Materialization of Love in The Great Gatsby 论《了不起的盖茨比》中爱情的物化开题报告

1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

materialization of love in the great gatsby论《了不起的盖茨比》中爱情的物化introductionf. scott fitzgerald (1896-1940) was a well-known writer and playwright of the 20th century in america, who became famous for his first novel this side of paradise. the publication of the great gatsby in 1925 successfully earned him a world-wide reputation as one of the most representative and typical writers in jazz age.the great gatsby was written with the background of the jazz age, when the economy started to recover after the end of the world war i. the americans who had experienced the cruelty of war began to indulge themselves in pleasure to escape from the empty real life. the extravagant consumption of the upper class gave birth to the american hedonism. meanwhile, the traditional puritan morality as well as the ideas of diligence, integrity and frugality were abandoned by the material society, replaced bymoney worship and the pursuit of material enjoyment. as fitzgerald said, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire. it was an ephemeral but special period in the american history, like a gorgeous bubble with brief glory.the main character gatsby fell in love with daisy, the golden girl, who married a very rich man called tom buchanana when gatsby joined in the war. instead of moving on to new romantic options, however, contrary to ordinary expectations, gatsby continued to pursue the woman he loved despite she had thrown him over. to meet daisys upper-class expectations and to compete effectively with her enormously rich husband, gatsby rightly judged that he needed to amass extraordinary wealth. gatsbys long, secret campaign to repossess the woman he has lost constitutes the heart of the novel, showing the material love between them and others view of love.he made a reappearance and provided evidence of his long-term fidelity as well as of his astounding wealth. gatsbys surprising re-emergence and renewed courtship prove initially successful: he really won her attention. then he showed his luxury life through the exhibition of his grand european-style mansion, special-order automobile, beautiful clothes and fancy parties featuring celebrated people. material resources play a very important role in their relationship and this thesis will talk about the materialization of love in the novel. literature reviewt. s. eliot, a famous literary critic, once spoke highly of the great gatsby, it seems to be the first step that american fiction has taken since henry james (1945) in a letter to fitzgerald. the novel has been regarded as a masterpiece, being a microcosm of the jazz age as well as an important reference for the relevant research. during this period, americans who came out of the crisis no longer felt that god was omnipotent and supreme. their faith began to collapse, and material comforts, money, alcohol, parties and the pleasures of sex were the medicine to fill their emptiness and confusion. (ou, 2012) the cruel war apparantly produced a negative impact on peoples minds and they renounced what they once believed. they pursued excessive entertainment with a decadent lifestyle. it eroded the traditional values and virtues. with the consumer to indulge in pleasures, to flaunt the status and wealth, to achieve aims, this view of consumption hinders the realization of the american dream. (li, 2004). he claims that the traditional moral concept was taken place by the american hedonism, and the real american dream was gradually disintegrating at that period. toms and daisys mate value, in sum, is similarly high and the shared interests of this couple appear to revolve around spending and displaying their great wealth: manorial estates, expensive automobiles, european journeys.(bizzell, 1979). we can find that the buchananas marriage is on the basis of material resource. daisys physical beauty and social gifts are as striking as toms wealth, ensuring her social success: she is by far the most popular of all the young girls in town; hordes of excited young officers find her desirable and seek her attention (fitzgerald,1925). with her youth and beauty, her resources, status, and popularity, she represents an extremely appealing package to men seeking a long-term mate. tom represents an equally attractive choice from the female perspective: in addition to great wealth, he possesses a muscular build and a dominant personality. there was a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position, and daisy was flattered.(fitzgerald,1925) their marriage was not on the basis of love but on the basis of the equivalence of material conditions. meanwhile, influenced by the social trend, gatsby amassed his wealth by engaging himself in illegal business such as bootlegging. therefore, he was convinced that money could solve problems that god could not help and he could win back daisy with money. from the above description we can know that peoples sense of worth such as view of love is deeply related to the social background and trend. the economic prosperity accompanied by the fall of peoples faith leads to the prevalence of money worship, which results in the materalization of love regardless of the social class. in order to analyze this phenomenon in a more comprehensive way, we still need to make in-depth discussion by giving more examples and details. furthermore, reasons and influences of materialized view of love to characters in the novel will also be discussed.methods and procedures of the studyin order to obtain a comprehensive understanding, i read the novel twice, the first time of which is for the general plot and main idea and the second is for details and implications. to make it easier to grasp the meaning, i choose to combine the chinese version translated by wu ningkun with the original work written by fitzgerald. subsequently, relevant literatures and articles found online or in the library have been read and studied before my starting the thesis. moreover, there is a film adapted from the original work, which helps me have a better understanding of the complex relationships and contradictions between the characters since visualized works could exert direct and strong visual impact on the audience. then i searched for the information about the writer as well as the writing background because the theme of the novel is closely related to the social background. with the information i had, i started to figure out the thesis structure. the thesis consists of four parts. in the first chapter, a brief introduction of fitzgerald, writing background and the novel will be given. some relevant studies of this novel and this theme will be listed in the second chapter literature review. the third chapter will focus on the materialization of lovethe theme of this thesis. through the analysis of the love relationships between characters, espeacially two cross-class love, this paper mainly discuss the important role of materialized view of love plays in determining the tragic fate of characters and the authors sarcastic criticism to the corrupt and indifferent society. the analysis of the causes and impacts of material love consists of the fourth chapter, and then follows the conclusion chapter. finally, i will give the primary outline of the paper at the end, which can clearly present the logical structure of my thesis. conclusionin this thesis, we can have a deep understanding of the great gatsby from theperspective of materialization of love. as is considered to be one of the greatest novel in the 20th century, the book depicts american peoples life in the jazz age and comes as a profound revelation of the prevalence of money worship among people of all classes. combining this social background, the author lays emphasis on the contradictions of relationship between the characters. peoples material view of love is rooted in money worship and they have to confront the spiritual emptiness, selfishness and indifference when they pursuit their love and dream. by showing characters respective love tragdey even their death, fitzgerald criticized the social phenomenon and it arouse the readers thinking. apparently, it still has practical significance to our contemporary society since love is an eternal theme and how to deal with the relationship between material and love is of great importance to each of us. works citedbizzell, p. (1979). pecuniary emulation of the mediator in the great gatsby. modern language notes, 94(4), 774-783. bruccoli, m. j. (ed.). (2007). new essays on the great gatsby（《了不起的盖茨比》新论）。

北京：北京大学出版社。

(original work published by cambridge university press in 1985)decker, j. l. (1994). gatsbys pristine dream: the diminishment of the self-made man in the tribal twenties. novel: a forum on fiction, 28(1), 5271. fitzgerald, f. s. (1998). the great gatsby. oxford: oxford university press.gross, d., 司各特（2016），《了不起的盖茨比》（the great gatsby），巫宁坤译。

2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

Methods and Procedures of the StudyIn order to obtain a comprehensive understanding, I read the novel twice, the first time of which is for the general plot and main idea and the second is for details and implications. To make it easier to grasp the meaning, I choose to combine the Chinese version translated by Wu Ningkun with the original work written by Fitzgerald. Subsequently, relevant literatures and articles found online or in the library have been read and studied before my starting the thesis. Moreover, there is a film adapted from the original work, which helps me have a better understanding of the complex relationships and contradictions between the characters since visualized works could exert direct and strong visual impact on the audience. Then I searched for the information about the writer as well as the writing background because the theme of the novel is closely related to the social background. With the information I had, I started to figure out the thesis structure. The thesis consists of four parts. In the first chapter, a brief introduction of Fitzgerald, writing background and the novel will be given. Some relevant studies of this novel and this theme will be listed in the second chapter literature review. The third chapter will focus on the materialization of lovethe theme of this thesis. Through the analysis of the love relationships between characters, espeacially two cross-class love, this paper mainly discuss the important role of materialized view of love plays in determining the tragic fate of characters and the authors sarcastic criticism to the corrupt and indifferent society. The analysis of the causes and impacts of material love consists of the fourth chapter, and then follows the conclusion chapter. Finally, I will give the primary outline of the paper at the end, which can clearly present the logical structure of my thesis.