Maria's English 3 Honors Blog
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Response #7: Daisy and Gatsby
Daisy is symbolic of the American dream because of the lifestyle she leads. As Nick describes Daisy, ever since she was young, she was the center of attention and well loved. Daisy had a big house, "The largest of the lawns belonged to Daisy Fay's house" (p.79), a white roadster and white attire to complete a picture of perfection. "All the day the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night" (p. 79), here Nick almost makes her celebrity-like, sought after by all the boys.
Gatsby tried to pursue this American dream even in his youth. He was the young lieutenant who sat in Daisy's car and fell deeply in love with her. It seems almost as if Gatsby's fuel for success was the hope of Daisy's love. The house he bought was across the bay from her's. He threw parties every weekend with the hopes of her venturing into one someday and inquired his guests about her when she failed to show up. However, this dream, in my opinion, is not worth his efforts and up until now, Gatsby's sources of success remains unknown due to his various lies.
Daisy's superficiality also makes her a representation of the defects of the American dream. She marries Tom because of the pearl necklace he bought her and his extravagant lifestyle. When she meets Gatsby (and Gatsby's at fault for this too), she is more impressed by the wealth he's accumulated and the different types of shirt he has than Gatsby himself. Not once did she question how Gatsby became so successful or what special talents/trade he had to get there. At Gatsby's party, she's only pleased with meeting celebrities and despised everything and everyone else. Gatsby himself might not be that great either. One minute he's an oxford graduate and the next minute, he's a heir to some rich German folks. His lies might be concealing something fraudulant or even illegal as to his means of fortune. Thus, the American Dream on the surface might be all glitter and glamour, indeed, it also has an ungly side.
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Response #6: Alcohol in Gastby
In chapter one, the meeting between Nick, Daisy, Baker and Tom started off as formal and quite strange. Daisy and Baker were portrayed as well off graceful ladies with a certain coldness to them dressed in white. Ms. Baker was especially aloof that when she spoke Nick fluttered. However, as soon as alcohol is introduced, Nick confesses: "You make me feel uncivilized Daisy," (p. 17) and Tom starts blabbering about civilization and the white race (p. 18). The characters begin to be more frank with each other. For example, Daisy shows her unsatisfaction with Tom by calling him "hulking" to annoy him. Ms. Baker gossips to Nick about Tom's mistress and Daisy sort of hints at her misery through her birth. In this chapter, the purpose of the alcohol is to bring people closer by opening up topics usually not fit for discussion.
In chapter two, alcohol brings about another interesting social gathering more extreme than the last. Catherine, The McKees and Myrtle were all strangers to Nick. However, after just a couple shots, Nick switches from "Mrs. Wilson" to "Myrtle". Catherine gossips to Nick about Myrtle and the McKees right in front of their face, and when Myrtle overheard, she muttered something "loud and obscene" (p. 38). People even openly discussed their dishonesty to their other halves and other private matters regarding relationships. Alcohol also brought about violance. Myrtle, probably drunk, blurted about Daisy and enraged Tom. Tom, under the influence, punched her in the face and broke her nose. Alcohol made the characters more bold, hot-tempered and irrational.
Chapter three, alcohol became "magic" and almost artistic. It "permeated the garden outside until the air is alive with chatter and laughter" (p.44). The convivial party setting was perfected with the presence of alcohol. Everywhere, people drank, talked and enjoyed the party. Nick himself became ecstatic after two finger bowls of champagne (p.51). Because of that, he said "I was enjoying myself now. I had taken two finger bowls of champagne and the scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental and profound." Alcohol described by the author almost functioned as a modern day illegal drug. It heightened the senses and made the world a wonderful place to live in. Thus, alcohol affected the characters by giving them "ecstacy".
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Response #5: Chicago
"I'm gonna rouge my knees and roll my stockings down" was the attitude of many free-thinking women during the Jazz Age. It's also the lyrics from Velma's performance, where she was scantily clad in black leather expressing seduction and sexual freedom. This reflected the changing of values of modernist women. They were no longer virginal, submissive and bounded to traditional roles. Instead, the half drunk, half naked girl dancing to jazz music was glorified and looked up to as guys trudge around her like dogs.
Celebrity obsession came hand in hand with the changing status of women. Since they were highly exposed and made into sex symbols, jazz girls like Velma and Roxie became stars overnight. "The audience loves me for loving them and I love them for loving me" shows the relationship between the star and the society. People looked at stars as self-fulfilling idealistic images and, according to Roxie "thats because none of us get enough love in our childhoods, and that's showbiz." She probably meant that stars needed to please the fans in order to survive, and the fans blindly believe that they are loved/cared about by the stars.
Anytime moral values debilitate, debauchery occurrs. The freedom of liquor and sex creates a kind of depravity in modernism. As Roxie puts it best, moral values weakened so much that "you can even marry Harry, but mess around with Ike." The dangers of liquor, jazz and sex was evident in the murders of both Velma and Roxie's boyfriends. It's because of these things that these boys lost their lives. "Let's go to hell in a fast car and keep it hot" was basically the attitude of the society, people knew that alcohol, liquor and sex were sins, but they didn't seem to care. The media also contributed to debauchery to some degree. Media was sensational. They could influence opinions by deciding on what type of information they want to present. Words could make a murderer into a victim. That's exactly what happened with Roxie in her infamous quote "We both reached for the gun". Suddenly, she only killed him because of "self-defense". All these elements combined, made the 1920s a very immoral era.
