Question

The Great Gatsby was not well received when it was published in 1926. F. Scott Fitzgerald appeared to destroy the American Dream, where in anyone, with enough hard work, could get rich and have whatever they wanted from life. He exposed the truth about such myths in this classic book. Basically, the plot could be described as follows:

Poor boy goes East in search of wealth, bored and dissatisfied with inactive Mid West country life.

He meets the super-rich there, attends parties and makes friends with one man in particular, a lonely millionaire of uncertain origins, Jay Gatsby.

He becomes involved with these rich but immoral people, the worst of whom are his own cousin Daisy Buchanan, and her husband Tom.

He observes, with dawning recognition, the corruption in their lives, how lacking in human values or ethical beliefs they seem to be.

He watches tragedy unfold, brought about by the handlings of the wealthy, and visited on the poorer characters.

He remains the only friend of Gatsby, arranging his funeral and mourning his death, and possibly the death of his own American Dream.

He wakes up to the reality of what is important in life, and decides to choose what is of value to him.

He returns to his origins, having recognized the worth of his up-bringing and the moral values it instilled. He sees that money is not everything.

But let us look at this in a little more depth, because the novel is much more complicated than those simple outlines above suggest.

The young man, Nick Caraway, aged 29, lived in a cottage on Long Island. He was an apprentice (学徒) Wall Street trader, and in 1920s, when the novel is set, this job represented a way to get rich, the core value of the American Dream.

Gatsby was a millionaire, who chased a dream too, one of rekindling love with Daisy, Nick’s cousin, a bored, rich, totally unfeeling and spoilt woman. Her rich husband, Tom Buchanan, a businessman, was also less than moral, flattering his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, the wife of a garage owner. It was George Wilson’s love for Myrtle that brought about the tragedy contained in the Gatsby plot.

Gatsby wanted to recapture his dream of love. So he began an affair with Daisy; she was flattered and bored. This action helped to erode Nick’s illusions, and show what wealth can do to people. Gatsby suffered from the realization that Daisy was not the wonderful person he dreamed of, but a shallow and materialistic person.

Eventually, Tom Buchanan suspected what was happening between Gatsby and Daisy, and confronted Gatsby. It was soon after this that Daisy ran Myrtle Wilson down, while driving Gatsby’s yellow automobile.

The tragedy was begun, when Tom Buchanan put the idea into head of George Wilson, that Gatsby had killed Myrtle. In fact, Daisy was secure in the belief that superior status and wealth made her immune, and also, her character was such that she cared little for another human being. Tom Buchanan was the catalyst (催化剂) that sent the emotionally disturbed George to shoot Gatsby for killing Myrtle, then committing suicide. Two dreams turned to dust：George’s of love and the chance to pursue the dream of capitalist endeavor and success, Gatsby’s of recapturing romantic love and the more innocent past, when, in his mind, Daisy was golden and true.

The complete destruction was symbolically expressed when none of Gatsby’s rich “friends” were touched by his death. It was left to Nick, a relative stranger, to make the funeral arrangements. This highlighted the total shallowness of that wealthy, corrupt society, and showed what a worthless person Daisy herself was.

At the end, Nick returned to the beliefs of his Mid Western upbringing. After one last meeting with Tom Buchanan, one last look at Gatsby’s mansion, having buried his friend, he left for home. As Gatsby lost his dream and his life, Fitzgerald drew a portrait of the death of the American Dream.

1.According to the author, that The Great Gatsby was not being popular in 1926 was probably because it__________.

A. informed readers of American value

B. destroyed American dream of that time

C. described the life of American upper class

D. had complicated relationships of the roles

2.The following statements about Nick are true EXCEPT that he_______.

A. is Daisy Buchannan’s cousin

B. betrays his only friend—Gatsby

C. was an apprentice Wall Street trader

D. is dissatisfied with Mid West country life

3.We can infer from the passage that_______.

A. Gatsby was wrongly killed for Daisy setting him a trap

B. it was actually Tom Buchanon that killed Myrtle Wilson

C. George Wilson’s love for Daisy was sure to turn to dust at last

D. Gatsby died because of his appetite for unrealistic romantic love

4.The author writes the passage mainly to_______.

A. teach readers how to appreciate a tragic love novel

B. inform us that wealth is more important than morality

C. convince us to look at the American Dream another way

D. persuade us to read the famous American writer’s novel

Answer 1