Jerz: Am Lit II (EL 267): Article on Fitzgerald 1
This was a really interesting article. It gave me a new outlook on how to be innovative and write a different type of paper instead of the same drab "The theme of this story is..." type of paper.
Although this paper was written rather lofty in my opinion, it did have a good central theme. Not many people would have picked up on the "egg" as being a metaphor or something important in the story. More often than not, while reading a story like this we don't pick up on small details that the author leaves behind. I'm thoroughly impressed.
However, the author looses me when he starts dabbling in the "chicken" part of his article instead of sticking with the "egg" idea. Although, he probably did this because there wasn't much to reference the egg idea he had so he tried to expand upon it.
Jerz: Am Lit II (EL 267): Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Hmm, this story left me with an unsettling feeling. I don't know quite how to describe it. However, all throught he story I thought of T.J. Eckleberg as God watching people and finally when George Wilson says something about that to Michaelis and Myrtle, I realized that it wasn't just me and it had to be something of importance. Also, in a way, it reminded me of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" because of the struggled between the main character in that and Myrtle, both battled with love and God.
I was rather miffed that Myrtle died, because even though she didn't have a large part in the story, she was still very important. Without her, Gatsby wouldn't have owned up to be the man he had to be for Daisy. Without her, Gatsby would not have been murdered and left his "legacy" behind.
I still don't think Gatsby is "great". I think by lying about who struck Myrtle was wrong, Daisy should be punished for that especially because she knew she wasn't driving too well because she was upset. I think Gatsby was still hoping that if he took the blame for Daisy then she would realize how much he truly loves her and she would change her mind and run away with him instead of back to Tom.
There was also a sad feeling that I had for his parents, well his father in particular since we don't know his mother. His father seemed to not know what was going in in Gatsby's life. He still thought Gatsby was going to be somebody. Like every parent, he just wanted what was best for his child and for him to be successful. I feel bad that Gatsby lied to his parents and lied about his parents to Nick.
As for Nick. I still think he is a two-faced little shrew. He knew what Tom was doing with Myrtle and he didn't try to tell him it was wrong or stop him or talk to him. He just joined along in the fun. He also knew what Daisy was doing with Gatsby and he didn't try to stay true to Tom, his "best friend". Nick is a true actor in this story. One minute he is great friends with a person, the next he is back stabbing them. I think Nick was the one who needed to be punished.
Jerz: Am Lit II (EL 267): Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Ok, I am going out on a limb here to say that the only thing that kept recurring in my mind while reading these chapters was, "Wow, this is like American Psycho meets Fight Club meets Catch Me If You Can."
For the first four and a half chapters I had no idea what in the hell was going on. It was just this guy talking about himself and his life, then going out with his friend who cheats on his wife with another woman who is coincidentally cheating on her husband, getting drunk, and going to Gatsby's parties. What the kind of story does that make? Ok, I am going to write a story about people getting drunk, infidelity, and some rich man who no one knows anything about.
However, in a way, it reminds me of society. There's always someone in a neighborhood or town or city that everyone watches his or her every move, and that is sort of like Gatsby. Everyone was so infatuated with him but no one knew anything about him so they had to make up stories. Refined people act as though they are better than everyone else in society, but then on weekends most of them run off to have their little soirees and get drunk as any town's Billy Bob the Lush.
Also, I noted a bit of a strain between old money and new money. It started when Tom Buchannan came into the picture. Tom apparently was from old money (at least my perception, I could be wrong) and he worked for what he had even though he was just another male pig who cheated on his wife with another women who was just as to blame. And Daisy, well, she's just as bad since she is ready to cheat on Tom with Nick when he calls her over for the secret lunch with Gatsby. Gatsby is the new money, he inherited his money from his parents, he has been in many different businesses and had many different jobs. He even made up his name! No one can track anything down about him and he seems to live more lavishly than most of the other rich people mentioned in the stories. Tom appears to turn his nose up at Gatsby, possibly because he sees the connection between him and Daisy and also because he is new money and new money isn't as good as old money.
Most people I talk to about this particular story tell me how horrible it is, so I went into the book with a bad view of it but once we got to midway through chapter five I actually started to enjoy it. Once we started learning about Gatsby and his secrets it seemed more interesting, I admit, I was hoping for some sort of scandalous event and what-have-you but it was very interesting to me. I also enjoyed seeing the man of a story pining for a woman for once, I hate romance novels or love stories and they usually deal with the woman chasing after the man (in my experience) and I enjoyed that this turned those tables. Especially since I am more into the horror genre, this book was quite different but at the same time it wasn't so terrible to read. I read two chapters a day before bed so I could sleep on it.
I say the American Psycho comment because Nick and Gatsby are both very stand-offish type characters who actually don't have much depth to them and especially because of the almost obsessive compulsive-like behavior of wiping the man's shaving cream off of his face when Nick was at Tom's mistress' party. I think Fight Club because it's just a bunch of hoopla hullabaloo going ons that no one has any clue what's happening. Forgive the oxymoron but it's like chaotic organization at Gatsby's parties. And the Catch Me If You Can statement comes from Gatsby's previous life, his jobs, his name, etc. all previously stated.
It's also kind of like a sick and sad infatuation in a way, with Gatsby and Daisy. Here is this man, who pines after a woman for five long years, and practically wants to die but can't. He then goes to spend all of his money to have a huge mansion and lots of expensive and impressive things for this woman who has no idea he is back, a woman who is married and has a child. When they finally reunite, the flame doesn't seem to be there anymore. Daisy is no longer the same person, hence the symbolism of the light at the dock. Gatsby rather reminds me of a stalker for a while then I feel a sort of pity for him.
I'm eager to start reading the rest of the story even though there's only eighty pages left and I've already heard the jist of it from most other people.
Unlike everyone else, I never read this story in high school. I had A.P. English my junior year at public school and then transfered to a private academy and we didn't even hear about this story so this is my first time reading it and unlike everyone else I am not a seasoned reader of Fitzgerald. I've only read one other story by him, "Babylon Revisted" which wasn't much but I didn't mind reading. It seems between both of these stories that Fitzgerald is a very slow read. Then again, I recall hearing that he only wrote stories when he ran out of money from his gallabanting all over Europe with Zelda and Hemmingway.
...and as a small anecdote $12.95 for a 180 page paperback story is a bit steep for a book that everyone complains about reading. I bought the English version of Canterbury Tales to help me in my Chaucer class and it's 504 pages paperback and was only $10.00.
Jerz: Am Lit II (EL 267) (Draft): Rice, The Adding Machine
I was definitely able to find the humor in this story and I would love to see it acted out as a play. I have to admit, I didn't know it had anything to do with communists until I read Jerz reply in Tim's blog. I had only read a few pages prior to that comment and after seeing that and finishing the story, a lot of things fell into place.
First of all, the point that really stuck out to me was the fact that everyone was different but still the same. When Zero has his dinner party, the story reads that all the men and women who came were different shapes and sizes but still wore the same exact clothes but different colors. That reminded me of communism how everyone is supposed to be the same, and in a way reminded me of the whole 1984 Big Brother deal. The same with the way they talked. They talked in unison or they went down the line with Six speaking first and then all the way down to the bottom. This also stood out with the numbers of the characters. Six seemed to be the leader of the group then it worked down to Zero, who wasn't really much and in the end is told he is a failure which the number zero usually represents.
I also enjoyed the noise effect of the story. In the beginning the noise of the adding machine gets louder and louder the more and more crazy that Zero goes until it leads up to him killing his boss for firing him and then the noise finally stops. Or the noise that Daisy can hear, the music, that Zero and his friend cannot hear at first and then Zero thinks he is imagining it later on. Along with the imagining of things, Zero seems to go along with whatever anyone tells him, he sort of conforms to his surroundings. Especially in the end, when he is told that Hope is waiting for him in the tunnel and he believes that he sees her but is actually duped into going back into the world to start as another slave.
In a way, I felt bad for Zero. If I were him, I would have killed my wife before I killed my boss. It seemed to me that she was the one who pushed him over the edge. Where did she get off telling him where to go, what to do, what to wear, and complaining over having to do the housework. Back in that time period, that's what women did! Women didn't go to school, if they did it was rare, so they didn't hold many jobs or high paying ones at that. So Zero was the breadwinner of the family. But she seemed to think she had a horrible life when he was the one who was pulling the brunt of the work. She had no room to complain. Zero had a tedious job when all she had to do was sit at home and cook and clean. Unlike, A Jury of Her Peers, I have to change my opinion in that the women (the other wives included) needed to be put in their place. I don't believe in the whole "women belong in the kitchen" but it seems in this story and time period, that's where they were and they needed to stop complaining that their husbands were doing nothing. Their husbands were the ones providing for them.
I don't think that killing his boss was the answer, but Zero had a job that was repetitious and annoying enough to drive him crazy, we especially see that come out in the court when he just starts blasting off numbers in the middle of his speech. At least he got his final word in to the world before dying. I would go insane with a life like his too.