近日，从北京传来消息，我校原高三（2）班陈依同学在今年3月举行的“书评有奖大赛”中表现出色，荣获全国二等奖。祝贺陈依同学，同时感谢她的辅导老师陆玉仙。

本次比赛由《二十一世纪学生英文报》举办，接力出版社协办赞助。陈依同学获奖作品的题目是“What is the Real Value of “American Dream”?。她在文中对“价值”的探讨给评委留下了深刻的印象。

陈依同学今年6月从我校毕业，并以优异成绩被保送至北京大学深造。

                                           （高中英语组 报道）

附文：

What is the Real Value of “American Dream”?

——Afterthoughts on The Great Gatsby

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” With the final conclusion of the Great Gatsby, I closed the book, and also closed my eyes, immersing into the fictional world, brooding the relation between the past and the future, questioning about real value of the classical American dream.

To be honest, the plot of the Great Gatsby is not that impressive to me. With almost no unexpected ups and downs, a group of people from the Long Island illustrate the meaning of extreme materialism, cheated love, betrayal, and also the uncontrollable pursuits of the future in the 1930s of the America. To some extent, they represent that generation.

Value 1—Daisy’s love

After reading the novel, many readers are questioning why Daisy chooses to stay with Tom instead of leaving him for Gatsby. Meanwhile, question occurs as whether true love does really exist between those young people. In their eyes, Daisy is a beautiful but money-oriented woman, representing the youth, wealth and social status. To be more frank, she is the specific example of “American Dream”. I believe, nevertheless, that simple judgment is one-sided. Please tell me that how a girl in her 20s could keep living an extravagant life without any effusion of her real affection? At least, Daisy was once truly in love with Gatsby—When she first met Gatsby, she talked in a distressed tone to conceal the happiness inside her. But sarcastically, when Gatsby began to talk about the big house, Daisy’s eyes suddenly shone, as if true love were yesterday stuff. Afterwards, as Daisy’s life gradually encased by money, houses, and noblemen, the pure love just faded away. In this regard, Daisy is not to be fully blamed, and she does not always serve as the symbol of American Dream. After all, she is just a completed character, maybe nothing different from other aristocratic women-- the party of Gatsby. To some extent, Daisy’s initial dream is defeated by the unavoidable reality, which is a commonly-seen phenomenon during that period.

Value 2—Gatsby’s pursuit

What is Gatsby pursuing? Daisy or something beyond the woman? Knowing that Daisy is married and may be very different from what she was five years ago, Gatsby still sticks to his love, even not realizing that his emotion went out of his control—He did everything he could just to attract Daisy’s attention. Only at that moment—meeting Daisy five years later, the wealth is not important anymore. It’s not exaggerating to say that, Gatsby gives up the reality for his dream while he is making his dream into reality.

During the 1930s, when there were no wars and no depression, countless youth began their journey to the American Dream. As one of them, Gatsby is actually a total failure, not only because his goal is vain and unreal, but also that Daisy even doesn't come to his funeral at the end of the story. His occurrence in this planet is so unrealistic and ridiculous. While he is still an ordinary person that finally goes by with the torrent of history, so does everyone else. So, where is the Great? Knowing that Daisy is so much different from 5 years ago, Gatsby still does not give up his “dream”, even he can see that the future is always like the Green light with no hope.  Again, just as the narrator said, tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Value 3—My interpretation

In any case, Gatsby is one of the characters I appreciate most ever in my reading experience. He himself stands for the pure heart, which we human beings once possess in our youth. As time goes by, we are perhaps losing these kinds of courage and bravery by giving up the reality for the dream. We grow up and mature ourselves, may at the same time laugh at how childish we behaved years ago. We are getting more and more proficient in dealing with social interactions, but more and more unfamiliar to ourselves. That is what Gatsby teaches me—Dream is always respectful; at least we should keep it.