三等奖 沈雅青作品
To Live Is To Risk It At All
The 1920s is a fleeting but special period in American history. Ranging from 1919 after World War Ⅰ to 1929 before the great American economic collapse, it is known as the "roaring years". It is a crazy time when stock markets have been particularly active, and millions of speculators get affluent overnight. Wealth has become the main standard to judge a person's success. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby vividly reflects the disillusionment of the "American Dream" in this period and shows the essence of the American upper class in the course of the great depression.
Daisy, Gatsby's unforgettable first love, Tom's wife, was the heroine of this book. Nevertheless, beneath her beauty was a heart believed in money and vanity. Therefore, in her values, love was something weaker than money. Gatsby was young and handsome, while Tom was old and aged; Gatsby was soft and affectionate, while Tom was cold and heartless. In the novel, we could easily find that Daisy had affection for Gatsby, nevertheless, she sided with the rich and powerful Tom due to her nature of vanity. After Daisy hit and killed Myrtle accidentally, Tom's mistress, she felt unrestrained to have Gatsby as the scapegoat. It was self-evident that what Daisy wanted was eternal, pure, risk-free wealth. Daisy held the view that love was weaker than material things, however, Gatsby did think so, he also chose to use material rather than true feelings to exchange Daisy's heart again and again. Daisy was the embodiment of Gatsby's ideal, as Gatsby's faith was established on the belief that money could realize one's dreams.
Gatsby held himself strictly to the standards of the upper class, but failed to learn the essence of them. In fact, the fat cats liked Daisy and her husband, as members of that society, had no intention of risking their lives for anything. They would mess up things and hurt others, afterward back to their voluptuous lives. Gatsby was a softhearted man after all, so he could not do that anyway. After Daisy killed Myrtle, Nick repeatedly advised him to leave for somewhere to hide for some time, but Gatsby was too persistent to be persuaded. He still expected Daisy to come back. He stayed alone in the villa, waiting for Daisy's reply. George, Myrtle's husband, at Tom's instigation, regarded Gatsby as the killer of his wife, thus, killed Gatsby. Gatsby had carefully prepared to get Daisy back for five years, but gained nothing, even lost his life in the end. He had the gorgeous appearance of the upper class, nonetheless, failed to learn the survival rules.
At first, I didn't understand why the book was entitled The Great Gatsby, and why Gatsby was great. After reading the novel, I realized that Gatsby kept his original intention in the process of pursuing his dream. He was decisive and bold in action, going forward for his faith. For the sake of his princess, Daisy, he tried to throw lavish parties he didn't like, and even took the blame for her. Nick, the narrator of the story, began his account by saying that he didn't praise and criticize others easily, but he praised Gatsby, so did I. Although he loved the erroneous person, he was always sincere and consistent, full of fantasy. Gatsby was a miniature of the youth in that era, who worked hard to enter the upper class. And Daisy was a symbol of their dreams, the youth showed great courage and put all their efforts into realizing their dreams.
Our lives are made up of countless dreams, so we should try to see hope and fight for our dreams. The distance between the dream and the reality is really great. We don't know what will happen in the process of fulfilling our dreams. However, Life comes but once, and we can't end it up with accomplishing nothing. When you set your goal, just move on. Not all persistence can bring a good consequence, but without persistence, there will be no miracle.
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