Abstract

The Great Gatsby is the masterpiece of Francis Scott Fitzgerald, a most famous American writer who is known as the spokesman for the Jazz Age of the 1920s. The novel displays three kinds of alienation that people in the Jazz Age are confronted with, that is alienation between man and nature, alienation between man and man, alienation between man and his inner world through the depiction of the protagonist Jay Gatsby’s love tragedy. 

From the perspective of the theory of the spiritual ecology, this thesis attempts to interpret the spiritual conditions of people in the Jazz Age, an era of economic booming and prosperity which is similar to nowadays society. The interpretation is mainly from three of the five aspects of man’s spiritual plight summarized by Professor Lu Shuyuan, that is spiritual vacuum, materialization of spirit and alienation of existence. The three kinds of alienation eventually lead to man’s spiritual collapse such as loneliness, emptiness, depression, etc. From the interpretation, the imbalance between man’s material and spiritual desire may be responsible for the imbalance between man’s three kinds of ecology and consequent spiritual plight. In addition, a suggestion could be put forward by the essay that traditional values and morality may serve as an adjuster between man’s spiritual desire and material desire in order to pursue the balance between their natural, especially social and spiritual ecology.

Key words: F. Scott Fitzgerald; Jazz Age; spiritual ecology; spiritual plight; traditional values and morality

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

Introduction-1

1. The Great Gatsby-1

2. A Literature Review of The Great Gatsby-1

3. The Theory of Spiritual Ecology Researched in China-2

4. Arrangement of the Thesis-3

Chapter One Spiritual Vacuum in The Great Gatsby against the Background of the World War I-4

1.1 Despair Arising from the World War I-4

1.2 Loss of Traditional Values and Morality-6

Chapter Two Materialization of American Dream in The Great Gatsby-8

2.1 The Essence of Materialization of American Dream-8

2.2 The Breakdown of Gatsby’s American Dream-9

Chapter Three Human Situations and Spiritual Alienation in The Great Gatsby-11

3.1 Interpersonal Indifference Arising from Alienation between Man and Man-11

3.2 Spiritual Vacancy Arising from Alienation between Man and His Inner World-12

Conclusion-14

References-15