A Study On The Metaphorical Meanings Of The Houses In The Great Gatsby

Throughout the history of American literature, the image of house often appears in novels and plays an important role, such as the houses in The Fall of the House of Usher, The House of the Seven Gables, Uncle Tom's cabin, etc. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald also undertakes a detailed description on houses, by which he demonstrates the characters'personality and destiny, and reproduces the cultural and social contradictions of the American class structure in 1920s.?Based on previous studies, this thesis tries to explore the metaphorical meanings of the houses in the novel through in-depth analysis of the descriptions related to the houses, and points out that the houses are in fact metaphors of the corrupted American Dream and cages for the females.This paper falls into four parts. The first part gives a brief introduction to the previous research on the novel, and the important role of houses in the American novels and in The Great Gatsby, in an attempt to prove the feasibility and significance of this study.The second part mainly deals with the houses'metaphorical meaning of the corrupted American Dream. This chapter begins with an introduction to the origin and development of the American dream, and then undertakes a comprehensive analysis of Gatsby's mansion, Tom's building, and the narrator Nick's modest house, pointing out that Gatsby's mansion reflects the disillusion of the American Dream to which Gatsby devotes all his life and Tom Buchanan's aggressive mansion metaphorically suggests that the inherited nobilities are the real owners of the American Dream. Nick's return to the Carraway house in the Middle West from the rented house indicates the writer's awakening of the American Dream.The third part is committed to exploring the other metaphorical meaning of the houses—the females'cages. After introducing some basic information on the flappers in the Jazz Age, this part focuses on analyzing Daisy, Myrtle and Jordan's living condition in the houses built and dominated by men. The three flappers appear flauntier than the traditional girls, and demand more rights, dignity and space for individuality. But under the influence and repression of patriarchal culture, they are unable to fulfill their demands. They are butterflies with pinfeathers, for without strong wings, they are unable to fly up high. The flappers'bitter experience indicates that in a shifting society American women's rights and liberation still linger between modernity and tradition.The last part is conclusion.