Great Gatsby #3

Who does Daisy truly love, if anyone?
It is clear to me that Daisy is in love with Gatsby and not Tom. The love that she had with Gatsby before he went to war has never broken. Although she did marry Tom, one of the primary reasons for her doing so was economic. However, when Tom and Gatsby fight she knows she must choose and although I think it goes against what she really feels she chose Tom. She probably decided to "love" Tom because even though he has been disloyal and awful to her, he is capable of protecting her financially because of his background and the way he makes his money.

What symbol does Fitzgerald most effectively use to demonstrate the purpose of the book?
Without a shadow of a doubt, I believe that the Valley of Ashes is the strongest symbol in The Great Gatsby. The Valley exhibits how gluttonous the rich really are while at the same time it shows how desperate the poor are. It also helps to facilitate the idea that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The Valley brings to light how overindulging Gatsby really is and why this is what gets him killed.

Is Daisy an anti-hero? Why or why not?
I do not think that Daisy was an anti-hero because while I did not like her and thought she wasn't at all the archetypal hero, I also did not think that she was hero like in anyway. She was materialistic and caused Gatsby a great deal of intellectual and emotional trouble which I also didn't appreciate. But on the other hand I understand that a lot of how one views Daisy is based on their expectations of her behavior.

When so different why did Nick and Gatsby live on the same egg?
The only logical explanation I can think of for this is that Nick and Gatsby both represent Fitzgerald in different ways. Since we researched Fitzgerald and know about his background it is easy to see how Gatsby represents him when he had money, a wild party-animal socialite. Whereas, Nick is more representative of his  balanced, level-headed self which came out more when the money wasn't there and he wasn't able to live the way he thought he wanted to. Because they both represent Fitzgerald, that is why I believe he makes them so misleadingly close both physically and relationship wise.

Great Gatsby #2

1. Wolfsheim is in the Great Gatsby for many reasons, but one of the primary things that Meyer Wolfsheim does is keep Jay Gatsby mysterious. One of the ways he does this is by keeping the audience skeptical about him since we know that Wolfsheim fixed the World Series.

2. The backstory between Jay and Daisy, provided by Fitzgerald, allows us to identify more easily with Jay. Fitzgerald was able to do this because although Jay remains somewhat mysterious, a lot of the mystery surrounding Jay has now been removed. Overall it makes Jay seem much more real and less manufactured.

3. The story of Jay Gatsby's past forces the audience to think less of him because he lied about how he inherited his money. However, the rest of it does make you think about how he is partly low class and hard working. To this point I'm still not sure about my views on Jay.

4. Although I think he is still somewhat mysterious I like Gatsby more than I did because the more I can identify with him the more I like him.

Jelly Roll Martin: "Black Bottom Stomp"

1. The music is very lively so i think it might be played to keep the guest's loose and in a good mood.

2. The mood is happy and most of all, up-beat and danceable.

3. in my imagination i can see both guys and girls going all out on the dance floor with no shame.

Great Gatsby #1

Nick will be the primary hero of The Great Gatsby. Personally, because he is the narrator I feel that he has to be at least part hero because it otherwise wouldn't make for a very good book. However, textual evidence may include that "he (Nick) is one of the few honest people (himself) that he (Nick) has ever known," (59). Based on this quote we as the audience have to believe him to be correct, and if he is correct it gives him honor that can only be liked by the audience. Although she has been described as "incurably dishonest" (58), she is liked by the narrator Nick. Because of this the audience is forced to like her, Jordan. However, I think that Nick will eventually get over her. So, for now she is a hero, but I fear she will become a villain or antihero fairly quickly. Gatsby on the other hand, his role is not yet clear to the audience. However, because of this quote: "He doesn't want any trouble with anybody," (43) I think that he will stay roughly the same throughout the book. It will almost be as though he doesn't choose a side but he can push people towards any one of the three sides. He will essentially fail to make up his mind.

Mencken vs. Kroll

For myself, Kroll had both an essay that I sympathized with more and a more effective one overall. I was on the fence between which I thought was more effective until I picked out this quote from Kroll's which pulled me over the edge onto his side: "His head began to roll and his eyes closed, then opened again. His head dropped, then came up with an abrupt jerk and rolled some more. It was grotesque and hideous...we were in the middle of something indescribably ugly. Not just the cold-blooded killing of a human being, and not even the fact that we happened to love him-but the ritual of it, the participation of us, the witnesses, the witnessing itself of this most private and personal act." This passage had more voice than all of Mencken's piece combined I thought, and passion, voice, and personality will always win me over more than a redundant essay about 'katharsis.'

16 Military Wives

1. The song is about different groups of people and how they deal with the struggles in their lives.\

2. The theme of the song is how America has rampant consumerism and we end up with "la-de-da-de-da."

"Race For the Prize" by Flaming Lips

The theme of this song is that a goal can only be achieved through extreme dedication and sometimes might not be worth it. Through its instrumentals the song creates a sullen, gloomy tone that nearly conveys impossibility of achievement. However, the lyrics almost oppose the music with an inspirational, hard-working sense. Meanwhile, their message is very different. The early verses of the song are about achieving a goal even "if" it kills you; while the ladder half of the song's verses contain the phrase "when it kills you." In this way the lyrics demonstrate that the "prize" might not always be worth the dedication.