The Great Gatsby is the best work of Fitzgerald in both thought and art. It is also the reflection of Fitzgerald’s life. In the novel, the writer describes the American tide of pursuing money and enjoyment in Jazz Age, and makes introspection of the spirit crisis which exists in the reality and ostentation and the disillusionment of American Dream.
This paper focuses on the analysis of the author and the figures in the novel. It aims to reveal the formation, development and disillusionment of American Dream through the analysis of the novel’s writing background and plot, the author’s experience, the connotation of American Dream in different historic backgrounds and the disillusionment of Gatsby’s American Dream.