An analysis of Clyde’s Broken American Dream分析克莱德破灭的美国梦.doc

An analysis of Clydes Broken American Dream Abstract： American dream , which drived of the British colonial days in the United States, developed in the 19th century . It is a kind of belief that anyone can achieve ideals as long as they struggle for it . This paper mainly analyzes the character of the hero Clyde for his American dream in An American Tragedy, then reveals a more profound historical background and practical significance of peoples pursuit of America dream. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the inspiration got from American dream to Chinas dream,.At last, the paper interprets the Chinas dream and concerns about what can we do for meeting our targets . Key Words: Theodore Dreiser ；Clyde ；An American Tragedy ；the breaking of American dream ；Chinas dream 分析克莱德破灭的美国梦 摘要：美国梦,起源于美国英属殖民时期，在19世纪得到了发展。它是一种信念，在美国，只要经过艰苦的奋斗任何人都可以实现自己的理想。该论文主要通过美国悲剧这部小说来分析男主人公克莱德美国梦的产生以及破灭，接着揭示了时代背景以及人物追求梦想的现实意义，分析了美国梦对中国梦的启发。最后阐释了中国梦的含义，并讨论了当代中国人为了实现梦想应如何去做。 关键词：德莱塞;克莱德;美国悲剧；美国梦的破灭；中国梦 Contents 1 Introduction to the author and An American Tragedy12 American dream.22.1 The rise of American dream22.2 The failure of American dream .22.3 The influence of American dream in society and life .33 Clydes broken American dream .33.1 His pursuit of American dream.33.2 His broken American dream .44 The reasons for his failure44.1 The social factors54.2 The personal factors55 The inspiration of American dream for modern Chinas dream .66 Conclusion7References8Acknowledgments9 An analysis of Clyde Broken American Dream 1 Introduction to the author and An American Tragedy An American Tragedy is one of the authors excellent classics novels. It is a classic of the 20th century American novel. Theodore Dreiser is regarded as one of the best American realistic novelists of the first half century. An American Tragedy narrated that Clyde who was the son of a poor priest for chasing money but at last degenerated into a deliberate murderer. It not only revealed the serious consequences of inflated self-interest but also exposed the American lifestyle about the sin corrosion toxic effects of money first for human. The U.S. system will all go to see some of the causes of the individual, but unable to provide real solutions. So he was the first writer who criticized the futility of the American Dream in the novel so drastically. After him there were some other famous writers who also depicted the futility of the American Dream, among whom were Faulkner,Hemingway, Steinbeck, Bellow etc. And he showed an actual American society which was governed by money, desire and individualism to the readers. (Mao , 1998). He had an enormous influence on American literature during the first quarter of the century. Of course, An American Tragedy also had a great impact on the era and peoples thought. It was once considered to be the most influential novel in the American history. Dreiser suffered the pain of poverty and ignorance. In his childhood, during that bitter career, the experiences are all included in An American Tragedy at the beginning of chapters. Out of his passions, contradictions and sufferings, he wrenched the art that was his salvation from the hungers and depressions that racked him. It was no wonder that he elevated the creative principle to godhead and encouraged by word, example and truthful expression in others. Therefore he was the first warrior to taste the tomato in his times and also he cleared the way for the successors.2 American dream 2.1 The rise of American dream Related research at home and abroad on the bursting of the American dream. The history of the American Dream began with the mayflower 300 years ago, when immigrants from England came to Maryland on the mayflower to cross the Atlantic ocean, looking for a piece of the puritans.The American Dream has started quietly like bud in the United States to every person around the world, as long as you work hard anyone can realize his dream. Edison rely on his personal invention and founded the general electric company. The Rockefeller of the oil made the Morgan bank and invented the auto production line. Their common features are poverty but through hard work finally started his vast business and become a legend. 2.2 The failure of American dream What is the real power behind the American dream? Some historians believe, is the thirst for wealth and benefits. Early European immigrants of the United States believe in the equality of political rights and religious. But the migrants did not form a common feature of the American Dream, some of them are to get rid of the persecution of the old world and build the mountain city according to their own creed worship of God. Some people in order to find a virgin to achieve their own political and economic ideals; some people in order to find the legendary golden state to get rich or be engaged in speculation and extortion. While more people will be toile home and craft endless in order to get rid of poverty. However, in fact, this classic American dream mode has a lot of falsity even during the period of the frontier. Theoretically, the reward should be completely attributed to hard work, frugality and luck . In fact, if people want to be rewarded, it often relies on cunning and ruthless. By means of brutal and completely villain acts in American capitalism especially the rapid development of industrialization and gradually enter the monopoly stage of capitalism. If you really want to become wealthy and increase your social status, the large seed capital and economic is the key factor. Today, American politics are also evolved into the game of money. Gradually, The American dream which was full of positive color ever began to burst and even gone bad . 2.3 The influence of American dream in society and life American Dream is a unique cultural phenomenon in American society and culture. On the one hand, the American dream preached democracy, freedom, equality beliefs, national spirit, and the idea of tolerance in the process of social development in the United States. It played a role which can not be ignored, it made some positive influence, On the other hand, American dream shocked so many individuals. Everyone believes that if they work hard, they can finish what they wish to do. So at the time in the United State，everything is full of competition even battle. Gradually the American dream fade into a negative thought.3 Clydes broken American dream 3.1 His pursuit of American dream The hero Clyde in An American Tragedy is a tragic of the cultural context. He is the main hero in the work. He was of humble origin and his family was poor.When he was 12 year old, he was ashamed of their own family and began to envy of the rich and big spenders. When he was young , he has determined that he would catch every opportunity to be rich and never let any chance to go. (Shen , 1999.9) When he was 16 year old, he has been the Victoria Johnson hotel waiter. He earned more money than the family, but he used the money to debauchery but would never delivered bread at home or worry about the mother and help his sister in trouble. After the car accident, he came to Chicago, his uncle gave him the chance to change the fate. When he faced his best ingratiation then seeking the Regal female Sang Tela and the pregnant ordinary worker Luo Beida, what he has considered was his own money, social status and the dream of a better future. The facts was he did his utmost to get Sang Tela and get rid of Luo Beida. So again he used the phishing scams to make Luo Beida drowning and dead in order to achieve his evil attempt .3.2 His broken American dream But at last, Clyde eventually was arrested and was brought to electrocution. He became the victim of speculation of the two parties and the judiciary in the United States which use its vigorously political case. He sometimes reached his so-called ideal, but it was just a flash in the pan or a short vanity and ambition to meet himself. Using the despicable means to achieve the purpose, and it finally can only be shattered and could not last long. However , his shattered dream is the embodiment of justice on earth. If such a dream can be long-lasting, life will not be fair. This burst of dream is also a topic prominent and performance .4 The reasons for his failure Obviously, Clydes sad experience is the tragedy of the social system and way of life in the United States.(Wang , 2008.3)Clyde , who was a victim of the underclass Green capitalist society fashion and lifestyle in completely gangrenous years, he was but also a cold and cruel victimizers. In fact he knew that their own destiny could only rely on themselves to change. You could change the fate of the humiliation by means of money to enjoy the luxury and human dignity and rights. He believed that every man for himself outwitting philosophical principles and creed of life, so the rich and poor gap of climbing distorted his psychological spirit and humanity seriously. In order to cater to the capitalist way of life, in order to get money, He had wage but abode his elderly mother and abandoned sister. (DavidS ,1996) In society, he would soon learn how to use the world hypocritical means to win the trust of the uncle to achieve the dream of getting rich on the first door. In order to make a fortune, He was very self-centered by means of the scale of wealth but regardless of the pros and cons of the principle of friendship and humanity. Because he could not grasp the right direction in the pursuit of dreams, he was destined to fail for the ultimate justice which would prevail over evil. 4.1 The social factors The hero in An American Tragedy is the sad man under the tragic background of Cultural. By Dreisers view that the human is affected by biological and environmental determinism dominated, that is to say, peoples behavior is determined by the premise of many reasons. Throughout the entire novel, we can see that it is a row string interaction and impaction of accidents and something which is destined to happen contacted with pieces of the process as well as the opportunity and causation of the society. With the opportunity, Clyde got a job in Davidson of the spectacular Greens hotel. With anti syntax, twilight wall and other images dictated cited destruction of metaphor and a sense of futility. The wall is just to say the imprisonment and influence of the society. The tall wall for Chrysler Germany is like a fantastic city, so that he could never feel free to fight for his own dream, but later the story is clearly a weak proof that Clyde has no material force to compete for the fate of himself at all and he thinks that the world is full of suppression with no love but brutal, fatalistic and often dirty world. In Such a jungle world, Clyde is neither a superman nor is he the carnivore , which is just peoples views on DreiserA kind of helpless creatures which survived by forces beyond the control of the decision in the cruel world. In a word, the social context which Clyde survived indeed had a profound impact on the road of his pursuit of the American dream. Obviously the society he lived in has many passive factors that resulted in his failure.4.2 The Personal factors As an outsider, Clyde only felt that the new world had unpredictable charm. He could not see it entirely through its internal sanctuary . But he saw it as a brilliant panorama system which was with its colorful organization and enjoyable activities. He thought that the wealth atmosphere gave him a deep impression about his dream to be rich and famous. The naive Clyde always saw wealth from the fairy tale aspect. As the saying goes, that glitters is not gold which is just Dreisers point of view. Clyde considers that nothing is important except wealth and status. Therefore, what Clyde could see is just the hypocritical value. Clyde pursues wealth and women in a universal aspect through several other things. The conversation between them is mostly game, ball, car, hotel and entertainment. But what they try to understand and what they want is to get their economic conditions. They all need money but they do not want to behave so greedily. Their nature is so hypocritical. Someone told Clyde that appearance was everything regardless of the heart as a porter and he must appear to be polite. And there are rules that they must use civilization to cover up the disinterested performance of the commercialization of hypocrisy. In the second volume of the novel we see a desire prisoners even a process towards death or tragedy. Klein Germany produced the ultimate nightmare in his peculiar fantasy. So his own personality which mainly include greed and hypocrisy are the key personal reasons which eventually led to his failure of pursuit of the American dream .5 The inspiration of American dream for modern Chinas dream Under the influence of the American Dream, Chinas dream gradually steps into the life of the Chinese people. Chinas dream is to say to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in modern times with the greatest dream and the confidence that this dream will be achieved. This is the first 50 years of the 21st century, Chinas dream has been the most important stage of development after a hundred years. The two sessions in the spring of 2013, the dream is filled with warmth because the dream has become extremely heavy which carrying the wish and trust of millions of Chinese people. The great concept of the Chinas dream will come into bright reality. Chinas dream not only profoundly reveals the main theme of the historical development in modern China but also affectionately depicts the history of modern times peoples lives and unremitting struggle. The purpose of Chinas dream is to achieve the national prosperity and national rejuvenation and well-being of the people. So the social harmony of the contemporary stages development and building a moderately prosperous society is the fundamental requirement of the Chinas dream . Chinas dream is also showing many important characteristics of the modern times .Life is like a boat, everyone has his own dreams. But we belong to one country, so everyones dream is closely linked with the nation vicissitudes. The premier has already issued that rise and fall, everyone is responsible for our nation. Because if we wish that the country is good and everyone can be good, I think everyones efforts will be important and everyone should strive to the great rejuvenation of the China. 6 Conclusion An American Tragedy is a lengthy novel and it is a rewarding mental and emotional experience. This novel can set our think e