A Dream Of One Decade

Much attention has been paid to consumption in China in recent years, and it is hot in literature as well. Back in the 1920s, the United States had been transformed from a producer society to a consumer society. Meanwhile consumer culture was also born. Yet the American Dream was originated from the country's more than two-hundred-year development history. It has been deeply rooted into the American culture and spirit and has always been the impetus for the Americans and the theme of many writers'works.F. S. Fitzgerald, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, had experienced the period, the Jazz Age as he called it, during which he saw the rise and development of the consumer culture in the United States and recorded romantically and poetically American people's looks as they pursue their dreams. In Fitzgerald's four novels and more than one hundred sixty short stories, The Great Gatsby is the most popular and highest appreciated one.Fitzgerald's writing is inseparable from his real life. This thesis tries to analyze how consumerism and the American Dream are reflected in The Great Gatsby. From the perspective of consumerism, the thesis explores the main characters'American Dream, and how the consumerism exerts negative influence on their American Dream.The thesis consists of five parts:Introduction, three chapters of the main body and Conclusion.The Introduction part gives a brief introduction of Fitzgerald and his novel The Great Gatsby, and summarizes the literature review home and abroad.Chapter One introduces the American Dream, including its evolution and influence.Chapter Two analyzes the main characters'American Dream respectively. They are Jay Gatsby, Daisy Fay Buchanan, the narrator Nick Carraway, and Myrtle Wilson.Chapter Three concentrates on the influence of consumerism on the American Dream in the novel. The thesis firstly introduces the concept of consumerism, next explores the reflection of consumerism in the novel. Then the thesis focuses on the impacts of the consumerism on the American Dream and gives an analysis of their disillusioned American Dream. Finally the thesis discusses the negative impacts of the consumerism on the protagonists in the novel and gives an analysis of their disillusioned American Dream.The Conclusion part reviews the consumerism's impacts on American people when they are affected greatly by the rampant social and economic changes. With his extraordinary insight and expressing abilities, Fitzgerald puts his own experiences and feelings into his works and by studying this novel, readers may get a thorough understanding of that particular era. Through the analysis of the social environment and the characters'American Dream, the author of the thesis concludes that while the civilization development enables the possibility of a higher living standard, endless consumption desires could never exert positive impact on the glorious American Dream.