Abstract:This paper explores the meaning of the American dream and testifies that two American characters, Jay Gatsby and Forrest Gump are the personification of the American dream in different times. In their stories, the two American people are different from people around them in that they have undying affection for their beloved and that they never give up their dreams no matter how difficult the situation is. The paper combines the social background and the two characters own experience, to analyze the two romantic dreamers in the cruel reality and reveal that people of dreams can achieve greatness.

Key words: the American dream；Jay Gatsby；Forrest Gump； the realistic significance

中图分类号： I106文献标识码： A文章编号：1672-1578（2011)09-0008-03

1 Introduction

A dreamer in reality is never defeated by the challenges of the material-oriented society; instead, he is steadfast enough to keep trying until his dream is realized. A courageous and optimistic dreamer believes that the unknown future is full of opportunities and that he can rely on himself to gain what he wants and to fulfill his wishes. Jay Gatsby and Forrest Gump, two American characters of two American stories, are the typical personal images of the American dream in the 20th century when some American people were confused by the hedonistic lifestyle and didnt know what was really important in their lives. The two characters try a lot to realize their dreams. They prove that the greatness of people lies in their process of fighting for the objectives with dreams.

2 An Interpretation of the American Dream

There has not been an exact definition of the American dream. Commonly, the American dream refers to the pursuit of the individual for success. For American common people, the American dream is the specific objectives associated with success and happiness. As a matter of fact, the American dream enjoys a long history and has been expressed by different people in different times. It is the American people of different generations who endow the American dream with its particular meaning.

3 Description of the Two Dreamers Life Experiences

The two American stories, The Great Gatsby and Forrest Gump, vividly portray the lives of two American people of virtues. Their life experiences well illustrate how two people of obscurity become known by many people. The depiction of their life experiences also provides the reasons why they are in pursuit of self-achievements. It can be inferred that the two characters personalities are influenced greatly by the American basic beliefs, including individualism and self-reliance, equal opportunity and competition and hard work.

4 Comparison of the Two Characters

Jay Gatsby and Forrest Gump are dreamers in reality. Both of them are courageous enough to fight for their future when they are obscure. In this sense they are similar to each other. But they are different in some aspects, such as characters.

4.1 The Similarities of Jay Gatsby and Forrest Gump

Jay Gatsby and Forrest Gump are similar to each other in several aspects. First and foremost, they stick to their dreams despite the loneliness and other difficulties brought about by the material-oriented society. Their love interests represent their dreams. It seems that the passage of time can change nothing about their good feelings to their beloved. They are courageous enough to struggle against the difficulties in life. The dream is the happy mental world the two people are in pursuit of. This kind of happy mental world can only be realized by winning their lovers back.

They try all that they can with optimistic perspective of life. They do practical things. Because a persons social class is not determined by his family background but by how much money he possesses in the American society, Jay Gatsby smuggles the grain alcohol so as to make big money to get higher social status. In the very beginning, Gatsby pretends subconsciously that he was a person from the same social stratum as Daisy and that he was fully able to take care of her. People take it for granted that a mans property should be as much as or more than a womans so that he is qualified to love her. To follow that doctrine, Jay Gatsby predicts that the time when he marries Daisy is the time when he is really financially capable of keeping her. When he is apart from Daisy, the life of living with Daisy in a magnificent house becomes his unfading dream. In addition, Daisy never drinks alcohol, which makes her seem different from others. As is accepted by all that a real lady is not alcoholic, living with Daisy also means a kind of noble life for Gatsby. So Gatsbys dream is not only motivated by wealth but also by his strong love for the traditional virtues he finds in Daisy. With his beautiful dream, he meets some people who do lots of illegal things to make money. Gatsby joins those people and becomes rich. So he buys a magnificent house to get near to his objective. Now his dream is nearly fulfilled, but it will never be complete if Daisy is not living in the house. For many times Gatsby imagines that Daisy is in the house. However, Gatsby fails to win Daisy back no matter how hard he tries. Of course, it is Daisy who changes Gatsbys life. If she had run away with Gatsby after she kills the woman when driving a car, Gatsby would not have died. Daisy is weak in mind and irresponsible. In this sense, Gatsby is different from Daisy.

Forrest Gump also does his best to win Jenny back. Jenny asks him to run away from those boys who are bullying him when they are just children. From then on, Forrest finds his interest and talent in running which leads him to a charmed life. As he says, wherever I went, I was running. Forrest always tries to protect Jenny. He never allows others to offend Jenny. When he is in Vietnam, he writes to Jenny every day. He even calls his shrimp-boat Jenny, as it is “the most beautiful name in this wide world” to him. At last, Forrest makes himself known by the whole nation again by keeping running with the shoes given by Jenny. That makes Jenny knows how to get in touch with him in the newspapers reporting about him. Moved by Forrest Gump and tired of the hedonistic life, Jenny comes back to Forrest and spends her last time with him. Jenny is different from Forrest Gump in that she is not satisfied with the plain life and wants to be a pop singer.

Second, both Jay Gatsby and Forrest Gump are different from the common people in their times. The novel Jay Gatsby sets its background in America in 1920s. America was one of the victors in the First World War and it enjoyed a period of great prosperity in the 1920s-The “Roaring Twenties”. Most Americans were too busy enjoying the prosperity of the 1920s to think about the meaning of life. American industry continued to expand with Americas massive reserves of raw materials and by high tariffs (import duties on foreign goods). Ordinary people were encouraged through advertising to cheaper goods and many could now afford what had been luxuries before the war. So most Americans enjoyed a high standard of living. Food was plentiful and cheap thanks to the vast quantity produced on American farms. More and more people bought their own houses through mortgages. They filled them with all kinds of consumer goods and parked their new cars in the garage. The “Roaring Twenties” was also the great age of popular entertainment. Young people at that time more or less influenced by the pessimism brought about by the First World War, held that “All Gods dead, all wars fought, all faith in man shaken” Thats why in the novel The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan and Daisy Fay are poor in mind though they are materially rich. No doubt they are described by the narrator Nick Carryaway as careless people, who damage things and return to their money together, leaving others facing the chaos. Daisy Fay, who plays the most important role in Gatsbys tragedy, worships money and is vacant in mind. She wants her life shaped by marrying some man who is rich and loves her. Compared with Gatsby, she is superficial and selfish. Her failure to admit that it is she who killed the woman indicates that she is a coward. She is irresponsible, because she leaves with Tom Buchanan and gives no call to Gatsby. When she knows that Gatsby is waiting for her the night after the accident, she just thinks about how to escape from the trouble without paying any attention to Gatsby.

During the 1960s, the youth were skeptic of corporate and bureaucratic authority; they have strong emotional identification with the underprivileged and intense desire for stimulation and instant gratification. Jenny, the object of Forrest Gumps undying affection, is influenced by those thoughts. She leaves Forrest Gump and goes away to seek for ways of being a singer. She stays with people who are addicted to sex, drugs and other immoral things in life. They ruin themselves by living extremely hedonistic lives. Jenny is lost in this life and catches some disease. She is tired of this life and comes back to Forrest Gump.

4.2 The Differences Between Jay Gatsby and Forrest Gump

First, their different life experiences determine that Jay Gatsby sees peoples social status as more important than Forrest Gump. Gatsby lives a complex life. He first works on a yacht, and then he joins the army and takes part in the social activities with other officers. They go to Daisys house, which is so magnificent that it draws Gatsbys attention. Influenced by material-oriented people around him, Jay Gatsbys wish for a glorious life is booming. His wish to be respected and admired by people is so strong that he refuses to accept the fact that he is the son of farmers. On the contrary, Forrest Gump is innocent and is taught by his mother that he is the same as others. As a result, Forrest Gump treats everyone equally. He never looks down upon Jenny, although she is a girl with few disciplines for her life. In the army, Forrest becomes good friend of Bubba, a black man and later helps Bubbas relatives to enjoy shrimps served by white people. Because Bubbas mother and his grandmother all served the white people to have shrimps, its really exciting for them to be served by the white people in a restaurant. Second, Jay Gatsby has less sense of moral than Forrest Gump. Jay Gatsby does illegal business to achieve success while Forrest Gump always does things he likes without violating the laws. That very difference determines that Gatsbys ending is tragic while Forrest Gump still has his beautiful memories and wishes in his life. Third, Jay Gatsby is not so happy with his life as Forrest Gump. Jay Gatsby is so eager to achieve his goal that he is not satisfied with his life all the time, but Forrest Gump sees the positive things and cherishes his mother and friends in his life.

5 The Realistic Significance of the Two Dreamers

The two characters have far-reaching realistic significance, because their sense of responsibility for their dreams is worth learning. Not only Americans respect them and take them as moral icons, we Chinese people can also learn something from them. Nowadays, a lot of Chinese young people worship money and think that the material success is more important than any other things in their life. One reason is that being rich can make them feel they are more capable than others. Another reason is that more money will bring them more mental and physical comfort. As a result, their minds are full of ideas about how to make big amount of money.

To some extent, passion for money is positive, because it can motivate people to work hard instead of idling around. But it is wrong to put money on top of anything else in life. Life is too short and too precious to be filled just by the love to money. The love to parents, friends and lovers should also be essential in peoples life if they want to have a satisfactory life. In addition, people need to unite together to overcome difficulties instead of dreaming about how to be on top of each other.

In a word, the success without hurting others or violating the laws of the nature can be a perfect dream that is necessary and useful to everyone. Realized or not, the dream can be meaningful if the process is filled with human virtues. Only those who are bold and resolute will cherish their dreams no matter how difficult the situation is and what the result will be. Even failed, people with dreams and human virtues are called great and admired by people all over the world.

In conclusion, the American dream is excellent if it is combined with Puritanism and human virtues. The two dreamers in reality are considered great because they see others more important than themselves. This greatness is the result of their moral power and their strong affection for beautiful things in life. Their passion for life is worth admiring and learning. Some practical objectives can only be achieved by people with seemingly impractical ideas, because the power of dream is an essential factor that motivates people to move bravely on to achieve their goals.

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作者简介：孙丽红，女，无锡科技职业学院外语系助教。