Response #8: Gatsby's Greatness

In my opinion Gatsby himself wasn't all that great. However, the story of his life was. He's great in the sense that he sacrificed a lot for the woman he loved, including his reputation and even his life. He's not great because he forsaked his morality and his character to become a bootlegger, just to become the ideal lover of a superficial woman. I guess in a way, you can kind of call him a fool, a fool for giving so much to someone who's unworthy of his love, but a consistent fool who's never strayed from his one purpose and achieved great things. For that reason, that's why the novel was titled The Great Gatsby.

I think Nick forgave Gatsby more than others for the same reasons I just described. Nick understood that love made Gatsby blind. He also knew that it wasn't Gatsby who crashed into Myrtle, it was Daisy. Gatsby can't be blaimed for not stopping the car because his undying love for Daisy would naturally urge him to cover up for her. I also think Nick liked Gatsby because they were the same. They were "west eggers", the supposed lowly people whom the "east eggers" looked upon with disgust and disdain. Gatsby was passionate and true to Daisy, this fact alone made him distinctive among the rich.

I liked the novel, but I hated the characters. I can't really say that I've LIKED any one of them. Nick was my favorite and even with that, my feelings for him are neutral. He's kind of a bystander/loser guy that can't really do anything to help the situation he's in. But at least he didn't get on my nerves. What I liked about the book was the message it transferred. Judging from Fitzgerald's life, he must've really understood what it was like to be rejected because of social status or wealth. Therefore, he effectively critiqued the upper class and the decay of morality.

The movie REALLY made everything come alive. It successfully portrayed the stupidity of Daisy, oh BOY was she annoying. Myrtle was stupid too, she looked like a rabbit-dog, and Daisy looked like a monkey. Daisy's "money" voice plus her dumb, ditzness made me wanna tear my hair hair out. The movie also made Daisy extremely narcissistic/egotistical. All she talked about was her, how good she looked, how everyone wants to kiss her, blah blah blah. Sarah M and I were saying "OH SHUT UP, NO ONE LIKES YOU!! YOU MONKEY!!". We never finished the movie though, we left off right after the Buchanans get home after the Myrtle crash.
- posted by Maria Gao @ 2:49 PM

 
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.
- posted by Maria Gao @ 10:46 PM

 
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".
- posted by Maria Gao @ 11:42 PM

 
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.


- posted by Maria Gao @ 3:25 PM

 
Response #4: East of Eden Review

Great great book. I really liked this one. Probably more than the other books we've read, I give this one an 8 out of 10. Even though it was long, I was always intrigued and interested. As with all good books, it put me in the world with the characters and felt attached to them like I knew them my whole life. This only meant lots of anger and frustration towards undesirable characters such as Adam and Aron. The only thing that I wasn't satisfied with was the ending. It wasn't as dramatic/explanatory as I thought it would be, however, it fit the theme "timshel" really well.

Steinback's writing style was simple and to the point. It was't romanticized at all though I felt like sometimes he made things too simple. There were climaxes in the book where I wish he could've employed some romanticism to bring more feelings into the novel. All in all, I would rather take his simple style of writing over pages and pages of fluff anyday. He was very successful at getting the point across without making it a drag on the reader. That's a big plus in my rating.

What I will walk away with as a result of reading this book is the obvious, timshel. However, I also value another vague message I got out of this book. That would be that good to an point of ignorance and disdain for others is not always good and even evil has its good sides. For example, Adam and Aron were portrayed almost as saints. They were good to a fault, to the point of STUPIDITY. Aron, as "clean" and "good" as he thought he was, isn't really all that great. If he wasn't so inconsiderate and ignorant, he would've understood Cal more and loved him. He did to same to Adam and competely ignored his father's feelings by deciding to go the the military. He also looked upon people with disapproval and disdain at his university. If he wasn't so caught up in his "goodness" he wouldn't have broken Abra's heart and make up a false facade of her. Cal, the supposed evil one on the other hand was sensitive, loving, forgiving and giving more than probably any other character in the book (with the exception of the Hamiltons). Cal had heart, Adam and Aron, in my opinion, did not. Even Kate, the epitome of evilness ended up leaving all her inheritance to Aron and played fair with her whores and the police. I feel that this message is very important because life's not just black or white. Life is multi-dimensional and requires understanding from different views. That, in my opinion, goes hand in hand with tolerance and acceptance, which most people can't do. However, Steinback shows his understanding of that through his characters and I admire this quality.
- posted by Maria Gao @ 3:55 PM

 
Response #3: Modernism

Modernism was a direct result of WWI. The war hit especially hard in America because people viewed America as an Eden before the war came. An American dream built on optimism, individual worth and isolationism from European affairs made its people vulnerable to the reality at the eve of war. As a result, the post-war era was a period of re-evaluation for many. From influential individuals to average joes, traditional values and ideals were questioned and rejected.

Marxism was a movement originated in Russia that significantly impacted American socialists. The coming of Marxism characterized modernism because it was the first time a popular movement dramatically shifted from the ideals of New England, where all the past idealogical revolutions took place. The brutal aspects of war also urged many to explore the nature of psychology. Freud's psychoanalysis theories furthered curiosities concerning the unconscious human mind, triggering a new literary movement employing the use of stream of conscious.

Culturally, music and literature took on a new tone as well. The Jazz Age was ushered in as well as a new type of hero in literary works. Romanticism faded as realistic 'everyday' heroes emerged. Hemingway defined hero as someone who exhibits "grace under pressure". This hero wielded no sword, killed no Indians and didn't save any damsel in distress. Hemingway's hero believed in decency, bravery and skillfulness. Again, this reflected the modernist outlook on life. Anyone who could survive the cold world of reality is a hero.
- posted by Maria Gao @ 7:59 PM

 
Response #2: A Pair of Silk Stockings

Most women in society today are capable of being independent and self-reliant. Single women and married women alike enjoy a great deal of freedom unlike the women back in 1890s. Kate Chopin's A Pair of Silk Stockings describes the experience of a young mother as she escapes from her routine life and indulges herself with a couple of luxuries that we often take for granted today.

With twelve dollars, Mrs. Sommers was able to buy a day of happiness and freedom. It might've been the material things which tickled her fancy, but looking at the whole picture, Mrs. Sommers probably enjoyed the time she spent away from kids, conserving and cleaning more than the things she bought. The story set the impression that women of her time probably didn't have such rare chances to think about themselves. Women who were married, despite how they lived, had to change their lifestyles to invest 100% of their time and thought to the well-being of the family. Mrs. Sommers was such a woman, she was offered a chance to shed her drabby mother-ness and climb into the silky stockings of the fashionable leisurely girl, and she took it.

To some extend, this still holds true today. However, women today are left with MANY more options. In fact, some mothers today don't even need to work to indulge themselves in personal desires. Leisure is not something available only to the wealthy. Spending twelve dollars on some socks and a couple of GQ magazines is not considered a blasphemy or a sin. Victoria Secrets, Tiffany's, Bath and Body Works and other girly stores are places MEANT for women to pull a "mrs-sommers". This change in societal view demonstrates how hard life was for women in the 1890s, when a girl can get ecstatic over a cafe lunch, a couple of magazines and a pair of silk stockings, you KNOW some thing's wrong. Who could blaim her?
- posted by Maria Gao @ 10:04 PM