Keywords "American Dream" disillusioned writers' works
The first European immigrants crossed the ocean and came to this new continent full of yearning for freedom and happiness; After that, a steady stream of immigrants advanced to the west with a fanatical desire to get rich, opening up this new continent. Therefore, from the beginning, the land of America has been placed with countless hopes and dreams. The rich resources and harsh environment without the owner make the family background and social status meaningless, so it has become a law that people follow to succeed here by personal struggle; Every hardworking and brave person has the hope to achieve something and even create an era. The "American Dream" came into being. Franklin himself is the expression of this dream, and his autobiography summarizing his struggle process can be called the American dream declaration. However, with the rigidity of society, the highly developed material civilization and the intensification of polarization, the magnificent aura hanging over the American dream has gradually lost its former glory. Keen writers noticed this phenomenon, so the theme of disillusionment began to appear in American works in different forms, digging up a new landscape for world literature.
As the first realistic writer in the history of American literature, Mark Twain used the "gilded age" to point out the illusion of the American dream. /kloc-The 1970s of 0/9, an era full of deception and speculation, was described as a "golden age" by some emperors and scholars. They advocated that every poor person would have "unlimited opportunities" to become a millionaire as long as he knew how to make money. As a result, people are addicted to the dream of getting rich instead of doing business, and luck, moral degradation, and jobbery have made the whole United States a mess. Twain could not keep silent about these worrying phenomena. Therefore, he presented this "mirror-like" work with general techniques and satirical expertise, profoundly pointing out to readers that the American people are not in a golden age, but a gilded age.
If Mark Twain issued the first strong voice in this field, which opened the prelude to the disillusionment of the American dream, then theodore dreiser, another great American writer, stood on the shoulders of his predecessors and criticized the illusion of the American dream in a deeper level. American capitalism in the 20th century has developed into a monopoly stage. Because of the sensitivity of a writer, Dreiser made an important discovery at this time, that is, American society has evolved into a "walled world", and monopoly groups have become a privileged class with strict access control like medieval nobles, and outsiders are not allowed to intervene at all. Therefore, the author uses the book "American Tragedy" to reveal the opposite theme to the much-hyped American dream, that is, "happiness is only an illusion of the Jin and Yuan empires".
Colette, the hero of the novel, was only a sensitive teenager when he began to meet readers. After entering the society, he gradually discovered that having money is a privilege and can be enjoyed to the fullest. At first, this idea is not too dangerous, and it will not make him degenerate into a murderer, because it is just an instinctive reaction of a material boy to the material society. However, two things that happened later profoundly influenced his ideological character and led him to the abyss of evil.
The first job was as a waiter at the luxurious Davidson Hotel. Magnificent but the Wesson Hotel is actually a microcosm of colorful American society. The luxurious furnishings here and the rich businessmen's life of eating, drinking and spending money like water make Colette "stunned and envious"; Here, people from all walks of life, such as three religions and nine streams, talk loudly, harm others and benefit themselves, and cheat money and color, which has opened his eyes and "benefited a lot". In short, the real life here gave him the first big lesson in his life and made him accept the "higher" education with money as the supreme. Not only greatly stimulated his vanity and desire to get rich, but also promoted the rapid formation of his hedonism and extreme egoism outlook on life.
The second thing is to take refuge in his uncle. At his uncle's house, Colette personally felt the disparity between the rich and the poor. Compared with my own home, there is a mansion with fountains and pools on one side and a slum with four walls on the other. His uncle believes that "there should be some aristocratic classes in society that the lower classes admire"; His cousin is even more indifferent to him, so he is saddened by his humble position. He often says in his heart, "Without money and status, you can't enjoy life satisfactorily." Poverty is like a terrible devil, fiddling with every sensitive nerve, making him miserable, and making him further realize that "everything depends on money." This desire for money continues to expand, so that it dominates all his feelings and further develops his extremely egoistic outlook on life. When sintra, representing property, status, enjoyment and everything he dreamed of, appeared in front of him, Roberta became an obstacle to his bright future and the pursuit of a happy life, so it became inevitable for Clete to remove this obstacle at this time.
With the death of Colette, the author shows that in a "walled world", it is futile for poor boys to pursue the "American dream", even a kind of self-destruction. It is mentioned in the novel that "the boundaries between the rich and the poor are clear, just like a knife." It is really harder for the poor to cross this boundary than to ascend to heaven! Because of this, even Colette still has some talents; Although Clete was ambitious and ruthless, he failed to get into the "fence" and fell on the electric chair.
If Colette's death made us feel vaguely culpable of punishment, which weakened our deep appreciation of the sadness of disillusionment, then Fitzgerald, the writer at the peak, came with his Great Gatsby. Gatsby was born in poverty. After he made a fortune through illegal means, he did not hesitate to attract his lover Daisy whose voice was full of money by material means, hoping to relive his old dreams with her. However, good dreams can't last, and Daisy's husband Tom is vicious. Finally, they killed people with knives, which made Gatsby lose his gentle sleep. The reason why this book can be a masterpiece is that it doesn't belong to the kind of romantic novel that specializes in writing boring love triangle. In fact, the conflict described by the author is not the jealousy between two opposing lovers, but the conflict between Gatsby's dream and the impossibility of realizing it. In addition, Fitzgerald is a writer who is famous for his "double views", so the "American Dream" pursued by his hero includes two aspects: the dream of making money and the dream of love, which are both related and different. In this way, Gatsby is different from other heroes of the same subject. First of all, in the eyes of this talented dreamer, Daisy with charming voice and elegant manners is the highest embodiment of his "dream of love" in life, which embodies all his fantasies about life. He naively believes that a woman with such a beautiful appearance must be equally beautiful inside, so he firmly believes that Daisy will die for him. Once he is qualified to marry her, she will be eager to throw herself into his arms. Secondly, Gates knows enough about the magic of money. So he realized his dream of getting rich by illegal means, and then spent a lot of money to buy a luxury villa on the bay opposite Daisy's house. He often holds extravagant dances and banquets to attract Daisy, and he also wants to pay Nick to arrange a meeting with Daisy. After Daisy came, he quickly let her visit his palace-like beautiful house and admire his exquisite clothes. Under the magic of money, Daisy couldn't help it: she picked up pure gold toiletries to comb her hair and cried loudly in gorgeous clothes, because although she also married a rich man, such luxury is not common ... Isn't this where her dream came true? Why do you end up playing games and dreaming? This is the profound meaning of the novel.
Gatsby can't relive his old dreams because he and Daisy are completely different people, and their social status is very different. From Dreiser, we know that American society has a "fence", and it is not easy for the poor to change their status. Even if Gatsby is lucky enough to be admitted, he will inevitably be discriminated against and hit by the upper class. Therefore, an "upstart" like Gatsby, although rich, cannot be on an equal footing with the hereditary privileged class like Tom. In their eyes, he is a poor boy from the west at heart and doesn't deserve to associate with them at all. The arrangement of the novel also reflects this point: Daisy lives in the rich area of East Egg, while Gatsby lives in the less fashionable West Egg like a "lonely goose". Although elites like Tom still go to Gatsby's party every week and enjoy his entertainment for free, they "curse Gatsby after drinking enough." "In fact, in essence, what is the difference between Gatsby's illegally earned money and Tom's inherited money? Bernard Shaw has long pointed out that the sources of these two currencies are equally dirty. Gatsby just violated the so-called "competition rules" and made extra profits when people were unprepared, which caused the public outrage of his competitors. Their contempt and indignation for Gatsby is not out of any legal and moral concepts, but out of their own vital interests and instinctive hostility to people who are not of my race. " (Fu Xiuyan, 1996) However, daisy has long been integrated with this class, and it has all the social attributes and decadent essence of that group without exception. So when Tom showed Gatsby face to face and told Daisy about Gatsby, she was "frightened" and never saw Gatsby again, let alone condescended to go to Gatsby's position to relive her old dreams. Gatsby doesn't live in high society because there is always a "pure dream" hidden in his heart, and his goal in life is to make this dream come true. So American critics say Gatsby has a "corrupt and pure nature"; The author himself thinks that Gatsby's greatness lies in his innate immunity: he is rich, but he doesn't think money is the purpose of his life, but the means to realize his love dream; He lied to hide his identity, but he was very frank when confronted with Tom; At his luxurious party, the more his "noble" guests misbehave, the more dignified he becomes. Among the rich, he seems so cold and unsociable.
When we watch Gatsby's innocent love rooted in a corrupt daisy, when we realize that his love dream is doomed to be shattered, we can't help feeling sorry for him. When Tom and Daisy finally conspired to blame Gatsby for the murder, so that he died with a dream, we felt a kind of consternation and endless sorrow for the ending! The mood is like Nick's comment: "If so, he will feel that he has lost the old warm world and paid a high price for holding on to his dream for too long." He must have looked up at the strange sky through the terrible Woods and felt creepy. At the same time, he found how ugly the rose is ... "The novel played its theme song here-with Gatsby's dream broken, he wrote an elegy of disillusionment of the" American Dream ",leaving an unforgettable sadness!
References:
[1] Wang Enming. Contemporary American society and culture [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1997.
Wu Dingbai. Outline of American literature [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1998.
Zhu. History of foreign literature (European and American volumes) [M]. Tianjin: Nankai University Press, 2004.