The Great Gatsby!

At first glance, The Great Gatsby may just seem like a story of material objects and mixed emotions. However, underneath the surface, it's really a symbolic explanation of why and how the American Dream slowly began to fade away.

F. Scott Fitzgerald did a really good job of helping the reader to understand that the American Dream was originally about new ideas, individualism, and trying to persue happiness. However, fast and easy money, relaxed social values, and lack of good decisions corrupted that dream, mainly on the East coast. Luckily, the main plot line of the story did a great job of supporting this conclusion.

When Gatsby's goal of being able to love Daisy is ruined due to their different social statuses, he resorts to crime to be able to make enough money to impress her. I believe that Gatsby may have thought that at the moment that was the best decision, but in the end it really wasn't. Gatsby was getting attention from Daisy, true, but at the same time he was also digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole of lies. He was trying his hardest to shield the real him and put forth the fake. Unfortunately, Daisy became blinded by the riches, which made it harder for her to quickly move forward and find out the truth.

Different objects and things were placed in the story as meaningful, but only because the characters instilled them with meaning. For example, in chapter 2 Mrs.Wilson randomly asked Tom to buy her a dog---and he did. Now the gesture seemed very kind and sweet at first until the actual meaning made it's way to the surface. Soon after, when Mrs.Wilson arrived back to her apartment, the dog was quickly abandoned and no longer shown any attention. By Mrs.Wilson abandoning her new dog and not spending any time with it, she proved to the reader that she didn't actually want the dog, but the feeling of temporary pleasure and pampering. She knows that Tom is not her husband and that she cannot have him permanently, so she took advantage of the time she did have with him; entertaining herself and trying to make herself feel special by asking Tom to buy her the dog and getting it.

While West Egg represents newly rich and the more harder earned kind of money, East Egg, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old rich and the more careless and flashy type of money. Fitzgerald strongly portrays the west Egg as not really "hip", more laid back, and lacking a good sense of taste and a well-rounded social life, while the East Egg an it's old money possesses lots of style, grace, and elegance. Unfortunately, what the East Egg possesses in taste and style, however, it appears to lack in heart and sincerity, as the East Eggers prove themselves to be careless, heartless bullies who are so used to turning to money and riches to ease their mind that they rarely even take the time out to take in the feelings and thoughts of others.

For example, at the end of the novel instead of the Buchanans showing their respect and attending Gatsby's funeral, they choose to move to a new house far away and isolate themselves from the funeral as if they didn't even know Gatsby. Gatsby, on the other hand, put forth his loyal heart and sincerity in chapter 7 when he stood outside of Daisy's window until four in the morning to make sure that Tom didn't hurt her.

In the end Gatsby's good qualities, loyalty and love, lead to his death when he takes the blame for killing Myrtle rather than letting Daisy be punished, while the Buchanans bad qualities, selfishness and greediness, help them to remove themselves from the unfortunate event not only physically but mentally as well.
As a whole, The Great Gatsby helped me as a reader to understand that even though the American Dream may be present in certain situations, it's not always a guarantee that there will be walls blocking outside forces, actions, and people, from corrupting the dream.


~Cited Source~

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Honors Essay #3

The roaring twenties, also known as the jazz age, was a movement in which jazz music grew in popularity across the US and other parts of the world as well. After world war 1, over 500,000 african ameticans in serach of a better life, moved to the northerm part of the United States. With them, they brought their cultures, and in New York is where the start of the Harlem Renaissance took place. While this was going on, the works of african americans in the writiing and music fields escalated, making styles of music such as Dixieland and the BLues a lot more popular.

During the twenties lots of discoveries were arriving, including both penicillin and insulin. Penicillin is is the world's first antibiotic, and was discovered by British scientist Alexander Fleming.

Your MSB Organization

~Blue Frontier Campaign~

*A news group that works to support seaweed efforts at the local, regional, and national level, with their emphasis on bringing forth the voice of citizen-activist.

Blue Frontier Campain interacts with both the Shell oil industry and the recreational fishing organization to use the public listening session to complain that they'd been excluded from the public process.

~Iredale's Mineral Makeup~

*Jane Iredale's all natural-mineral cosmetics of the new millennium are formulated with pure micronized minerals and pigments that have the ability to cover almost any skin probem, offering coverage that traditional makeup can only envy.

Her website didn't really state any intercations. But she does interact with the government as a whole when she advertises and promotes her cosmetics to gain more consumers and attention in the market

Gatsby! Ch 1-4

I feel like Nick's detachment from the story is how he's sort of on the outside looking in at the things goin on in his surroundings. He has a lot of thoughts and opinions about things, but tends to keep all of that to himself. Another way that I think that Nick is detached from his surroundngs is because of the way he sort of carries himself and handles different situations. For example, when he was at Gatsby's party he wasn't really trying to mingle or socialize with anybody he was just being a loner, and resorted to the bar section as sort of a way to kind of "look cool" or blend in with the crowd. Then when he saw Mrs.Baker he greeted her very loudly as if he planned to see her there, knowing good and well that he was just trying to play the role like he actually knew somebody.

Gatsby's detachment from the story is how he's placed in the story in a kind of mysterious and interesting way. It's like he's a apart of the story, but at the same time ot apart of the story. To me it seems like Gatsby's hiding an important secret and is trying to cover it up by being kind and reserved. But i have a feeling that later on the truth is going to be revealed and it's going to put all the pieces of Gatsby's mysterious puzzle together.

Beginning The Great Gatsby

Nick Caroway is the author of The Grea Gatsby. He comes from a wealthy family and has money, but nothing compared to the people who live around him. He's neither old or new money, but is moving to New York to try and become a bonds trader to get to the status of new money. He's currently renting a small house in the west egg, that he describes as "an eyesore". He used to be in the military and fought in World War 1. His father gave him advice and said: "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." As a result, Caroway spends time trying to convince the reader that he is not judgemental.

By F. Scott Fitzgerald choosing the specific narrator that he chose rather than a different kind of person or style, he accomplishes the idea of sort of taking you through an organized journey. As a reader you're able to get informed about the characters and the plot, but at the same time you're also able to enjoy and understand the book as well.

Critique a Professional Example

~Professional Example~

The above pictures are a stack of mineral eye shadows and a professional scrapbook page example. What I plan to do is morph information about mineral cosmetics and the quality of ocean water so that my essential question is answered through a creative scrapbook.

The most successful element of the scrapbook example are the photos and the way the layout is set up. It's creative and also easy to navigate around and understand.

The main message of the scrapbook page is that the world as a whole has the power to make a difference in the beauty of our beaches and our environment. The reason why i know this i because it's clearly stated in Kennedy's quote and it's in really big letters on the page.

I think that the intended audience for this piece of work is anyone who can read. People of all ages even toddlers can start early trying to help get our environments and beaches a lot cleaner. From simply disposing of trash properly to volunteering in beach clean-ups.

I think that the main specific elements that come together to deliver the main message are the photos and the quote. I feel like the quote was the intro for the main performance while the photos were the main performancprohee.

To get my message delivered and my essential question answered for the MSB project I'm going to combine information about mineral cosmetics and ocean water quality to show how the two contribute to each other, the market, and society as a whole.

One technique or strategy that I noticed the creator used for this work was the "less is more" startegy. He only used one large photo, a quote, a straight to the point write up, a headline, and a few little objects or gadgets for decoration. I feel like by him putting not too much and not too little amounts of information and decorations it made the crapbook page very neat, exciting, informative, and attention grabbing all at the same time without overwhelming the viewer.

The reason why i chose this work example is because i feel like it really represents a creative professional scrapbok page. I also chose this example because i love the layout and i would like to do a scrapbook instead of an album. I feel like an album is sort of pushing the line and i don't really feel think i would be able to have enough access to studio time. But hopefully my fans will understand my circumstances and continue looking forward to my album later on down the road.