Abstract:Tender is the Night is one of the best novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald, which tells a story about Dick’s failure and collapse to express the theme of disillusion of the American dream. In Tender is the Night，there are a large number of symbolic meanings, such as symbolic meanings of main characters’ names, time, scenes and colors and so on, which are indispensable elements giving prominence to the theme of the novel because they reveal the hidden relation between main characters and author and give great artistic power to the language of the novel. Moreover, all the symbolic meanings help construct the connotations of Tender is the Night and then deepen the theme of disillusion of American dream. So this paper attempts to use symbolism to interpret the symbolic meanings in Tender is the Night, which is a useful way to understand the theme of the novel, the author’s real intention and the ideology of people in the Jazz Age. This thesis aims to provide more suggestions and ideas for other future researchers.

Key words: American dream; Characters’ names; Time; Scene; Color 

中文摘要:《夜色温柔》是弗·司各特·菲茨杰拉德最出名的长篇小说之一，这部小说通过讲述主人公迪克人生的失败和毁灭去诠释美国梦幻灭的主题思想。在《夜色温柔》这部小说里多处运用到了象征意义，比如主要人物名字的象征意义，时间的象征意义，场景的象征意义和颜色的象征意义等等，它们都是突出主题不可或缺的要素，因为它们揭示了人物与小说作者隐秘的情缘，赋予了小说语言巨大的艺术力量，极其深刻地构建了小说的整体内涵, 进而深化了美国梦幻灭的主题思想。因此，本文运用象征主义去探究小说中的象征意义有助于更好地去理解小说的主题，作者的真正意图以及生活在爵士时代的人们的思想意识。本文旨在为其他文学研究者提供一些新的建议和想法。

关键词：美国梦；人物名字；时间；场景；颜色