摘 要

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Need for the study 1

2. Literature Review 5

2.1 Existing research in China 5

2.2 Existing research abroad 6

3. Theoretical Basis 7

3.1 Definition and theories of values 7

3.2 Development of feminism 8

3.3 Contemporary female values 9

4. Analysis and Discussion 11

4.1 The general values of the jazz age 11

4.2 Female values reflected by three characters from different social classes 12

4.2.1 Female values reflected by Daisy 12

4.2.2 Female values reflected by Jordon Baker 13

4.2.3 Female values reflected by Motelle Wilson 14

4.3 The contrast between the jazz age and contemporary age in female values 15

4.3.1 Female values at the jazz age 15

4.3.2 Female values at contemporary age 16

4.3.3 Differences in female values 17

5. Conclusion 20

References 22

Acknowledgments

While I am about to say goodbye to my student life, I am glad that I have the opportunity to complete my undergraduate studies at Nanjing Tech University, which has a history of over 100 years. My heart is full of gratitude when I am about to finish my studies. I am grateful for the professional guidance given by my teachers in various fields over the years, which has enabled me to have a deeper understanding of my major and to understand the truth of learning.

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere and deepest gratitude to my supervisor Guo Ping who is a modest, rigorous and pragmatic scholar for her careful guidance on my paper. I have received a great number of valuable inspirations and suggestions and supports for this paper from the very beginning to the final draft. Throughout the writing process, every improvement I made reflected her patience and guidance to me. She always read my draft and can make suggestions for revisions quickly and accurately. Without her professional guidance, it is impossible for me to complete my paper.

Next, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the teachers who have taught me during my expertise at Nanjing Tech University. Thanks for providing me with a good atmosphere and a great environment of learning and helping me to develop good English thinking ability and academic accomplishment.

In addition, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my classmates Wang Suya and Fan Ting for their kindness and generous help in my university life. They are both my friends and my mentors.

Last but not least, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my dearest parents for more than 20 years of parenting and cultivation and always being my strong backing and warm harbor.

Abstract

The Great Gatsby is a masterpiece of the American well-known writer Scott Fitzgerald. It vividly depicts the tragic story of Gatsby's loss of morality, disillusionment of dreams, and suffering of misfortunes in the United States in the 1920s under the "money supremacy" concept of pursuing a dream of fortune and love. The work also describes the female values in detail. Influenced by changes in the social structure, modern women's values compared with the jazz era have undergone tremendous changes. Through the images of women from three different social classes depicted in this work, this thesis analyses the psychological structure and values of women in the jazz era and explores the differences in female values between them and the contemporary women.

Keywords: Females; Values; The jazz age

中文摘要

《了不起的盖茨比》是美国现代作家司各特菲茨杰拉德的杰作。该作品生动地描绘了美国20世纪20年代在“金钱至上”观念下追求发财梦与爱情梦的年轻人盖茨比道德感丧失、理想幻灭、惨遭不幸的悲剧故事。作品同时对女性价值观进行了细致的描写。受社会结构变迁的影响，现代女性价值观与爵士乐时代相比发生了巨大的变化。本文通过该作品中描绘的来自三个不同社会阶层的女性形象，分析爵士乐时代女性的心理结构和价值观，探讨其与现代女性价值观的不同。

关键词：女性；价值观；爵士乐时代

Introduction

1.1 Research background

In 1925, The Great Gatsby was published. As Fitzgerald’s most widely circulated representative works, it established his position in the history of modern American literature and made him the spokesman of the jazz age. As the poet laureate of the jazz age, he vividly portrays the real appearance of American society with an indifferent attitude and meticulous analysis, and describes the United States during the period under the "money first" concept. For the young Mr. Gates, the dream about making money is more crucial than the loss of morality and disillusionment. Through the delicate treatment of the dual theme of money and the shaping of three female images from different social classes, Fitzgerald examines and analyzes the distorted and corrosive effects of money and wealth on human nature with severe moral standards. The work fully reflects the consistent themes of Fitzgerald's novels: the lack of conscience, the corrosive effect of money, the depraved life of the upper class, the distortion of personal spirit and the indifference of interpersonal relationships, which reflect the spiritual crisis prevalent in the transformation period of the American society. Today, studying and discussing mentality and values in the jazz age will inevitably talk about Fitzgerald's life and major works because he is the representative of this era, and the chief intoner and critic of this era. Through the shaping of the images of three women from different social classes, the ethical standards of money and wealth are used to examine and analyze the distortion and corrosive effects of money and wealth on human nature. In the era of unprecedented economic prosperity after the end of the war, traditional cultural forms and values were fully shocked. It is of great significance to analyze the psychological structure and values of women in the context of the times and explore its implications for contemporary women's values.

1.2 Need for the study

World War I destroyed people's deep ethics. In the face of the human tragedy, although the three women come from different social classes, what they have in common is that their love is fanatical but lack of true feelings. After the war, the United States experienced unprecedented economic prosperity, however, it was just like an era of extravagance, noise, material wealth and spiritual emptiness at that time. Money becomes the spiritual pillar and belief embodiment of many women. Growing up in this era, traditional cultural forms and values have been comprehensively shocked. In the eyes of women, all the sacred things have ceased to exist and all the norms and standards have been stale and outdated. However, in front of their eyes the numerous and complicated social phenomena have made them confused, and the direction of life is also complicated and confusing. Fitzgerald, in his work The Great Gatsby, accurately depicts the typical life and mental state of fashionable girls, vividly showing the pompous social atmosphere of the United States at that time and the empty spiritual world and tragic life of fashionable women driven by extremely inflated material desires. Through the interpretation of the values of the female images in The Great Gatsby, it can be clearly seen that the happy life that the confused women are looking for is just an illusion of the luxurious life. It is meaningful to study the profound influence of an era on the shaping of people's outlook on life, values and love.

An era has a profound influence on people’s values and views of love. People in the jazz era, especially young women, are generally disappointed and confused in the face of the demise of traditional moral beliefs. The First World War destroyed people's deep-rooted moral concepts. Faced with the human tragedy of the loss of families, the slogans of democracy and the ambition of defending the country have become nonsense. The traditional values of diligence, frugality, self-discipline and abstinence were strongly impacted, and replaced by the values of "money first". Consumerism and hedonism were prevalent, and moral depravity and decadence were everywhere, resulting in the lack of belief in the whole society. Consumerist-oriented values advocated conspicuous, extravagant and novel consumption, which catered to the psychology of people suffering from the great depression and war. The instinct of seeking and enjoying pleasure prompted people to develop interest in the consumerist culture. After the First World War, the US government officials were corrupt and bribed and various social problems followed. The development of the economy and the improvement of people's living standards have spread the turbulent and frenzied atmosphere of the war. The traditional ethics of pre-marriage and marital loyalty before the war are gradually less important. At that time, the United States experienced an era in which the material was pretty abundant but the spirit was extremely empty. Money has become emotional sustenance and belief incarnation of many women. The explorer of the jazz age, Fitzgerald, accurately depicts the typical life and spiritual state of fashionable women driven by the inflated material desires and vividly shows the exaggerated social atmosphere of the United States at that time. Through the interpretation of the values of female images in The Great Gatsby, we can clearly see that the happy life that women in confusion are seeking is just a phantom in the life of a drunken fan.

Since the 1920s, the feminine words power gradually improved with the acquisition of the right to vote. Women's dress, talk and action are more open than ever before. Almost all of Fitzgerald's works have stylish female images with short hair and mini skirts, who, like men, enter public places, smoking, drinking, and flirting. However, behind the freedom of the surface, women do not form group power. Female suffrage is largely manipulated and utilized by male politicians. For women at that time, the chances of achieving economic independence were minimal. The economic situation and social status of women depend on their husbands and thus influence the orientation of women's values. As the foundation of human reproduction and half of the human community, women are a influential branch in creating world civilization. The sustainable development of the human cause requires the constant contribution of women. Whether women have established values that meet the needs of society is not only important for the overall development of women, but also affects the process of social development. In the era of rapid transformation and development, contemporary women face the intertwined conflicts of traditional culture, liberalism, pragmatism, individualism and post-modernism, and the choice of values is still blindly confused. Compared with the female values of the jazz era, contemporary female value orientation is more diverse and more independent. The angles of contemporary women’s treatment of things and phenomena are gradually increasing, and the ideological concepts are diversified and multi-level. Women in different eras have different values. From the perspective of openness, contemporary women are gradually coming out of closed families. Therefore, their views on society and individuals are more dialectical. From the perspective of independence, contemporary women's self-awareness and subjective consciousness are greatly enhanced, and the awareness of rights is more prominent because they emphasize self-realization and self-liberation. Therefore, it is essential to interpret the living conditions of the heroines in the novel and to study the values of women in order to explore the universal values of people in the transitional period of American society. It can also provide a reference for contemporary women to face the confusion and conflicts of diverse values such as tradition and modernity, family and career.

2. Literature Review

After the publication of The Great Gatsby, the literary circles at home and abroad conducted in-depth discussions and research on this literary masterpiece. This chapter analyzes both its existing domestic research and foreign research.

2.1 Existing research in China

It was not until the 1980s that Chinese litterateurs began to focus attention on this literary masterpiece. In 1979, Zhao (1979) introduced Fitzgerald into the domestic research field of foreign literature. The following year, Wang (1980) started the domestic research on The Great Gatsby. Since then, the novel has set off a great upsurge by contemporary writers and critics. They analyzed the novel from different angles. Wu (2002) comprehensively and systematically introduces the domestic research on Fitzgerald. Some researchers discussed the inner world of the characters and the social and historical conditions reflected in the novels from the perspective of the themes and contents of the novels, while others studied Fitzgerald's novels from the perspective of feminism. For example, Han (2006) discusses the inner experience of the fallen female characters in Fitzgerald's novels. Zhao (2008) analyzed the reasons for the female bigotry plot through the description of women in The Great Gatsby. In addition to the study of the ideological content of the works, there are a large number of researchers from the artistic approach to study Fitzgerald's novels. For example, Wang (2010) makes a nuanced study of the creation of his novels with a fire new point of narratology. Yang (2004) makes a detailed analysis of Fitzgerald's use of symbolic meaning, classifies its artistic expression, and explains the role of symbolism in the novel. Similarly, some researchers study this from the structuralism point. This thesis, from a renewed angle of female values in the jazz age, makes a comparative analysis with contemporary female values.

2.2 Existing research abroad

Foreign studies on Fitzgerald are more comprehensive. However, it took a long time to emerge the widespread acceptance of Fitzgerald. In the early 1950s, a number of famous literary critics highly appraised Fitzgerald's works and achievements. American biographer and literary critic Mizner (1951) wrote the first critical biography of Fitzgerald The Distant Paradise after studying Fitzgerald's life and work. This biography is recognized as one of Fitzgerald's most authoritative biographies, which has played an important role in promoting the follow-up study of Fitzgerald and his works. This biography is also groundbreaking in American literature. Since then, many researchers have begun to examine Fitzgerald's works from different perspectives, which has made the great writer's reputation reach an unprecedented height and various studies have emerged one after another.

First, the author's life research, life experience and creative experience have been made a detailed introduction. Second, the literary criticism of Fitzgerald's works have entered the public eyes. Brooklyn (2000) has a comprehensive literary review of Fitzgerald's major works. Most of the studies on a certain novel were on The Great Gatsby. In addition, comparative literature studies literary reception and influence mainly.

The research on this work at home and abroad mainly focuses on Fitzgerald's life research, analyzes the social thought reflected in the work from the perspective of literary criticism, and analyzes the inner world of the novel's protagonist. Although there is no lack of research on feminism about the fate of female characters, the development of inner experiences and personalities, few researchers have analyzed the works from the perspective of female values. This paper analyzes the female values in the jazz age and compares them with contemporary female values to examine the work from a new perspective.

3. Theoretical Basis

In this chapter, the definition and theories and development of feminism is to be adopted to help us understand the novel more deeply, thus providing an overall theoretical basis for this study.

3.1 Definition and theories of values

Early Western researchers had a variety of interpretation of values. Kluckhohn (1951) have suggested that value is explicit or implicit. The idea of what is worthwhile is that it is a characteristic that influences what behaviors people may choose to live. This definition integrates various definitions of values from the operational level, enabling researchers to reach a consensus and establish a dominant position in the West. Behind one of the ideas about whether it is worthwhile is a set of universal, organized constructive systems that contain a view of human versus social relations and nature, namely value orientation. Values are a lasting belief, a specific way of doing things or a state of being, which is preferable to the opposite behavior or the ultimate state of existence for an individual or society. In addition to directly citing Western definitions of values, some Chinese researchers have borrowed philosophical understanding of values. There are also discrepant perspectives on the definition of values. Values are the cognition, understanding, judgment or choice made on the basis of human thought, which is a kind of thinking or orientation for people to identify things and distinguish right from wrong, thus reflecting a certain value or function of people and things (Yuan, 2013). In class society, different classes have different values. Values are characterized by stability and persistence, historicity and selectivity. Values have taken up directive function on motivation and at the same time reflect people's cognition and needs.

Based on the existing research results, this study operationally defines values as follows. Values are people's goal establishment, means choices or rules. Following the concept embodied in the aspect has a guiding effect on the behavior of individuals or groups. This definition gives a clear division of dimensions, which is easy to analyze and can understand the meaning of values more intuitively and clearly. Value orientation is a systematic value. Relative to values, value orientation has a certain guiding and regulating effect on individual thoughts and behaviors, making it point to a certain goal or with a certain tendency.

3.2 Development of feminism

Although feminism contains many contradictory viewpoints and theoretical dilemmas, it has a common goal of efforts to eliminate gender discrimination in social real life and to enable women to achieve full freedom and comprehensive development. Using it as a basis to sort out the development of Western feminism, we can see that feminism has experienced three major waves and ideological stages. Early emphasis on equal feminism, and then the feminism of differences, and finally the current post-modern feminism with "body" theory as the core. From the theoretical clue point of view, there are two clues to the study of women's issues in the Western society (Miao, 2017). The first clue is the Western feminist theory that dominates the mainstream. After the French Revolution, influenced by the Enlightenment, feminist theory debuted. Feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) published a book entitled A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Its core idea is to advocate gender equality education and to attack the traditional education model that discourages women from developing rational ability. Half a century later, Harriet Tubman (1851) published The Right to Vote for Women, and the feminist male scholar John Stuart Mill (1869) published The Subjection of Women, and they insisted on the basis of the idea of rational and equal education. Equally, equal political power and economic opportunities are seen as the key to achieving gender equality. Early liberal feminists emphasized the gender roots of women's oppression and demanded a new social and cultural system for equality between men and women from a human rights perspective. In this theoretical context, women's movements set off the first wave. The goal is mainly to pursue political rights equal to men.