https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6 English 11 project en-us 2017-05-29 19:56:25 UTC 2017-05-30 18:05:19 UTC hello@padlet.com isaac_avalos https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6/wish/174305122 In Fitzgerald's book "The Great Gatsby" he depicts the common american dream of reaching the upper class as a pointless endeavor. He dose so by representing the status and money fueled version of the american dream with the green light at the end of Daisy's doc. This is clear when we replace "the green light" with "the american dream" in the quote, "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter – to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning – ". They can switch out seamlessly without any loss in either meaning as if they where synonyms. It is also telling that green is a color commonly associated and even used as a nick name for money; further more, since the time of Shakespeare, green has bin used to represent envy. Such as Gatsby's envy for the life and love shared by Tom and Daisy Buchanan. This cliche of romantic drama is turned into more than just a soap opera love triangle however. This infatuation Gatsby has with Daisy can be seen as representing his infatuation with the extravagant life she lived. In chapter 8 when Nick learns more of Gatsby's past with Daisy, there is virtually nothing about why Gatsby fell in love with her; just that he vaguely did. Mean while much more emphasis is drawn to her life style and possessions instead of their relationship's details. Being that Daisy's life style and possessions are that of the rich; its easy to see that because they are her most significant feature , Daisy, can represent a facet of the upper class; witch makes Gatsby's unrequited love for her become a tragic and vain journey for his idea of the american dream. Using these characters, Fitzgerald depicts the american dream to be like a VIP party where you gain entrance by being born and raised into the bubble of wealth, and any one who isn't supposed to be there (even if they're the host) will be unmasked and rejected from the the top of society; as if it where wrong for him to even try. ]]> 2017-05-29 22:09:53 UTC https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6/wish/174305122 isaac_avalos https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6/wish/174311748  Dreams are useless without some basis in reality; thankfully the american dream is based in 241 years of progressively better opportunity for its citizens. That is why I believe that the best version of the american dream is opportunity; because it's a fact that that has been a central idea within this country. It was discovered, colonized, populated, and turned into the United states of america because people saw opportunity here. land for the british, religious freedom for the puritans, and a country of their own for the founding fathers. These are all things that wouldn't have been possible without the opportunity that the new world gave these people. The founding fathers knew this too which is likely why they emphasized it. For example just see the fact that Thomas Edison wrote it into the constitution with, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Witch Ben Franklin points out, “The U.S Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch it yourself”, showing opportunity and its applications were clearly on their minds. The American Dream isn't a feeling in your heart, it's a historical precedent set by the people who built the country every step of the way; its an American Reality of seizing opportunity to do great things with it.  

]]> 2017-05-29 23:50:15 UTC https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6/wish/174311748 isaac_avalos https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6/wish/174324205 Opportunity is only seized by some, and some of that some, aren't a good some. Opportunity fosters ambition which when unleashed searches for power. Power isn't good or bad, it's just a tool of either side. Some will use opportunity to help themselves and others while somes will use it to just help themselves. This is the dilema of not just every American but of every human being; because as minimal or as grand the differences are, no human being capable of making decisions is living a life void of opportunity. To even be living a life is the greatest opportunity in of itself. To see what people do with opportunity simply see what people do with their lives. You can be pleased and equally horrified at how people have used it. This unsurprisingly doesn't change much for americans or non americans because the only difference between these two are citizenship. Which makes the dilemma of  good or bad usage of opportunity not simple an american one, but a global one shared by all of humanity.

]]> 2017-05-30 02:15:57 UTC https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6/wish/174324205 isaac_avalos https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6/wish/174467871

]]> 2017-05-30 17:25:03 UTC https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6/wish/174467871 isaac_avalos https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6/wish/174468424 Our present is shaped by our past so our current American Dream is crafted by our american history. The founding fathers knew the importance of fighting to keep your opportunities, that is why they fought for the freedom to seize those opportunity in the revolutionary war. Patrick Henry states it plainly in his speech to the Virginia Convention, saying, "give me liberty or give me death". Also, Thomas Paine, another founding father said in his " The Crisis, No.1" ,"It would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated". I didn't alter that quote, a founding father apparently really did write freedom in all caps because he wanted to give it significance like teens do today while texting. Its clear that the founders of this country valued liberty, witch likely lead to America valuing opportunity, because the first is a door to the other.]]> 2017-05-30 17:27:42 UTC https://padlet.com/isaac_avalos/bjwn7jhn15m6/wish/174468424