analysis-of-gatsby’s-character-in-the-great-gatsby《了不起的盖茨比》—浅析盖茨比的人物性格.doc

Analysis of Gatsby’s Character in the Great Gatsby
《了不起的盖茨比》——浅析盖茨比的人物性格

学 号： 14705020XXXX
专业名称： 英 语
年 级： 14级专升本
姓 名：
指导老师：

2016年X月X日

Analysis of Gatsby’s Character in the Great Gatsby

Zhang Sansan 14705020XXXX
The Department of English
Supervisor: Li Sisi

A Thesis Submitted
to English Department of
Fudan University

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

Fudan University
2016

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all those who helped me in the course of composing the thesis. First of all, I gratefully acknowledge the help of my supervisor, XXX. Without his/her patient instruction and professional guidance, this thesis could not have reached its present form. Secondly, I am also greatly indebted to all the instructors who have instructed me. The knowledge they imparted me laid a solid foundation for the completion of my thesis. Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my family and friends. When I am in trouble, they always encourage me greatly and help me out. I am deeply inspired by their constant support and encouragement. Their help and trust in me stimulate me to be a better me.

Abstract

Fitzgerald is one of the most outstanding American novelists in the 20th century. The Great Gatsby, which was elaborately created by him, is widely considered his finest work. The thesis aims to analyze the character of Jay Gatsby, protagonist of this novel, and thus to further discuss how Gatsby’s character influences his destiny. The author first briefly summarizes main content of this novel, introduces Fitzgerald’s personal experience and analyzes the writing background of this novel as well as the symbolic significance of its tragic outcome. In the discussion parts, the author divides Gatsby's character into two aspects: the positive side and the negative side. In each part, the author picks up two of the most typical features respectively and supports these arguments with examples and cited words. Finally the author sums up what is demonstrated above and further expounds how Gatsby’s character influences his destiny.

Key Words: Fitzgerald, Gatsby, Character Analysis

中文摘要

菲茨杰拉德是20世纪美国最优秀的小说家之一，《了不起的盖茨比》则被广泛认为是他最优秀的作品。本文旨在分析小说的主人公盖茨比的人物性格，从而进一步论述人物性格对人物命运的影响。作者首先简要地概括了小说的主要内容，介绍了小说作者菲茨杰拉德的个人经历，分析了小说的创作背景以及小说悲剧结局的象征意义。在论述部分，作者将盖茨比的人物性格分为积极性和消极性两方面。各部分中，作者又分别挑选了最为强烈的两种性格加以举例论证和引用论证。最后作者对本文的论述加以概括并进一步深入分析人物性格对人物命运的影响。

关键词：菲茨杰拉德，盖茨比，性格分析

iii

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements i
Abstract in English ii
Abstract in Chinese iii

Introduction 1
Chapter One Duteous and Determined Gatsby 3
Chapter Two Illusory and Injudicious Gatsby 5
Conclusion 7

Works Cited 9

Introduction

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in the year of 1896. He is widely considered one of the most outstanding American writers of the 20th century, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age. Throughout his literary career, he has composed four well-known novels, which was entitled This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby as well as Tender Is the Night. The Love of the Last Tycoon, Fitzgerald’s fifth and unfinished novel, was published after his death. Undoubtedly, The Great Gatsby is the most influential among all his works. It still has a profound influence worldwide.
After World War Ⅰ, American society enjoyed unprecedented level of prosperity. In the 1920s, Americans abandoned themselves to hold sumptuous parties and have a good time. They moved their body with the rhythms of the jazz music and danced to the beats. Crumbled traditional Puritan morality and flourished new hedonism in this age. This is the jazz age——a time of wonder, a time of art, a time of big spenders, but also a mockery of the time. (Fitzgerald, flyleaf) Under such historical background, The Great Gatsby came into existence. To summarize, The Great Gatsby is a story depicting the disillusion of American Dream. It is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway.
Jay Gatsby, a young man coming from rural North Dakota, is born in an impoverished peasant family. Throughout his persistent efforts, he becomes an implausibly wealthy millionaire rather than a penniless nobody. In his well-decorated mansion, he holds extravagant parties to show off his wealth and attract the golden beauty——Daisy, who once was Gatsby’s lover five years ago. They reunion and re-love each other with the help of Nick. In Gatsby’s mind, Daisy is a perfect lady with a pure and innocent heart. Nevertheless, she is no longer the Daisy what she used to be. Under her charming appearance, it is just a body with stupid and selfish soul. In a traffic accident, Daisy has struck and killed Myrtle, Tom's mistress. But Gatsby intends to take the blame anyway. George, Myrtle's husband, has mistaken Gatsby for the hit-and-run driver and even Myrtle’s secret lover. With several gunshots, George, a so-called lunatic ends both Gatsby’s and his own lives.
The great Gatsby is a mirror, which vividly reflects Americans’ life of the jazz age. The scenes of roaring crowd, extravagant parties and corrupt society are perfectly reproduced. To some extent, it also can be inferred that the Great Gatsby is the epitome of Fitzgerald’s life. They both rise from impoverished families, they both fall in love with beauties coming from the upper class and they both end their lives in strategy. It is well acknowledged that a man’s own character shapes his fortune. So does Gatsby.
After reading through this novel, it’s hard to tell whether the protagonist Gatsby is a good guy or a bad guy. So many highlights do exist in his character. But we have to admit that there are still a lot of dark sides in his character. In order to analyze Gatsby’s character from an objective angle, the author divides his character into two aspects: the positive side and the negative side. They are respectively studied in chapter one and chapter two. In chapter one, a determined and duteous Gatsby will be presented in front of you. In chapter two, an illusory and injudicious Gatsby also emerges. In these two chapters, a large number of facts and theoretical arguments will be added to support the author’s view. At the end of the thesis, it naturally comes to a conclusion that it is Gatsby’s character that determined his destiny. Persistence and determination leads him to success. However, his tragedy is caused by injudiciousness and unrealistic ideal.

Chapter One
Duteous and Determined Gatsby

In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald narrates the remount of Gatsby from an objective perspective. In his description, a vivid and lively Gatsby comes into our eyes. He’s a man with so many conspicuous merits, like innocent, resourceful and generous as well. Chapter one focuses on the two most remarkable merits in Gatsby’s character, namely duteous and determined.
For most people, the first impression which Gatsby leaves on us is a perfect lover with a duteous heart. Besides his resolution made in the teens, the major cause stimulates Gatsby to court fame and wealth is to win Daisy back. Throughout the story, Gatsby’s loyalty permeates in every corner of the passage. To name just a few, he settles in West Egg just because Daisy’s villa is located across the bay. On balconies of the mansion, at the bank of the bay stands still Gatsby. He always stretches out his arms in lonely, noiseless and endless night as if Daisy is within his touch. After Myrtle’s accident, Gatsby waits outside Daisy’s house till the morning only to make sure whether Tom will hurt her or not. The only thing that he really cares about is Daisy’s safety. What’s more, a conversation between Carraway and Wolfsheim also reveals his loyalty. It is learnt from Wolfsheim’s words that Gatsby is very careful about woman. He never pays much attention to other women since Daisy roots in his mind and heart. As far as Gatsby is concerned, Daisy has become a dispensable part of Jay Gatsby. What a duteous man Gatsby is!
Speaking of Gatsby, determination is another prominent sparkling spot in his character. To a great extent, Gatsby is the spokesman of determination. He has retained this precious and praiseworthy virtue throughout his whole life. Born in a rural peasant family with no prospects, Gatsby is never satisfied with the current situation of his family. He is also never content with his current social status. In his early years, he has already made up his mind to get rid of the status quo. It is clearly proved by the book old Gats brought to West Egg, in the flyleaf of which written his everyday schedule and resolves when James Gats was a young boy. The fact that Daisy married Tom, a boring but wealthy man, inspires Gatsby to move constantly in pursuit of money and fame. He is firmly convinced that he is able to win Daisy back as long as he is rich enough. With persistent efforts, Gatsby turns himself from a mere pauper to a millionaire almost everyone admires. He possesses a mansion with an enormous marble swimming pool and a magnificent hall, decorated gorgeously. He has achieved all these in only a few short years, having returned from the wars shabby and penniless. As what I have presented above, it is obvious that Gatsby is a determined man that once he has set a goal for himself, he will strive to make it come true and never yields to any setback.
The concept Gatsby is a duteous lover is rooted in the heart of every reader. Why is Gatsby great? He is great because of his loyalty for love. We are deeply moved by his unselfish and dedicated love for Daisy, a woman who is unworthy his infatuation. What makes Gatsby great? It is his determination and firm belief makes him great. Suppose that Gatsby was an undetermined man, maybe he still lives in somewhere in North Dakota, going out to crop at sunrise and going back home at sunset. All in all, Gatsby is a great man with plenty of virtues that deserves all of us to learn from. He is innocent, resourceful and generous. Moreover, he is a man with duteous heart and determined resolution.

Chapter Two
Illusory and Injudicious Gatsby

Compared to people around him, like Daisy Fay and Tom Buchanan, Gatsby is a person of noble morality. Under such a bustling and extraordinary social circle, Gatsby retains his pure heart and strives for his dream. However, there is no doubt that Gatsby is never ever a perfect man. There are still a few defects in his character, namely illusory and injudicious.
In the first place, Gatsby is illusory. It seems to him that the only reason Daisy left him and married Tom lies in his poverty. As long as he is rich enough, Daisy will return to his arms by all means. In Gatsby’s dream, Daisy is the embodiment of all wonderful things. She is charming, attracting as well as pure. Actually, daisy is a flower with white petals and yellow bud. Daisy Fay is a beauty who aspires for wealth and is keen on having a good time. To his disappointment, Daisy is a typical woman who comes from the upper class. She is shallow, selfish and indifferent as well. After their unification, Gatsby shows Daisy and Nick around his grand mansion. Suddenly Daisy burst into tears. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-such beautiful shirts before.” said Daisy. (Fitzgerald, 59) At the moment that we agree that Daisy cries for the joy and excitement of reunification with a man once she loved. What Daisy answered totally astounded all of us. She cries just because she has never seen such delicate and slap-up shirts. She admires Gatsby. She admires his mansion, his shirts and his wealth. The pure and gorgeous Daisy is just a sweet dream Gatsby weaved for himself. The dream is so wonderful but the fact is so cruel. He would rather stubbornly make mistakes again and again than wake up even once. For this illusory dream, he paid a high price for it, even lost his life.
In the meanwhile, Gatsby is also injudicious. Under the description of Fitzgerald, West Egg and East Egg, the two fictional places where Daisy’s villa and Gatsby’s mansion respectively located in, are divided by a vast bay. So does Daisy and Gatsby. It is insurmountable for Daisy, Gatsby, even Nick since it is a bay representing a gap, namely ideological gap, which all of them can never thoroughly across it. Coming from two different social classes——the upper class and the lower class, their ideology, way of life and sense of values have tremendous distinction. Gatsby is blind to chase Daisy and court wealth, but he doesn’t realize the root cause which separates Daisy and he lies in the differences between the two classes. In the past five years, Gatsby is longing for reuniting with Daisy all the time. When he meets Daisy again, he is not joyful as he expected since Daisy is not as perfect as he envisioned. Actually, Gatsby doesn’t really like Daisy. It seems to him that Daisy is the symbol of wealth and status. The progress of wining Daisy back equals the progress of pursuing his dream. He is not delighted because dream and reality are totally different, he never recognizes it. It is pathetic that Gatsby is not able to realize all these until his death.
If Gatsby’s merits lead him to success, it is undeniable that Gatsby’s tragedy is caused by his defects, including his illusory dream and injudicious thought. He is resourceful enough but thinks of questions without profundity and perspicacity. He absorbedly strives for his dream but never stops for a while to scan the abnormal society. He is desperately buried in regaining Daisy but is unaware of the fundamental differences between them. It is specially affecting that Gatsby devotes himself to entertain Daisy and gets her betrayal in return. To dive deep, Gatsby’s dream is not so much ruined by selfish and shallow Daisy as destroyed by himself, a duteous and determined but illusory and injudicious Gatsby.

Conclusion

As soon as the publication of the Great Gatsby, it has aroused extensive attention among the general public. “The Great Gatsby was 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”, criticized T.S. Elliot. It is widely considered one of the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age and up to now it still has great research value.
As what I have expounded above, it naturally comes to the conclusion that Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of the Great Gatsby, is a complicated man. It is quite difficult to tell whether he is a kind man or an evil man since he has multiple identities. On the one hand, he is a successful businessman,