论文总字数：34164字

摘 要

1. Introduction 1

1.1 A brief introduction to F. Scott Fitzgerald 1

1.2 A brief introduction to The Great Gatsby 1

1.3 Need of the study 3

2. Literature Review 4

2.1 Previous studies on Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby 4

2.2 Previous studies on value of Jazz Age 5

3. A Comparative Study of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan from the Perspective of Values 7

3.1 Similarity 7

3.2 Causes for the similarity 8

3.3 Differences 8

3.3.1 Different attitudes towards wealth 8

3.3.2 Different attitudes towards love 9

3.3.3 Different understandings of status 10

3.3.4 Different attitudes towards life 10

3.4 Causes for these differences 11

3.4.1 Different sources of wealth 11

3.4.2 Different experiences 11

4. Conclusion 12

References 13

Acknowledgments

The epidemic makes our graduation different, but also more meaningful. I sincerely want to thank those who have helped and supported me when I was writing this paper.

First of all, I would like to give my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Qiu Liping, who had offered me constant guidance and help. She is such a responsible and patient teacher that she always spares no effort to solve the problems I encountered when writing this paper. And Prof. Qiu is very concerned about us and always gives us wise advice and guidance. Overall, Prof. Qiu played an important role in my study career and I was deeply impressed by her seriousness.

Next, I think all professors and teachers in the School of Foreign Languages and Literature in Nanjing Tech University deserve my sincere thanks. They not only teach us knowledge, but more importantly, teach us the way we think. It allows us to understand knowledge from new angles.

Then, I would like to thank all of my friends and classmates. Their company makes my college life rich and colorful. And I will always miss the days we spent together.

Last but not least, I would like to express my profound love to my family. They always support me and give me meticulous care. Their love for me is like sunshine and air, inconspicuous but indispensable. I do feel extremely lucky to become a member of my family.

Abstract

Scott Fitzgerald played an important role in the history of modern American literature，and he was the representative writer of Jazz Age. His works profoundly depict the changes of American society during Jazz Age and are said to be the mirror of Jazz Age. Among Fitzgerald’s works, The Great Gatsby has a paramount role.

The protagonists Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan are the two most important characters in The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan represent the conflict between two different classes in American society in 1920s, and also reflect the collision of different values. Comparing Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan from the perspective of values offers us a new angle to understand The Great Gatsby.

Although Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan do have something in common, for example, they both attach great importance to wealth and status, and both have twisted values. But the differences between the two are more worthy of our in-depth study. Tom Buchanan, who was born in one of the richest families in America, was blinded by money and had negative value: he was profligate, had no loyalty to love, had no goal to fight for, and his soul was empty and boring. Jay Gatsby, on the contrary, was born in poverty, which made him more aware of the importance of hard work and had completely different values: he was hard-working and kept fighting, believing that he could change his class and fate through struggle; he was loyal to love, and love was the greatest driving force for him to work so hard; he was full of confidence in life and was the epitome of American dream. Through analyzing their different values, we can draw the conclusion that different sources of wealth and different experiences made Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby have obviously different values. Such different values formed their unique personalities, and made them who they were.

Keywords: Fitzgerald; The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, values

中文摘要

菲茨杰拉德是“爵士时代”的代表作家，也是美国文学史上最重要的作家之一。他的作品深刻地描绘了当时美国社会的疯狂和拜金主义,被称作是爵士时代的镜子。在菲茨杰拉德的作品中，《了不起的盖茨比》占据着一个重要的地位。主人公杰伊·盖茨比和汤姆·布坎南是《了不起的盖茨比》中最重要的两个人物。他们两人代表了当时美国社会两个不同阶级之间的冲突，也反映了不同价值观念的碰撞。

从价值观的角度对杰伊·盖茨比和汤姆·布坎南进行比较，为我们理解《了不起的盖茨比》提供了一个新的视角。

虽然杰伊·盖茨比和汤姆·布坎南确实存在一些共同点，如二人都很看重财富和地位，都有一些错误的价值观。但二人之间的不同却更值得我们深入研究。汤姆·布坎南出生自全美国最富有的家族，与生俱来的财富却使他被金钱蒙蔽了双眼，也让他的价值观变得扭曲：他挥霍无度，对于爱情也毫无忠诚可言，根本没有为之奋斗的目标，灵魂空洞而无趣。杰伊·盖茨比却恰恰相反，贫穷的出身使得他越发认识到努力的重要性，也使得他拥有完全不同的价值观：他奋发向上，不停奋斗，相信能通过奋斗改变阶级乃至命运；对于爱情，他忠贞不二，爱情正是他如此努力的最大动力；他对于生活充满信心，是作者对于美国梦的缩影。通过对于二人不同价值观的研究，可以得出结论，正是不同的财富来源和不同的经历使得汤姆·布坎南和杰伊·盖茨比有着明显不同的价值观。这种不同的价值观形成了他们独特的个性和自我。

关键词：菲茨杰拉德；《了不起的盖茨比》；杰伊·盖茨比；汤姆·布坎南；价值观

1. Introduction

F. Scott Fitzgerald is known as the most typical and representative writer in his time since his works are considered to be the microcosm of the Jazz Age. His novels vividly reflect the disillusionment of the American Dream in the 1920s and show the spiritual aspect of the "wasteland era" of the American upper class during the Great Depression. At the end of the 20th century, The Great Gatsby was selected and ranked second among one hundred of the best novels in a hundred years of English literature.

1.1 A brief introduction to F. Scott Fitzgerald

1. Scott Fitzgerald played a paramount role in the history of modern American literature and became the spokesman of the Jazz Age in the 1920s and one of the representative writers of the lost Generation. Fitzgerald wrote not only novels but also short stories. In addition to The Great Gatsby, his main works also include The Gentleness of the Night (1934) and The Love of the Last Tycoons (1941). His novels have a strong personal color. From the perspective of literature, Fitzgerald was good at narrating stories, and his works have a humorous and delicate style, fluent speech and rigorous structure, especially the natural and vivid dialogue of the characters. Fitzgerald's works pay more attention to the true presentation of his own life, the narration of interesting stories and the modern flavor of American urban life.

Fitzgerald's novel creation is a kind of self-experiential writing with autobiographical tendency. Based on his real life, he described his time and social style in detail through his novels, thus truly reproducing the "Jazz Age". Most of Fitzgerald's novels are based on his own life experience, or contain part of his own life experience. So his novels are full of Fitzgerald's personal self-consciousness and thoughts, as well as his strong emotions.

1.2 A brief introduction to The Great Gatsby

Among Fitzgerald’s works, The Great Gatsby occupies a pivotal position, and many people treated The Great Gatsby as the climax of Fitzgerald’s writing career. The publication of

The Great Gatsby establishes Forster Fitzgerald's position in the history of modern American literature and makes him the spokesman of the Jazz Age. It contains Fitzgerald’s deep thought about the Jazz Age and he expressed his own attitude towards the society in 1920s in this great work. Forster Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in 1920s. During that time，Americans were enjoying rapid development. People became richer, and their living standards and material conditions improved fast. More and more people believed that their own American dreams would come true in the near future, and they were full of hope for their future life. The capitalist economy developed rapidly and soon reached an unprecedented prosperity with the policy. However, it was only a superficial phenomenon. Everyone’s desire for money led to a situation that they only focus on the pursuit of money. On the contrary, people's inner world was empty, and they were blinded by money. What is more, the atmosphere of the whole society had become eager for quick success and profit, and mercenary became the norm of most people, while traditional moral values were falling apart in this era. The social class changed drastically, which brought more conflicts between them. Social polarization is becoming more and more serious, and it caused lots of social problems.

The novel is narrated by Nick Carraway, who lived next to Jay Gatsby in the West Egg of Long Island. Nick was invited by Gatsby to join Gatsby’s lavish party. Nick got to know Gatsby since that party. Jay Gatsby was a poor child who dreamed of becoming a rich man. He loved Daisy very much but failed to marry her because he was a nobody. Gatsby had made great effort to become wealthy after retiring from the army. He finally made a career and bought a villa which was right across from Daisy's house. Gatsby often held luxurious parties to attract Daisy’s attention. Gatsby tried so hard to regain Daisy but Daisy was no longer the same in Gatsby’s imagination, and she would not choose to leave her husband, Tom Buchanan. Tom Buchanan came from one of the richest families in American and married Daisy five years ago, however, Buchanan actually was not an ideal husband. He was not nice to Daisy and he had other lovers which always made Daisy sad. Buchanan’s mistress was accidentally killed by Daisy, but Gatsby tried to protect her and concealed the truth. Mr.Wilson was told by Buchanan that Gatsby was the person who killed his wife. Mr.Wilson believed Tom and shot Gatsby. At last, just a few people attended Gatsby’s funeral. Buchanan and Daisy traveled to Europe without the slightest concern.

Although Gatsby’s life was tragic, he still embodied American Dream since he made himself wealthy by his effort, what is more, we can see Gatsby’s pursuit of dream. Gatsby represents people who start from scratch and fight for their dreams.

Tom Buchanan was a heir to wealth, unlike Gatsby, he was born in one of the richest families in America. However, a noble birth did not give him a noble personality. Buchanan was selfish and ruthless. Tom Buchanan looked down on upstart and thought himself as noble upper-class. Buchanan, on the other hand, represents the traditional American upper-class, who did not want to make progress and only knew how to have fun.

1.3 Need of the study

Buchanan and Gatsby had many conflicts for Daisy and they looked down on each other. In general, the conflict and antagonism between Buchanan and Gatsby actually is the collision of mainstream values and thoughts. It shows 1920’s great changes and conflicts in society. Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan represent the values of two different classes, so comparing these two characters from the perspective of values would help us know more about values of Jazz Age and have a better understanding of the novel.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Previous studies on Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, was interpreted and studied by countless people. Many scholars have done a lot of researches from different angles. Eliot (1945) thought that The Great Gatsby is such an important novel that can be said to be the representative work of The Lost Generation. Fan (2007) held the view that, “Fitzgerald not only depicted the colorful American dream, but also showed his own understanding of the society and the development. He deconstructed and brought the American dream out into the open with sharp strokes”. And Li (2017) thought this work also showed that Fitzgerald was aware of the injustice and class solidification in American society in 1930. This novel vividly depicted the extravagant atmosphere of society at that time and the unscrupulous accumulation of wealth by people, as well as the profligacy of the rich.

As the protagonist of this novel, Gatsby attracted the most attention. Many scholars regarded Gatsby as the symbol of American Dream. During that time, there were myriads of opportunities to become rich, and lots of people succeeded in changing their whole life. Gatsby was the representative of this kind of people. “This role reflects the American men's struggle for wealth and status” (Li，2019). “Gatsby pursued love and wealth for his whole life. He gets lot of precious personality, and he is sincere and romantic, full of fantasy. Gatsby's life is full of dreams” (Liu, 2019). Gatsby got lots of precious personalities, “He is also diligent, optimistic and enterprising” (Su, 1996). And Gatsby was a typically romantic person who deeply believed in love, “His love towards Daisy is really pure and from the bottom of his heart. He loves this lady, but he knows her high social status quite clearly, so he tries everything in his power to change and improve himself to satisfy Daisy” (Wang, 2017).

On the other hand, Gatsby was not a perfect person. Many scholars have pointed out Gatsby's character shortcomings. Gatsby seems to be too idealistic to realize how cruel the world is. “Gatsby is too idealistic, Gatsby is a doomed character. His dreams are too unrealizable. Gatsby fantasized about breaking the firmness of class and regaining Daisy, but failed in the end” (Liu, 2019). At the same time, researchers also pointed out that the way Gatsby got money was actually illegal, “He did whatever it takes to make money and completely gave up the positive side of his dream” (Zhang, 1998). Just like Buchanan, Gatsby was fond of squandering money, too. Li (2017) pointed out that “He changed his name and started an illegal private drinking business. Gatsby earned a lot of wealth and squandered it in an extremely extravagant way” (Li, 2017). Gatsby was doomed to fail since Gatsby's tragedy is the tragedy of American idealism (Gao, 1997). People usually associate Gatsby's failure with the disillusionment of the American dream. It shows that the society was chaotic and mercenary at that time (Zhang, 1998). And The disillusionment of Gatsby's dream also reflects the deepening class solidification in the United States (Li, 2017). What is more, Daisy’s materialism and indifferent mentality made Gatsby more tragic (Shan, 2015).

As for the character Tom Buchanan, previous studies regard him as a representative of the upper class in the United States. “Tom Buchanan, on the other hand, belonged to the traditional type accepted by the society at that time, inheriting wealth from his family and enjoying his inherent social status and rights” (Hui, 2018). Although Tom Buchanan has a great deal of wealth , he does not have a noble personality. His substantial wealth brings him affluent life, strong power and high social status. However, “such great wealth gradually misled him and made Buchanan a person with an empty soul who is hypocritical and arrogant” (Wang, 2017). Tom did not care about money since money is the toy of a luxurious life (Feng, 2019). Zhang (2011) held the view that “This shows that although Tom has a lot of wealth, he is morally ruined and his spiritual life is empty, like a walking corpse”. Tom was disloyal to love, “which makes him pay less attention to Daisy. As for him, wealth is not only the basis of steady love, but also the only reliable thing in love” (Wang, 2017).

What is more, Tom also represents the negative side of upper-class,“People in this class have completely lost the spiritual tradition of transcendentalism that once formed American history. They are symbols of materialism and represent the end of the history of civilization” (Gao, 1991). Some reader even called him “A paper tiger who is strong in the outside and dry in the middle” (Zhang, 2011 ).

2.2 Previous studies on value of Jazz Age

In Fitzgerald's own words (1925),“This is an era of miracles, an era of art, an era of profligacy, and an era full of mockery. At that time, in front of our young eyes, everything seemed rosy and romantic, because after that, we will never feel the same way about the environment around us”. Fitzgerald called this era the “Jazz Age”, and he himself was called the chronicler and Poet Laureate of the Jazz Age, which means he has profound and original views on this era.

The Jazz Age (1918-1929) saw the great change of social values in the United State. The culture of the supremacy of money prevails. This was an era of material desires, and people's desire for money makes some people lose basic moral concepts and blindly pursue to get rich by any means. Fehimeh (2016) described it as “In this era, unrestrained materialism set the tone of society”. What is more, the rich feel superior to others and they are the elite class of the society. By criticizing the social reality of Jazz Age and Gatsby's idealism and blind pursuit, we can have a thorough understanding of the reason why Jazz Age was related to the disillusionment of the American dream. Marius (1963) explained that the description of the novel is actually a criticism of the American Dream in the Jazz Age. At the same time, Jazz Age was quite unique because the collision between classes was becoming more and more intense, and it made people that time more ambitious (Brain, 2017).

Overall, they all think the Jazz Age played a paramount role in American history since it had a far-reaching influence on the social and economic thought of the United States.

3. A Comparative Study of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan from the Perspective of Values

Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan are two different and contradictory characters in the novel. These two characters represent two completely different classes and reflect the violent collision between the classes in the Jazz Age. Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan had quite different values and some similarities in some aspects.

3.1 Similarity

Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby are both famous millionaires in New York. There are many descriptions of Buchanan and Gatsby’s luxurious life and habit of spending a lot of money in the novel, which leaves a deep impression on readers. For example, Buchanan “brought down a string of polo ponies from Lake Forest” and “gave her a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars” (Fitzgerald, 2007: 518). Gatsby held lavish parties frequently, owned several luxury sports cars and “bought a new seaplane”. Overall, Buchanan and Gatsby both have myriads of money and they do enjoy squandering it.

Although Tom Buchanan had a lot of wealth, he was morally ruined, arrogant and ferocious. His inner mind was empty and had no sense of respect at all, and he also showed no loyalty to Daisy. As Nick said, Buchanan “would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game” (Fitzgerald, 2007: 345). At the same time, Buchanan had an affair with the waiter during the honeymoon and had a mistress in New York. What is more, it seems that Buchanan hadn't done anything meaningful in the whole novel. Jay Gatsby, was not perfect, neither. To be more specific, Gatsby always disguises his birth, saying that he came from a famous family, and he got his wealth through inheritance. It was through this lie that he had the chance to fall in love with Daisy. Gatsby also lied that he used to study in Cambridge, tried to learn the mantra of high society to make his lies more realistic. However, when pressed and Buchanan exposed his true identity, Gatsby failed to control his emotion, he just “began to talk excitedly to Daisy, denying everything, defending his name against accusations” (Fitzgerald, 2007: 663). In summary, Buchanan and Gatsby are not perfect since they both have incorrect values.

3.2 Causes for the similarity

Because of his great wealth and noble birth, Tom Buchanan was always self-consciously superior to others and thinks that he can do whatever he wants. Buchanan relies on wealth and status to maintain his luxurious life. He became the slaves of money. Gatsby, through his whole life, pursued wealth and status. In Gatsby’s opinion, wealth plays an important role and it could bring him higher status, which allows him to be recognized by others. In the past, Gatsby was looked down upon because he was poor. He then attaches great importance to the status and reputation brought by wealth. At the same time, Daisy played an important role in changing Gatsby’s values. Daisy’s materialism and indifferent mentality made Gatsby deeply believed in money. Overall, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby both had twisted values because of their material desires. And they lived in an era that values the supremacy of money, which unwittingly has a great impact on them.

3.3 Differences

3.3.1 Different attitudes towards wealth

Though Buchanan and Gatsby have a lot of wealth, their attitudes towards wealth are completely different, which is one of the biggest differences between them. For Tom Buchanan, money is just a toy for a luxurious life. Buchanan can be said to be the most money-worshiping character in the whole novel. Buchanan was seduced and deceived by money and lost his humanity and feelings. The worship of money also deprived him of his sense of morality and responsibility. Throughout the novel, there is little positive description of the image of Buchanan. He is an arrogant, hypocritical person. He dared not admit the fact that he was having an affair with Mrs. Wilson, but used it to frame Gatsby. Buchanan thinks that the meaning of having so much wealth is to enjoy. Money makes him seek pleasure everywhere and lead an extravagant life. Nick described Buchanan as “his freedom with money was a matter for reproach” and “It was hard to realize that a man in my own generation was wealthy enough to do that”（Fitzgerald, 2007: 177） What is more, Buchanan’s wealth allows him to live at the highest level of society at that time, and he thought he was a natural elite class of since he was born. In conclusion, Buchanan regards money as a guarantee for his reputation, status and luxury. As it is too easy for him to get wealth, he is careless and contemptuous of money.

Jay Gatsby held a totally different attitude towards money. To be more specific, Gatsby uses money as a means to realize his dream. When Gatsby was nobody, he fell in love with Daisy, a lady from upper-class. From then on, Gatsby decided to become wealthy to make himself a good match for Daisy. Although readers are touched by Gatsby’s deep love for Daisy, his attitude is actually morbid. Gatsby regarded Daisy as the dream of his life, and kept fighting for it. However, Gatsby was so dependent on money that he thinks that to have wealth is to have love.

In his eyes, his pursuit of wealth is the pursuit of his love, because wealth is an important condition for getting love. It was also this belief which made he started from scratch as a poor boy.

3.3.2 Different attitudes towards love

Buchanan had always been telling Daisy that he only loves her, however, this statement was quite questionable. Buchanan's playboy style can be easily found in the novel, and he seldom showed real feelings for Daisy. Throughout the whole novel, there is no plot to describe Buchanan’s love towards Daisy. Actually, Buchanan chose Daisy to marry only because of the idea of matching. Daisy came from a distinguished family which made her a perfect choice for Buchanan, since marrying Daisy is in line with his status as an upper-class millionaire. What is more, the fame he got from giving Daisy the necklace that cost a lot of money highlights his wealth. Buchanan loved Daisy's fame and status more than Daisy herself. It can be said that he even loved himself more than Daisy. Buchanan had an affair with the waiter during the honeymoon and had another lover after moving to New York, which shows that he didn’t attach importance to marriage at all. Buchanan's view of love is hypocritical and utilitarian, and it can even be said that he doesn't love Daisy .

For Gatsby, love is sacred and chaste, and he is a typical romantic. Although Daisy had married someone else, Gatsby still regards her as the only love of his life. He worked hard for Daisy for many years, only to make himself rich enough to deserve to have Daisy again. After making great fortune, Gatsby still did not go directly to Daisy to show his heart. He spent a lot of money on the party just to get Daisy's attention. It was a perfect reflection of his romantic thoughts. When Gatsby was told that Daisy's marriage was not happy, he still insisted that Daisy should tell Buchanan herself and break up with Buchanan, which also showed that he attached great importance to the ceremonial sense of love. Overall, Gatsby is an out-and-out romantic who regards love as sacred and great, and love is the most important pursuit of his life.

3.3.3 Different understandings of status

Buchanan believed that identity is inborn, and his birth determined that he belongs to upper class, which made him a born elite. It brings Buchanan enjoyment and privileges, and made him feel that he deserved all of them. Buchanan was born with a sense of superiority, which made him always despise others. In Buchanan's view, society should be controlled by the upper class like himself, and those self-made people and blacks, no matter how rich they are, did not deserve wealth in their bones. Gatsby was quite rich, but Buchanan still looked down on him because Gatsby did not come from an aristocratic family, and Gatsby’s money came from illegal profit.

Gatsby came from a poor peasant family. He forged his identity to be able to date with Daisy. Then Gatsby devoted himself to making money to get Daisy back. Gatsby thought that being wealthy was the symbol of status, he belonged to upper class since he successfully brought himself great amount of fortune. Gatsby also thought that wealth can change one’s destiny no matter who he was.

3.3.4 Different attitudes towards life

Gatsby is the literary embodiment of the American Dream in the novel. His family is poor, but he has always believed that people have to struggle to succeed. This is also Gatsby's subconscious recognition of the value of diligence. He worked hard, not only to get ahead, but also to regain his love. At the same time, Gatsby is also an optimistic and enterprising person. He never gave up hope because of his poor birth, but seized every opportunity to join the upper class and bring him wealth and status.

On the contrary, Buchanan was actually a man who has nothing meaningful to do. Buchanan only wanted to have fun and did not care about anything else. Buchanan was aimless and mentally empty. His image satirizes those so-called upper-class tycoons who do nothing at all and live like walking corpses.

3.4 Causes for these differences

According to the novel, we can find there are several causes which lead to these differences between Gatsby and Buchanan. To speak in detail, they are sources of wealth and social experiences.

3.4.1 Different sources of wealth

Buchanan was born into one of the richest families in the United States. It means that he was a millionaire when he was born. Buchanan's innumerable wealth actually comes from inheritance. In other words, Buchanan obtains such a huge amount of wealth without even a little bit of hard work. It is precisely because wealth comes so easily that Buchanan doesn't care about it at all. He only knows how to squander this wealth and enjoy the status and life that wealth brings. It can also be said that although wealth brought Buchanan a luxurious life, they destroyed his spiritual world and made him a person who had no dream.

Gatsby, who was born in a poor peasant family, worked hard and tried everything to accumulate his wealth. Because Gatsby had experienced poverty, he was aware of the importance of wealth and worked harder to accumulate wealth. And we can find from the novel that Gatsby even made money by illegal means such as selling illegal alcohol. In conclusion, Gatsby's wealth is quite hard to get, and he is a very purposeful man. All these things made Gatsby who he was.

3.4.2 Different experiences

Buchanan was a typical rich playboy, who enjoyed the benefits brought by wealthy family since birth, and never experienced storms and difficulties. Such an indifferent and boring experience made Buchanan’s life experience a blank. And Buchanan looks down on other self-made people because he has never experienced the efforts of struggle.

Gatsby's life experience was quite rich. It can be said that he is microcosm of the rise of the United States. He was the son of a farmer and has been strict with himself since he was a child. Gatsby once saved a millionaire and thus became the follower of the millionaire. Since then, Gatsby was able to see a lot of the world he had never seen before. However, he failed to inherit the wealth given by the millionaire as expected. After that, Gatsby joined the army and met the love of his life, Daisy. Gatsby was sent to European battlefield and failed to marry Daisy. He made a lot of meritorious deeds and was able to study at Oxford University. After coming back to America, Gatsby decided to regain Daisy’s love and started to make himself a millionaire. These experiences taught Gatsby the knowledge of lifetime benefits and it is really great for Gatsby to insist his dream after experiencing lots of difficulties, as well as maintaining his deep love for Daisy. All these experiences made Gatsby a hard-working and hopeful person.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby actually had some similarities. They both had twisted values since money and materialism made them lost their correct values. However, the differences between their values did exist. To be more specific, Tom Buchanan was an aimless person who was fond of squandering money. He also showed no loyalty towards love and his inner mind was empty. Jay Gatsby’s values were different. Although we cannot deny that Gatsby had some wrong values and made money illegally. Gatsby’s values were more positive. He was hardworking and believed in love deeply, and he was quite optimistic and enterprising. Gatsby tried everything to pursue a better life and regain Daisy. All these differences in values were due to their different sources of wealth and experiences. It was these differences that made them who they were and gave them unique personalities.

This paper makes a comparative study of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan from the perspective of values. Since Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan are two very important roles in The Great Gatsby, analyzing and comparing them would offer us a new aspect to interpret this novel and help us have a better understanding of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan.

And this paper also explores the causes for the formation of characters and values from different aspects. Many readers used to think of Jay Gatsby as a positive character, but in fact, he is a person with flaws. Understanding all Gatsby's personality traits and values and analyzing the causes make us know more about this character. At the same time, Tom Buchanan is an important character which cannot be underestimated, too. Comparing Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan helps to expose class conflicts and social changes in that era, and it is definitely meaningful.

The mere pursuit of material wealth will only bring us superficial happiness. Spiritual enrichment would bring us more important and profound benefits. The increasingly competitive society makes us more and more impetuous, which would make us too utilitarian to forget about our inner mind. Having a dream and trying our best to achieve it is also great, we should not focus on success because the progress of pursuing dreams may be more valuable.

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