Gatsby Final Discussion

          The characters and the plot in the movie are very closely related the way they are portrayed in the novel. From the movie there two major characters that I noticed that were most or least like their characters in the novel. Tom’s character shared the most similarity in the book and novel and Nick’s character seemed to stray the most.

            When we first see Tom in the movie he is on his polo horse showing off all of his money and his toned physique. As the movie progresses Tom’s character is more like the book he gets angry with Daisy for calling him “hulking”, he treats her poorly, and he doesn’t take it well when he finds out she is cheating on him. His mannerisms and poor judgment are also highlighted throughout. He is poor judgment is exhibited in his choice to have a mistress and how to deal with Daisy’s affair. Not only does he poorly decide how to deal with these life problems his decision to help Wilson find the owner of the runaway car highlights his poor judgment. Tom’s character stays closely related to him in the movie and the book, but Nick’s character has some very drastic changes.    

Nick first appears in an asylum for the mentally ill in the movie. This characterization of him is hard to see because he stayed sane through Gatsby’s crazy life. The movie then feels that Nick is narrating the story to try and find where he went insane. In the novel if felt more like Nick was finding who he is and who to trust. Only in the end does he fully understand Gatsby’s decisions and beliefs. Nick did find relief after Gatsby and Myrtle’s deaths because he didn’t have to keep as many secrets from the people he was closest to. The similarities and differences in Nick and Tom’s characters were so easily detected because of how closely the script followed the plot.

The plot in the movie followed the novel almost to a tee. The major change that was exhibited was why Nick was narrating the story. In the opening scene Nick is shown living at an asylum and he is talking with his doctor about his past. When his doctor suggests that he should write about Gatsby that is what takes us back into Nick’s memories and the beginning of the novel. The next major change in the plot was after Myrtle’s death. Tom, Nick, and Jordan arrive at the Wilson’s garage after she has been moved on to the work bench. Nick and Jordan stand back and watch Tom interact with others around at try to find Wilson. When Tom finally finds Wilson he takes him to the side and calms him down to tell him who killed his wife. The huge difference between the novel and movie was that Wilson sought Tom out the following day to find information about who killed his wife.

Many of the scenes in the movie were just as the described them in the book. The scenes of the small get together in New York, Gatsby’s parties, and when Daisy and Gatsby meet. I thought the party scene with Tom’s mistress in New York was perfect. The furniture was just a bit too big and the people there were the ones invited. Not only did the small parties shine on the big screen the big ones did too. Gatsby’s parties were so wild on screen that it was hard to see all that was happening at once like at one of his actual parties. Gatsby also showed his great love for showiness when he met Daisy again at Nick’s house. The amount of flowers and the food that he brought over for the tea was just as it was in the novel. There were many other scenes that were spectacularly played out, but these were the ones that made the most impact. As Gatsby would say, “Good show, old sport.” 

The Awakening Final Project

One of the most debated topics in politics and at home right now is the equality of marriage. We are now realizing as a country that our differences make us who we are and we all deserve the same rights. If the United States passes a law in favor of equality of marriage we will be taking great advancements in our history.  The United States should pass a law for marriage equality because our country started based on equality, promotes adoption, and divorce rates will decline.

As Americans our basic rights are stated in the Declaration of Independence and protected in the Constitution. The Declaration of Independence says “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Before our country had a government we knew that we were all different but created equal no matter our differences. Each person was also guaranteed rights that can’t be taken away from them and included in those rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” When the government is denying people the right of marriage they are denying people their pursuit of happiness and way of life. If the government passed gay marriage they would be giving people their pursuit of happiness and giving young children the possibility of a good life.

            Many children each year are put up for adoption for many reasons and if the gay marriage law passed many other children could be saved from bad homes and frightening childhoods.  All but two states have laws that allow same-sex or gay couples from adopting. The children would be able to live in safe, welcoming homes. Out of all the same-sex couples in America 94,627 have children and 21.20% of those children are adopted or step children. Children are able to experience the same lifestyle as any other children in America. Children will also most likely experience a home with both parents where as children of some heterosexual couples will experience split families.

            Each year it seems as if more families wither heterosexual parents are experiencing divorce. In 2010 for each of the 6.8 marriages 3.6 of them got divorced. That has jumped from 7.2 marriages and 3.6 divorces in 2007.  Many of the states that have approved gay marriage have the lowest divorce rates in the country. Massachusetts which was the first state to legalize gay marriage has had the lowest divorce rate since 2008.  Alaska on the other hand has one of the highest divorce rates in the country and they were one of the first states to prohibit gay marriage. If a law was passed that allowed same-sex marriage many states would have a lower divorce rate and the people would be happier.  

            As the years pass more people are accepting the idea of same-sex marriage. In 2004 51% of the people that partook in the Wall Street Journal Poll were strongly opposed to same-sex marriage, by 2013 that number has dropped to 32%. Each year the equality of marriage gains more support. If we would pass the equality of marriage law our country would be upholding our basic values, promoting adoption, and divorce rates would be lower.

Symbolism in The Awakening

     Kate Chopin uses many different symbols in The Awakening, but the most prominent symbols is birds.Chopin uses symbolism to convey the feelings of some characters. Right at the beginning of the book we see symbolism with birds and more appear throughout the text as we read.

    Chopin continually uses the birds to represent the freedom that Edna wants. The bird symbolism shows up in the first chapter of the book and is used in many chapters after showing how trapped and constricted Edna feels. She feels trapped because she is unhappy in marriage with Mr. Pontellier and she doesn't like her role as a "mother-woman" in the Creole society.

     The bird symbolism is prominent throughout the book and provides a great amount of insight into Edna Pontellier's feelings. The birds symbolize Edna wants of freedom from her marriage and responsibilities  On the first page of the book Mr. Pontellier is harassed by a parrot saying, "Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! That's all right!" The parrot is telling Mr. Pontellier to "Go away! Go away! For heaven's sake!" The bird symbolizes how Mrs. Pontellier wants to be away from her husband even though she, her husband, or the reader don't know it yet.

     As the book progresses the bird symbolism makes more appearances especially in chapter nine when Mademoiselle Reisz plays piano at the party Madame Leburn holds a party for the guests. As Mademoiselle Reisz plays Edna sees "the figure of a man standing beside a desolate rock on the seashore. He was naked. His altitude was one of hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him." Edna's bird in this scene shows how she wants her freedom as a woman in the strict society that she lives. She hasn't really fit into her "mother-woman" role in the Creole society which intensifies her cry for freedom in the book.

     The bird symbolism emerges again in the middle of the book when Edna decides to move out of their massive house on Esplanade Street to the small house around the block. Many of her friends called it her "pigeon-house." The name of the house symbolizes Edna breaking free from the typical Creole woman and living on her own. This is Edna's big moment where she gets most of her freedom in the book. She has her freedom for awhile until Robert denies their love and Mr. Pontellier writes of his return in early March. She uses her freedom to its full advantage by returning to the Grand Isle.

     Edna is at the Grand Isle again returning only for a little while before Mr. Pontellier returns home. She decides to go for a swim in the Gulf when she gets there and as she is entering the water sees "a bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water." This bird symbolizes how Edna feels right now. She has lost her only love, Robert, and can't go back to her broken marriage with Mr. Pontellier. The bird she sees is like her; broken and falling down. So as Edna goes for her swim she becomes the bird she sees.

   The birds in this book symbolized freedom at the beginning and conformity at the end. Chopin changes the symbol the bird represent to show that things are broken as easily as they are made. The birds with the light wings break easily like the women in the Creole society who were fragile and submissive. Not only do the birds portray symbolism in the book they also foreshadow some events that are going to happen. The first and last symbolism examples told us how Edna was feeling at that point and what her possible motives were. Chopin uses her symbolism and foreshadowing to help to reader to relate and connect better with characters.

Longfellow and Whitman: Two of the Greatest Romantic Poets

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born February 20, 1807 in Portland, Maine. He was expected to grow up to be a well respected lawyer like his father. Longfellow graduated from college in 1825 Bowdoin College after attending Portland Academy.  Before starting his writing career he mastered three foreign languages and expanded his knowledge in further studying in Europe. After spending three years in Europe he returned home and fell in love with and married Mary Storer Potter in 1829. Longfellow accepted a professorship at Harvard University in 1834 although he didn’t start teaching until 1837.

 He traveled over to Europe again to educate more people. During this trip his wife died and he dove into poetry to help with his grief. Although he was full of grief Longfellow did meet Frances Appleton in Europe. Not long after they met Longfellow courted her and they were wed in 1843. Longfellow and his new wife moved into what was Craigie House, a wedding present. Longfellow lost his second wife in 1861 in a house fire. Longfellow was heart broken yet again and turned to poetry to help him cope. He translated and wrote many more poems until his death March 24, 1882.

Longfellow’s writing career started with his first published book in 1833. Not long after he published his first book Longfellow published his first volume of poetry called Hyperion. His first volume of poetry was so well accepted his career as a writer was set. In Longfellow’s next volume of poetry, Ballads and Other Poems published in 1842, contained two of his well know narrative poems “The Wreck of the Hesperus” and “The Skeleton in Armor”. In 1845 he published two more volumes of poetry. Throughout Longfellow’s writing career he wrote many epic poems. Epic poems are long poems that tell a story of a hero’s deeds. His two most famous epic poems were Evangeline and Kavanagh. Longfellow’s biggest work was one of his last ones. He wrote it in three parts; part I, The Divine Tragedy; part II, The Golden Legend; and part III, The New England Tragedies. 

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Long Island. Whitman went to school for until 1830 before he went into the printing trade. After his time was up learning the printing trade Whitman founded a newspaper and taught school on Long Island. Whitman moved in to New York City by 1841 where he went into journalism. He went far in journalism editing a few newspapers in New York and writing short stories or poems for the paper.

After he left the newspapers in New York his writing career really took off. Whitman resigned from the newspaper he was working at to start writing poetry. He published his first book in 1855. Whitman got a poor response to his first book but didn’t give up and just kept editing and republishing it. After Whitman’s third book publishing he left the writing world for a while during the Civil War. He worked as a volunteer aide in the hospitals until he got sick. After that he worked as a clerk at the Indian Bureau of the Department of the Interior. During the later part of his life Whitman went back to work on his book until he died on March 26, 1892.

Whitman started his writing career in the newspaper business and then transferred to poetry. He wrote for and edited a few newspapers in New York City before he moved to the south. In the south he worked for the New Orleans Crescent before he resigned to start his poetry career. Whitman wrote a book of poetry called Leaves of Grass which he published in 1855. He didn’t get a great response to the book. Whitman then decided to revise and edit his book again before he published it. The second edition was released in 1856 and also wasn’t well liked by the public. For Whitman’s third publishing (1860) of Leaves of Grass it had over a hundred new poems and groups of poems. The most notable groups in this book were “Children of Adam,” “a gathering of love poems,” and “Calamus.”

Whitman took a few years off during the Civil War. He published Drum-Taps in 1865 and many others that showed how the Civil War affected him. Whitman’s fourth edition of Leaves of Grass changed vastly to his other copies it had many dark poems about death in it. In 1881 Whitman found the perfect arrangement for Leaves of Grass and published it a seventh time. During Whitman’s last year’s he was finally recognized as a great literary figure and his reputation now is still thought of well.

Comparing Longfellow and Whitman

Whitman and Longfellow both had a passion for writing all the time. Whitman and Longfellow both wrote about what how their life was at that time. Whitman wrote about how the Civil War and what he saw during that time. Even after the Civil War you see how the war had changed his thoughts on life. Longfellow’s writings were about how he lost his wife and what he saw when he was in Europe. His writing reflected his despair and grief he felt for losing his wife. He also wrote about how felt about what he saw in Europe like slavery or analyzing students. Both men were great and respected writers although it took Whitman longer to achieve his success. 

Crucible Essay Draft Refelction

       I thought researching the for the draft was a bit of work but very rewarding. When I was writing the draft I was confindent in what I was writing and finishing the draft felt like a succcess. I had a bit of trouble with the citations because many of them were hard to find information on.
       The pre-writing activities helped me narrow down what I wanted to research for the draft and write my paper on. In future essays instead of using a bulletted outline I would use a different type of outline. I think in the future I would use the grapic organizer instead because it provides more room for information and everything is all in one line together.
       The peer editing helped me organized my paper and learn where to make paragraph breaks. I learned a lot from reading someone else's draft. Although they did the same prompt and same event for the mass hysteria it was structured differently and had tons of great information. I used the peer editing sheet profusely when I was editing the draft, the adivce they gave me helped me see what I needed to touch up.
        I think the strengths in my essay are the similarities to the unfairness of how the trials of the Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust were conducted. Both groups of people suffered much of the same injustice yet they place nearly 200 years apart. The weaknesses of paper are not being specific enough in some parts and not having good enough transitions between paragraphs. In my next revison I will focus on being more specific and having better transitions between all of my paragraphs.

Into the Wild

     I think that if you only carry enough on your back at a dead run you  distance yourself from everyone around and become an outcast in society. The value of a minimalist lifestyle would be that if danger came you would be able to get away quickly.  Such as when Alex was caught on the trains and when he was caught hitchhiking. Also living a minimalist lifestyle would be beneficial to you if you were trying to distance yourself from others and your old self. You could change your name like Chris did and get rid of everything you own so people couldn't track you. You would also be able to lead a life of solitude so you can do whatever you want whenever you want. It also lets you do whatever deep thinking and philosophical ways that may inspire you. 

      I don't think I would be able to do this in today's society because I am to materialistic and I wouldn't be able to leave my family like Chris did. Even if I would take some material things with me I feel I wouldn't be able to cut out the technological ways I have been brought up in. My family is a huge part of my life and I wouldn't be able to leave them because they are my rock through all of my troubles and I their rock through their's. I think it would be fun to try and live like that but it would take to much of an emotional toll on my and myself.   

Nature's Story

     As I step outside into the warm baking sunlight the birds sing their songs to one another. The birds' songs provide a sweet melody. It reminds me of a time when I was on the beach relaxing all day and the birds' sung their songs all day long. Although I have disturbed their peace the birds proceed as if no one has entered the world.  They fly into the ocean deep skies covered with cotton candy clouds only to swoop back down to the ground.
     The lush green grass provides a nice place to sit and observe what the day has become. The beautiful day calms and relaxes me like any beautiful fall day does. The crisp breeze blows the leaves around me and the thick trunks of the trees. The vibrant evergreen trees paint the horizon with spurts of green and the yellow leaved maple trees provide an excellent contrast. Nearer to where I sit a fiery red bush adds its contrast to the landscape in front of me. The scenery looks like a painting that Claude Monet would paint.
     The breeze blows again rustling leaves and leaving the smell of fall dangling in the air and good childhood memories. The leaves dance across the street and into the clean lawns of the quiet houses on the street. No one comes or goes from the houses; they sit as patiently waiting for the owners to come home much as a dog would. A car drives by disturbing the peace that filled the air.