Journal 21

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.

In Some Like it Hot and The Great Gatsby, both centralize there entire theme around love, marriage, romance and obstacles.  The 1920's was during the time of prohibition, and some characters are related to this such as Gatsby being a bootlegger and the crime family bootlegging in Some Like it Hot.  There are both crime and murder in each of the stories.  In the love aspect of the stories, Gatsby and Tom are trying to fight for the same girl Daisy while in Some like it Hot  Joe and Jerry are trying to fight over Sugar. However they are both different with the endings.  Some Like it Hot ended in happiness for all parties.  In Gatsby it ends in sadness. Gatsby is murdered, Myrtle dies, and her husband commits suicide. 

Journal 20

In the last paragraph of the Great Gatsby, Nick is standing inside Gatsby's mansion describing the loneliness that is overwhelming inside the house now that Gatsby has passed. After describing the alone, empty house, Nick describes the green light which had stood across the water at Daisy's house.  The reason Jay Gatsby watches the light constantly is because he is thinking of Daisy.  He is blinded by her and her beauty.  Fitzgerald connects the Dutch sailor's to Jay because both loved the light and were the leaders of their time. They sought after this light. 

Journal 19

Nick Carraway- The narrator of the novel, a seemingly trustworthy person that everyone tells their secrets too. Never judgmental and always polite and honest.  He is more of a listener then a talker. Adj. Honest

Tom Buchanan- A very fit and built man that is an athlete.  He is aggressive and violent. He is also very untrustworthy considering his relationship with another woman even though he is married with children. Many people do not respect Tom and he is a hypocrite in the fact that he can cheat on Daisy yet she cant cheat on him. Adj. Aggressive

Daisy Buchanan- Nick's cousin and former love of Gatsby. She is young, blonde haired and beautiful. She is superficial and very materialistic.  She is however very social and polite. Adj. Superficial  

Jordan Baker- Daisy's friend who has brown hair and is very social.  Nick and her have some sort of a relationship. She is the new generation of woman of the 20's.  Adj. Charming

Jay Gatsby-A tall brown haired man that is very rich.  He is mysterious, charming yet very troubled because of the mixture of feelings relating to Daisy. He is the protagonist of the novel and trows wild parties daily.  Adj. Mysterious

Journal 18

1) The significance of the title is shows someone being an outsider. It is a WWII survivor who is injured in Italy. They do not know the language and it is extremely hard for them to learn it. They were all alienated.

2) The character who represents “Hemingway Hero” is the major because he has a hard life. His hand was injured and he lost his wife. He deals with the most suffering and about his
anger and resentment. He realizes his hand isn’t going to get better and even
though losing his wife was hard, he is trying to fight hard to get over it. The
major’s injury is a result of fighting and the narrator’s injury wasn’t all that
big because he was hurt because he was American. The major has an emotional
and physical wound.

3) The photographs are fake and are not direct
proof that these machines work. They are more of a motivation tactic. The major’s reaction he that he looks at the window instead of the photos. He doesn’t have any hope and he doesn’t really focus on what the doctors gives him. He goes to isolation and he is focuses elsewhere. He is focused on the suffering and lost.

Journal 17

1) The poems epigraph is from Dante's Inferno and he comes back from hell and shares his story. Prufrock shares his story to but its very self conscience and obviously not meant for a large crowd of peopel to hear about.

2)Do I?

Shall I?
Do I dare disturb the universe?
How should I presume?
How should I begin?
Shall I part my hair behind?
Do I dare eat a peach?
This shows his doubt, uncertainty, anxiety and hesitation. These questions are questions he asks himself on a daily bases and show is in-security.

3) His main flaw or problem is that he worries about everything and doesnt just live. He can never make a desicion and is very nervous and self conscience about even the little things that anyone can decide.


4) This is called a love song because it is ironic. Its ionic because there is no love in it what so ever. It is about someone who has no love for himself and is very alone and self conscience. In this he is addressing his loniless.

Journal 16

This quote relates to both Swede in “The Blue Hotel” and the hiker in “To Build
a Fire” because both are effected by outside forces and also with their own
traits. In “The Blue Hotel” the Swede becomes drunk and then loses his temper and his control. He was given a drink by Mr. Scully and then he begins to cause trouble with the other guests. The other guests encouraged the Swede and Mr. Scully's son to fight. In the end Swede gets killed. If it weren’t for the outside forces, Swede’s traits, and the weather, which brought them together none of that would of happened. The hiker’s death in “To Build a Fire” was brought on because of nature and his own traits. The extremely cold climate was mainly the reason he died but also because of his body, he was not meant to be out in the cold for that long. If he would have listened to the people that told him not to go out by himself he probably could have survived.

Journal 15

The overall message is that you shouldn’t make someone do something to help benefit your needs or desires and also it could end up really bad.

"But don't you see, dearest," she said, "that it wouldn't have come to this if it hadn't been in the order of Providence? And I call any war glorious that is for the liberation of people
who have been struggling for years against the cruelest oppression.”

"But now it doesn't matter about the how or why. Since the war has come, all that is
gone. There are no two sides any more. There is nothing now but our
country."

“But I think we had better emphasize your meaning that if we cannot
be one in everything we had better be one in nothing. So I am sending these
things for your keeping till you have made up your mind.”

Editha threatens him by saying she will not marry him unless he goes to fight for his country and that God made this to be war. She now realizes that she sent her husband into war and he may not come back, that he might die. Editha still thinks what she did was just. Editha talks to his mother and experiences an epiphany

Journal 14

“Richard Cory“
He was someone who was highly praised and looked up too. Cory had it all, he was rich and had everything going for him. The people who looked up to him where wrong because he wasn’t happy at all. One night he went back to his house and killed himself he was so unhappy. The thing that didn’t make his happy was that people judge him based on his money. Irony: apparence vs. reality. This “real” vs. “ideal” becaue if it was an ideal story he would be happy and the apparent and the reality would match. The people see having a perfect life but the reality is something different.

“Miniver Cheevy”
He wants to live in the middle ages but is living in the current world. He drinks because
he wishes he had a different life. He believes he was born in the wrong century because all his dreams and hopes belong to the middle ages. So to escape the real life, he decides to drink to become in his fantasy world. The meaning of Miniver Cheevy suggest a life full of depression and no success thats why his name sounds like minimal achiever.

“Mr. Flood’s Party”
Mr. Flood is an alcoholic. He sings and talks like someone is with him but in relilty he is all
alone. It is ironic because Mr.Flood’s Party sounds like he is having an
actual party. He drinks because he wants to fill the emptiness in him. He
drinks to have an ideal life, but in reality he has no one. He remembers the
past when he is drunk and that is when he was not alone and was happy. He
doesn’t look to the future and that is what people tend to do in their life.

Journal 13

1. What object symbolizes George Gray’s life? How is this object representative of him?

A sail boat. It represents him because the sail boat hasn’t gone anywhere and hasn’t done anything. It just represents an average life. His life is very grey. He says to not be afraid and let life take you where it will. Take chances.

2. How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s? How do you interepret the last line of the poem?

Lucinda Matlock lived her life rather than never doing anything. She celebrated life and did not spoil it. The last line shows she lived her life. George Gray regretted his whole life unlike Lucinda.

3. How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism?

These types of stories represent average types of stories, about regular people. Its not about someone special or important, its just everyday life.

Journal 12

1. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory (symbolic narrative). What do the following represent?

Young Goodman Brown – He represents innocence. He follows a path from innocence to innocence.

Faith – She represents believe and faith.

The Elderly Traveller/Fellow-Traveller – He represents evil, the devil and temptation.

Goody Cloyse – She represents corruption.

The Ceremony – It represents a religious symbol. It represents the converts into the church.

The Pink Ribbon – This represents Goodman Brown losing his faith.

Young Goodman Brown’s Journey – This represents the change of life.

2. Identify the following for “Young Goodman Brown”:

Theme Message of Theme Element Used to Establish

The theme is sin and the message is that everybody is a sinner. In the story, Young Goodman Brown is tempted with sin through the whole journey. He also meets many people he knows that are also not what they seem.

In addition, provide three direct quotes from the story that address your theme.

``Too far! too far!'' exclaimed the goodman, unconsciously resuming his walk. ``My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs; and shall I be the first of the name of Brown that ever took this path and kept''

“I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your father a pitch-

pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip's war. They were my good friends, both; and many a pleasant walk have we had along this path, and returned merrily after midnight. I would fain be friends with you for their sake.''

``Wickedness or not,'' said the traveller with the twisted staff, ``I have a very general acquaintance here in New England. The deacons of many a church have drunk the communion wine with me; the selectmen of divers towns make me their chairman; and a majority of the Great and General Court are firm supporters of my interest. The governor and I, too -- But these are state secrets.''

Journal 11

“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” (232)

A man built a small house in the woods alone. He is showing that you are more intouch with life when your just living the the essentials and not over comforted. When you are in society you become to busy with comforts, your job and family. You become more focused on just the neseceities when you are in nature.

Quote: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

“Sounds” (234)

How he spends his days. He just sat there and observed nature and listened to the birds. He let everything pass through him in nature.

Quote: “Instead of singing like the birds, I smiled at my good fortune.”

“Brute Neighbors” (235)

This passage exaggerates between red and blcck ants. There is a battle between the red and black ants. The ants are fighting ovcer territory, which is wood chips. He compares them to soldiers fighting over land. This relates to human and how thye fight for dominance and power.

Quote: “They struggle half an hour longer under the tumbler, and when I looked again the black soldiers had severed the heads of his foes from their bodies…”

“The Pond in Winter” (237)

We see some nature in ourselves. The pund water was frozen and he cuts a hole in the ice to get water. The fish under the ice were still living we just could not see it. Even though you see dirt or ice, look beneath the surface and discover what good is actually there. Everything around us is beautiful

Quote: “Heavan is under our feet as well as over our heads.”

“Spring” (238)

This is about winter changing into spring. Winter is a harsh, cold, long season. While spring is calm, warm and beautiful. It’s the renewel of each year.

Quote:

“The change from storm and winter to serene and mild weather, from dark and sluggish hours to bright and elastic ones, is a memorable crisis which all things proclaim.”

Journal 10

Othello’s final words summarize his insight at the end of the play. Othello had begun as a very high respectable figure. Yet he dies a murderer and an outsider. He expresses his sadness and embarrassment about himself. However, he wants everyone to speak of him as a inspirational person and a leader. His last speech emphasizes his tragedy.

Journal 9

Free Will is where we make our own choices and no outside forces affect on what we do. For example, when Othello married his wife Desdemona, he on his own free will decided to marry her without anyone’s advice or influence. Determinism is where someone decides or influences you to do something. For example, when Othello murdered his wife, he did it based on the information given to him by Iago. He was tricked and then decided to murder her.