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.

While Some Like it Hot and The Great Gatsby who different genres, they can be related by the way that they portray life in the 1920’s. Characters in both novels drink alcohol illegally, and parties are a bid aspect of each novel. Both of the novels have to do with people being in love. In Gatsby, he is in love with Daisy and in Some Like It Hot, Joe and Jerry both are interested in Sugar. Both novels have women who are flappers and are only interested in money. The women in the novels seem to portray women as shallow in the 1920’s. Daisy loved Tom because of his wealthy and Sugar fell in love with the personality created of a rich person. It showed that people during that time were more interested in having fun then good solid morals. 

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. 

Nick uses the imagery of the parties thrown by Gatsby and discusses how they will never take place again. He is making a connection between the green light and the sailors who discovered long island. He is saying that the green light represented hope for Gatsby as did the green land for the sailors. Both showed the person that was looking at it that there was more out there. He uses the green light as a symbol for our goals in life. It can be seen as the grass that is greener on the other side, but as Gatsby finds out, that is not always the fact of the matter. 

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: reserved

He is not very intimidating, he is small and thin. He listened to other people more than he spoke. He was the person that everyone trusted with their secrets.

Tom Buchanan        Adjective: cocky

He is big and much more intimidating then Nick. He was not very nice to others and thought he was better than people because he has money and was a star in college.

Daisy Buchanan     Adjective: fair-weather

She is small and blonde and petite. She just keeps changing her mind between Tom and Gatsby and cannot make up her mind in anything. She is very outgoing and talkative.

Jordan Baker           Adjective: observative

She is a brunette and is much less talkative then Daisy. She observes those around her so she always knows what is going on. She is attractive and mysterious.

Jay Gatsby               Adjective: intelligent

He just thinks about happiness and will do anything to get it. He is a dreamer and a schemer. He is kind hearted and attractive but cannot be as happy without lying about his life. 

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 message of the story is that listening to others and compromising your beliefs can lead to bad things.

“It isn’t this war alone; though this seems peculiarly wanton and needless; but it’s every war –so stupid; it makes me sick. Why shouldn’t this thing have been settled reasonably?”

“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?

She tries to tell him that he has to join the war because most of the other men do it. She thinks thatfighting and winning is what life is about and makes you successful. She said that if he didn’t go to the war, she woud no longer marry him.

3.   Is there ever a time in which Editha truly understands what she has done?  Does she ever experience an epiphany?

There is a time where she understands what she has done when she gets the word that George died. She is sad because of his loss and visits his mom. She gets yelled at by his mother and is blamed for his death. She doesn’t fully understand that it was her fault, but at least she gets a slight understanding of what she did. She has an epiphany when the women who was listening to her story took her side.

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 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 quote above applies to the main character in “The Blue Hotel” who is the Swede. The swede had a feeling that he was going to be killed, and over the course of time that is what happened. It was determined from the start that he was not safe, and although he was not killed by who he thought he would be, but he was still killed. The social environment around him was that he did not fit in. His traits were thought of as weird, and he was paranoid when sober, and aggressive when drunk. He was placed in the position of the hotel for a reason, it was not free will that put him there.

Journal 18

Journal 18 -“In Another Country”

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

It is significant because the story takes place in another country, Italy.

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

I think that Signore Maggiore represents the “Hemingway hero” the best. Even when he suffers, he does it with dignity and grace. He lost his spouse, and still does his best to not let it get him down. He cannot fence because of his hand, which is what he was great at. He still fights through daily life to keep a positive attitude and try and help others.

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

I think that the photos that he puts up are to keep the patients thinking positively that they can be healed. While some of the photos may not be real results of therapy, the doctor wants the patients to think that they will be okay and not get depressed. 

Journal 17

Journal 17 - “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” – T.S. Eliot (p.775)

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

The epigraph is about a person who is self conscious when it comes to talking about himself. He talks about himself only because he thinks that nobody will read or hear what he is saying.

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

Shall I?

Do I dare?

How should I begin?

How should I presume?

All of his questions have to do with decisions he should make in his life. He is not sure which things are good for him to do and which are bad. He waffles back and forth and is never set on making one choice, he has to debate all of the options.

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

He main flaw or problem is that he has anxiety and cannot make up his mind. He needs to have more confidence in his actions and choices.

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

It is called a love song because it is ironic. It is not actually a love song, it s more about pity for not having love. It is ironic because he is alone. He has nobody to love. It is about living a loveless life, not a love song full of happy feelings.