1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述）

francisscott key fitzgerald (1896-1940) was a famous american novelist in the 1920s.his works truly reflect the social life of the united states from world war i tothe depression period, the so-called "jazz era" and "sturdy1920s", which profoundly reveal the disillusionment of the american spiritand the american dream under the influence of moneyism and hedonism. his worksshow the crisis of natural ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology behindthe highly developed material civilization of the united states in the 1920s andestablished him as a giant in the history of american literature. the great gatsby was first published in1925. the novel takes the protagonist gatsby’s passionate pursuit of lovelovers as the main line, tells a traditional romantic story about “love andmoney”, and also tells how the dream of “love and money” shattered andeventually becomes a tragedy. this novel is a remarkable symbol of the maturityof fitzgerald's creative thinking and artistic style. since its inception, the great gatsby has received extensiveattention from the literary critics for more than half a century. its researchhas also been enduring and it has been dubbed the "great americannovel." at the end of the 20th century, american academic authorityselected 100 best english novels, and thegreat gatsby ranked second.

tombuchanan is an antagonist in the novel. he is the rival of the protagonistgatsby, daisy’s husband, nick's cousin, and a degenerate dandy. although he isnot the protagonist, it does not mean that his existence in the novel isunimportant. on the contrary, he is an indispensable figure from beginning toend. the development of all major events has a direct or indirect connectionwith him. we can even say that if there were no tom, the story of the great gatsby would no longer exist.

as anantagonist, it can be seen from the depiction of him in the novel that tom'sappearance and character as well as his behavioral style are all typicalexamples of a dark role. in general, the protagonist is a positive characterand a central figure. the behavior and speech of the protagonist play adecisive role in the development of the story. but in the great gatsby it is not the same. the protagonist gatsby is apositive character, but tom, who is the negative character, is at the center ofthe relationship between characters, playing a decisive role in the developmentof the plot.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

This paper will give a detailed analysis of theimage, including personality, spiritual world and social status of thecharacter Tom Buchanan in The GreatGatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald through his actions and words, hisview and attitude towards others and his relationship between Gatsby and Daisy.It will also discuss profoundly the degeneration of American spirit, thedisillusionment of American dream and the material wealth and spiritualemptiness of the upper class under the influence of moneyism and hedonism andfurther explore the social background reflected in the United States at thattime.

This paper will use observational method todirectly observe the character Tom, including his language, behavior,expression, and psychological description, and then analyze his characteristicsand values of the characters. The article will also use comparative researchmethod to compare Tom and Gatsby's social status, values, view of love, ethicsand so on. In addition, the article will also use the literature review methodto collect relevant documents, analyze characters from multiple aspects andusing multiple methods, and understand the background characteristics of therelevant era. Summarize different views by reading various documents and then drawopinions.

3. 研究计划与安排

before15th, january settlement of the title

before 19th,march submission of the thesisproposal

before25th, april submission of the first draft

4. 参考文献（12篇以上）

[1]倪帆.the disillusionment of american dream in the great gatsby[j].海外英语,2016(18):160-163.

[2]lena,a. (1998). deceitful traces of power: an analysis of the decadence of tombuchanan in the great gatsby. canadian review of american studies, 28(1), 19.

[3]chenyewang. similarities and differences between tom and gatsby in the greatgatsby[a]. research institute of management science and industrialengineering.proceedings of 2017 4th international conference onliterature,linguistics and arts(iclla 2017)[c].research institute of managementscience and industrial engineering:,2017:4.