Central Passage Chapters 5&6

"'It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it.' 'I thought you inherited your money.' 'I did, old sport,' he said automatically, 'but I lost most of it in a big panic---the panic of the war.' I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he answered 'That's my affair,' before he realized that it wasn't an appropriate reply"(Fitzgerald 95).

This passage is one of the most central of the fifth and sixth chapters of this novel because it is the first time that the readers get a blatant example of Gatsby's inconsistency. In Nick and Gatsby's conversation, Gatsby is obviously detached from what he and Nick are discussing. His obvious detachment from the conversation mirrors his dishonesty about his past as well as his present life.

Throughout this novel so far Gatsby's past has been discussed only briefly and is often talked about only ambiguously. For example, when Nick first asks Jordan about Gatsby's past, she responds, "Well, --he told me once he was an Oxford man...however, I don't believe it"(53). The fact that Jordan does not believe something that Gatsby told her himself leads the reader to question whether Jordan is the one who's speculation of falseness is wrong, or whether Gatsby has been lying about who he is. It is interesting however that in both instances, Fitzgerald separates the explanation of Gatsby's past with a dash. It is evident that Fitzgerald is trying to illuminate the falseness of the knowledge that the reader has of Gatsby at this point.

When Jordan talks of Gatsby, her statement is separated by a dash in that she says "well,--he told me once.."(53). The fact that her statement is separated by the dash shows the reader that Jordan's statement is in fact speculated to be false, and the fact that she herself does not believe what Gatsby said reassures this claim. In the passage above, Gatsby says, " 'I did, old sport,' he said automatically, 'but I lost most of it in a big panic---the panic of the war' "(95). When Gatsby himself is talking about his past with Nick, his statement is separated by a dash. This separation so evidently shows that Gatsby is unsure of what he is saying. Perhaps he is unsure of what story he told who, and how he should go about recovering the mistakes that he had made in telling Nick something that didn't match the story he was previously told.

This statement is vital in understanding Gatsby because it illuminates Gatsby's inconsistency in the story he tells about his past. He is deliberately changing the story that he tells and this is the first instance that Nick catches him in one of his lies. Despite the fact that Nick does not inquire further information about Gatsby's mistake, it nonetheless proves that Gatsby is an untruthful character.

The Great Gatsby Chapters 1&2

"His voice faded off and Tom glanced impatiently around the garage. Then I heard footsteps on a stairs and in a moment the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door. She was int he middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, contained no faced or gleam of beauty but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering. She smiled slowly and walking through her husband as if he were a ghost shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye. then she wet her lips and without turning around spoke to her husband in a soft, coarse voice"(Fitzgerald 29-30).

I personally think that this passage is one of the most important out of the first two chapters because it really gives the reader an understanding of the true society in which this book takes place. In the first chapter, the reader learns that the narrator is living in a high class society in Long Island and is pressured by living in "West Egg, the--well, the less fashionable of the two"(9). From this point on, the book is centered on the proceedings of such a society and I feel that this passage reveals the complexity of this life.

When the narrator first goes to visit Tom and his wife Daisy, he refers to them as "two old friends whom I scarcely knew at all"(11). It is evident from him saying such a thing that relationships in this society at this time were distorted. He is going to visit two "old friends" who he claims to have not really ever known at all. This is the first time that the concept of relationships has been somewhat distorted in this novel.

In this passage, a further understanding of the distortion between relationships in this society is revealed. Chapter two begins with Tom saying, "I want you to meet my girl"(28), a girl that is not his wife Daisy. The fact that he refers to her as "my girl" shows that there is some sort of hidden relationship between the two. And so Tom and Nick go to see this girl. Once they get to the woman's house, she is described to the readers as full of "vitality"(30). It is said in this passage that "she smiled slowly and walked through her husband as if he were a ghost shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye. then she wet her lips and without turning around spoke to her husband in a soft, coarse voice"(29). It is evident that Tom and this woman, Myrtile, have a relationship that is not one of friends. When she first sees Tom she ignores her husband and then licks her lips while looking Tom straight in the eye. At this point in the novel we as readers learn the true type of society that Nick lives in; a society full of secrets and lies. Both Tom and Myrtile are defying the relationship that they have pledged to have with their spouses, and Nick is witnessing this without thinking anything of it. This distortion of the concept of relationships and how Nick does not question Tom or Myrtile's decision in cheating on their spouses leads me to question the morality of the society as well as the narrator of the novel himself.

Question about "American Literature 1820-1865"

Referencing the third paragraph of the section "The Small World of the American Writer" and the section of "The New Americanness of American Literature," what does the offer suggest the significance of tradition is and how does this relate to our understanding of "The American Literary Tradition"? You can perhaps discuss its parallel with T.S. Eliot's idea of tradition in his essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent." Also, what does the author believe to be "American" about American writing, how do these ideals contrast those of English literature and how does this affect our understanding of "The American Literary Tradition"?

Reflection on Housekeeping Class Discussion

Today during class we discussed many things regarding the novel Housekeeping. One thing that really struck my attention was how Connor discussed the foundation of the Ruth's home and how the Grandfather built that house for his family. It is interesting how the end of the book somewhat surrounds around the fact that Ruth and Sylvie burn the house down. In burning the house down, Robinson makes it so that Ruth and Sylvie defy all the conventional aspects of their life before finally leaving the town of Fingerbone.

In the first few lines of the novel, Robinson writes, "Through all these generations of elders we lived in one house, my grandmother's house, built for her by her husband, Edmund Foster...It was he who put us down in this unlikely place"(Robinson 3). Ruth's grandfather, Edmund, builds this house for his wife, in hope that his family will have the foundations of a respectable life to live in. However, it is clear by the end of the novel that Ruth and Sylvie, and even Lucille, all leave this home for a life that they believe to be better than their lives living in the home Edmund built for them.

Throughout the novel, Ruth and Lucille both undergo a transition that defines them as female individuals. When Sylvie is introduced in the novel, Ruth becomes attached to the lifestyle that Sylvie lives; that of a drifter. Lucille, on the other hand, feels as if she is trapped inside the constraints of the house and decides that she needs to "leave this place!"(132). It is evident that she does not like the lifestyle that Sylvie and Ruth have come accustomed to in that household. Despite the fact that the house belongs to her Grandmother, she declares, "That's Sylvie's house now"(123) with obvious hostility and anger. In stating this, Lucille is evidently angry at Sylvie for forcing Lucille to live an unstable lifestyle in that house. This is likely one of the reasons that Lucille leaves this house and goes to live with her home-ec teacher. Lucille then begins to live the life that she wants to, that of a "normal" woman in Fingerbone. Despite the fact that Lucille conforms to societal stereotypes of what a woman should be, she is clearly not trying to make something of herself that she is not. It was her decision to become that type of woman, and she had no doubts that the life she had chosen would not suit her, which I think contrasts deeply with that of Ruth's transition.

When Sylvie comes to take care of the girls, Ruth undoubtedly takes a liking to Sylvie's character. Perhaps she becomes so close to Sylvie because her relationship with Lucille gets destroyed when Sylvie comes to live with them, however, it is nonetheless clear that Ruth's character meshes well with that of Sylvie's. When Lucille decides she wants to become more of a stereotypical woman, she tries to persuade Ruth into following in her footsteps. However, Ruth believed differently: "It seemed to me then that Lucille would busy herself forever, nudging, pushing, coaxing, as if she could supply the will I lacked, to pull myself into some seemly shape and slip across the wide frontiers into that other world, where it seemed to me then I could never wish to go"(123). She openly appears to be pushing herself away from Lucille's character and more in the direction of Sylvie's.

At the end of the novel, her transition comes full circle when she burns down her house. In her attempt to burn the house down, Ruth says, "Now truly we were cast out to wander, and there was an end to housekeeping"(209). In saying this, Ruth allows the reader to dip into Ruth's thoughts about leaving. It seems to me that she had not accepted the fact that she would indeed have to leave Fingerbone until she burned down the house, until she burned down the foundation of the life that her Grandfather had made for her. In this same scene Sylvie says, "It's not the worst thing, Ruthie, drifting. You'll see, you'll see"(210). The only reason for Sylvie ever to say something like that, something that would reassure Ruth that what she was doing was the right thing, would be if it was obvious that Ruth was not entirely confident in her choice to become a drifter. I think this is extremely important because it shows that it was not entirely Ruth's ambition to become that type of woman. In the end, however, she does choose to cross the bridge with Sylvie. I think that she does this because she is dependent on Sylvie for guidance and support because if it was otherwise, I do not think that she would have chosen to leave Fingerbone and escape into another life.

Edgar Alan Poe's "The Raven"

Edgar Alan Poe uses rhetorical devices in writing "The Raven" such that he can create a poem that is enticing for the reader. In his essay "The philosophy of Comoposition," Poe discusses his use of such devices to enhance his poem.
Firstly, he touches upon his use of the device he reters to as "refrain." In other words, the use of a word in repetition. In determing which word to use as' his refrain, Poe establishes that he wants a long "o" as the "most producible vowel" and an "r" acting as "the most producible vowel"(Poe 5). He eventually stumbles upon the word nevermore, which inevitably made its way into his poem. In the binning of the poem, before the raven was introduced as a character, Poe uses the words "nothing more" in repetition, ending the first seven stanzas with those words. Once the raven is introduced, however, Poe uses "nevermore" as the refrain for the following eleven stanzas.
Poe also uses a metaphor as a rhetorical device. The quote, "take thy break from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"(Poe 101) is the first example of a metaphor in the poem. The raven's beak is not literally piercing through the student's heart, however he feels pain in the fact he will never see Lenore again. This is the first instance that regards the raven as symbolic in any way. The last sentence of the last stanza makes it evident that the raven is indeed symbolic of sorrow and forever a memory of his sweet Lenore.
Edgar Alan Poe's "The Raven" is based largely on pathos. Pathos refers to arguments of the heart. Poe raises the emotion of sorrow in his poem. The reader feels sympathy for the character of the poem because he has lost his love. The raven, being that he responds to all of the man's questions with "nevermore" provides as a device that fuels the man's sorrow. Because it is predetermined what exactly the raven is going to say in response to the man's pleas, Poe allows for the reader to feel more sympathy for the man. By using words such as "ghastly" and "grim" to describe the raven, Poe arises the feeling of melancholia in his writing. By describing the raven in this way, Poe symbolizes how the symbolic meaning of the raven, or that of his remembrance of Lenor, will forever be "ghastly" and "grim."