Abstract: Francis Scott Fitzgerald, one of the greatest writers in 1920s, is considered as the spokesman of the Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby, his representative, is a typical epitome of the 1920’s American society. By describing the extremely extravagant lifestyle of the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, it pictures the hollow spiritual world and the degraded values of the people who lived in the materially prosperous 1920’s. Meanwhile, it also reveals the disillusion of American Dream by representing the tragic love story of Gatsby and Daisy. This paper analyses the sadness of Gatsby from three different perspectives. They are the background of the age and the social-historical factors, the disillusion of American Dream and the vulnerable characters of Gatsby himself. In America’s whole history, the age of 1920s is a special time, which is called the Jazz Age. Fitzgerald once summarized people’s characters at that time as “all Gods have died, all the wars have been over, and all the faiths have been faded away.” (Fitzgerald, 1991 :253) In this age, all the people were indulged in the material enjoyments，admired the fortune and looked down upon the traditional faiths. The funeral of Gatsby depicted at the end of the novel disclosed the cruelness and indifference of the people in that age. Being in such an age, Gatsby was just an outsider, as well as his American Dream, which is doomed to fail. What’s worse, Gatsby was destined to be the sacrifice of this society, of this age. 

Key words: Gatsby  American dream  sadness  character

Content

摘要：

Abstract:

Introduction-5

1. The tragedy of the times-7

1.1 The hideous age-7

1.2 The deformed and venal people-8

1.2.1 Tom: A totally cold body-10

1.2.2 Daisy: An out-and-out degraded evil-10

2. The unfitness of American Dream-13

2.1 The origin of Gatsby’s American Dream-14

2.2 The conflicts in Gatsby’s American Dream-16

3. The vulnerability of Gatsby’s characters-17

3.1 Being unrealistic and innocent-18

3.2 Being obstinate and a ghost hero-19

3.3 The rotten values-21

Conclusion-22

Bibliography-23

Acknowledgements-24