That was a Shocker

Shocked and angry are the two best words to describe my state of mind after finishing Passing. Reading each chapter carefully, I thought I had guessed each move Irene or Clare would take. But I was wrong. Never would I have imagined that Irene would do something as irrational as killing Clare. However, Clare wasn't the nicest, sweetest character either. Actually, I developed a love-hate relationship with both characters. At times, I couldn't decide which one I liked or hated more. Irene, completely self-absorbed, keeps her husband from Brazil so she can continue to feed her materialistic desires. To her, everything revolves around appearance. On the other hand, though, Irene at least gave the impression that she was concerned with the well-being of her children and she somewhat attempted to form a genuine friendship with Clare. She didn't want to socialize with Clare at first, but then the two seemed to click, which is one reason why I then began to despise Clare. She, too, cared most about outward appearance. She even went as far to lie to her husband about her race just so she could experience everything at the level of the wealthy. She "passed" over to the white race so she wouldn't be mistreated for her "negro" background. When she came to the realization that she truly wasn't happy living in white society, Clare maliciously flirted with married men, and, I believe, had an affair with Irene's husband. Clare knew she was beautiful, and she flaunted it. Although, like stated before, this negative aspect cannot only be attributed to Clare. Both Irene and Clare cared too much about the way they looked and how other people may perceive them. Other than this personality trait, readers didn't know much about these characters. Larsen didn't describe Irene or Clare on a deeper level, which explains the limited personality of both women and why, at times, I couldn't stand either one.

My take on "Journey of the Magi"

I agree with most of what Dana is saying in her blog, but I think most of the power in the poem comes from the overall theme of the Magi trying to find himself after his expedition. My blog this week focuses mainly on that.

In truth, I think the birth of Jesus may not even be that important of an event in the context of the poem. Although it serves as the primary reason for the Magi to embark on their journey, it is not the final destination. In fact, the journey to find the new Savior only opens up more paths for the Magi to consider. While finding baby Jesus fulfilled their quest, it also left the Magi desiring more discovery for their own personal lives.

In Henley's poem "Invictus," the last two lines read: "I am the master of my fate \ The captain of my soul." The journey of the Magi reflects this spiritual journey as well, like when they first set out and say, "The ways deep and the weather sharp, \ The very dead of winter." I think these lines can be used to describe their spiritual states. The Magi, once reaching his destination, has a crisis of conscience when he realizes that there was more to his life than just seeing the newborn King. He thinks there is still more to his life that he has yet to live. At no point he asks, "Were we lead all that way for \ Birth or Death?" The Magi's journey gives them a shot at restarting their lives, a chance for immediate redemption, if only they choose to take it. They all see the future, but choose to return to their homelands. Once making that decision, they are stuck in a past of backwards cultures and traditions. The Magi sacrifices a chance to grow more in his life, but by the time he realizes he could have continued on a different path, he realizes he has stopped moving at the wrong time in his life.

My take on "Journey of the Magi"

In "The Plain Sense of Things," Wallace Stevens writes "It is difficult even to choose the adjective / For this blank cold, this sadness without cause." That first thing that popped into my mind from this line was 'depression.' You could say that the entire poem relates to depression, sometimes its a stretch. Looking at the first stanza, it can be describing autumn when the leaves fall. So after the leaves go away, all that's left is the trunk of the tree and the branches, the "bare bones." Leaves can represent life and energy and movement, and without that, life is unenergetic. Life becomes stagnant in the winter.
Second stanza: sadness without cause = depression. "The great structure has become a minor house." This is saying that what used to be grand and wondrous and exciting is now just minor, comparable to when you become depressed, everything you used to get happy and excited about is just one more plain old thing, very uninteresting. I have no idea what the last line in that stanza means.. maybe the line is supposed to be so out there and weird to say that creativity and imagination is dead? That's a stretch.
Next, the poem talks of things in disrepair, in a state of complaint, seeing everything as negative. It talks of failure and how everything is a repeat. When you're depressed you kind of go through normal life on autopilot and life just becomes a routine you have to go through.
Further in the poem, "the great pond and its waste of the lilies" : the lilies are a waste because beauty goes unappreciated during depression. And the last two lines convey the idea that creativity and imagination are required.

Time is relative...

What is reality? So Eliot asks us in "Burnt Norton," the first of the four quartets. Some would say that reality is what we perceive through our five senses. If that's the case, then anyone who hasn't been to China can't confidently claim that China exists. Some would say reality is whatever one makes it (an existentialist approach). If that's the case, does any concrete reality exist, or is it all just a series of delusions?

The bird in the poem states, "human kind/cannot stand very much reality." One could interpret that multiple ways (for simplicity's sake, I'll look at it from two angles). First, one could see that line as an indication of humankind's inability to fully comprehend the natural world (and the spiritual one for that matter). Nothing on this planet is simple. Take this blog for example. On the surface, I'm merely typing a blog post and subsequently posting it. But if one delves into the reality of this action, one will never get to the bottom of it. I'm working on a computer which is composed of multiple parts, each of which serve a specific function. Each of those parts is made from elements found on the earth which means that someone had to discover the element and then find a use for said element. It goes on and on...Our minds simply buckle under the weight of reality's vast multitude of facets.

Looking at that quote from an emotional standpoint, a whole series of issues emerge. Human emotion jades our various perspectives on life. My emotional reaction to a set of stimuli may be the converse of someone else's. In a sense, everyone has his own emotional reality. As humans, we select how much of each emotion we choose to invest in reality. The quintessential "I don't care" concept permeates our lives as if to prove time and again that we need to ration our emotions so they don't overwhelm us. Eliot is saying that we are incapable of fully caring about everything.

As a final note to that idea, Eliot writes that "What might have been is an abstraction/Remaining a perpetual possibility/Only in a world of speculation." All of our "what ifs" serve no purpose as they will never manifest themselves in reality. It almost seems as though Eliot criticizes us for dwelling on the past so much given our inability to change it. Practically speaking, that makes logical sense. But, from an emotional standpoint, we often cannot let go our abstract desires to alter the past.

Steven's Sunday Morning

Upon my first read through of this poem, I immediately liked it. I love the word choice, and the images as well as the descriptive colors. In the beginning, the woman sounds relaxed as she is just lolling around. I found that idea quite fulfilling, especially because life is stressful at times. But as I read on, I realized that the poem was more than simply a woman enjoying a relaxing Sunday morning. The woman seems to be contemplating the spiritual world, when Stevens uses words like "Paradise," "Ancient Sacrifice," and "Divinity:" the poem begins to feel holy. As she is taking in the beauty of the natural world she is searching for spiritual completion.

The existence of the beauty of the natural world is interesting, because it seems as if the speaker of the poem is making her choose between devotedness to her religion and the natural world. The irony of this is the God did create the natural world, and she is also his creation: which therefore means that the speaker's idea for her to have one or the other is a total contradiction.

One of my favorite images is that of the bird. There are many birds mentioned in the poem and for good reason. Birds represent freedom - they can be wherever they want to be. The cockatoo that is mentioned is a domestic bird, that is bright and exotic, which could represent luxury. The woman is struggling between the luxury of leisure and the notion of devoting herself to her faith.

Eliot, Orwell... Swerdlow

Eliot's "Four Quartets" accentuated two lessons that I learned recently. The first came from Dr. Swerdlow in a poetry workshop. We discussed the length of poems and how, if you are true to what you are writing about, a poem is almost never short. This is a testament to that class; if you told me to take the cliche "there's no time like the present" and write about it in a new way, I might be able to solidify a few stanzas at best. But the way Eliot writes about the insubstantiality of the past and the future and how neither are redeemable, it really made me admire him for his devotion to the subject. It felt fresh, not forced, and insightful--that is always hard to do with such a dissected, common subject.
The imagery in the "Four Quartets" was also impressive. There were birds in trees responding to unsung music, scars that served as testaments to a war that--as far as the present is concerned--never happened. There is the door we never opened, the bowl of rose-leaves we never knew. It is all parable for how unrealistic "what ifs" are.
The second lesson, which is more of a continuing path of reasoning, was enforced in Eliot's poetry. I recently read Orwell's 1984, and without giving much away, the novel raises serious questions about the (ir)relevance of the past as well as the basis of solopsistic reasoning, a mode that Eliot adopts to some extent in this poem. I just found it interesting that such a conundrum has become a parallel theme in several Modernist works.

Stevens and Divinity

Reading Wallace Stevens' "Sunday Morning" reminded me of a question I asked Dr. Hicok in class a few weeks ago, if Modernists were wantonly blasphemic or if the poetic process was simply leading them down the road of raw, inescapable questioning of divinity.
I think I got my answer in this poem. There is much biblical and mythological imagery here, both of which are condemned and discarded by Stevens. But he does not do so in a way that is offensive or violent. Instead he gives his own definition of the meaning of life and beauty.
From the get-go, I knew this was going to be a type of religious debate from the line in the first stanza: "...the green freedom of a cockatoo / Upon a rug mingle to dissipate / The holy hush of ancient sacrifice" (lines 3-5). This line establishes the tension in the poem and sets contrast between the vibrance of nature and the "hushed" feeling of religious tradition.
Stevens sets his argument up in stanza two with "Divinity must live within herself: / Passions of rain, or moods in falling snow... These are the measures destined for her soul" (lines 23-4, 30). He is saying that we cannot measure or attach ourselves to something so incredibly distant and incomprehensible as easily as we can the simple miracles of everyday life. It reminds me of the play RENT. I didn't care too much for the play itself, but the one thing I feel that they got right was the song "Seasons of Love." Specifically the line about measuring time in cups of coffee, I think parallels Stevens' message in "Sunday Morning." Why put stock and standard in something that you can't measure, something that has only a vague and existential kind of worth to you?
Another assertion of Stevens is in stanza five when he writes, "Death is the mother of beauty" (line 63). He expands on that idea throughout the rest of the poem, but that trigger phrase, I think, carries more weight than any other line. In general experience, there is always an extra sense of immersion and urgency when we know things won't last forever. While the phrase "live for the moment" is cliche, it gets Stevens' point across. Natural, ephermeral beauty is so highly regarded because it will inevitably fade. There is a climax, a pinnacle of beauty in mortality that we do not see in divinity. This might account for the distance we feel for heavenly, unending, omnipresent things; it also accounts for our questioning the existence of divinity.
I won't say whether I agree or disagree with Stevens' position on the subject, but he raises the issue in a very realist way that, regardless of personal standing, allows the reader to ponder Stevens' argument without feeling insulted.

Okay, I've been meaning to post for a while about Gatsby so here goes.
The two first in-depth experiences I've had in studying Modernism were The House of Mirth and Gatsby. I feel like in many ways they are oppositions of each other. The end and the means of Gatsby and Lily Bart are switched; Gatsby uses money to achieve love and Lily uses love to acquire money. Both of their motives and tactics are treasonous to the romantic concept of love, but there is much more than that to be said in contrasting the two main characters.
Jay Gatsby is new money. His goal is to woo Daisy and win her affection, to win back his past. He spends his entire life becoming the financial tycoon that he imagines would sweep Daisy off her feet. While the tactics are flawed, the cause is noble. Gatsby even dies protecting her, literally and metaphorically taking a bullet for the love of his life.
Lily Bart is old money, and she is invested in a social ring of old money. These are the type of people that throw money to the wind and have a very lilted concept of reality; they see everything in a shade of green. If Lily can be placed above her socialites morally, it is not far above. She attempts to use her looks and charm, the most superficial and unstable qualities of romantic affection to secure herself financially. In doing so, she wounds herself and sinks into depression. Her death is a polar opposite to Gatsby's: she gives in whereas he fights until the end.
I'm glad that I had the opportunity to look at Modernist society from two young personas that, while on the surface seem quite similar, are actually diametrically opposed. It gave me a much deeper understanding of the era, at least on a social level.

The Meaning of Color in Stevens' Disillusionment of Ten O' Clock

Upon first reading this poem my initial reaction was huh? It appeared to me that Stevens placed random thoughts upon a piece of paper. However, this poem really caught my interest, and I decided to analyze it.
The poem itself is filled with many colors. The opening line of the poem creates an eerie feeling, as if it is Halloween with haunted houses filled with ghosts in white night-gowns. But then as the poem continues it becomes sillier and the eerie feeling vanishes. “None are green, /Or purple with green rings, /Or green with yellow rings, /Or yellow with blue rings” (lines 3-6). The first color mentioned is green. Green symbolizes harmony, freshness, rest, growth, and safety. Therefore, the houses are not haunted with safety and rest. The poem then states that the night-gowns are not purple with green wings. Purple represents power, luxury, mystery, and ambition. When placing this color with green there is an image of restfulness as the purple and green are luxurious and safe. The next line places green and yellow together. Yellow symbolizes joy, intellect, and happiness. When combining this with green there is an image of growth and joy. The following line combines yellow and blue. Blue represents trust, wisdom, faith, and calmness. The image of yellow with blue creates a happy and faith filled image. All of these mentioned color combinations are positive and create a calming and restful image in the reader’s mind.
The poem continues by stating, “none of them are strange, / With socks of lace/ And beaded ceintures (lines 7-9). These lines specify that the night-gowns are simple and ordinary. The speaker then states that “People are not going/ To dream of baboons and periwinkles” (lines 10-11). Both the baboons and periwinkles create an image of the color blue as the Mandrill Baboon has a blue face, and the perwinkles are associated with a blue flower. Once again, blue represents calmness and faith. However, the people in this poem are not dreaming of these pleasant things: “Only, here and there, an old sailor, / Drunk and asleep in his boots, / Catches tigers/ In red weather” (lines 12-15). These last few lines are so direct and straightforward leaving both the positive imagery and the imaginative world of ghosts and haunted houses behind. The truth is revealed here as there is a drunk sailor asleep, dreaming of catching tigers surrounded in red weather. The sailor represents the color white, which stands for innocence and purity. It is ironic then that the sailor would be drunk and dreaming of a tiger and the color red. Red symbolizes passion, blood, danger, and power and the tiger is a fierce and powerful animal. This red imagery abandons all of the positive calmness the other colors represented. It seems as if the speaker of the poem were listing positive and calming images to show the major contrast of what is actually happening as the sailor is dreaming of ferocity. The poem is simply about a house that is haunted by a drunk sailor who is dreaming of a powerful dangerous life but the way it’s presented is very interesting. I really like this poem!

Journey of the Magi

T.S. Eliot does a strange thing with the story of Jesus' birth. It is more about the magi's spiritual journey and the transition he makes after the birth of Jesus. In the beginning stanza, we, the readers, are given illusions detailed with the corrupt life seen throughout the journey. We are given images of drunkenness, lust, greed, cursing, hostile, and unfriendly characters in the first stanza mixed with elements of the harsh cold. Lines 19-20 read: "With the voices singing in our ears, saying/ That this was all folly." The magi are seeing these hostile cities and they aren't just told that they're wrong in following to watch the birth- the people of the cities are singing- proclaiming in loud, possibly jovial, mocking voices- that it is all folly- foolish. The hard-ships of this journey only add to the tension for the narrator, yet the reader knows what is going to happen and has to wonder what will happen to the narrator when the baby is born?

The scene quickly changes in the second stanza as the narrator reaches a valley (an environment safely tucked away between two mountains), where below the snow line there is vegetation and a running stream (new life), and the environment changes from the city to natural. Strategically placed for the readers, the narrator sees three trees on a low sky (perhaps a symbol of the crucifixion). Yet still the baby has not been born and again at the next tavern we see 6 (the number of the beast) greedy hands at and open door dicing for silver next to empty wine-skins. That's still not the right place for this baby to be born so they continue until they find the most humble setting at the very last minute. Then the narrator continues that this birth was like death. It was "Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death." Why is this birth like death? Why is it so hard for the magi? Perhaps it is because it is the birth of the Son of God. It is a separation in the life of the magi because when he returns to his Kingdom, he no longer felt comfortable. All the people are seen as pagens, worshipping their false Gods. The magi died (in his ways of sin) at the birth of Jesus. The scene of this world in comparison to what he now knows only makes him look all the more forward to his actual death. Then he can be in Heaven and away from this world.

The perspective of this poem is quite unique and untraditional and I like it for that reason.

Stevens' Imagery

Stevens and Eliot are very good at confusing their readers, but both employ a type of imagery that draws an audience in. Also, both authors, especially Stevens, use repetition to reinforce the importance of a particular subject. For example, Stevens mentions autumn, and specifically leaves, in most of his work. In "The Death of a Soldier" these subjects help to tell a story. Stevens began the poem by explaining that "death is expected/ As in a season of autumn." In the fall, a leaf seems to come to life as the original green turns to a vibrant yellow, orange, or red. Then, as the winter approaches, the leaf falls from the tree and dies. The same hold true for a soldier, and Stevens uses a season to express this thought. Soldiers also seems to come to life as they set out on a journey to fight for their country. As the war drags and winter stands around the corner, the chance of survival becomes slim. Also during the autumn months, as Stevens says, the wind stops and the clouds part, all going unnoticed. The death of a soldier occurs in the same manner. In the poem Stevens states "Death is absolute and without memorial." In this line he tries to explain that just as the characteristics of fall are unobserved, so the death of a soldier is ignored.

Stevens also makes mention of the sky and objects found in the sky such as clouds, the sun, and birds. I think, to Stevens, the sky and everything found in it are free. Birds, clouds, and the sun do not have worries to face and are not caged by the industrializing world. This industrialization caused people to become dependent on money and materialistic items. I found this idea to show through in "Anecdote of the Jar." I took the jar to stand for the machine. Once the machine was placed in Tennessee, everything flocked to that area, and no longer was anything wild. The "jar" that stands tall takes power everywhere, never again allowing freedom. Even though at times Stevens may be difficult to comprehend, he puts his imagery to excellent use in order to tell a story.

Gatsby's Dream

I was talking to one of my fraternity brothers before break about Gatsby, and he said, "Gatsby's the American dream." I was thinking about what exactly he meant by this, and this is what I came up with:

Gatsby is a man who climbed his way up the social ladder for the sake of having a worry-free, comfortable lifestyle. It's true that he had to bootleg to get there, but often in people's minds, they feel that they are innocent until they're caught. In a sense, people could possibly forgive Gatsby for what he does then.

The whole idea of Gatsby representing the American dream, though, is depressing when one looks at the way things play out in the novel. Gatsby wanted the perfect relationship with a woman. To him that woman was Daisy, the girl he was willing to wait for, even take the fall for. Also, Gatsby dreams that by creating an appearance of a luxurious life, he will be able to woo Daisy. However, Gatsby's life of luxury and social standing are shown to be fake. For example, hardly anyone attends his funeral.

Gatsby also plays into the "American dream" theory with the whole idea that anyone in America can change their fortunes at any time, all they need is a driving passion to do so. In the case of Gatsby, he believes changing his name will change his fortunes. However, as is evident in the novel, just because someone can change certain characteristics about themselves doesn't mean they can necessarily change their fate.

Haha, I hope nobody feels down because of that, it's just what I was mulling over recently. In a sense, if Gatsby truly is the American dream, then the thought of someone rising up that fast in society WITHOUT being hurt is and will remain just that: only a dream.

What is in a name

Just a few quick thoughts on names throughout The Great Gatsby...
Daisy- white flower (beauty); perfection or excellence
Fay (Daisy's maiden name)- fairy; obsolete; to fit closely
Gatsby- "gat" a gun- Gatsby was shot with a pistol so a bit of a pun
Buchanan (Tom's last name)- 15th US president who struggled with slavery issues
Tom- male of various animal types (such as a turkey)
Jordan Baker- two types of cars of the time; Jordan is also a unisex name- fitting for a golf pro
Myrtle- shrub with white flowers and berries used as an emblem of love
Wilson- common last name
There are several more names that allude to more images based on there names.. see if you can pick them out

Gatsby

While researching F. Scott Fitzgerald, I ran across some information about his life that I found pretty interesting in relationship to The Great Gatsby. For a while, Fitzgerald worked in advertising. Nothing would give a person a clearer picture of the culture of the time than advertising- think about it, if you do understand what's appealing to the culture, you'll do well in advertising as well as writing. He was, however, dismayed and repulsed at the job. His experience in advertising may have inspired The Great Gatsby. After spending great lengths of time really understanding "the image" people desired, he was able to easily tie the fulfillment of that image into the upper class. So as an writer, how do you work with this theme? You find the man who has it all, but wants none of it. You have the man who lives in this false life, perhaps obsessively seeking this girl, but living on the hopes of this one brilliant light. And while he is perhaps creepy in his quest for her, have you ever met a person and thought, "Wow- she/he is perfect." But then when you really got to know them, the person let you down. I don't blame Gatsby for keeping distance, for admiring Daisy from afar. He was so happy in his unreal state. But the tragedy is that Gatsby wasted five years of his life dreaming rather than living. And even more tragic, when society woke from his dream, he saw even more that everything around him was fake.

gatsby....ultimate creeper.

Well while i can admire Gatsby for truely loving Daisey, and "waiting all night if necessary" (i'm a romantic person, so i love that.) i can't also help but wonder...if Gatsby were to live right here at westminster college...would he infact...be the ultimate Facebook creeper? i mean, he watches Daisy non stop. and watches over her. and there is quite a fine line between loving someone and being obsessed with someone. so if he were on facebook, or on AIM, he would have alerts sent to him when she is online, or availiable for chatting. he would write on her wall and creep her all the time. i like to think of him this way, it makes the novel more fun, and when he's waiting outside, i like to think of him on Twitter, making his latest tweet "waiting outside in my very dramatic way, for Miss daisey.." then two minutes later... "still waiting, i'll wait all night if necesary." oh how i wish gatsby were my facebook friend....

Tragic Fall?

When I first saw Molly's latest blog title, I tried to answer the question before reading further. I thought: usually heroism is reserved for men of great importance, and in tragedies they typically have a flaw that leads to their downfall.

However, Gatsby lived life in the fast lane, ignoring the laws and social taboos as he rambled towards his grim end. Carraway tried to make his fortune in the bonds market, a field where the best can make quick money. However, Gatsby's lust for Daisy caused him to try bootlegging in order for him to accumulate his wealth. Once he came into money, Gatsby threw lavish parties meant to impress Daisy. He wanted to become a wealthy socialite.

However, the means Gatsby used to reach his status were crooked. Although Gatsby successfully manages to buy his social standing, it seems that only Tom Buchanan - though not perfectly moral himself - is one of the few people who realizes that Gatsby is living a gilded life. Although it appears as if Gatsby has everything, he's corrupt. In fact, early on in the novel Tom said Gatsby was a bootlegger.

Which brings me back to my point. With Gatsby climbing the social ladder so fast, of course he would gain opponenets whose jealousy would cause them to try to find the skeletons in his closet. Gatsby's flaw is that he wanted too much prestige too fast. When I think about the outcome of The Great Gatsby, it's clear that Gatsby would fall the way he did.

Great Gatsby Week 2

After finishing the book, I again found many more similarities in Gatsby and Key's life that I found very interesting. I think that the Great Gatsby was a reflection in many ways of aspects that Key was not proud of in his life. Although Gatsby was born to rise from his mediocre childhood status into becoming very wealthy, he did it in a way that was not as straight edge or the "right" way to go about doing things. He obtained his wealth by crime, stealing, and distributing alcohol. He did these things because he yearned for wealth and a high status in society. This reflects on Key's personal life because he was born into an upper middle class family who acted with the traditions of the wealthy but didn't have the money to support that lifestyle. Key constantly yearned for wealth because of this lesser status, and continued to try to obtain it to try to support the love of his life, Zelda. In the book Gatsby's main reason for obtaining wealthy was to gain the attention of his "lover" Daisy, just like key's main reason for obtaining wealth was to earn the affections of his lover "Zelda". Just like this one many other situations reflect Key's life in a direct fashion, and reflect on the struggles he went through throughout his life.

Great Gatsby Week 1

After doing research on Francis Scott Key, I found it interesting the specific similarities that arose in Key's life and in The Great Gatsby, specifically in the areas of love. In Key's early personal life he was in love with a woman named Zelda Sayre, but she refused to marry him if he couldn't financially support her. After finally having success after many trials in his writing career with The Side of Paradise, Zelda finally agreed to marry him. This was very similar in The Great Gatsby with the main character Gatsby falls in love with Daisy and throws large parties to impress her. Despite Daisy's marriage to Tom, Gatsby continues to fall madly in love with her outraging Tom. Although in the end Gatsby's intrigue with Daisy is ruined by the factors of dishonesty and money, the larger picture is focused around the American dream of which was ruined as well as Gatsby's greatness in the end.
This is similar to Key's life because Zelda has an affair with a French naval aviator, and eventually becomes insane and must be sent to a mental institution, ruining Key's overall outlook on his "American dream" and greatness, and despite his efforts he died unsuccessful by a heart attack.

Blog #2 (ROBERT FROST early poems)

Robert Frost was obviously intrigued by nature and transcendentalism. In the first poem “Mowing” Frost’s personification of objects is made obvious, as well as his enjoyment of solitude and loneliness. In each of his poems, a single character is presented with an aspect of nature that he is forced to think about in a deeper way. In “After Apple-Picking” Frost presents a character who had a long day’s work who is tired of his apple picking job. He is sleepy, but believes this sleep has a deeper meaning than just a regular potential night sleep. He seems to have a sense of incompleteness, maybe due to a failure of apple harvesting, and is upset about this. Although you could look at this poem literally, apples often represent knowledge and could be a symbol of a deeper meaning. In the “Wood Pile” again there is a single character presented with a dilemma in nature causing him to consider a deeper meaning. The character is walking through a frozen swamp and considers going back to his home, but becomes immersed into the idea of wandering far from home by following a bird. In each poem the characters are presented with dilemmas in nature, and are alone. Frost surrounds his poetry within these confinements and presents new human decisions concerning the new nature situations.

blog#1 Mina Loy

I thought it was very interesting that Mina Loy was never published during her lifetime. She seemed to be a very independent woman, and even though many women weren’t published during her years (1886-1966) I would have expected her to be due to her outgoing personality. Loy seemed to be all about free expression and life choices. In her “Feminist Manifesto” she has a direct audience of women. Her language was independent, and brutally in your face. In this “conversational” journal-like piece, Loy dismisses the government suffrage movement, and blames women for not doing enough for their own goals. In stating, “Seek within yourselves to find out what you are,” she explains that if you try to conform to already established society it won’t work because you can’t look to others to define yourself. I found it interesting she saw women’s choices to be parasitism, prostitution, and negation. She made it clear women were not considered equal, only parasites on men despite what they tried to become, setting up women and men to be only enemies. Defining women as only mistresses and mothers. Mina Loy expresses herself bluntly by defining masculine and feminine aspects, and her main opinion she wanted to state was that women should grant themselves their own choices beyond marriage and childbearing.

Obsession

Gatsby has a thing for Daisy. The main character in House of Mirth is Lily. Two women whose names are flowers. Coincidence?? Probably.

Now that I've gotten that levity out of my system, on to more serious things...

At first glance, Gatsby and Lily seem quite different. Gatsby behaves almost as a polar opposite to Lily Bart. Lily spends all of her life trying to squeeze herself into the higher realm of social status at the expense of her humanity. Gatsby, on the other hand, is already in high society yet utilizes his social position as a means to fulfill his humanity (namely, winning Daisy back). The irony here lies in the idea that Gatsby's emotional shallowness is about on par with Lily's. Gatsby has an almost childish obsession with Daisy much in the same way Lily has an obsession about being "one of the group." With each character, this emotional shallowness dictates the majority of their actions and ultimately leads to each character's end (in both cases, death).

While both characters know what they want, they both fail to recognize that what they want isn't necessarily what they need. Obsession consumes them both and warps their perception of reality.

Is Gatsby Heroic?

Throughout the novel Gatsby's mind is very far from reality as he thinks about his dreams and aspirations. As Megan mentioned, Gatsby never sees Daisy's faults and her shallow nature. However, I cannot help but admire Gatsby even though he is so distant from what is happening.
Towards the end of the novel Gatsby's true heroic nature comes to light when he is waiting outside of the Buchanan's home right after Daisy had hit Myrtle Wilson with his car. While Gatsby and Nick are talking, Nick asks "Was Daisy driving" to which Gatsby replies "Yes...but of course I'll say I was" (143). Gatsby would do anything for Daisy and he proves this again and again throughout the novel. In this same scene Gatsby waits outside to make sure that Tom will not harm Daisy. Nick asks "How long are you going to wait?" and Gatsby replies "All night, if necessary" (144). Despite the fact that Gatsby is essentially "watching over nothing" the reader cannot help but admire Gatsby's unfailing love.

Daisy and Self Worth

I have been thinking a lot about self worth lately - and it is interesting to me the many ways that self worth can be measured. Today among women (almost entirely because of the media) a woman's self worth is measured by the size pants she is wearing. In the time period of Gatsby, it seems to be all about money (money is still important to the mass majority of people today, but I especially see it in Gatsby). Before Gatsby goes to war, in order to get Daisy, he lies about his family background and tells her that he is very wealthy so that she believes him to be "good enough" for her. Despite their love for one another, Daisy marries Tom. Essentially, Tom is a very rich man that can support Daisy's lifestyle.

Gatsby clearly wants her back and aims for wealth solely to get her back. Interestingly, the way that Gatsby views Daisy is in a fabulous way to be admired. He looks at her as if she is charming, refined, beautiful, and poised. When in reality we can all see that she is very shallow, sardonic, and erratic. She loves money more than any other thing in life, and it shows blatantly in the novel. I usually always sympathize with the woman character in almost every novel that I read, however I cannot bring myself to like Daisy.

I read somewhere that Daisy is a representation of Fitzgerald's own wife. Fitzgerald's wife must have been a lover of material things, and incapable of true love and compassion. Maybe Daisy's character turned out the way that she did because Fitzgerald only knows this type of woman, the type that is detached from anything that does not provide her with consistent luxury.

It is interesting to me that a woman that has her morals completely backwards could have enough self worth to view herself as good enough for the glamorous life she lives. Daisy's self worth does not measure up to the way that Gatsby views her and the result provides readers with some major disconnections.

A Short One...

I think that colors play a very specific and important part in The Great Gatsby. I believe that part of their main function is metaphorical of course. White usually stands for purity, which is very obvious and blue, I think stands for knowledge, wisdom or the realization of the way things really are. I also think that things in Gatsby are supposed to seem almost unreal or picturesque, which is where the vivid and constant color words come in. Certain scenes are intentionally very real and believable but like The House of Mirth some scenes seem to be set up almost as pictures or portraits.

Maybe it's because I've been reading lots of Jane Austen and Shakespeare that I noticed this, but Fitzgerald used a lot of color words in Gatsby, and comparatively, Austen and Shakespeare use barely any color words. The two that stood out to me the most were white and blue. The nouns paired with white seemed more realistic than those that were paired with blue.
Things that are white- palaces, mansion, windows, dresses, race, girlhood, railroad fence, dust, feet, sheep, complexion, spot, shirt front, flannels, etc.
Things that are blue- honey of the Mediterranean, gardens, uniform, coat, nose, limit of the sky, coupe, leaves, smoke, lawn , etc
In reading this novel, it seems that blue is associated with more abstract objects, whereas white is more tangible? That might be a bit of a stretch.
I also noticed the color green, specifically the green light at the end of the dock at Daisy’s house. It’s mentioned at the end of chapter one. Gatsby looks to this light and later in chapter 5, he mentions it again. This light possibly represents Gatsby’s confidence and/or optimism that he will win over Daisy?

The Great Gatsby is full of different types of imagery, one of which relates characters and scenes to the natural world. Gatsby's summer parties are held outside in gardens. Standing among lush, thriving plants, guests attend such an event in order to improve or solidify their social standing. At one such party, Nick makes a list of attendees, several referencing animals and flowers. Some names include Hornbeam, Blackbuck, Snell, Whitebait, Hammerhead, Beluga, Orchid, Catlip, and Klipspringer. Also at a party, Fitzgerald introduces a man that receives the name owl eyes. The audience finds this man in Gatsby's library, which makes sense because the owl typically symbolizes wisdom. Another character with an animal like name is Wolfshiem. It seems this man preys on the weak like a wolf would for the cuff buttons on his shirt are actual human molars. Even before Gatsby's death Fitzgerald paints a picture of the sky, leaves, a rose, grass, and trees. Also, on almost every page a reference to nature can be found. Statements like "roaring noon," "the dog days of summer," and "flipped up their noses like goats" brings readers to the outside world. And let's not forget the main character Daisy, named after a popular flower. Like a daisy, Tom's wife is fragile and needs all the support she can get, yet her beauty radiates like the sun. Even Myrtle's dog deserves consideration. Even though the animal exists for only a short period of time, the dog portrays such meaning in the power struggle Myrtle faces. On almost every page of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald makes a human-animal connection or brings to the attention of the reader other vital aspects of the novel that directly relate to natural world.

Wow- it's been a while since anyone's blogged, and this is probably a dead subject in most people's minds, I really feel like Elliot is unique as a writer because he creates an intense collage of images that don't have a known linear flow about them. They seem random and strung together. They lack a perfect succession of time and place, but they do evoke strong emotions in the reader. I think this is where you can clearly see the connection to literature and art- there are those who love the abstract and feel that those who do not appreciate it do not understand it, and others who find it junk.

Eliot's Hypocrisy

One of the most amazing things about Eliot is ability to express his emotions through his poetry as we all discussed last class. However, in Eliot's Tradition and Individual Talent he states that great works do not come from personal emotion. I can't help but thinking that Eliot may be a hypocrite by saying this. When looking back over Eliot's works I can't help but think that all of these poems came from his own emotions. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, for example, is so dark and depressing that I'm sure it was based off of Eliot's own sadness. The Waste Land also expresses the saddest images and thoughts, and these could not be so well expressed if Eliot himself had not been feeling this way. How many of us write from our own emotions? I know when I'm in a great mood I'll listen to happy music and write about how great life is, and when I am having a bad day I tend to write about sadness and listen to sad music. I think these poems came straight from Eliot's own heart at the time he wrote them.

Eliot and the Objective Correlative

I just came across a good summary of the connection between emotions and objects in modernist poetry. As I said in class, Eliot gave New Criticism some of its vocabulary and approach. The term objective correlative comes from Eliot, for example, and here Charles Bressler summarizes what this means in his introduction to literary theory and practice:

"According to Eliot, the only way of expressing emotions through art is by finding an objective correlative, or a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events, or reactions that can effectively awaken in the reader the emotional response the author desires without being a direct statement of that emotion. When the external facts are thus presented in the poem, they somehow coalesce (correlate), immediately evoking an emotion" (Bressler 58).

You might think of Marianne Moore's "The Fish," for example, in connection with this principle.

The seasons and nature have become very common allegories in modern poetry. Many of my class readings for this semester (Shakespeare, Pope, Milton, etc.) draw heavily on the seasons especially -- to a point where it almost becomes cliche.
Like we said in class, Eliot had a knack for using inversion and working themes/cliches against themselves, and I think this helped him actually enforce his messages and themes. The Wasteland is the first piece of poetry I've ever read to condemn Spring and exalt Winter... and I slowly drew a connection between The Wasteland and The Lovesong through a well-known phrase that goes something like, "the greatest moment of excitement is in the anticipation of the event." It seems that in The Lovesong the speaker always talks himself down from the anticipation of anything actually happening because he doesn't want to disappoint himself. He closes himself off from love because he has experienced it and knows there are strings attached, strings that will sully the excitement of his anticipation.
I see The Wasteland as a kind of progression that Prufrock could possibly make from a shut-in to a total inversion of himself. I can see Prufrock actually taking pleasure in the unpleasant things in life and accept them as an alternative to the "illusion" of happiness that he walks us through in The Lovesong.
It would totally be in character for Prufrock to comment on the sanctuary of Winter and contentedly shut himself in with a blanket and a good novel instead of walking outside during Spring and experiencing beauty only to realize that it will, in time, fade.