Abstract: As a typical modernist writer of the 20th century, France Scott Fitzgerald is especially renowned for his novel The Great Gatsby in the literary circle. The novel describes an impoverished Western youth’s pursuance of fortune and romance, showing people a broken American dream in the materialistic society. In the same period, naturalism, as an important trend of the modern literary, also has a certain effect on Fitzgerald's creation. To interpret the characters in the novel from the naturalistic perspective, it is easy to find the subtle influence on their value of fate and their tracks of life generated by the genetic and social environment. On the basis of literary naturalism, this paper is mainly designed to analyze the features of naturalism embodied in the characters, especially in Daisy, through three parts: to trace the pessimistic themes and explore the sources of Fitzgerald’s naturalism, namely, the social background of the novel and his own marriage. The author hopes, by this study, to remind the reader that appreciation of Fitzgerald’s books from the perspective of naturalism can shed new light on them. 

Key words: F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Great Gatsby; Naturalism; heredity; social environment

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Introduction-1

I. The Features of Naturalism in the Novel-3

1.1 Genetic and Environmental Determinism Embodied in Daisy-3

1.2 Predestination Embodied in the Upper and Lower Class-6

1.3 The Implied Animalism-8

II. Naturalist Themes in the Novel-10

2.1 The Disillusioned American Dream-10

2.2 Violence and Death-11

III. The Reasons Behind F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Naturalism-13

3.1 Social Background of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Age-13

3.2 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Marriage-15

Conclusion-17

Bibliography-19

Acknowledgements-20