1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

1. Introduction 1.1 Research background As the representative writer of the "Jazz Age", Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was considered the spokesman of the ”lost generation”. He experienced a lot in his life and that made him become sensitive to material wealth. In the early years, he was poor and went to school under the help of others. Later, with the publication of his famous work#8212;#8212;The Great Gatsby (1925), he owned an instant fame, and his annual salary reached to 25000 dollars. Therefore, he and his wife indulged themselves in luxurious pleasure; they did everything in style and were liberal to profusion. Gradually, they lived beyond their means. What's worse, Fitzgerald's wife had a mental disease and her sustained extravagance drained all his fortune. Fitzgerald was shadowed by a subdued dismal air and had to write for money, not the dream of and love for art. His wife's volatile temper governed him entirely and even drove him crazy. Then, the reality of the Great Depression chilled the nation to the marrow and the golden age had gone away. Finally, Fitzgerald was reduced to a tragic circumstance, drinking and degeneration feeding on each other. Fitzgerald devoted himself to practicing the faith of the American Dream, and he considered material success as an important part of self-fulfillment. He loved his wife and wanted to live a happy life, but he based all his aspirations on a misty dream; he enjoyed the luxurious life of the golden age, but he could not bear the ruthless reality of that society. And finally, his shattered life demonstrated the falsehood. In addition to The Great Gatsby, he also had several main works, including The Tender of the Night (1934) and The Love of the Last Tycoon (1941). His novels vividly reflect the disillusionment of the "American Dream" in the 1920s, showing the spirit of the "wasteland age" of the upper class in the Great Depression. As a masterpiece in American literature, The Great Gatsby evokes a wild glamorous time. It tells the story of a poor peasant boy from North Dakota who dreams of becoming a big man. When he is a lieutenant in a military training camp, he falls in love with a girl named Daisy. But when he returns from overseas at the end of the war, Daisy has been married to a rich man named Tom. Then, Gatsby makes a decision to gain as much money as possible with a magnificent dash, so that he can marry his beloved. After earning enough money, he presents a panorama of his wealth to capture Daisy's attention and make her life revolve around him. Gatsby spends all his life on the pursuit of fortune, of love, extravagantly hoping he can live happily with Daisy as long as he is wealthy, but finally, when Daisy accidentally runs over her husband's mistress, and Gatsby becomes a scapegoat for Daisy's selfishness and cruelty, and finally Gatsby is killed by Daisy's husband. At the end of the story, Gatsby's body lies on the icy ground, without a single visit of anyone, and the whole house is into the silence of death and all the busy scenes of former days seem to have nothing to do with him. Ironically, Daisy is on a vacation with Tom in Europe at this moment, enjoying their "wonderful life". This book is not only about Gatsby himself, whose misty dream is smashed into pieces by the relentless reality, leading to his shattered life, and finally his death, with a quality of mockery. It also symbolizes the rise and disillusionment of the American Dream. Someone says Fitzgerald shows us an age when the reality is full of bubble and illusion. It is universally acknowledged that America doesn't suffer a lot during the world war. Calvin Coolidge creates an alleged boom age of inconceivable magnitude when capitalism has its time and people all go about pursuing money, thus causing hedonism to sweep the nation. The modern materialistic American Dream deprives people's sense of sensible behaviors and corrupts the humanity of the whole society: the new rich, the upper class, the middle class and the lower class. With their masks, they dance to the gorgeous music, indulging in their dreams like Gatsby. 1.2 Need for the study Since The Great Gatsby was introduced to China, quite a few scholars have studied it. The American Dream has always been a core of their study. In the Jazz Age, with the rapid development of economy, people's values change greatly, and their ideology and morality also begin to fall. The Americans lay great emphasis on the pursuit of the so-called American Dream and which also has greatly influenced the American young generations. For many Americans in the 21st century, when faced with fierce competition and increased social temptation, they still wonder whether the American Dream can be achieved. This thesis aims to interpret the American Dream in a far more comprehensive way, to analyze the social phenomena and values in that age and to excavate profound inspirations so readers will not only have a better understanding of the connotation of the American Dream, but also reflect on themselves and set up new world value. 2. Literature Review Previous studies about The Great Gatsby and the American Dream are reviewed on in this section. 2.1 Previous studies on the American Dream The American Dream is a national ethos of America in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility can be achieved through hard work. However, America, as a capitalist country based on private ownership, the illusion of the "American Dream" in the process of development was like an ivory tower. With many social contradictions appearing, Americans were obsessed with the very dream of getting rich. Finally, the wealth, democracy and freedom they dreamed of didn#8217;t come, and what greeted them was even more serious polarization of the status quo. In front of the cruel reality, those who wanted to realize their life values through efforts and struggle were shattered by their belief. When we go back to the history of America and the origin of its literature and find the first ancestors of America founded the New Land, the American Dream began to appear quietly and simultaneously. With the availability of new lands, the colonists of Europe stepped into this mysterious land. Those who moved from Europe to the north of America thought this land was rich with resources, full of fantasy and opportunities to realize their dream, of which The Declaration of Independence became the basis. In the early days, either Franklin's spirit of striving to create wealth or the Anglo-American spirit of the western development was the embodiment of the American Dream. Franklin#8217;s The Autobiography of Endeavor (1791) became the driving force that inspired Americans to move forward. The first prosperity of American literature began in the 19th century. Whitman#8217;s Leaves of Grasses (1855-1891) praised the labor people, and the spirit of self-help, equality and democracy, which greatly elevated the connotation of the American Dream. Mark Twain#8217;s American Dream was born on the Mississippi River., with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn making a fairy-tale interpretation of the very dream，that is, getting rid of the bondage in reality and enjoying the fun of freedom. The end of the civil war marked the beginning of a new era in America and dreaming of wealth became a synonym for the American Dream. In the second industrial revolution, America became the world's largest developed country, which enabled people to redefine their ideals and thus prompted their pursuit of fortune to be more compelling. The rapid development of American industrial capitalism did not bring a moral society with freedom, equality and democracy. The growing social contradictions and crises such as disordered competition, monopoly, fraud and corruption were behind the economic prosperity after World War I. Distortion and disillusionment of the American Dream were fully displayed in different works, like Theodore Dreiser#8217;s Sister Carrie (1900), American Tragedy (1925), Jack London#8217;s Martin Eden (1909) and Fitzgerald#8217;s The Great Gatsby (1925). The turbulence and change of American society after World War II made Americans become pessimistic and confused. The loss of belief, the crisis of trust and the violence of rebellion were common in America. Therefore, the literary works in that era, like Jerome David Salinger#8217;s The Catcher in the Rye (1951) and Jack Kerouac#8217;s On the Way (1957) were the description of re-pursuit of the American Dream. 2.2 Previous studies on The Great Gatsby The 1920#8217;s was perhaps the most exciting and glamorous decade of the century, as America left behind the strife and deprivations of the war while the Jazz Age brought the young, dissolute, and decadent into the smoky interiors of basement speakeasies. The Great Gatsby, standing for the rise and disillusion of the American Dream, is outstanding for its excellent literary structure and profound practical meanings as well as deep moral and psychological insights. Quite a few scholars have been attracted to this novel. The majority are devoted to the study of Gatsby and his dream. For instance, Deng Tuo (1997) reveal the disillusionment of Gatsby#8217;s dream and try to figure out why this dream finally becomes a failure. Fan（2006）focuses on materialism and idealism in Gatsby#8217;s dream. Sun (2012) further studies Gatsby#8217;s love stories with Daisy, helping us not only better reconstruct the image of Gatsby but also reflect on some social problems. Bunce (2015) focuses on issues of wealth and social standing, thinking that Gatsby, a goal-oriented and hope-oriented idealist, struggles with false identity. Some study the relationship between the American Dream and Gatsby#8217;s dream, thinking the latter is the representation and embodiment of the former. Fan (2006) thinks that the American Dream has two connotations: the pursuit of beauty and the pursuit of money, which are vividly reflected in Gatsby's view of love and money. And the disillusionment of Gatsby's dream is no doubt a great irony to the decay of the American Dream. Na (2009) and You (2014) further explore the conflict between ideals and reality, and reveal the inevitable law of disillusionment of the American Dream through the discussion of Gatsby#8217;s tragic life. They spend a fair amount of ink on analyzing the appearance of Gatsby#8217;s dream as well as the cause of this dream; after World War I, industry and culture in America reached an unprecedented boom and every field had its day. And from their description, we can find a certain relationship between Gatsby#8217;s dream and the American Dream. Keshmiri (2016) thinks Fitzgerald, the author, also has his American dreams and ideals in The Great Gatsby. In this novel, Fitzgerald found the lifestyle after World War I seductive and like Gatsby, Fitzgerald had always idolized the very rich. He also thinks that this novel represents Fitzgerald#8217;s attempt to confront his conflicting feelings about the American Dream. Some explore the information on inspiration in The Great Gatsby, and attempt to help readers establish proper values about dreams. Zhao (2014) delves in the American Dream throughout the history of America, believing the American Dream, pursued, realized, distorted, shattered, or renewed from despair, defines and characterizes American beliefs and values in different periods of American society and history, and tries to help us have a better understanding of the American Dream. Tao (2014) doesn#8217;t stop here and further studies the waning American Dream and the Rising Chinese Dream, believing that the criticism of the American Dream in Jazz Age is helpful for the future development of the Chinese Dream. Hauhart (2016) examines the ideas and experiences that have formed the American Dream in The Great Gatsby, assesses its meaning for Americans, and evaluates its prospects for the future. He wonders, when faced with global competition and increased social complexity, whether Americans#8217; dwindling natural resources, polarized national and local politics and often unregulated capitalism can support the American Dream today. 2.3 Problems in the previous studies Previous studies have been carried out in a certain area, and the enlightening research is also insufficient. After analyzing the appearance of the American Dream, they have not given much enlightenment to future generations. This paper tries to interpret the American Dream in a far more comprehensive way, discuss the relationship between Gatsby#8217;s dream and the American Dream, to figure out the reasons of their rise and disillusionment and also try to give more enlightenment. Works Cited Bunce, Selvi. "Love and Money: An Analysis of The Great Gatsby." Language in India 15.6 (2015): 164. Chang, Yaoxin. [常耀信], 美国文学简史. 天津: 南开大学出版社, 2003. Chen, Jing. [陈晶]. ” A Study on American Dream in The Great Gatsby #8212;The Prosperity and Disillusion of American Dream.” Diss. Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 2011. Deng, Niangang, and Tuo Li. [邓年刚 脱俚], 理想之梦的破灭#8212;《了不起的盖茨比》与”美国梦”. 外国文学研究, 1997, (3): 112-114. Fan, Dengwei. [范登伟]，美国梦的破灭#8212;论《了不起的盖茨比》中的物质主义和理想主义. 教育与教学研究, 2006, (20.1): 66-67. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1993. Hauhart, Robert C. The American Dream in the Great Depression. American Historical Review 83.2 (2016): 67-92 Keshmiri, Fahimeh. "The Disillusionment of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Dreams and Ideals in The Great Gatsby." Theory Practice in Language Studies 6.6 (2016): 1295. Na, Renhua. [娜仁花], 《了不起的盖茨比》与美国梦的破灭. 语文学刊:外语教育教学 , 2009, (2): 67-68. Ni Fan. [倪帆]， "The Disillusionment of American Dream in The Great Gatsby." 海外英语，2016，(18): 160-163. Sun, Ting. [孙婷], "An Analysis of Tragic Love between Gatsby and Daisy in The Great Gatsby." 海外英语, 2012, (7): 205-206. Tao, Shaoxing. [陶绍兴], 美国梦的式微与中国梦的崛起. 西安建筑科技大学学报(社会科学版) , 2014, (33.1):11-18. Wu, Weiren. [吴伟仁], 美国文学史及选读(第一册). 北京：外语教学与研究出版社, 1990. You, Qingzhu. [游庆珠],《了不起的盖茨比》中美国梦破灭的原因探析和文化解读. 学园, 2014 (6): 44-46. Zhao, Min. [赵敏], 美国文学作品中的”美国梦”解析.外语学界, 2014 (00): 219-227.

2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

1. Research Topic The Great Gatsby has evoked a glamorous, wild time that seemingly becomes a mirage for too many of us. It is about the loss of a disillusionment that comes with the failure fully embodied in the personal tragedy of Gatsby, whose misty dream was smashed into pieces by the relentless reality, and finally led to his shattered life and his death with a quality of mockery. It also symbolizes the disillusionment of the American Dream and is magnified to great extent of its ending. 2. Research Methods This study mainly employs methods of document research, textual analysis and comparison. Firstly, document research helps analyze the historical background by means of collecting, selecting, evaluating and analyzing as well as review the latest research development of the novel. Secondly, textual analysis is designed to explore the core of this paper, that is, the relationship between Gatsby#8217;s dream and the American Dream, and figure out the reasons of their rise and disillusionment. Last but not least, comparisons are conducted to study similarities and differences of Gatsby#8217;s dream and the American Dream.