美国文学中的美国梦

Literary Interpretation of American Dream

Abstract: The term American Dream runs throughout American literature as a recurring theme. It is the symbol of American spirits and has been encouraging generations of Americans to fight for their ambitions and ideals. In different periods, American literature mirrors different forms of American dreams, thus this paper aims to interpret American dream from literary perspective by analyzing the theme of American dream in typical American literary works in different literary periods. This paper selects The Autobiography written by Benjamin Franklin, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, these classical works to dissect the essential connotation of American dream.

Key words: American literature; American dream; interpretation

Literature is the cultural features of life experience. Literary works implies people ’s thoughts on the social reality, the value orientation and specific ideology. Therefore, reading literary works is a significant way to understand the fundamental ideas and value judgments in different cultures. American literature history is not so long, but produced a large number of great works which were influential in the development of world literature. In these works, American dream is a recurrent theme. American dream in literature has changed a lot from its emergence to the contemporary era, while this change is closely related to the different historical periods of America social background. Study the changes of American dream in various literary works will help us to know more about American society.

I.Background Information of American Dream

I.I. Definition of American Dream

The American dream is a national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals in

which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or

circumstances of birth. American dream is a common faith held by most of Americans. It originated from religious ideas of European Puritans, and later evolved into the embodiment of Americans ’ traditional value and the national spirit. In general, American dream can be understood both in narrow sense and in broad sense: in narrow sense, American dream means any person can achieve success through struggle; in broad sense, American dream is a national ideal related to freedom, democracy and equality. The development of American literature has witnessed the evaluation of American dream, while American dream is a permanent subject in American literature.

I.II. Historical Background of American Dream

American dream has its specific historical background. Over three hundred years ago, Europeans came to the “New World” to explore and colonize, and these settlers brought with them a vision of religious freedom and economic opportunity. The Puritans even saw the New World as their “promised land ”——a land which “flowed with milk and honey”. From then on, American dream has begun to quietly sprout. In the 18th century, people in Europe could not bear religious persecution, they thus came to the New World, dreamed to build a fertile and democratic country. Fortunately, the indigenous Indians has not built a country yet at that time, so the whole New World was “ownerless land ”. Unlimited land brought unlimited opportunity, many inconceivable things in the old world turned into reality here. Poor settlers worked hard to pursue fortune, and believed if struggled, every man could be successful. Unique natural conditions were the natural foundation of American dream, while the promulgation of the United States Declaration of Independence was the ideological basis of it. Declaration of Independence proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Therefore, dream became men ’s natural right, and American dream became the permanent theme in American literature.

II. American Dream in Different Literary Works

II.I. American Dream in The Autobiography

The real American literature germinated during the war of independence and the founding period. Benjamin Franklin was one of the most representative writers of American literature at that time, and his masterpiece was The Autobiography. As an incomparable autobiography in American literary history, The Autobiography records the process of Franklin ’s realizing his dream. Franklin lived in the era of the prevalence of American dream, and he was born of a poor family. “Poor and humble” was used by himself to describe his background. Because of the poor economic conditions, he only received two years of formal education, but he started to chase his dream. Life is a prolonged struggle. He was conscientious and did his best to improve and perfect his knowledge base and characters. Through his hard-working, he cut through the cultural barriers between colonial people and finally achieved the upper class. Franklin climbed the ladder of success and realized his American dream of being a millionaire.

In his autobiography, Franklin describes the spiritual outlook of colonial Americans to strive for progress with determination; advocates the spirit of struggle that to gain outstanding achievements through unremitting efforts; shows the progress of being rich through creation. He embodies and personifies American dream. Franklin proved how little necessary all origin is to happiness, virtue or greatness and that with determination and dedication success is within anyone’s grasp. What’s more, Franklin put strong emphasis on morality and personal values. It is he who made a perfect definition of the American dream linking morality and personal values with material success and who set a good example for people of both his time and subsequent generation. For centuries he has widespread and profound influence over people around the world and inspired millions of people holding dreams for success within. The Autobiography became a treasure in the American literary history, until today, it was read by people all around the world, which has been regarded as a guideline to success.

II.II. American Dream in The Scarlet Letter

History is still continuing. Although at the beginning, American dream was with a strong religious atmosphere, in 19th century, it was gradually given more political tint. Democracy became the political model in many countries. American people, who were personally on that scene and involved in the democratic progress, held deep

sense of mission to explore the wilderness of America proudly, while at the same time, they were with strong frustration and crisis awareness, doubting they were Adam and Eve who were abandoned by God. In the mingle of human nature and divinity, people made achievements in American democracy, American dream and American literature.

A part of settlers came to the New World in order to get rid of the feudal rule and religious persecution. They held the dream of being wealthy, along with the dream of freedom and democracy. Furthermore, they prepared to build a “city upon a hill ” as a paradise in this new land. Therefore, freedom and democracy became the symbolism of American dream.

In The Scarlet Letter , Hawthorne created a rebellious woman named Hester Prynne to show his longing of a free and democratic society. He carefully chose the dark Puritan society as the background of the story. Although the historical background was not the time that Hawthorne lived in, the Puritan society had the same conditions to the 19th century. In the mid of 19th century, women and black people appealed to more political equality and freedom, and their situation made Hawthorne see the dark side of American society, so he created Hester as the representative of people who yearned for freedom and democracy.

According to the Puritanism commandment, women have no right to chose their husband, so Hester’s marriage was not built on love. Hester rushed out of the cage of her unreasonable marriage and sought her true love bravely. She fell in love with a pastor named Dimmesdale and gave birth to a daughter. Her actions violated the social rules, so she was put in jail and wore the scarlet letter “A ” as the symbolism of adultery. When she stood on the scaffold, she showed no guilt, while faced to the judges and spectators with great willpower. Hawthorne praised Heater ’s courage of seeking true love and freedom, and attacked the dark Puritanism society. The Scarlet Letter showed the freedom and democracy in American dream.

II.III. American Dream in The Great Gatsby

After World War I, Americans abandoned the spirit of struggle and moral standards advocated by Benjamin Franklin, instead of worshiping opportunism, mammonism and hedonism. Literary works in that time mainly described confusion

and emptiness of the generation. These works showed the loss of American dream,

and the most typical representative is The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is one of the 20th century’s greatest writers, whose works were the samples of the Jazz Age. He is widely regarded as the literary spokesman of the Jazz Age. In many ways, he expressed in his stories the disillusionment of the young generation with the American dream. Different from other American writers who also had American dream as the subject of their works, Fitzgerald impressed his readers from a new perspective. His works depicted the 1920s, the period of high growth of America. With richness of material, people’s spiritual life was corrupted, especially the life of the upper class.

The Great Gatsby was the last song of the lost American dream. This novel depicted the love tragedy of Jay Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby was born in a poor family in the Middle West. During the time of serving in the army, Gatsby fell in love with Daisy, a wealthy girl. However, he was too poor to marry her. When the World War I broke out, Gatsby had to devote himself to the army. Daisy gave up waiting for him and got married with a rich man named Tom. In order to win back his lost love, Gatsby spent a few years to make a fortune through illegal business. Gatsby was very excited when he met Daisy again after five years. But unfortunately, Daisy was no longer the ideal lover in his dream, she had no courage to give up wealth and social status. One day, Daisy drove Gatsby’s car after drinking and killed a woman. In order to protect Daisy, Gatsby assumed the responsibility, and finally, he was shot by that woman ’s husband. While Daisy did not feel any sadness and walked away with Tom. Gatsby’s experience profoundly revealed the lost American dream in 1920s. Gatsby regard Daisy as the incarnation of his dream, he wanted to win back her by his great efforts, but the social reality forced him to use improper means to realize his ideal. Gatsby’s road to fortune showed the corruption of American spirit, his ultimate failure indicated the loss and confusion of American dream during that time. The idealism of early America has been replaced by naked money worship.

III. Conclusion

Throughout American literature can trace back the development of American dream: American dream originated from religious ideals of Puritanism. The ideals of

freedom, democracy and striving spirit in Puritanism were the basis of American dream. With the development of society, American dream has changed a lot. In the progress of transition into industrial society, the unilateral pursuit of economic benefits and material possessions made American dream gradually evolved into personal desire to meet. American dream has become an illusion.

American dream is the symbol of national sprit in America, although experienced the progress of series of evolution, it still locate in Americans’ daily life. It will inspire generations of Americans to work hard for the realization of their dreams. What’s more, American literature will continue to witness American dream in the new era.