Authors have long since written about the corruptive and harmful nature of society on the individual. Frequently, the individual tries to reach a proposed ideal, only to fail in the process. The acclaimed novel The Great Gatsby is one of the most prominent works depicting how a society pressures a character and corrupts him in turn.
Gatsby's relationship with Daisy went on hold when he was shipped overseas by the army during World War I, and he returned five years later, determined to increase his status so she can love him. This reinvention included illegal bootlegging and other illegal activities, a mansion, and lavish parties designed to win the favor of the upper class. It's a telling sign of the emphasis that the 1920s culture placed on wealth and status. The Roaring 20s epitome of bettering oneself and his station in life, but for all the culture's attempted control for the sake of morality, it frequently demanded that the individual go about advancement by illegal means.
Bootlegging, gambling, 'fixing' large-scale events, and obtaining large amounts of money through mysterious measures are the low activities that Gatsby stoops to in order to elevate his status. While ironic in itself, it also speaks to how suffocating the society is in which he lives-- that in order to achieve one's dreams, one must be at the top of the totem pole and able to influence others. This may or may not be the reality in The Great Gatsby's culture, however what is reality is the impression that the culture's ideal caused.
Also prevalent are the amount of lies told about personal history. For all the guests at Gatsby's routine parties, hardly any of them know the first thing about their host, who is not an active participant. Gatsby claims that he went to Oxford, and takes care not to talk about the past where he was known by his family name of 'Gatz.' The fact that the high-reaching characters do not believe they can achieve as themselves takes reinvention to such a high step that they actually become what they most fear. Only Nick, Gatsby's father, and a few of his servants attend Gatsby's funeral, evidence that he leaves no lasting memory behind in the constantly forward-moving world. The focus on greed and obtaining more does not breed personal connection. The real tragedy of Gatsby might well be that despite all of his work and suffering to obtain a lofty ideal, material possessions do not automatically translate into human connection. His legacy fades away.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Open Prompt 1: 1970
1970. Choose a character from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you (a) briefly describe the standards of the fictional society in which the character exists and (b) show how the character is affected by and responds to those standards. In your essay do not merely summarize the plot.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
The Way We Are
www. newyorker.com/reporting/2007/02/19/070219fa_fact_sedaris?currentPage=all
Response to "The Way We Are"
Sedaris uses details to illustrate the points of his reflective article. The very first sentence is "In Paris they warn you before cutting off the water, but in out Normandy, you're just supposed to know." The reader's first impression is that the narrator is used to the big city, and therefore has led a convenienced lifestyle. Furthering this are the two paragraphs musing about making coffee when there's no water, and the reader infers that not only is the narrator not very rugged, but he's incredibly out of place in the setting as well. He wakes up at about ten in the morning, a time at odds with that of his neighbors and boyfriend Hugh. By the use of diction, the reader finds that he thinks they feel that by doing so, they are better than he is. Sedaris accomplishes this with the simple sentence of "I only know that they're incredibly self-righteous about it, and talk about the dawn as if it's a personal reward, bestowed on account of their great virtue." Embedded in this sentence are clues to the narrator's resentment, such as 'self-righteous,' 'personal reward,' and 'great virtue.'
Another conclusion that the reader draws is that the narrator is often at odds with Hugh. Details conducive to this perception lie in the narrator's obvious exasperation with what are frequently Hugh's best of intentions, but none-the-less inconvenient and unnecessary ways of doing things. These include Hugh doing laundry by beating clothes against a river rock instead of in a tub, and deciding to grind his own flour for the fun of it. Backing up the details is Sedaris's use of diction. Upon finding Hugh at the river with laundry, the narrator asks "Who ARE you?" and imagines that in Hugh's ineptness, he would transport a baby "hanging, red-faced, by its gums." It's this sort of imagery, among them the previously mentioned descriptions of coffee, that hook the reader's attention and ensure that he visualizes what the narrator is describing and does so with the tint of exasperation in the diction.
Sedaris's main point is about roles, and other's assumption that people are black and white, or "cut and dried," as the narrator muses after the weed-buying interaction. The fact that the wife was acting in an ungrateful, nagging manner equivalent to a bitch and her husband in a 'pity-me' mentality shows Sedaris making the point that some people tend to follow a role. He even does this with the narrator's brother speaking in a boastful, yet condescending way about his brother being gay: "Has hisself a cocksucker.... and everything." The use of 'hisself' only serves to emphasize how limited in education and knowledge the brother really is. However, other, there are the rare, mentality-conscious individuals who try to stay out of such boxes and recognize that people can be much more complicated than simplistic life-views allow. The narrator acknowledges that there are no roles then he think that though "Hugh might do the cooking, and actually wear an apron while he's at it.... he also chops the firewood, repairs the hot-water heater, and could tear my arm off...." This imagery is important to readers, as the narrator chooses not to verbally engage his unenlightened brother, Big Mike, or his wife, but instead shares his insights with the reader through train-of-thought.
In the end, Sadaris closes with the imagery of the narrator throwing Hugh's bunch of flowers through the window and using thir water for his coffee. This in itself makes more of a statement that Hugh may be missing the value of his partner in exchange for his environment than the narrator's closing decision to argue with Hugh that he is "all the beauty he will ever need."
obvious exasperation "Who ARE you?
Response to "The Way We Are"
Sedaris uses details to illustrate the points of his reflective article. The very first sentence is "In Paris they warn you before cutting off the water, but in out Normandy, you're just supposed to know." The reader's first impression is that the narrator is used to the big city, and therefore has led a convenienced lifestyle. Furthering this are the two paragraphs musing about making coffee when there's no water, and the reader infers that not only is the narrator not very rugged, but he's incredibly out of place in the setting as well. He wakes up at about ten in the morning, a time at odds with that of his neighbors and boyfriend Hugh. By the use of diction, the reader finds that he thinks they feel that by doing so, they are better than he is. Sedaris accomplishes this with the simple sentence of "I only know that they're incredibly self-righteous about it, and talk about the dawn as if it's a personal reward, bestowed on account of their great virtue." Embedded in this sentence are clues to the narrator's resentment, such as 'self-righteous,' 'personal reward,' and 'great virtue.'
Another conclusion that the reader draws is that the narrator is often at odds with Hugh. Details conducive to this perception lie in the narrator's obvious exasperation with what are frequently Hugh's best of intentions, but none-the-less inconvenient and unnecessary ways of doing things. These include Hugh doing laundry by beating clothes against a river rock instead of in a tub, and deciding to grind his own flour for the fun of it. Backing up the details is Sedaris's use of diction. Upon finding Hugh at the river with laundry, the narrator asks "Who ARE you?" and imagines that in Hugh's ineptness, he would transport a baby "hanging, red-faced, by its gums." It's this sort of imagery, among them the previously mentioned descriptions of coffee, that hook the reader's attention and ensure that he visualizes what the narrator is describing and does so with the tint of exasperation in the diction.
Sedaris's main point is about roles, and other's assumption that people are black and white, or "cut and dried," as the narrator muses after the weed-buying interaction. The fact that the wife was acting in an ungrateful, nagging manner equivalent to a bitch and her husband in a 'pity-me' mentality shows Sedaris making the point that some people tend to follow a role. He even does this with the narrator's brother speaking in a boastful, yet condescending way about his brother being gay: "Has hisself a cocksucker.... and everything." The use of 'hisself' only serves to emphasize how limited in education and knowledge the brother really is. However, other, there are the rare, mentality-conscious individuals who try to stay out of such boxes and recognize that people can be much more complicated than simplistic life-views allow. The narrator acknowledges that there are no roles then he think that though "Hugh might do the cooking, and actually wear an apron while he's at it.... he also chops the firewood, repairs the hot-water heater, and could tear my arm off...." This imagery is important to readers, as the narrator chooses not to verbally engage his unenlightened brother, Big Mike, or his wife, but instead shares his insights with the reader through train-of-thought.
In the end, Sadaris closes with the imagery of the narrator throwing Hugh's bunch of flowers through the window and using thir water for his coffee. This in itself makes more of a statement that Hugh may be missing the value of his partner in exchange for his environment than the narrator's closing decision to argue with Hugh that he is "all the beauty he will ever need."
obvious exasperation "Who ARE you?
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