Sunday, June 3, 2012
Journal #21
Some Like it Hot and The Great Gatsby both focus on society in the 1920s. The theme of both is money and greed. The characters all drink and smoke and it includes flappers, partying, and divorce. Characters are indulging in affairs (Great Gatsby) and men and women are getting divorced multiple different times (Some Like It Hot). In both works it also seems that prohibition comes into discussion. In Some Like It Hot Joe and Jerry are playing at clubs where partying and illegal alcohol is sold and in the Great Gatsby, Gatsby became wealthy through bootlegging. The works also focus on women who fall in love with men because of their wealth. Sugar falls in with Joe because she thought he was a wealthy oil tycoon and Daisy fell for Tom because of his obvious wealth. The biggest different between the two works is that the end of Great Gatsby ends in tragedy and Some Like It Hot is a happy comical ending where the characters do find love.
Journal #20
In the end of the book, Nick uses imagery of Gatsby's parties. He says that the parties have now ended and they will never fill his mansion again. He uses the parties as an example for Gatsby's life. The parties have ended along with his life and everyone has left. The green light is a visual symbol of the hope that Gatsby had. He always thought that the green light stood for his life long dream of being with Daisy but in the end the reality of his dream caught up to him. The green light was an example of Gatsby's hope along with the Dutch sailors. The green light was bright and beautiful just as Long Island was when the Dutch found it. The island excited the Dutch sailors and gave the hope for their aspiring dreams. But like Gatsby, the reality of it all got in the way and their dreams became untouchable. People spend their whole lives trying to accomplish their dreams and ambitions but are only pushed back down by their past.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
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 ________Understanding__________
Throughout the book it seems as if Nick is always very understands of people’s problems. He is always faced with them and always keeps an open mind about them. He is a young man from the mid-west who came to west egg to work in the bond business. His physical appearance is not discussed in the book but Nick can characterized as being polite, quite, and reserved.
Tom Buchanan Adjective _______Arrogant_________
Tom is a very well built muscular, athletic man who is obviously very into himself in the book. He is seen as racist and judgmental of those who are not as successful as him. He is arrogant in that he has a side lover other than his wife and even leaves dinner to speak with her. Nick makes it very clear throughout the book that Tom is overly into himself and stuck up.
Daisy Buchanan Adjective ______Charming_________
Daisy is the kind of woman who has the whole room hanging onto to her every word. She is charming in every way possible. She is described as, “her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget.” She is blonde and fair-skinned. She talks loud and seems to be in love with wealth.
Jordan Baker Adjective _______Independent________
Jordan Baker seems to me as someone who is easily on her own. She doesn’t need someone else to depend and has enough confidence in herself not to need another figure in her life. She is described as being slender, small chested, and the opposite of Daisy. She comes off as polite but distant never truly giving anything away about herself.
Jay Gatsby Adjective ____Determined/Mysterious_____________
Gatsby is a very mysterious character in the first chapter who is very misunderstood. He is seen in the first chapter on the dock looking at the green light across the river. He is determined to be exactly what Daisy wants and that was the result of him having a large amount of money. It seems that he is determined to win Daisy.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Journal #18
Journal 18 -“In Another Country”
1. What is the significance of the story’s title?
The significance in the story’s title “In Another Country” was that the characters were separated from the rest. The characters were officers and the people would yell at them that they weren’t wanted. The bond that they all had was that they all had injuries and these injuring separated them from the others. The characters were their own group of people because they were so different from everyone else, it was as if they were from another country.
2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?
The Hemmingway hero always suffers with grace and dignity. He is brave and always deals with situations by shrugging them off. At some point everyone is going to be faced with defeat. Hemingway has a code of how to attempt to establish values and meaning in an increasingly meaningless world. You accept loss with dignity and acceptance. The character that best represents this code is the major because he is suffering loss on more than one level. His wife has died (personal loss) and his hand injury is a physical loss. His injury is more significant than the narrators because he was a fencer and will never be able to fence again. This character suffers the most out of everyone and he deals with them the best way. These injuries have become his life. The major tells the narrator to never get married because the pain of the loss isn’t worth it in the end. He understands that defeat in inevitable and says to hold on to the things that are permanent and can’t be lost.
3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up? What is the significance of the major’s reaction?
The photographs are fake because they were the first ones to use the machine. The photographs are there just a motivitation for the other soldiers.
1. What is the significance of the story’s title?
The significance in the story’s title “In Another Country” was that the characters were separated from the rest. The characters were officers and the people would yell at them that they weren’t wanted. The bond that they all had was that they all had injuries and these injuring separated them from the others. The characters were their own group of people because they were so different from everyone else, it was as if they were from another country.
2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?
The Hemmingway hero always suffers with grace and dignity. He is brave and always deals with situations by shrugging them off. At some point everyone is going to be faced with defeat. Hemingway has a code of how to attempt to establish values and meaning in an increasingly meaningless world. You accept loss with dignity and acceptance. The character that best represents this code is the major because he is suffering loss on more than one level. His wife has died (personal loss) and his hand injury is a physical loss. His injury is more significant than the narrators because he was a fencer and will never be able to fence again. This character suffers the most out of everyone and he deals with them the best way. These injuries have become his life. The major tells the narrator to never get married because the pain of the loss isn’t worth it in the end. He understands that defeat in inevitable and says to hold on to the things that are permanent and can’t be lost.
3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up? What is the significance of the major’s reaction?
The photographs are fake because they were the first ones to use the machine. The photographs are there just a motivitation for the other soldiers.
Journal #17
What is the significance of the poems epigraph? How does it relate to Prufrock?
The epigraph is from Dante's Inferno. He is saying that he's not afraid of his story because no one has come back from hell. It relates to Prufrock because his story has his private thoughts.
2. Make a list of questions that Prufrock asks. Do you see a pattern/theme to these questions or are they random?
What is it?
Do I dare?
So how should I presume?
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
Shall I part my hair behind?
The pattern and them through out the questions are that Prufrock is very uncertain and self-conscience. He is never sure of anything he does. The repetition of the questions show true anxiety.
3. What do you think is Prufrock’s main flaw/problem?
His main flaw is being self-conscience. He doesn’t want to be judged and can never make a straight decision. Because of this big flaw he can never become a true person with a personality. He'll never experience love or friendship because he's so worried all the time.
4. Why do you think this is called a love song? In what way is it a love song?
It is called a Long Song because its ironic because there isn't any love at all.
The epigraph is from Dante's Inferno. He is saying that he's not afraid of his story because no one has come back from hell. It relates to Prufrock because his story has his private thoughts.
2. Make a list of questions that Prufrock asks. Do you see a pattern/theme to these questions or are they random?
What is it?
Do I dare?
So how should I presume?
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
Shall I part my hair behind?
The pattern and them through out the questions are that Prufrock is very uncertain and self-conscience. He is never sure of anything he does. The repetition of the questions show true anxiety.
3. What do you think is Prufrock’s main flaw/problem?
His main flaw is being self-conscience. He doesn’t want to be judged and can never make a straight decision. Because of this big flaw he can never become a true person with a personality. He'll never experience love or friendship because he's so worried all the time.
4. Why do you think this is called a love song? In what way is it a love song?
It is called a Long Song because its ironic because there isn't any love at all.
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 character and 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 granted 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.“
In “To Build a Fire”, the main character, the man is faced to deal with the evironement and fate. He was determined to meet up with his friends at the Lodge Cloud but he didn’t listen and pushed away fear that would kept him safe. He was too cocky in his traveling causing him to face his death. The man was warned by the old man not to go traveling alone when its below freezing but he still didn’t listen. He pushed all of these fealings of being afraid and was determined.
In Crane's "The Blue Hotel", the Swede proves that his uncomfortable feelings in a different social environment can lead to a disastrous ending. The Swede is confused with where he really is and actually thinks that he is in the Wild West where people kill each other over a silly card game. The Swede is wrong because no one has ever died in that hotel and those people are nothing like that. He becomes so socially awkward that he gets drunk and becomes a completely different person. The social environment is affected by this different person because the Swede tries to fight Johnny and beats him up. He then begins to torment a visitor who ended up stabbing him. From the beginning he thought he was going to die there and it was fate that he did end up dying.
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 character and 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 granted 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.“
In “To Build a Fire”, the main character, the man is faced to deal with the evironement and fate. He was determined to meet up with his friends at the Lodge Cloud but he didn’t listen and pushed away fear that would kept him safe. He was too cocky in his traveling causing him to face his death. The man was warned by the old man not to go traveling alone when its below freezing but he still didn’t listen. He pushed all of these fealings of being afraid and was determined.
In Crane's "The Blue Hotel", the Swede proves that his uncomfortable feelings in a different social environment can lead to a disastrous ending. The Swede is confused with where he really is and actually thinks that he is in the Wild West where people kill each other over a silly card game. The Swede is wrong because no one has ever died in that hotel and those people are nothing like that. He becomes so socially awkward that he gets drunk and becomes a completely different person. The social environment is affected by this different person because the Swede tries to fight Johnny and beats him up. He then begins to torment a visitor who ended up stabbing him. From the beginning he thought he was going to die there and it was fate that he did end up dying.
Journal #15
Journal 15 – William Dean Howell’s “Editha”
1. Write a sentence that summarizes the story’s overall message, and provide three direct quotes from the story that best illustrate this message.
The messae of the passage is that living in the ideal than in reality can be very dangerous to a person in how they live their life.
"I shall always love you, and therefore I shall never
marry any one else. But the man I marry must love
his country first of all”
“You thought it would be all right for my George, your George, to kill the sons of those miserable mothers and husbands of those girls that you would never see that faces of
“He told me he had asked you to come if he got killed. You didn’t expect that, I suppose, when you sent him.”
2. What tactics does Editha use to make George believe as she does about the war?
Editha threatens George that if he doesn’t go to war she won’t be with him. She persuades him in that her opinion on it being a “holy war” is true. She also threatens him by sending him a letter with her engagement ring in it which basically said if he doesn’t go to war, she won’t be with him. This resulted in him going to war even though he didn’t want too and getting killed.
3. Is there ever a time in which Editha truly understands what she has done? Does she ever experience an epiphany?
I think Editha felt a little guilty in the beginning when she was mourning her loss of her fiancé. But she never however expierenced an epiphany because she never understood what she did wrong. Even when she visited his mom like he asked, the mother tried to drill it in her that it was her fault but she wouldn’t have it. She liked her ideal world and therefore she stayed in it.
1. Write a sentence that summarizes the story’s overall message, and provide three direct quotes from the story that best illustrate this message.
The messae of the passage is that living in the ideal than in reality can be very dangerous to a person in how they live their life.
"I shall always love you, and therefore I shall never
marry any one else. But the man I marry must love
his country first of all”
“You thought it would be all right for my George, your George, to kill the sons of those miserable mothers and husbands of those girls that you would never see that faces of
“He told me he had asked you to come if he got killed. You didn’t expect that, I suppose, when you sent him.”
2. What tactics does Editha use to make George believe as she does about the war?
Editha threatens George that if he doesn’t go to war she won’t be with him. She persuades him in that her opinion on it being a “holy war” is true. She also threatens him by sending him a letter with her engagement ring in it which basically said if he doesn’t go to war, she won’t be with him. This resulted in him going to war even though he didn’t want too and getting killed.
3. Is there ever a time in which Editha truly understands what she has done? Does she ever experience an epiphany?
I think Editha felt a little guilty in the beginning when she was mourning her loss of her fiancé. But she never however expierenced an epiphany because she never understood what she did wrong. Even when she visited his mom like he asked, the mother tried to drill it in her that it was her fault but she wouldn’t have it. She liked her ideal world and therefore she stayed in it.
Journal #14
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)
Everyone in the town that Richard Cory lives in everyone looks up to him. He is seen as the perfect man and its shown through the nice clothes he wears and how smart he is. This makes the story ironic because Richard goes home to kill himself. This shows that no one actually knows whats going on, on the inside. It was very ironic because everyone thought he was perfect and he went home to kill himself. A theme of this story would be to not judge a person by what you think is on the outside. No one ever really knows what’s going on behind closed doors.
“Miniver Cheevy” (497)
Minivery Cheevy dreams of living in a different era of knights and romantics. He loves the days when people rode horses and used swords. He dreams of life where everyone is romatic. He became a drunk because all of these dreams could not be fulfilled. The life that he wanted to live wasn’t possible. His life became empty and all he thinks about is the life he’s not living.
“Mr. Flood’s Party” (498)
In this story, Mr. Flood is having a party for himself. This is not the ideal party because it is only himself. He’s old now and doesn’t have any friends. The story explains that all the doors are shut and will never open. I believe that he did something unforgivable and therefore everyone shut him out of their lives. Mr. Flood gets drunk because when he is like that, he gets to have a party and thinks all of his friends are there. In reality, Mr. Flood is just a lonely old drunk.
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)
Everyone in the town that Richard Cory lives in everyone looks up to him. He is seen as the perfect man and its shown through the nice clothes he wears and how smart he is. This makes the story ironic because Richard goes home to kill himself. This shows that no one actually knows whats going on, on the inside. It was very ironic because everyone thought he was perfect and he went home to kill himself. A theme of this story would be to not judge a person by what you think is on the outside. No one ever really knows what’s going on behind closed doors.
“Miniver Cheevy” (497)
Minivery Cheevy dreams of living in a different era of knights and romantics. He loves the days when people rode horses and used swords. He dreams of life where everyone is romatic. He became a drunk because all of these dreams could not be fulfilled. The life that he wanted to live wasn’t possible. His life became empty and all he thinks about is the life he’s not living.
“Mr. Flood’s Party” (498)
In this story, Mr. Flood is having a party for himself. This is not the ideal party because it is only himself. He’s old now and doesn’t have any friends. The story explains that all the doors are shut and will never open. I believe that he did something unforgivable and therefore everyone shut him out of their lives. Mr. Flood gets drunk because when he is like that, he gets to have a party and thinks all of his friends are there. In reality, Mr. Flood is just a lonely old drunk.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Journal #13
Journal #13 – Edgar Lee Masters Epitaphs (p. 502)
Read “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” and answer the following questions.
1. What object symbolizes George Gray’s life? How is this object representative of him?
The object that symbolizes George Gray’s life is the boat waiting to go out and sail. The boat represents him because it has been docked its how life and will never go out into the water. This represents George was because his whole life he has been too scared to do anything. George is too scared to take any chances fearing that they will result in a bad consequence where as the boat is the same way because it is worried about bad weather. The sail of his boat was never opened so the chance to enjoy the sea was never taken where as George was the same way because he never took a chance at love or anything exciting.
2. How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s? How do you interepret the last line of the poem?
The life of Lucinda Matlock’s is very different from George Gray’s in that she enjoyed life and took every chance possible. Throughout her life, she had many years of excitement by trying all the new things and taking the chances that fulfilled her life. This is very different from George because George’s life ended unhappy and unfulfilled where as Lucinda’s was the opposite. Lucinda accepted that life was short and lived every day like it was her last. The last line of the poem was advice that life must be lived to the fullest or else as you die, you will look back and be happy with everything you have done.
3. How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism?
George Gray and Lucinda Matlock are perfect examples of realism because they both lived the average every day lives of normal people. Both of them were described as normal and never had anything spectacular happen to them. Although the two were completely different in their views on how to live their lives, they were both realistic. George lived and died with the same common problem that many have in that they didn’t live to their ful potential and instead stayed inside in fear of losing. Lucinda lived a happy and fulfilled life just like thousands who live their lives to the ful potential and die with happiness.
Read “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” and answer the following questions.
1. What object symbolizes George Gray’s life? How is this object representative of him?
The object that symbolizes George Gray’s life is the boat waiting to go out and sail. The boat represents him because it has been docked its how life and will never go out into the water. This represents George was because his whole life he has been too scared to do anything. George is too scared to take any chances fearing that they will result in a bad consequence where as the boat is the same way because it is worried about bad weather. The sail of his boat was never opened so the chance to enjoy the sea was never taken where as George was the same way because he never took a chance at love or anything exciting.
2. How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s? How do you interepret the last line of the poem?
The life of Lucinda Matlock’s is very different from George Gray’s in that she enjoyed life and took every chance possible. Throughout her life, she had many years of excitement by trying all the new things and taking the chances that fulfilled her life. This is very different from George because George’s life ended unhappy and unfulfilled where as Lucinda’s was the opposite. Lucinda accepted that life was short and lived every day like it was her last. The last line of the poem was advice that life must be lived to the fullest or else as you die, you will look back and be happy with everything you have done.
3. How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism?
George Gray and Lucinda Matlock are perfect examples of realism because they both lived the average every day lives of normal people. Both of them were described as normal and never had anything spectacular happen to them. Although the two were completely different in their views on how to live their lives, they were both realistic. George lived and died with the same common problem that many have in that they didn’t live to their ful potential and instead stayed inside in fear of losing. Lucinda lived a happy and fulfilled life just like thousands who live their lives to the ful potential and die with happiness.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Journal #12
Journal #12 - “Young Goodman Brown”
1. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory (symbolic narrative). What do the following represent?
Young Goodman Brown – It symbolizes the fallen man and someone who is good but has an inclination to sin. He represents innocence and tries to be good in the world that is not. He tries to fight to inclination to do wrong. He represents the process that everyone goes through.
Faith – It stands for his religious life. Something that seems like a strong belief but ends up being something you didn’t expect.
The Elderly Traveller/Fellow-Traveller – Represents that devil and temptation.
Goody Cloyse – She was his catechism teacher. She represents hypocrisy.
The Ceremony – The Ceremony represents the acceptance of your inner flaws. Like the opposite of a baptism. It is where you acknowledge your true self and all of your flaws. Almost like a renewal of their marriage based on reality.
The Pink Ribbon – This represents purity and innocence. When the Pink Ribbon drops that means that the purity is over and he needs to accept it and acknowledge that he is the same.
Young Goodman Brown’s Journey – Represents that as we go from innocence to reality. Everyone thinks all is good until you get a taste of reality. Everyone goes through this process.
2. Identify the following for “Young Goodman Brown”:
Theme Message of Theme Element Used to Establish
Theme: Sin/ Human Weakness
Message of Theme: Every person goes through the same process of losing innocence, sinning, and facing reality.
Element Used: Characterization
In addition, provide three direct quotes from the story that address your theme.
My faith is gone cried he after one stupefied moment. "There is no good on earth and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given"
“What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil when I thought she was going to heaven:”
"Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome again, my children, to the communion of your race"
Journal #11
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)
This excerpt talks about the necessity of simplicity in our lives and how living a life with too many possessions is unessesary. He talks about the advancements humans are making, and he is against them because he wants to keep a simple life for people. He is saying that advancements, such as railroads, are pushing humans too far from their natural lifestyle.
Quote: “Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity” and “We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.”
“Sounds” (234)
Walden talks about all the sounds he heard while actually listening to the world. He loved to just sit out without doing working or seeing anyone and just being peaceful. He was able to stop his life for a little bit and just take a step back from his busy life. He loves life and thinks its an adventure. He doesn’t think nature is a waste of time and its wonderful to sit their and just listen to the sounds.
Quote: “it was morning, and lo, now it is evening, and nothing memorable is accomplished.”
“Brute Neighbors” (235): A red ant was fighting a black ant that was half an inch longer. They were wrestling with each other and it look not like a duel but a war. It was between two raises of ants (red and black). The black were so big it was frequently found that two red ants equaled one black. The red ants stood for republicans and black ants stand for imperialists. Then a red ant came to the full of excitement. He could see the unfair battle but he charged ready to fight. He ripped the body parts out of the black ant that was nearly twice his size. The man witnessing it was excited to see the minority party that the red ant was representing coming back. The man never found out which party won nor the cause of the war but he was excited to witness the battle before his door.
Quote: “I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a duellium, but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted ones to one black” ……. “It was the only battle which I have ever witnessed, the only battlefield I ever trod while the battle was raging; internecine war; the red republicans on the one, and the black imperialists on the other.”
“The Pond in Winter” (237)
Nature, in which all creatures live and flourish, offers no questions. It only gives the answer of pure beauty. Humans do not have to ask Mother Nature to provide wonder and awe, she just shows her true colors through the earth and animals. A pond in winter is beautiful because of its ability to be different, yet underneath the sheet of ice, its orginial beauty is still preserved through all seasons of the year. Life is beauty through any kind of weather.
Quote: “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our head” pg. 237
Spring: It is talking about the beginning of Spring, and what Walden goes through in the beginning of Spring. It looks majestic and alive and beholds a great summer ahead. The geese are circling it, and different animals are coming alive. He is saying that Walden is like the beginning of new life with great chaos in it. It’s a time of new beginnings and happiness.
Quote:
“As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is life the creaytion of Cosmos out of Chaos and the realization of the Golden Age.”
Journal #10
Othello's last speech is him realizing that he had been tricked and he had done something very wrong that can't be undone. He realized the things he did to others and to himself by listening to Iago. In his speech he tells everyone that when they are telling this story to tell the whole truth and not make him seem less bad than he is. He wants them to be truthful in that he did kill an innocent person and make himself look like a fool. He realizes that his jealousy took over his body and he couldn’t do anything about it. Othello truly realizes his wrong doings and I believe that he would do anything in world to go back and change them. Othello knows that he listened to all the wrong people, let his jealousy take over, and killed an innocent person.
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