AnAnalysisonheThreeWomenCharacersin TheGreaGasby_开题报告

The Great Gatsby is outstanding for its excellent literature structure and profound practical meaning as well as deep moral and psychological insights. Numerous critics had been attracted by this novel，they wrote many critical essays on the discussion and research on its exploration of the American Dream from the perspective of traditional literary criticism. 

In recent years, some scholar also pay much attention on the aspects of the women image in the novel as well as the realistic significance of this novel.

1. Overview of Foreign Research 

Most of the foreign scholars analyze the women images of the novel from perspective of feminism. Fahimah M Mooduto holds that the purpose of the novel is to criticize the flappers’ moral values changes through presenting the young women characters. Also he points out that it is a wrong interpretation of freedom and way of pursuing their happiness, as well as a wrong manifestation of American Dream (Mooduto F M, Soebakdi Soemanto S, 2014). M Bozorgimoghaddam adopts the feminist critic Simone De Beauvoir terms about the "second sex" to describe the women characters in the novel. He argues that in The Great Gatsby, no matter what situations that the main three female characters - Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan - have in the society and also during their own lives, they are represented as inferiors to men. As he says, at that time the situations of women are limited to a single girl, a wife, a mistress, and a beloved, which are all the definitions given by males. ( Masomeh B., Naser M., 2014) S Matterson analyzes the issue of sex problems reflected in the novel and pointed out that women are ‘emotionally passive’ and the novel is a man’s book. EK Lesmana explores the modern lifestyles of the Golden Age from the aspect of cultural study criticism, and believed that the economic depression as well as cultural and social chaos after WWII led to the moral changes of the women in the novel. I Štrba compares the differences and similarities of the women images in Fitzgerald’s different novels. He concludes that in all Fitzgerald's fiction women characters are “decorative figures of seemingly fragile beauty, though in fact they are often vain, egoistical, even destructive and ruthless and thus frequently the survivors. ”(I Štrba, 2017)

2. Overview of Chinese Research 

The Chinese scholars, however, analyzed the women images from different perspectives. First of all, some scholars focused on the literal skills applied in the presentation of women images in the novel. Li Xi (2002) believed when applying different colors into the descriptions of the characters in the novel, the author does not just add up the colors casually to readers, but on the contrary he uses different base colors according to the different personal characteristics of the characters, and to change the color according to the characters’ psychology and changes of external environment swiftly. Liu Shu (2011) adopted the structural theory of personality raised by Freud to analyze Gatsby and Nick, and found out that a contradiction among “I”, “ego” and “superego”has always been existing. Such contradiction is the origin of their tragedy . LIN Ying (2006) analyzed the tragedies of the women characters from the aspects of the beauty of the senses,Jonah complex and unconsciousness to present the system of society’s influence on personality. 

Second, some scholars focused on the social background that led to the formation of the three women’s characters. Yu Jinyun (2002) made a comment on the female characters appeared in the novel. She held that the women in the novel are immoral crowd, of whom none is seen to have any good behavior or moral responsibility. On the one hand, the book succeeds in presenting a corrupt world by a portrayal of its corruptedwomen; on the other hand, its negative characterizations of women embody its discomfort with the Post- World-War-I Modern Women. Li Xin (2005) summarized that the three major female characters are selfish, hollow, materialistic and all of them have tragic ends. This could be understood as a kind of symbolism throughout the whole novel, which reflected Fitzgerald's reflection towards the values of the American society during that period. Q Zhang (2003) analyzed from the female identity of the novel, and concluded that the three women are from opposite social strata, having deviating educational levels and sharing contrasting temperaments. This projects their value of leading a lavish life and parasitic life, thereby refracting the psychological construction and ethical standard of women in the “Jazz Age”. 

Third, some scholars tried to connect the women’s characters with the thought of the author. Luo Xiaoyan (2008) analyzed the author's feminist value through the women characters in the novel. She held the opinion that the women's images reflected the author's feminist values and his prejudice to the female through the ideology and misogyny of the narrator. Chen Xuhong (2010) pointed out that Fitzgerald showed a kind of complicated attitude with both love and hatred to the women in the novel, which was caused by his unhappy marriage experience and his dual personality, as well as the society’s attitude towards women at that time. 

2. Outline

1. The Differences of Three Women 

1.1. Different Family Background and Social Status

1.2. Different Understanding Toward Money

2. Their Similarities of Three Women 

2.1. Dependence On Men

2.2. Pursuit for the Vanity

3. Causes for The Different Women Images

3.1 The Social Background

3.2 Women's Positions under Patriarchy

3.3 The Author's "Misogyny"

Conclusion

3.2 Free Translation

3.3 Adding Translation

Conclusion

3. Bibliography 

Mooduto F M, Soebakdi Soemanto S. The Flappers' Moral Values In Post World War I American Society Seen Through The Women Characters In The Novel The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald[J]. Universitas Gadjah Mada, 2014.

Masomeh B., Naser M. Representation of Women as the ‘Second Sex’ in The Great Gatsby[J]Life Science Journal 2014;10, 516-521.

Matterson S. A Man’s Book: The Great Gatsby, and Women[M]// The Great Gatsby. Macmillan Education UK, 1990.

Lesmana E K.The Modern Lifestyles In F. Scott Fitzgerald’Sthe Great Gatsby: A Cultural Study Criticism[J]. 2008.

I Štrba. Emancipated Women of the Great Gatsby[J]. ://.pulib.sk/elpub2/FF/Kacmarova2/pdf_doc/strba.pdf 30th Sep, 2017.

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