Abstract This essay will focus on several parallel points of these seemingly distant characters Jay Gatsby and George Wilson from three similarities to depict the deterioration of the society in 1920s and a sense of disillusionment of the American dream. One is economic struggles. The life of utter destitution of Gatsby closely resembles that of Wilson, which inspires their dreams. Both originate from the low class, resolving to earn wealth through paying hard efforts. Second is a romantic love triangle, which pushes the story into a climax. Gatsby’s keen affection has been attached to Daisy who has married to Tom; Wilson takes extreme measures to keep his wife Myrtle, Tom’s long mistress. The last one is their death caused by Tom, saying that the owner of that death car is Gatsby, so Wilson takes revenge and then commits suicide. The dreams of Gatsby and Wilson fall shattered by Tom, which highlights the decline of the American Dream and the disillusionment of that generation. 66835

Key words: similarities; George Wilson; Jay Gatsby

摘要 论文将围绕杰伊·盖茨比和乔治·威尔逊的相似之处从三个方面展开，揭示出世纪20年代社会堕落的现象和当时“美国梦”给人带来的失落感。第一，经济上的拮据。他们都出生在下层家庭，这激发了盖茨比和威尔逊的美国梦,他们希望凭借自己的奋斗变得富有。第二，三角恋的爱情，这把故事推向了高潮。盖茨比对嫁给汤姆的黛西穷追不舍，威尔逊蛮横挽留早成为汤姆情妇的妻子。第三，他们被伪装的汤姆杀害。因为汤姆说盖茨比是那辆凶车的主人，威尔逊才复仇然后自杀。盖茨比和威尔逊的梦想被汤姆粉碎了，揭示了美国梦破灭的事实和那个时代背景下人们的幻灭感。

毕业论文关键词：相似之处；乔治•威尔逊；杰伊•盖茨比

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. George Wilson’s Similarities to Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby 3

3.1 Economic struggles 3

3.2 A romantic love triangle 5

3.3 Deaths caused by Tom 8

4. Conclusion 10

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction 

The Great Gatsby written by an American author F. Scott Fitzgerald -primarily revolves a broken love story of a young and quixotic millionaire Jay Gatsby- is widely recognized as one of the giant masterpieces of the literature circle, but in its first coming to market it was a failure, receiving mixed critics, and sales record didn’t prove good until World War II. And Fitzgerald's goal to be a great writer failed to happen in the expected way. He contributed the poor sales to the fact that during this time the majority of the wide readership of novels were girls or women, and this novel did not draw the attention of that group. 

Until 1942, the Council on Books in Wartime was set up to make soldieries who occupied frontline positions draw comfort from those spiritual food books. Surprisingly, The Great Gatsby proved to be "as popular as pin-up girls" among them. Thanks to the event, the novel has become popular and the sales volume on the rise. 

The popular hit has resulted in film adaptations for the screen for several times; a 1926 silent film by Herbert Brenon, a 1949 film by Elliott Nugent and a 2013 by Baz Luhrmann.

 T. S. Eliot, the first to comment on this writing, points that it is the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James’. 

Based on Li Linhui’s analysis, Gatsby’s own faults are responsible for his tragedy. His personal reasons altogether lead to the tragedy including false concept of the relation between money and love, blind idealism, and moral corruption. Others comment that the tragedy of Gatsby is in close connections with the decline of the American Dream.