ABSTRACT

The Great Gatsby is undoubtedly a masterpiece that Chinese readers can not miss in American literature. Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this novel was published in 1925 telling the tragic love of a young “noveau riche” Jay Gatsby and a married woman named Daisy Buchanan on the Long Island in the 1920s. As one of the "Modernism" representative writers, Fitzgerald combined his own experience and knowledge with the social changes of 1920s, the so-called "Jazz Age", which is an unprecedented period of prosperity in American history. Economy, science and technology and thinking developed fast. To meet the material needs of people, a large number of new industries emerged. In The Great Gatsby, many of the minor characters' careers belong to emerging industries in the 1920s, so this paper aims to start from the emerging vocations of minor characters to analyze their vocations’ features that are reflected on these minor characters, at the same time to study the impact of the emerging industries and their progress on the fate of minor characters.

This paper contains three parts: introduction, text and conclusion. The introduction illustrates briefly Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby, analyzes the statistics of the current domestic scholars’ research results of The Great Gatsby, the content research purposes and research methods of this paper. The text section includes the analysis of the images and emerging vocations of the minor characters, such as George Wilson, Nick Carraway, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker…The conclusion summarizes the results of this paper and the significance of the paper.

Key words:  The Great Gatsby; minor characters; emerging industries; reflection 

CONTENTS

摘要

Abstract

1. Introduction-1

2. The Broken American Dream-4

2.1 George Wilson-A Chaser of Abortive American Dream-4

2.1 Nick Carraway- A Keen Bond Business Learner-8

2.1.1 His Keeness-8

2.1.2. The Bond Business in General-9

3. The Spectators of the Roaring Twenties-10

3.1Meyer Wolfshiem- A Cunning and Reserved Gambler-10

3.1.1 His Possible Speculative Career Through Tom and Gatsby's Statement-10

3.1.2 His Hypocracy and His Character Traits-11

4. The Withered Morality in the Jazz Age-12

4.1 Myrtle Wilson- A Scapegoat of Human Desire-12

4.1.1 Myrtle’s Sensational Appearance That Indicated Her Being Possessed by Desire-12

4.1.2 Symbolic Meaning of Her Name-13

4.1.3 Girls of Myrtle’s Kind-14

4.1.4 An Philosophical Interpretation of the Rise of Such a Profession-14

5. Beneficiary of the Improvement of Woman’s Social Status-15

5.1Jordan Baker and Ella Kaye-Professional Women in the New Era-15

5.1.1 Jordan--A Golf Player-15

5.1.2 Jordan as a Flapper-16

6. Conclusion-17

Reference-20