Literature review

So far, much research has been done on this great work and the protagonist Gatsby by a lot of critics from different perspectives, including love and money, location and class, the break of American dream and the Bible.

Some scholars deemed that Gatsby a money-oriented and ambitious person. As a man obsessed with wealth and social standing, Gatsby had little space in his mind, let alone his heart, for anything else. He was goal-oriented and hope-oriented, an idealist (Bunce, Selvi, 2015). Some characters use location to elevate their social status and consequently become members of the leisure class: Jay Gatsby, Nick Caraway, Tom and Daisy Buchanan all use location to elevate their social standing. Location is shown to be a method for elevating the characters' social status and it also becomes apparent that this method is only available for those who already have a substantial amount of money (Malin,2015). Both Selvi and Malin have talked about Gatsby who is a ambitious guy to be wealthy. He loves Daisy and wants to win her love by elevating his location. However, Daisy is not his true love and makes use of Gatsby#8217;s lovesickness. Gatsby becomes a scapegoat and a tragedy.

Some other scholars thought the break of Gatsby's dream echoes that of American Dream. The Great Gatsby vividly shows the real social features of America in 1920s. Gatsby#8217;s tragedy is exactly an epitome of the Jazz Age and the misshapen American dream(Yao, 2010). Gatsby#8217;s sacrifice is true of the break of the dream. Gatsby was born in a poor family. He has a dream to stay with Daisy forever and tries his best to get her. To his disappointment, Daisy becomes Tom#8217;s wife. His dream breaks.

Gatsby#8217;s experience bearing resemblance to Adam#8217;s and Jesus#8217; had also been researched. Adam lives in the Garden of Eden happily. After he mistakenly eats the forbidden fruit, God expels him out and his generations lose happiness. So does Gatsby. He was born in a poor family. His so-called lover leaves him, lets him be a scapegoat and his whole life was sadly over (Huang，Lei，2010). The truth was that Jay Gatsby of west Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God#8212;a phrase which，if it means anything，means just that#8212;and he must be about his Father#8217;s business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty (Fitzgerald, 2009). Gatsby denies his parents and so Jesus does in the pantheon. Jesus refuses to go back with his parents. He believes he is the son of God. Gatsby also gives himself a second name Jay Gatsby because he regards himself as the son of the God. Gatsby is generous at the party to entertain his guests so does Jesus who is philanthropic to change his flesh and blood into water and bread and give them out to the mass (Huang, Lei,2010).