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Although Fitzgerald’s works were introduced in 1950s, Chinese scholars pay little attention to them until 1979. Mr. Dong Hengxun made an initial study of Fitzgerald. In 1983, The Great Gatsby was translated into Chinese by Professor Wu Ningkun. And since 1980s, more and more scholars in China did researches on The Great Gatsby. Wu Jianguo’s Fitzgerald Studies (2002) gave a thorough review of the studies on the author and his works both at home and abroad. Sun Chenggui has grouped the articles relating to the novel into two perspectives. One deals with the theme, while the other is devoted to the author’s literary style, his poetic language, the abundant images, symbols and metaphor, the creative narration, and the dramatic story structure(Liu, 2013).
Now in the twenty-first century, Gatsby scholarship is still hot and popular. One of the primary sources for much of the innovative work on Gatsby in the new century has been the F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, an annual journal of Fitzgerald studies, founded in 2002(Beuka, 2011). The Review published some twenty articles devoted specifically to Gatsby in the first decade of the century, and in this broad range of work there is evidence of both traditional frameworks and entirely new directions (Beuka, 2011).
Many researches have done on Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby, but few of them discussed about the conflicting personality of Gatsby. Gatsby is a young man who does pretty well in his business world, with his tough, determined mind. In order to make a large amount of money, he does illegal jobs including bootlegger and shows no mercy to his subordinates. Also, Gatsby is self-disciplined, because he makes his own schedule and follows it strictly. However, he also can be the best lover in the world because everything which he does is for Daisy and he is willing to pay for everything for her. He is gentle, romantic, and soulful, who is totally opposite to Gatsby when he plays the “role” of businessman. I am wondering that Gatsby has the ability to realize his dream and live a happy life, but he can’t let Daisy go, who got him killed indirectly. So why does Gatsby stick to loving his imperfect lover Daisy? This thesis is going to discuss the conflicting personalities of Gatsby and analysis the causes resulting in them. Meanwhile, I believe everyone has to wear his own identity tags, so I put two identity tags on Gatsby---one is a shrewd businessman and the other is a gentle lover, because from the novel, we can easily get these two tags which I suggest can be labeled on Gatsby.
3. Layout of the Paper
The thesis consists of five parts, including an introduction and a conclusion. In the first chapter, Gatsby’s maturity in business world will be compared with his innocence towards his relationship with Daisy. The second chapter is going to make a comparative study on Gatsby’s self-discipline and his indulgence. The causes resulting in his conflicting personalities will be discussed and analyzed in the third chapter.