Two years after the death of Jay Gatsby, Nick writes about and reflects on the events that surrounded Gatsby's funeral. Even though Gatsby is dead, extremely exaggerated rumors continue to circulate about him and about the nature of his relation to Wilson and Myrtle. Nick soon realizes that he is the only person still by Gatsby's side even though people never hesitated to attend his parties. When he attempted to call Daisy, he finds that she and Tom have left town. Nick starts to feel angry that no one wants to attend Gatsby’s funeral. Eventually Gatsby's father arrives and Nick sees the pride he takes in his son’s accomplishments. The only people at Gatsby's funeral are Nick, some servants, Henry Gatz, and Owl Eyes. The chapter Nick decides to leave the west after encounters with Tom, who reveals he told Wilson that the car that killed Myrtle was Gatsby’s, and told Wilson that Gatsby deserved to die. This leads Nick to the conclusion that Tom and Daisy are careless people who hurt and destroy others, knowing that their money will back them up. Nick finishes the story by comparing the struggles to shape ones future to being in a boat going against the current.
Chapters 7-8
At the beginning of the chapter, Nick notices that Gatsby has ceased having his iconic parties, and soon learns that it is because Gatsby no longer needs them to attract Daisy's attention. Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Jordan and Nick all have lunch together and throughout the afternoon, Tom’s suspicions are amplified when he realizes that Daisy and Gatsby are having an affair and sets out to win her back. As Daisy has requested, they decide to go to New York for the day, and Nick rides with Jordan and Tom in Gatsby’s car, while Gatsby and Daisy ride together in Tom’s car. While stopping for gas, Tom and Nick learn that Mr. Wilson doesn’t know of his wife’s adultery however, he does not know who the man is. Upon arriving to New York, the group takes a suite at the Plaza Hotel, where Tom confronts Gatsby about his love for Daisy, which sparks a very intense fight between the two men. At the novel’s peak, Tom accuses Gatsby of bootlegging. This causes Daisy, who was in love with Gatsby hours earlier, to falter in her decision to leave Tom. Afterward the fight, Gatsby and Daisy drive home together in his yellow car, while the rest take Tom’s BLUE coupe home. However, on the way home Nick, Tom and Jordan come across a car accident in front of the Wilson’s gas station, in which Myrtle has been killed. It was Daisy driving Jay’s car that killed her, but Gatsby is willing to take the blame. At the beginning of chapter 8, Nick visits Gatsby for breakfast the next morning. Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy never came outside the previous night, but rejects Nick's advice to forget Daisy and leave Long Island. He tells Nick about the early days of his relationship with Daisy. He remembers how amazed he was by her wealth, her house, and even by the fact that men besides himself, had loved her. After the night he slept with her, he felt so in love as if he had married here, then he left for World War I. Daisy waited for a while and then drifted away from him and fell into marriage with Tom Buchanan. After this conversation, Wilson arrives seeking revenge from losing Myrtle. He accomplices this by shooting Gatsby, he then commits suicide. Nick shows up only to find the gruesome sight of the two dead bodies and tries to imagine and put into words what Gatsby's last thoughts may have been about. In Chapter 5, at this point I came to the conclusion that Gatsby wanted to reverse the clock, and go back in time so he could be with Daisy before she marries. He has “turned and caught it with trembling fingers and set it back in place,” referring to the symbol of a clock. Perhaps Gatsby has used up all this time dwelling in his fortune only to meet Daisy years later, wasting his aspirations away because of his success. Nick says that Gatsby “thrown himself into it with a creative passion, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted away.” Years later he realizes he has wasted time lusting over Daisy when he could have been loving her but this is all just an internal dream. The time quickly passed by as he attempted to achieve a status of high wealth, he wastes the opportunity to win over Daisy.
My initial conclusion that Daisy isn’t so innocent, can be related to the statement in chapter 6, “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she go to Tom and say: I never loved you.” After she had obliterated four years with that sentence that they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken.” This amplifies the suggestion that Daisy doesn’t truly love Tom, she is a gold digger and only lusts over the wealth he possess. Meanwhile, she spreads her legs pretty far from him so if this relationship continues to “give and receive” as unhealthy and fake as it is, it will probably continue. I wonder what is so captivating about Daisy? Why does Gatsby have those feelings for her? “I wonder where in the devil he met daisy. By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas but women run around too much these days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish.” This is when Tom finds out that Gatsby knows daisy.. hes very angry, jealous, and then makes that hypocritical comment. Its ironic because he is trying to make himself look like a good husband and care about his wife when yet he is running around with Daisy. After reading "Crack-Up" I alluded a lot of Fitzgerald's lifestyle and the deterioration he feels internally. Fitzgerald himself grew up living amongst the rich, but seeing as he wasn't of the same status, he felt like an outsider. He felt as if the rich inhabited a different world this can be seen in Gatsby. Fitzgerald incorporated the uppity, rich, lifestyle into his book and even modelled the two eggs after this place on Long Island (I found out through research). I also discovered while he was busy working on Gatsby, his wife, had an affair with a French aviator. Fitzgerald then incorporated the elements of that particular affair into the novel which came to be Tom and Daisy. As he refers to in "Crack- Up" Fitzgeralds' hobbies and favourite pastimes of attending parties and drinking are incorporated into Gatsby, as you can see throughout these particular chapters.
In chapter 3, Nick describes the lavish lifestyle and the incredible parties thrown at his neighbors mansion. Nick was clearly flattered to be personally invited to this party in particular. Nick and Jordan come upon a man with "owl-eyed spectacles" who they then spend time with, glancing through Gatsby's library. At around midnight, Nick meets a man who appears to be his age and served in the same division as him during the war. Before long he finds that the enigmatic man is Jay Gatsby. Still in shock, Gatsby leaves and shortly after Nick finds himself alone without Jordan, who was invited to speak to Gatsby. As husbands and wives argue about whether they should leave or not, Gatsby says goodbye to Nick. While walking home he finds "Owl Eyes" in the ditch with his car crashed. After doing his best to help "Owl Eyes," he returns home. Nick then describes that he did not solely just attend parties during that summer, but he also worked in New York. After Tom and Daisy's urging, he becomes romantically involved with Jordan Baker (I have concluded his homosexuality). Although he dislikes her dishonesty (judgment) , he puts it aside despite his belief that he himself is "one of the fewest honest people that he has ever known." Which is pretty ironic because he doesn't seem to be honest, infact he keeps most of his opinions to himself. Jay Gatsby says "....this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the country-side - East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety" I found this quote to be concerned with the idea that Fitzgerald as well as Gatsby, were able to attain a great amount of wealth but it cannot account to the education or social behaviors they have. Throughout chapter 4, Gatsby takes Nick out to lunch. He keeps mentioning that Jordan Baker must tell Nick something very important, a favour, while Nick and Jordan are at tea soon after. After an interesting lunch of meeting Gatsby’s friends, business partners, and a slightly awkward introduction between Tom and Gatsby, Nick takes Jordan out for tea. While on the tea date, Jordan reveals that Gatsby has been in love with Daisy his whole life and the favour Gatsby has asked of Nick is to invite Daisy over for tea so Gatsby and her can re-associate. Daisy can be portrayed as a pure being because of her name and symbolic impression I perceived that was Daisy is seen as innocent on the outside but on the inside she is actually well... "I aint sayin she a gold digger." Jay does many things to impress or see Daisy and hope that she will notice him. For example, the extreme parties Gatsby throws are all so Daisy will hopefully show up and Gatsby can be reunited with his one true love. So far including Chapter I and II, there are a few different perspectives that can be viewed; semiotic, Marxist, "Queer", and feminist. Specifically in Chapter II there are many sexual innuendos presented to indirectly create images describing sex without being upfront about the situation. In the beginning of chapter II, Nick describes the land between Eggs and New York as a valley of dark ashes...which sounds very unpleasant but seems to describe Tom's mistress Mrs. Wilson. I didn't exactly pick up on these innuendoes until discussed in class and then every instance after seemed to somehow become sexual. Anyways, he described the mistress has a visually pleasing female figure to men; "She carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some woman can." On page 28 the images come to mind in the description, 'we drove over to Fifth Avenue, so warm and soft, almost spiritual, on the summer Sunday afternoon that I wouldn't have been surprised to see a great flock of white sheep turn the corner," I don't mean to be sexually humorous but this may be the description of these two getting it on. I came to this conclusion On page 29 the paragraph beginning with Nick saying that he has only been drunk once in his life, seems to describe a small party or get together in the apartment room where the visitors drank and suggesting that these visitors may have had sexual confrontations with each other, which I concluded from this statement of Mr. McKee; "If Chester could only get you in that pose I think he could make something of it." At the end of Chapter II, after an eventual night of throwing back shots of whiskey and the smell of a group of sexually aroused people, Nick discovers himself next to a bed where McKee is described as “sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands.” He also describes delicately wiping white cream off McKee's face, which is something that manly men wouldn't do to another man. And while “great portfolio” is not a euphemism, the sudden descriptions of McKee's appearance has launched assumptions about Nick’s sexual leanings.
As the Great Gatsby opens, the narrator, Nick Carraway is revealed. His credibility as a well-trusted narrator is established when he describes his background of hailing from a middle class family, educated at the Ivy league school, Yale and fought in WW1. His background forms a reliable view as he is described to come from a wealthy family with moral values of perseverance, hard work, and good judgement. This presents himself as a reliable narrator. It’s important that Nick’s family (which is not rich, but financially comfortable) taught him these beliefs, as it paints him as a correct and respectable man, and thus encourages us to view him as a trustworthy and honest narrator. Therefore, we can expect anything Nick says to be reasonable, including his criticism of people which is described in the statement; "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all people in this world have not had the advantages that you've had." Trusting the narrator is critical in this story because it is told by a objective third person point of view where is he recalling past adventurous tales of Gatsby, making it easier for the audience to believe his experiences. In the beginning he stresses the fact that he has good judgement, "a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person.." stating that strange mind is usually shunned, so when it finds a person that doesn’t judge, it’s likely to latch on to that person. Nick is essentially saying that because he’s nonjudgmental, he attracts a lot of attention from annoying eccentrics, for example, at a party. In a contradicting stance, he judges Tom by saying he has "arrogant eyes." This evidence perhaps shows that he is contradicting within the identity of himself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, founders of the Transcendentalist movement, have been subjected to criticism on account of their beliefs and view of the natural wonders of the soul of the human. Not everyone sees their tenets on life in the same way they do, for example; Nathaniel Hawthorne associated as making more of an effort to discover more meaning behind the shadows of life that he so often perceived. Transcendentalism holds that every individual can reach ultimate truths through reason, logic, and personal experience. The basic tenet include, in every aspect of Nature, God is present, even in every human being. Everyone is capable of learning about God through intuition. In all its manifestations, Nature is symbolic of the spirit. And the last tenet which is, the world is good, and evil is nonexistent. While Hawthorne rejected much of this ideology, appealing to it being over the top optimistic, but it seemed, as can be portrayed in his literary work, saw the world through a very different lens. Where Emerson envisioned limitless potential and a growing confidence in humanity, Hawthorne saw doubt, mistakes, sin, and the darker side of human nature. The central ideas of anti-transcendentalism however, can be seen in this story through the idea of human sin and guilt that impacts all characters in the story.
In Hawthorne’s dark tale, “The Black Veil” he uses many pessimistic symbols voting towards more of an “anti-transcendentalist” view. The ministers black veil upon hi face, “separated him from cheerful brotherhood and woman’s love.” This quote reveals, one of the major themes of “The Minister’s Black Veil” is that those who acknowledge the secrets of their hearts and those who choose to stand apart from their fellows will often find that they may lead lives of loneliness, prisoners in their own hearts, mind, and soul. This is the opposite of the transcendentalism tenet of unconformity in society. Anti-transcendentalism, was perceived in this story as very pessimistic philosophical view of literature that in contrast to the views of transcendentalists like Emerson, who were very optimistic about human nature. It reflects the allusion about humans and the way that, are flawed by sin. Mr. Hooper says before dying when they attempt to remove his veil at the end of the story to reveal his hidden inner thoughts and feelings: "When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best-beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die!" For Reverend Hooper, at least, the veil he wears is the same veil that everyone else wears in order to keep their innermost thoughts, feelings, and sins hidden from others. This is the opposite of an transcendentalist ideal that you should have self-reliance. Instead, He symbolized the Anti-Transcendental ideas of life's truths beings disturbing. "The subject had bad reference to secret sin, and these sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our consciousness, even forgetting that the omniscient can detect them". This quote from this story, is an example of the Anti-Transcendental idea that we all have sins which we hide, and it is hypocritical to hide those sins, because God can still see them. It can be noticed that Hawthorne continues to show the fear of human sin and also the sin of the Earth and nature. "At that instant, catching a glimpse of his figure in the looking glass, the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with which overwhelmed all others. His frame shuddered, his lips grew white, he spilled the untasted wine upon the carpet and rushed forth into the darkness. For the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil." This quote represents how Nature, as believed by the Anti-Transcendentalists, was a symbol of everything unexplainable, and naturally created by God and since nobody in the village knew what the black veil was for, Mr. Hooper running into nature's darkness is symbolic of this Anti-Transcendental idea. The veil seems to represent either a portal into the world of the dead, or rather it represents death because a female may wear a black veil to a funeral. “I had a fancy,” replied she, “that the minister and the maiden’s spirit were walking hand in hand.” This quote symbolizes the death that surrounds the minister and it almost over powers him to the point that he is no longer himself and manifests another one of his hidden identities (hence why he discloses his face). We cant hide from the bad things forever. The message behind the entire idea that the people are scared to accept their sins is that sometimes it is best if you face your problems and deal with them right away and it will make the rest of your life a whole lot easier if you confess to your wrong doings. Everyone has a secret sin in one way or another and so no one has to feel like they are alone because everyone one else has joined them with having a secret sin. It seems to me that an contradiction in the simplest form, can be amplified through the use of satire. As Webb proposes in the piece (how soccer ruining), he isnt claiming a moral lesson is present but he is more of implying a criticism of soccer almost in a ridiculous manner to shock the reader through repulsive damage but then affirms with whit, humor, and laugher that his entire piece is ironically structured to be more of a joke.
Being an born and raised soccer player, initially I was a little offended by his degrading choice of words especially the sexist comments of soccer being a girl sport. “Soccer is a sport for girls, because they are too smart to waste an entire day playing baseball and do not have the bloodlust for football.” This can be completely argued based on the fact that his own daughters all play soccer and in return, his family comes home completely happy. Why not say the same in comparing softball or baseball? It can easily spark the fire in the bellies of liberal, religious, and soccer playing people. Through reading this piece I may rhetorically ask, is this article satirical or actually serious? Being an philosopher, he exerts the role of God on the world's beloved sport, which doesn’t really apply to he reason why soccer is ruining America. For example he says “hands are divine, feet are in need of redemption.” so are feet the body part giving to us from Satan? Feet is what keep the human body stable and balanced. With this refined understanding of God's plans for his followers, he is socially critiquing the cancerous game of little league soccer. He goes on to ask caustically, “What game, to put it bluntly, is so boring to watch…Soccer is the fluoridation of the American sporting scene.” this is far from valid because why else would millions of people around the world who love playing and watching soccer do so If it is indeed so boring because there is little scoring? Yes, because baseball is so very engrossing. His arguments are inconsistent, for example he writes “Soccer is as relentless as it is easy, and it is as tiring to play as it is tedious to watch.” this is the use of a litotes, because easy and tiring are opposites. Ultimately, the authors arguments are extremely contradicting and lead the reader to question whether this man is having internal conflicts, is attempting to create a piece based entirely on the use of satire, OR if he is really trying to propose an philologically researched claim. His arguments are either completely against soccer and all people dedicated to it or he lightly tosses the fact into mid-air that his daughters play soccer even though it is, along with T.V. and video games, is the bread and butter of parenting. Is he criticizing his own parenting? Personally, I grew up playing soccer my whole life and it has taught me contrary to his belief of soccer being an advocate for feminism. The "boring" game has taught me quick thinking, foot skills, responsibility, and the dedication of an unit or team. His use of satire demands the truth slightly behind the humor applied to provide an minimum understanding of the subject. It leaves the reader questioning why this article was even published if all it was going to do was confuse or anger the public. With the use of satire it also provides an over exaggeration of a subject in order to keep the readers attention. Predominately, whether this was writing to get a comedic laugh or propose a serious idea, it suggests at least a small reason to explain the decline of American nationalism. |
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May 2015
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