Journal 20

Journal 20 – The Great Gatsby Conclusion

Read the novel’s last passage (beginning with, “Gatsby’s house was still empty when I left”) and discuss the use of imagery and symbolism that is being employed by Fitzgerald.  In your response, specifically address what Nick is saying about the green light and the connection that he is making between Gatsby and the Dutch sailors who “discovered” Long Island. 

            In the last passage of The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald uses strong imagery and symbolism to close out the novel. Strolling down to the water Nick is called to remember the way Gatsby's house used to be, filled with people and lavish parties. He considers Gatsby's wonder at picking out Daisy's dock in the darkness, how far Gatsby had traveled in his life, and how he always had hope in the future. Nick links society to the boats eternally moving against the current on the Sound. Gatsby’s house is used as an image of Gatsby as a powerful presence who lives on despite the destruction of the dream and the decay of the estate and Gatsby is like the sailors who discovered the island. They are forgotten but their legacy lives on. 

Journal 21

                                                                                              

Journal 21 - Some Like It Hot and The Great Gatsby Comparison/Contrast

Although Some Like It Hot is a comedy and The Great Gatsby is a tragedy, both works use popular culture to portray life in 1920s America.  Focusing on the following elements (characterization, conflict, and theme), discuss how the two works are similar and different and what each is saying about American life.

Some Like it Hot and The Great Gatsby both focus on America during the roaring 20s and American culture at the time. There are many similar characters, themes and ideas. For example each character in Gatsby can be matched to similar characters in Some Like it Hot. Joe and his three personas are similar to Gatsby and how Gatsby would do extreme things in order to get his girl. Sugar is similar to Daisy in her innocence and personality. They are both looking for men with money and success and are easily impressed by it. Osgood is kind of like Tom where he relies on his success and money in order to get girls. Finally the character of Spatz is similar to Wolfstein in Gatsby, they both represent the influence of crime in America.

The two stories have very similar themes and conflicts as well. In both stories the characters have very skewed moral values. They are attracted to people due to money and often are unfaithful to their marriages, they will even use trickery in order to attract others. A lot of both stories involve chasing after a “dream girl” and doing ridiculous things in order to achieve success. All in all both stories portray the decadence and skewed morality that could be found in 1920s America along with the beauty and success of the time. 

Journal 19

Journal 19 - Characterization in Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby

Write a description for each of the following characters based on his/her first appearance in Chapter 1.  Your description should include:

-the character’s physical appearance;

-the character’s actions/words;

-an adjective that best describes the character based on his/her initial    

 appearance

Nick Carraway        Adjective _________objective_____________________

Nick himself says that he never judges people and this leads lots of people to confide in him and he always listens. He does not describe himself at all in chapter 1.

Tom Buchanan        Adjective ___________physical___________________

A physical man who’s body and aggressiveness is the key them to his character. He is strong and expects things to go his way from what we learn of him in the first chapter. He was a football player in college too.

Daisy Buchanan     Adjective ___________musical___________________

Supposed to have a voice that draws people in due to its musical qualities and this is a theme to her character. She made many men who “cared for her” fall in love with her because of this.

Jordan Baker           Adjective ___________independant___________________

 More independent and stronger than Daisy but still beautiful according to Nick. We learn she is a professional golfer.

Jay Gatsby               Adjective ____________mysterious__________________

Nick does not meet Gatsby in the first chapter but he sees him on the pier staring at the green light near Daisy’s dock. Longing for something. 

Journal 14

                                Name:

Journal #14 - E. A. Robinson Poems 

Realism – The theory or practice in art and literature of fidelity to nature or to real life and to accurate representation without idealization of the most typical views, details, and surroundings of the subject.

Read the following poems and write a detailed description for each of the title characters and explain how each is an example of the “real” instead of the “ideal.”  

“Richard Cory“ (497)

Richard Cory is written from the point of view of some townspeople who used to see him coming to town. They idolized him and thought he had the ideal life. He was rich and gentleman-like and the entire town wanted their lives to be like his.

One day Richard Cory shot himself. This story shows realism over idealism but has  elements of both. Richard Cory appeared to have an ideal life but he was actually depressed and lonely. His name symbolized that he was rich, hence “Richard” but at his core he was lonely; “cory”

“Miniver Cheevy” (497)

Miniver Cheevy is about a man who dreams of living in the past and wants to have been born at another time.  Miniver spens all his time drinking and thinking and never does anything with his life. This poem again show realisim over idealism as Miniver spends his life obsessing over an ideal when his real life wastes away. His name symbolizes “minimal achievement” as the words sound similar.

         

“Mr. Flood’s Party” (498)

Mr. Flood’s party is about a lonely man who’s friends have all died and is shunned by the townspeople. He is so lonely he holds a drinking party for himself as a way to make the most of what little time he has left. His first name “Eben” sounds like the word “ebbing” symbolizing that Mr. Flood is ebbing away. Flooded in his alcohol.  

Journal 16

Journal 16 – Crane’s “The Blue Hotel” and London’s “To Build A Fire” 

Read the following quote and discuss how it applies to the main characters in both stories.  In the course of this discussion, address how each of the characters is both similar and different:

“Determinisim governs everything … The writer must study the inherited traits of individual characterand the social condition of the time.  Together, these elements determine the course of any action, the outcome of any life.  Free will or self-determination is mostly an illusion, although chance is granteed a role in human affairs.  Still, even the effects of chance are obliterated in the inevitable course determined by the interaction of inherited character traits and the social environment.“  

The main characters of “The Blue Hotel” and “To Build a Fire” each have different circumstances that ultimately lead to their premature deaths. The swede in Blue Hotel alienates everyone in the hotel into his eventual murder while the man in To Build a Fire simply succumbs to the harsh elements of a northern winter. Both these men and their fates were foreshadowed by the author, the only one who truly knew their fates.

Determinism argues that all actions can be pre-determined based on a the traits of a person and their circumstances. Even their choices can be pre-determined because free will is an “illusion” in determinism. Every choice can be predicted by the circumstances. The Swede predicts that he will die because he believes that people shoot each other all the time in the wild west. He ends up actually dying because he offended everyone at the hotel.

The man in “To build a fire” is travelling in the freezing cold, and because of the circumstances he was in it was likely he would die. He thought he was going to live but his inexperience in travelling in the extreme cold,

Journal 17

1. What is the significance of the poem’s epigraph? How does it relate to Prufrock?

Prufrock identifies himself with Dante’s Inferno where he does not have to share his thoughts with the world but rather keep them personal so he would feel no shame with the world and how they would think of him if they were able to hear his thoughts. This shows the internal experience people have with hteir own thoughts.

2. Make a list of questions that Prufrock asks. Do you see a pattern/theme to these questions or are they random?


• Do I dare?
• Shall I?
• So how should I presume?
• And how should I begin?
• Shall I part my hair behind?
• Do I dare eat a peach?

There is a pattern to his questions. At first it seems like he is scattered in his thoughts but all of his questions are based on daily decisions that he would make on whether he should or should not approach a woman, or if he should eat or style himself a certain way. It expresses his daily life through his behavior and how he approaches things.


3. What do you think is Prufrock’s main flaw/problem?

Prufrock is mainly insecure and uncertain of himself and does not put himself into a situation or commits to a decision. He also displays anxiety as he also tries to make his decisions. He lacks self-confidence. He believes that he is meant to blend into the background thinking that he will never get the girl nor be the hero in his life. He is to wrapped up in himself to care about the world and be able to find love and to find his own self.


4. Why do you think this is called a love song? In what way is it a love song?

It is a love song because he desires love and often thinks about women when he sees them but knows he can’t get it because of his lack of confidence. This shows irony because he wants love but never gets it. He can imagine love and can see it happening around him but is not brave enough to embrace it.

Journal 18

Journal 18 -“In Another Country”

1. What is the significance of the story’s title?  

The title signifies the fact that the photographs on the wall will take the readers and the major into a totally different place, and it also signifies the difference between cultures and people and how one has to be aware of these.

2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?

The character that best represents the Hemingway hero is the major. The major embodies the ideals of Hemingway, of a character who clings on to the few things that he can appreciate and having a steady, stoic attitude.

3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up?  What is the significance of the major’s reaction? 

They all have injuries that set them apart and make them outsiders from society.  The significance of the Major’s emotional reaction is that it shows he is a human with feelings rather than the regular silent stoic major. 

Journal 14- Robinson

Journal #14 - E. A. Robinson Poems 

Realism – The theory or practice in art and literature of fidelity to nature or to real life and to accurate representation without idealization of the most typical views, details, and surroundings of the subject.

Read the following poems and write a detailed description for each of the title characters and explain how each is an example of the “real” instead of the “ideal.”  

“Richard Cory“ (497)

Richard Cory is written from the point of view of some townspeople who used to see him coming to town. They idolized him and thought he had the ideal life. He was rich and gentleman-like and the entire town wanted their lives to be like his.

One day Richard Cory shot himself. This story shows realism over idealism but has  elements of both. Richard Cory appeared to have an ideal life but he was actually depressed and lonely. His name symbolized that he was rich, hence “Richard” but at his core he was lonely; “cory”

“Miniver Cheevy” (497)

Miniver Cheevy is about a man who dreams of living in the past and wants to have been born at another time.  Miniver spens all his time drinking and thinking and never does anything with his life. This poem again show realisim over idealism as Miniver spends his life obsessing over an ideal when his real life wastes away. His name symbolizes “minimal achievement” as the words sound similar.

         

“Mr. Flood’s Party” (498)

Mr. Flood’s party is about a lonely man who’s friends have all died and is shunned by the townspeople. He is so lonely he holds a drinking party for himself as a way to make the most of what little time he has left. His first name “Eben” sounds like the word “ebbing” symbolizing that Mr. Flood is ebbing away. Flooded in his alcohol.  

Journal 11- Walden

Journal 11 - Selections from Walden   

Write a summary of the following selections and identify a direct quote that you feel best expresses its main idea.

“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” (232)

            The story starts with the narrator recalling several places he bought before he bough his home, “Walden Pond.”   He concludes on a sermonizing note, urging all of us to sludge through our existence until we hit rock bottom and can gauge truth on what he terms our “Realometer,” our means of measuring the reality of things

Quote:

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life . . . and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

“Sounds” (234)

The narrator talks about how he spends his time sitting in the woods and taking in his surroundings and nature rather than going to a movie etc. The “sounds” represent using the senses to appreciate the environment. To him this is better entertainment.

Quote:

“I have this advantage at least in my mode of life”

“Brute Neighbors” (235)

The story shows how ant’s life can be just as hard as a humans. The author takes the small ant battle and enlarges it. Creates an epic story out of a relatively small occurrence in human terms. The point of the story is not only to show the ferocity of the ant battle but to show that the smallest of ants can have the greatest of battles by graphically recounting the ants fight.

            Quote:

“I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a duellum but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black.

“The Pond in Winter” (237)

The author begins this chapter awakening with a question put to him in the night, which was answered when he awoke again at dawn. The beauty of the light and his surroundings answers all his questions. After finding this answer, he turns to the morning work: finding water beneath a foot and a half of ice. The pond sleeps all winter like the animals, and when Thoreau cuts through the snow and ice to find the pond totally calm beneath, he finds heaven below as well as above.

Quote:

"While men believe in the infinite some ponds will be thought to be bottomless."

“Spring” (238)

With the coming of April, the ice begins to melt from Walden Pond, creating a thunderous roar.. Thoreau mentions an old man he know, whose wisdom, Thoreau says, he could not rival if he lived to be as old as Methusela, who was struck with terror by the crash of the melting ice despite his long experience with the ways of nature. He finishes by saying that death in an atmosphere like that would have no sting at all. Because new life is coming.

Quote:

“A field of water betrays the spirit that is in the air. It is continually receiving new life and motion from above. It is intermediate between land and sky.”

Journal 12- Young Goodman Brown

Journal #12 - “Young Goodman Brown”

1. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory (symbolic narrative).  What do the following represent?

            Young Goodman Brown – represents innocence and trying to be good. His name shows that he is just a regular man.

            Faith – The wife of Goodman brow, symbolizes

           

            The Elderly Traveler/Fellow-Traveler – Symbolizes the devil

           

Goody Cloyse – Symbolizes hypocrisy

The Ceremony – Symbolizes religious rituals that celebrate salvation or cleansing, except the opposite.

The Pink Ribbon – Symbolizes the innocence of faith. When he sees the pink ribbon fall he loses his faith in life.

Young Goodman Brown’s Journey – The journey changed Goodman Brown and stripped him of his innocence. In the woods at night Goodman Brown realizes that the people of the town can also be like the people at the ceremony.

                       

2. Identify the following for “Young Goodman Brown”: 

Theme                       Message of Theme                 Element Used to Establish  

Loss of Innocence	Goodman Brown was inevitably corruptible.	Goodman Brown’s loss of faith after his dream, if the dream was real then Goodman Brown was corrupted by the devil. If it was fake than the dream revealed Goodman Brown's dark side, and that he was able to corrupt himself.
Fear of wild	Goodman Brown becomes comfortable in the wilderness only after being corrupted	The moment Goodman brown enters the woods he feels uneasy.
Faith based on community.	Faith based on public opinion is often weak, based solely on what one perceives the rest of the community believes.	When Goodman Brown sees all of his town at the ceremony he decides it might be ok to go.

In addition, provide three direct quotes from the story that address your theme.

``There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree,''

“At the word, Goodman Brown stepped forth from the shadow of the trees and approached the Congregation”

“Be it so if you will; but, alas! it was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream.”

Journal 10

     Journal #10

Othello’s Insight

Write a one paragraph response to the following question:

Often at the end of a play, Shakespeare’s tragic heroes often have a moment of insight.  What is Othello’s insight?  Look closely at Othello’s last speech before answering this question.

Othello's final speech features a few key insights by Othello about his life and how he wants people to remember him by. He first tells the delegation that he wants them to remember him as the great general that he was, instead of the murderer that he became after Iago was done with him. He also admits to them all that although he once was one of them, now he is nothing better than a Turkish outsider and stabs himself. 

Journal 9

Free Will is the concept that one makes decisions based mainly on ones own ideas,beliefs and morals and not from outside influences. In the play "Othello" Iago uses free will to justify what happened to Othello in the play. He says that Othello caused his own doom by making stupid decisions. On the other hand of the argument is Determinism. Determinism suggests that people make decisions based on outside influences, this argument is more on the side of Othello as many say he only made the decisions to kill Desdemona and Cassio after Iago misled him into believing they were unfaithful.