighbor, Daisy’s cousin and Jordon’s lover. Nick represents the lower classes of the society who also strives for the American dream. Initially he is obsessed with the legendarily glamorous parties at Gatsby’s Long Island mansion and attracted to the wealthy New York where life pace is fast. Gradually by witnessing hypocrisy, indifference, selfishness and greediness, especially shown in the death of Myrtle Wilson, the arrangement of a small funeral for Gatsby, he finds out that in the process of self-fulfillment, the once civilized and rational East has become a spiritual wasteland, a quality of distortion. It’s best exemplified throughout the book by Nick’s romantic affair with Jordan Baker, firstly attracted by her vivacity and sophistication, increasingly repelled by her dishonesty and her lack of consideration for other people, eventually severing connections with her peacefully and returns to wholesomely.

He is the only three-dimensional character, an aspiration for mental maturity, as well as an embodiment of traditional virtues.

Jay Gatsby (originally James Gatz): Originally from North Dakota, Jay Gatsby, a typical upstart after the World War I, is a sensitive young man who idolizes wealth and luxury. He falls in love with a charming lady from a decent family, Daisy, who later marries to the affluent Tom for material security. He convinces himself that the change of Daisy gets bogged down to his meager economic condition. As a result, he spares no efforts to accumulate his wealth by hook or crook and then throws extraordinary parties every week in an attempt to draw Daisy’s attention. He has ordered his whole life around the desire to be reunited with Daisy whom he shuns every shortcoming of and idolizes a great deal. He never dwells on that his American dream has been distorted and turns out to be unworthy. Although he can tell Daisy, “Her voice is full of money”, he blindly lingers in the illusion and protects Daisy at the risk of losing anything, including his life. Consequently, his steadfast loyalty to love contributes to the demise of himself and his dreams.

Just as Nick tells him, "They're [Daisy, Tom, Jordan] a rotten crowd. You're worth the whole damn bunch put together", Jay Gatsby is one of the best among characters in the novel despite his role of a criminal bootlegger.

Daisy Buchanan née Fay（Nick's second cousin, once removed; and the wife of Tom Buchanan）：As a representative lady of the upper class, she is undeniably attractive but severely shallow, self-centered and selfish. Although she once does love Gatsby since she even “packed her bag one winter night to go to New York and said good-by to a soldier who was gone overseas”, dominated by her vanity and sophistication she eventually deserted Gatsby and married Tom, a young man from an aristocratic family who promises her a wealthy lifestyle. However, partly due to her husband’s constant infidelity, the material and sensual desire still fails to help her impoverished mind. Later mainly mesmerized by Gatsby’s affluence, she is willing to become his secret lover soon. When Tom reveals the illegal origin of Gatsby’s wealth, she beats a retreat from by saying “I never loved Tom” with perceptible reluctance to “I did love him once- but I loved you too”. She just couldn’t lose the comfortable and luxury life with Tom though this life is boring but gives her a feeling of safety.

Her irresponsibility and hypocrisy is completely manifested at the end of the story. When she drives over Myrtle, she doesn’t even stop and conspires with Tom to make Gatsby take the fall. Then she and Tom moves away, leaving no address but Gatsby’s demise of his dream and himself.

Doubtlessly, Daisy is the utmost idealized quintessence in Gatsby’s blind eyes and an epitome of hedonism which only centers on money first and materialism.

Tom Buchanan (a millionaire on East Egg and Daisy's husband): He is the prototype of those who squanders their money accumulated by their ancestors and constantly flaunts wealth to parade his superiority. He delights in the affairs with Myrtle but forbids his wife’s unfaithful behavior. He is thoroughly aware of Daisy’s nature and makes full use of it. He confronts Gatsby’s illegality to Daisy, thus wins a definite victory. But he doesn’t stop. His conspiration with Daisy puts Gatsby on the track of demise.

He represents the typical ethic in the early 20^th century in America, display of fortune without restraint, irresponsibility to the family, addiction to spree, total possesion of women, and diabolicalness.

Just as Fitzgerald described, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mass they had made…”

Jordan Baker (Daisy's long-time friend, Nick’s lover): She is selfish, irresponsible, dishonest and shares the same value on money with Tom and Daisy. She even cheats in the golf playoff, intolerant of being disadvantaged. Due to her severely peccable personality, she is deserted by sensible Nick.

Her role is more of another narrator who completes Nick’s part but also provides responding information from various perspectives, facilitating the development of the fiction. 

5. Comments^[3]

The "American dream" has been deeply rooted in America. Firstly, it referred to Puritan’s yearning for religious freedom, later, evolved into the pursuit of happiness, especially success during the process of pioneering the New World and The West. With the progress of industrialization and gradual emergence of metropolitans, the "American dream" was specialized into the only aspiration of money. It’s also in this era that the American society witnessed its moral corruption. The Great Gatsby is a vivid example of disillusionment of the "American dream" after the First World War. Gatsby has been dreaming through his whole life. He’d rather die in his dreams than wake up and come back to reality.

Dream of fortune: When the World War II broke up，Gatsby was dispatched to the Europe frontline. Five years later, he returned in glory, only to find Daisy married to Tom for the sake of money. However, hope never eluded him for he held steadfastly that Daisy sooner or later, would reunite with him as long as he granted her a luxurious life. Consequently, he amassed money through illegal ways such as bootlegging alcohol and gambling to become an upstart overnight.

Making a great fortune is one of Gatsby’s American dreams, shown since as a young boy, “he had a lot of brain power” in his head and “always had some resolves like this or something”. What obsessed him a great deal with Daisy firstly lied in Daisy’s grand mansion, white limo and well-to-do life. Fully convinced that wealth maintained youth, mystery and even Daisy’s love, he made all-out efforts to pretend to be descent, showed off imported shirts to Daisy and threw legendarily glamorous parties. But they failed to win Daisy back, for the power of money was limited. Pathetic enough was that he didn’t realize no matter how much money he possessed, he was destined to be an outsider, an inferior upstart in the view of the aristocracy.

Dream of love: For Gatsby, Daisy was the green light that shone his prospect. Innocent enough, he fancied Daisy’s heart was as beautiful as her appearance and she stuck to love as he did. Therefore, he blamed himself for Daisy’s marriage to Tom and dreamed to buy back her love. Dominated by his weave of the dream, he successfully persuaded himself that his dream had already come true by the reunion with Daisy.

In his heart, the upper class meant paradise, encompassing all the beauty and colorfulness. So was Daisy, the angle of his genuine happiness, the incarnation of idealized dream. He shunned all her disadvantages so much so that his illusion surpassed her and everything. On the contrary, Daisy was merely shallow, irresponsible and selfish. She flirted with Gatsby out of boredom and thrill. Poor Gatsby! He didn’t figured out that “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mass they had made…” When Gatsby “first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, he had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He didn’t know that his dream was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.”

Gatsby’s dream of love and his dream of fortune are closely connected to each other. His dream of love was based on his dream of fortune. How came that Gatsby would fall in love with Daisy if she was penniless? On the other hand, his dream of fortune served as an indispensible means to realize his dream of love, therefore he plunged himself to restlessly collecting money by hook or crook. The irreconcilable conflict between his way to purse love and his ideal for love determined the eventual disillusion of his dreams and even the demise of himself.

Gatsby’s is the victim who paid so high a price for his American Dream. Upon death, he still didn’t understand his American dream which once depended on individual efforts had been already gone with the wind in that rotten Jazz Age. He wasn’t aware that what he pursued so hard couldn’t be realized for the lack of pragmatic and realistic conditions.

Conclusion:

Fitzgerald’s the Great Gatsby is really worth mulling over. It not only contributes to being a paragon of the Great American Novel, but also witnesses the total decline of American society at Jazz Age. In conclusion, the Great Gatsby achieves an undeniable glory whether in literature field or in the conveying of the demise of American dream.