2. 2 Nick’s role as a model to reflect the withering of American dream
The disillusion of American dream is forever theme in The Great Gatsby discussed by the critics up till now. the spiritual and moral sterility that has resulted from the withered American dream is fully revealed in the novel. Gatsby is the leading role with extraordinary energy and wealth, he is American Everyman, while , Nick is a model to reflect the disillusion of American dream, he is the reprehensive of the author in the real world.
2. 2. 1 The definition of American dream in the eyes of Nick
As far as the definition of the dream concerned, there are many conceptions from which to choose. In the general sense, American dream refers to “the dream of material success, in which one, regardless of social status, acquires wealth and gains success by working hard and good luck.”[6]yet, there are also different opinions about the definition of American dream, for example, John Winthrop envisioned a religious paradise in a city upon a hill. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of racial equality. Both men yearned for what they perceived as perfection. Scholars have recognized widely varying conceptions of these quests for American excellence. “One component of the American dream seems, however, to be fairly consistent: the quest for money. Few will deny that Americans are intently focused on the almighty dollar in a society dedicated to capitalism and the maxim, also on the ability to purchase a big house and a nice car which are the sign to separates those who are considered successful from those who are not.”[6] That is to say, every man has his own American dream according to his goal. In the eyes of Nick, the representative of Fitzgerald, his definition of American dream is not the same as the ones mentioned above. Nick is a young man with high-education, his heart is full with art, he likes reading, writing, and thinking. To conclude, he is somewhat a romantic gentleman. In the social background of the 1920s in America, he comes to the East Egg to join the bond business so that he becomes a neighbor of Gatsby, who represents the ambition of Fitzgerald to pursue the material success in reality. As a matter of fact, Nick is on behalf of Fitzgerald’ pursuit for love and disappointment to the American society in the 1920s. his attitude towards the American roaring ages is pessimistic and sympathetic. For his part, his American dream is not the money, the luxurious house, car or parties, but love. He is a such a romantic gentleman that his mind somehow is filled with idealism. Two cases in the novel can illustrate his idealism of love. For one thing, he deliberately avoids accepting the love of Jordan Baker, who is the new woman in the 1920s. cause Nick thinks that Jordan is realistic and sophisticated in life and these qualities are not the ones he likes, so as to he get a conclusion that Jordan is not fit for being his wife. For another, due to the romantic love in his mind, when he knows the love affair between Daisy and Gatsby as well as Gatsby’s love to Daisy is pure and sincere, he makes a decision to help Gatsby to regain Daisy’s love when Gatsby seeks help from him. From this point of view, it can easily know that Nick’s American dream is romantic love on behalf of one aspect of Fitzgerald’ American dream.
2. 2. 2 The withering of American dream in the eyes of Nick
Dream is not the reality, the Gatsby’s death marks the disillusion of Nick’s dream. What makes Nick painful is the reaction of people around Gatsby—his lover, rival, business partner, and the strangers always in his party. They are seem to disappear in the same time: the Buchanans, who move to another area, become quite indifference to the incident of Gatsby’s death; the party attendances, who actually are strangers to Gatsby, always enjoys themselves in Gatsby’s luxurious party but never appear in Gatsby’s funeral rite, they just talk Gatsby’ death as the entertainment in their leisure time; Gatsby’s business partner, a foxy Jews, whose only care is money, declines Nick’s invitation to invite him to attend the funeral. In the end, Nick is Gatsby’s only friend to deal with the funeral and Nick is the only one who remember him as a friend. Finally Nick come to realize that the essential relation among people in the first few decades of the twentieth century bases on money, particularly among the people in the upper-class. “It get a clear pattern of American dream: there is, at first, a dream, then dischantment, and finally a sense of failure and despair.”[4] meanwhile, with the awareness of the great significance to the realization that the natural relation among the rich in the capitalized American society is the almighty dollar. Nick knows that, the realization of American dream is the success of being worthy; the withering of American dream is the failure of love. In this sense, once the money-oriented society is to collapse and the hypercritical mask of the rich is to break, the American dream of Gatsby, also his American dream, is doom to collapse.
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