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Text to World

The ideas in this reading relate to the larger world by thinking about the past, present and future.  In the past the setting was right after a world war and during prohibition.  That past context is like today because we are in a world war against Covid-19 and because we have restrictions on so many parts of our lives.  This context makes it easy to understand how both in Gatsby and now people are searching for hero’s and ways to work around restrictions.  In present day, the text relates to our current world because in the text and now social class and money equal power and status and there are so many people that will never be able to have any of that just like Gatsby.  The future world will hopefully be different than the Gatsby text because women may be able to be independent and make their own way in the world with jobs and status without a husband.  Maybe these ideas will be seen as something bad and maybe the movie or book will get banned because people are too sensitive about topics like women’s status or social status. I hope the book is never banned because there are several important lessons in the book that are very important to know.

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Text to Self

The concepts in The Great Gatsby relate to my own life in three main ways.  First, I admire how Gatsby went to war and became a war hero.  He put his country and his beliefs before his own safety, and I would like to think I would do the same.  Going into the military and fighting in war is really being selfless. Second, Gatsby figured out how to become rich when he returned from war.  This would also be a dream for me.  But he may not have become rich in lawful ways so that is probably not something I would want to do.  Finally, Gatsby had a hard time with love and relationships.  I have also had this experience and fully understand Gatsby’s point of view as a result.  Gatsby gave his entire life to Daisy and really worshiped her and the ideal of them being together.  I have had a few girlfriends so far and whenever I have completely been in love I have been crushed.  Sometimes women are hard to understand and if you are blindly pursuing them, you can in the end be destroyed. Also, Gatsby had a dream that he would marry Daisy once he came back from war if he became rich.  He had very simple ideas that the only reason he and Daisy could not be together was because he was not rich.  It was way more complicated than that.  Being rich and in a higher-level social status is more than just money.  It is a way of life and Gatsby could never fit in.  I too sometimes feel like I don’t fit in, and I have all these big expectations of relationships.  It is a very bad thing to do because it sets you up for failure and causes you to overthink every move. After Gatsby tried to get all these things like parties and celebrities, and money and a huge house to impress Daisy and be close to her.  None of it worked and he did not get to live his dream, and this is a good lesson to learn. Sometimes you must see people for who they really are and if they don’t love you as you are they just aren’t worth the effort.

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Text to Text

The Great Gatsby reminds me of Lord of the Flies that we read in English Class Freshman year.  In Lord of the Flies a lot of people die because of their own mistakes and mistakes made by other people cause deaths to happen. In The Great Gatsby, he died because of somebody else’s actions.  Mainly, Tom’s affair with Myrtle created a confusion with Myrtle running into the road causing them to hit her. Tom forced Gatsby to let him drive his yellow car when Myrtle saw him drive by on the way into town.  Then Daisy drove away in the same car and was a bad driver and accidently killed Myrtle.  Both books are very brutal with several deaths that did not have to happen.  Both books have very unhappy and unfair endings. But the Lord of the Flies was all about kids, so it is different in some ways but giving kids power over others wasn't at all a good idea in the end. Two kids were killed in the book and all because they wanted to know something, and another kid didn’t like, and they abused power and ended in tragedy.  In Gatsby, all of Tom’s lies and arrogance eventually killed Myrtle, her husband and Gatsby.  In the end, the one with the most money and power, Tom, wins and all those with less power lose.  This is the same as the Lord of the Flies.

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Chapter 9 Blog Teacher question 6/6/2021

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Chapter 9 Blog Teacher question 6/6/2021

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I liked this chapter a lot and it really showed the impact of what happened too everyone but it is also just very sad because in the beginning at the funeral only 3 people show up to it and I felt bad for him. After that Nick finds himself the contact for all matters relating to Gatsby because nobody else wants to be. Daisy and Tom disappear and Meyer Wolfsheim says he has pressing business and cant help. Then later Nick sees Tom in New York and he learns that Tom was the one who told George Wilson  that Gatsby ran over Myrtle. Nick doesn't say that Daisy was at the wheel.  On his last night in the west egg before moving back to Minnesota Nick walks down to Gatsby's beach and looks out over a long island seeing the green lights and beautiful horizon and thinks about the first settlers seeing this view for the first time. He imagines Gatsby's similar wonder when he realized that tiny blinking green light across the bay belonged to Daisy. But in the end Nick describes Gatsby a believer in the future a man of promise and faith. He compares everyone to Gatsby moving forward with his arms outstretched like Gatsby on the shore, always looking to the future with arms out.
After they found Gatsby dead in his pool there was a whirlwind of media.  Nick just wanted to have someone there for Gatsby so he called Daisy.

"But she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon, and taken baggage with them."  "Left no address?"  "No." "Say when they'd be back?" "No." "any idea where they are?  How I could reach them?" "I don't know.  Can't say."

He even talked to the dead Gatsby:

"I'll get somebody for you, Gatsby. Don't worry.  Just trust me and I'll get somebody for you-----"

Eventually Gatsby's father saw the notice of Gatsby's death in the Chicago newspaper and rushed to be with his dead son:"I saw it in the Chicago newspaper, " he said.  "It was all in the Chicago newspaper.  I started right away."

You could tell his dad thought alot of his son:

"He had a big future before him, you know.  He was only a young man but he had a lot of brain power here."  "If he'd of lived he'd of been a great man.  A man like James J. Hill.  He'd of helped build up the country."

When Nick goes to ask Meyer Wolfshiem if he could come to the funeral Wolfshiem says this of Gatsby's early days:

"My memory goes back to when first I met him," he said.  "A young major just out of the army and covered over with medals he got in the war.  He was so hard up he had to keep on wearing the uniform because he couldn't buy some regular clothes.  first time I saw him was when he come into Winebrenner's poolroom at 43rd street and asked for a job.  He hadn't eat anything for a couple of days.  "Come on have some lunch with me,' I said.  He ate more than four dollars' worth of food in half an hour."

We can see Gatsby came from poverty and was trying to find a way to climb out of it and win Daisy back.

Then we see that his father found a book of Gatsby's that showed his strict schedule and his resolves of how to get ahead.

"Jimmy was bound to get ahead.  He always had some resolves like this or something.  Do you notice what he's got about improving his mind?  He was always great for that.  He told me I et like a hog once and I beat him for it."

No one really came to his funeral despite all his accomplishments and how far he had come.  Only Nick and his dad and a few servants.  He died alone with no one was very depressing.

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Chapter 8 blog teacher question (Book cover)5/31/2021

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Chapter 8 blog teacher question (Book cover)5/31/2021

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The book cover shows something like a festive carnival.  This likely relates to the fact that most of the characters in the book are very rich and treat life like a very fun party all the time.  They act like nothing is serious except their need to have a good time.  The overlay is a dark and brooding picture of Daisy crying.  Daisy is an overarching
figure throughout the book.  At first she seems shallow and fun loving but later we realize that isn’t the case.  She is unhappy about losing Gatsby, unhappy in her marriage, and later unhappy that she killed a woman in a car accident.  This all most likely why she is crying and ignoring the fun carnival below.

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"Nothing happened," he said wanly.  "I waited, and about four o'clock she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light."

This shows how long Gatsby waited for Daisy and how much he wanted to help her after she killed a woman.  Daisy was done with him and he had no idea.

"You ought to go away," I said.  "It's pretty certain they'll trace your car."  "Go away NOW, old sport?"  "Go to Atlantic City for a week, or up to Montreal."  He wouldn't consider it.  He couldn't possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do.  He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn't bear to shake him free.

Even Nick knew he should lay low and forget about Daisy but still Gatsby hung on to the hope that his long lost love would come back to him.  We all start to realize she never will.
"I'm going to drain the pool today, Mr. Gatsby...."  "Don't do it today," Gatsby answered.   He turned to me apologetically.  "You know, old sport, I've never used that pool all summer"?

This is foreshadowing a little bit what will happen later when he is vulnerable and exposed in his swimming pool.  It is a little sad that he has had all these parties and people over and never once enjoyed his own pool.
"It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete."

Wilson figured out who owned the car that killed his wife by asking around but he never knew that Gatsby was not the driver.  Now both are dead.  The pool started as a beautiful and fun party place and ended in death.

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In chapter 7 we see that no one is at the Gatsby house any longer and he fired all of his staff.  When Nick asked what was wrong he found out that Daisy is going to Gatsby’s house every afternoon and Gatsby is trying to keep that a secret.  Nick and Gatsby are invited to Tom and Daisy’s house for lunch and it is pretty awkward.  Tom is on the phone with his girlfriend and Daisy is ignoring him cheating on her.  At one point Daisy decides that it would be better to go to town since it is too hot at her house.  They all divide up and Tom takes Gatsby’s car.  They go to the hotel and there is a huge fight and the affair comes out but Daisy doesn’t want to leave Tom.

“Daisy, that’s all over now,” he said earnestly.  “It doesn’t matter anymore.  Just tell him the truth – that you never loved him-and it’s all wiped out forever.”

“Oh, you want too much!” she cried to Gatsby.  “I love you now- isn’t that enough?  I can’t help what’s past,” she began to sob helplessly.  “I did love him once-but I loved you too.”  She had never planned on leaving Tom really.

Daisy and Gatsby take off in his car and the others follow in Tom’s car after the big argument.  Tom chases after them-- Daisy and Gatsby in his big yellow car.  There is a massive accident and Tom realizes his girlfriend has been killed in a hit and run.  Someone saw a big yellow car speeding away from the accident.  The husband of Tom’s girlfriend is devastated.  He was trying to get her to move away because he suspected she was having an affair.  He never knew it was with Tom.

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In chapter 6 we find out more about him.  Hundreds of people had been to parties at his house and all speculated on who he was.  A reporter shows up and tries to get a story on Gatsby but he got nothing.  People said he had “an underground pipe line to Canada”.  That he “didn’t live in a house at all, but in a boat that looked like a house and was moved secretly up and down the Long Island shore.  He was really James Gatz from North Dakota.  He was poor but change his name at age 17 when he paddled out to help Dan cody’s yacht who was stuck in a sand bar.  His identity then is a made up identity from when he was just 17.  That means it is a little bit unclear.  He started as a fisherman and clam digger.  He thought he should be a wealthy and famous man.  He became a janitor at a college and he didn’t like it.  Cody took him under his wing.  He was a millionaire from being a copper miner.  Gatz wanted to be Cody.  They toured the world together and Cody taught him how to appear wealthy.  Then Cody died.  He kept is photo always afterwards.  Cody drank too much so Gatz drank almost nothing.  He inherited a little money and started to make his fortune.  When Daisy broke up with him early on, likely because he was not rich, he decided to get rick and buy her back.  Tom and Daisy do finally attend a Gatsby party in this chapter and you can tell Tom is a bit jealous of Daisy and Gatsby.  This is crazy because he cheats on Daisy all the time!  Gatsby had a ton of celebrities at the party and it impressed Daisy.  But Tom, who has always been rich is less impressed by any of it.  He was a war hero but he doesn’t talk much about that – just the show offy types of things is what Gatsby thinks is important for people to know.  We do also find out he was a bootlegger.  He ran drug stores where you could get a prescription filled for alcohol.

Daisy and Tom go to a party at Gatsby’s house.  You can tell Daisy is thrilled with all of it but Tom isn’t so sure about Gatsby.  He thinks Gatsby must be a bootlegger because he is acting like he is “newly rich”.  The idea behind this statement is that when you have had money for all of your life or for many generations in your family you act differently about money.  They don’t throw money around and show off – they just live well and traditionally.  Gatsby instead thinks being rich is throwing huge parties where you show off and have celebrities you do not even know.  He has a lot of food and alcohol and doesn’t even interact with people.  He just let’s them enjoy everything.  Tom is very curious about Gatsby.  ”Who is this Gatsby anyhow?” demanded Tom suddenly.  “Some big bootlegger?”  Tom thinks he is suspicious and doesn’t trust him.  That is probably a good idea since Gatsby wants Tom’s wife!  Daisy takes up for Gatsby and says the people there at the big party force themselves in and Gatsby is too polite to object.  And that he was NOT a bootlegger.  She says, “He owned some drug stores, a lot of drug stores.  He built them up himself.”  However, these drug stores really could have been to sell alcohol.  During prohibition people would get a doctor’s prescription and get alcohol in a drug store so technically he is like a bootlegger.  Daisy and Nick don’t care – they like and admire Gatsby.  Tom is thinking something is wrong but he doesn’t know what and he is planning to do an investigation of Gatsby.  Gatsby comes to Nick later and is afraid Daisy didn’t like the party and that was his plan all along to impress her with a fancy party.  He thinks she no longer understands him as much as she did five years earlier when they were dating.  “I’m going to fix everything just eh way it was before,” he said, nodding determinedly.  She’ll see.”

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​In chapter 5, we find out that Nick did what Gatsby asked him to do in chapter 4.  Gatsby wanted Nick to use Jordan to ask Daisy to come to Nick’s house for tea.  Since Nick’s house is next to Gatsby’s then Gatsby could “accidentally” walk in and run into Daisy.  We get the picture that Daisy has no clear idea of who Gatsby is exactly and Gatsby wants to win her back even though she is already married to Tom.  To gloss over the “favor” of having Nick play the matchmaker between Gatsby and Daisy he offers him a job but this insults Nick.  “Well, this would interest you.  It wouldn’t take up much of your time and you might pick up a nice bit of money.  It happens to be a rather confidential sort of thing.”  Nick got the feeling it was illegal so he cut him off and didn’t do the job.  Gatsby keeps calling him “old sport” a lot and just waiting for Daisy to show up.  When she does show up he sneaks out the back of the house to come around to the front door and pretend to accidently drop by.  It seemed crazy to Nick but once Gatsby and Daisy are reunited Nick has to leave them alone.  He then takes Daisy and Nick to his house to show it off.  It seems like Gatsby was poor and Daisy left him before the went to WW1.  Then he became wealthy, maybe as a criminal, so that he could win her back.  He acts like he thinks he can buy her back.  He really shows off to make her like him and it is kind of sad.  We find out that Gatsby became a deck hand for a wealthy man and that is how he started to understand what it meant to be rich.  At least that is what he thought.  After the man’s death he started working in illegal and semi-legal activities to gain wealth and win Daisy back.  He is poised to win her back he thinks in this chapter.  “As I watched him, he adjusted himself a little, visibly.  His hand took hold of hers and she said something low in his ear he turned toward her with a rush of emotion.”….that voice was a deathless song.  I think this means he is only half a person because all he focuses on is getting Daisy back.  We do get to learn about his background which is really sad.  He was poor.  He loved Daisy but she broke up with him and went to war.  He accidently became a war hero and had many adventures in Europe and at Oxford.  He returned to try and make money to find Daisy again.  His big house is across the bay from her house and he watched her until he pounced when he thought he had enough money.

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​In chapter 4, Gatsby takes Nick to lunch and introducing him to the strange fellow named Wolfshiem.  Wolfsheim seems to be some sort of criminal or gangster and he has human teeth as cuff buttons which is very strange.  At first Nick thinks he must be a dentist but since he is not, it must mean he has teeth from someone he beat up or had beat up.  The purpose of the lunch was very mysterious, and it made Nick nervous not to know and many confusing things happened.  He found out who Wolfshiem was like this:  “Meyer Wolfshiem?  No, he’s a gambler.”  Gatsby hesitated, then added coolly:  “He’s the man who fixed the World’s Series back in 1919.”  Then, Nick and Gatsby ran into Tom and Gatsby looked uncomfortable and disappeared.  We don’t know why at this point.  There is then a flashback to a story from Jordan Baker who is Daisy’s best friend.  Daisy tried to call off the wedding to Tom but they did not let her do it.  She said, “Tell ‘em all Daisy’s change’ her mine….” Because she was drunk.  Daisy had to break it off with Gatsby but at the time his name was James Gatz (Jay) so we can’t figure out exactly what is going on and why Tom makes Gatsby nervous but we are getting the idea something is wrong.  Tom ends up cheating on Daisy often after they were married.  It could be because she really doesn’t love him or because he is just not a nice man.

Jordan talked to Gatsby for about an hour.  She says,  It was—simply amazing,” she repeated…But I swore I wouldn’t tell it and here I am tantalizing you.”  She tells Nick to please come see her and she leaves.  Nick is one of the last to leave the party and he goes to apologize for not finding the host right when he gets to the party.  Gatsby doesn’t seem to care at all.  And just starts talking about a hydroplane which seems to be something in between a plane and a boat.  That’s when they see the massive car accident and the two men in the accident are so drunk they don’t even seem to realize they have been in an accident!  The guy actually said when he got out of the wrecked car “Did we run outa gas?”  It was really funny.  It did show how unconcerned these rich people were about things – they didn’t care at all that the car was destroyed or that someone could have been hurt.  They were just focused on having a good time.  It tells us the difference between the rich and the poor.
The new information that is implied about Gatsby based on who Mr. Wolfsheim is that Gatsby had someone who helped him in his bootlegging business. It just shows that they are both prominent figures in organized crime. Gatsby also doesn't show his crime side to people, mostly he just shows his rich and bougie side always. But Mr. Wolfsheim is most definitely his business associate and doesn't live the rich life he lives the underground crime life. They are both very different but also are similar in some ways.

The image that Gatsby portrays to others is that he is a very generous person who throw's parties for random people. But in reality he is trying to make money illegally with his associate and this kind shows that he acts completely different with different people.

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Chapter 3 Teacher Question pt2 4/25/2021

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Chapter 3 Teacher Question pt2 4/25/2021

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Jordan and Nick are driving and almost get into an accident. Nick says to her that she is a careless driver and she says well actually it doesn't matter if I am a bad driver it only matters if there is another bad driver around to avoid me. This is mostly because she has been rich all her life so she thinks everyone has to cater to her and her only. This also shows that she is shallow and has limited character development. However Nick questioning her about this makes her possibly try harder. Gatsby and Nick are both poor but are passing within the rich social class context all the other characters are rich. For some reason the character development for people who are poor and are passing as rich is much more in depth. The novel implies that rich people are self absorbed flighty and uninterested. Yes People in this novel can pass as more then one social class but Nick is less comfortable than Gatsby at being rich and Gatsby does a worse job at faking is rich personality. He believes that everything can be bought with money but Nick knows better.

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​Nick goes to the first of many huge parties at Gatsby’s house.  He got a paper invitation to attend but most of the people there just show up by word of mouth so they can drink his alcohol that was illegal at the time in prohibition.  Most of them do not even know Gatsby and talk badly about him.  For example, “Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.” Or “…it’s more that he was a German spy during the war.”  Basically no one really knows him, they just take advantage of him.  He doesn’t drink and doesn’t have any fun at the parties.  He just walks around.  He did call Jordan Baker in to talk to her to try and find out about Daisy and to arrange a meeting with Daisy somehow.  You get the feeling it was the main reason he had a huge party.  To show off and try and arrange a meeting.  There was a big car accident after the party by a strange man who was drunk and in the library earlier and he was amazed that the books were real!  The big accident may be foreshadowing for what comes later.  Gatsby and Nick figured out that they may have seen each other in the war.  “I was in the Seventh Infantry until June nineteen-eighteen.  I knew I’d seen you somewhere before.”  He asked him to go out in his hydroplane and Nick didn’t know who he was talking to and thought it very strange.  Then Gatsby introduced himself and starts calling Nick “Old Sport”.

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The East Egg and the West Egg are very different and different people live there. The West Egg by contrast is people like Gatsby with new wealth. The East Egg is people with inherited wealth or “old money” Tom lives there. George and Myrtle live in the valley of ashes and they mainly live on a farm. Tom goes there to meet his mistress and that just seemed weird.

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Chapter 2 blog Teacher Question 4/18/2021

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Chapter 2 blog Teacher Question 4/18/2021

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​In chapter 2 we meet Tom’s mistress who is a gross woman who is also married.  Her name is Myrtle Wilson.  It is really hard to understand at first but Myrtle’s husband thinks Tom is there to buy a car from him.  And Tom just keeps stringing him along and not buying it.  Then he and Myrtle sneak off and go to an apartment Tom rented just for the two of them to meet.  She gets all dressed up and buys a puppy and has a little party at the apartment.  It was very strange to see the people there because it was like she was putting on a show for them that she was rich since she was with Tom when she clearly is not rich at all.  She is not very likable and treats friends and family badly.  Tom does not seem to notice at all – he just drinks and is away from Daisy.  It makes you wonder who Tom really is and if he can be trusted at all since he is probably just using Myrtle and doesn’t really care about her.  Myrtle probably thinks he will leave Daisy for her but that seems like it probably won’t happen.  “Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream colored chiffon which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room.”  This makes it seem like she just wants attention.

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Chapter 1 blog teacher question 4/11/2021

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Chapter 1 blog teacher question 4/11/2021

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"Tom is an arrogant, hypocritical bully. His social attitudes are laced with racism and sexism" Tom acts like he owns everyone and feels that absolutely everything has to go his way and he will get his way somehow. I feel that people around him see him as just a self absorbed rich guy who doesn't care about anyone except himself.  The colors mentioned were Red, White and Gold symbolizing rich or high class maybe. My response to his character is that I like that he is apart of the story because it seems like he is one of the the main characters because almost everyone knows what he does from the beginning . But he comes off as a completely normal guy and there isn't really much to think of it other than that except maybe he will be a sort of rival later in the book.