The great Gatsby

“Riches have never fascinated me, unless combined with the greatest charm or distinction.
–Letter, Aug. 1936, to Ernest Hemingway

This quote says a lot to me. First thing that comes to my mind when I read this quote from Fitzgerald is, money cannot always by you happiness. Money can by you a lot of things accept the important things like love, and family. For example, Jay Gatsby was extremely wealthy and lived the lives most wish they had. He had the fancy mansion and the nice clothes. He had more than enough money but he was not as happy as you would think he would be. His former love, Daisy was marred to another man and he Gatsby was devastated. He lives by himself in a big mansion with no family. He is a very mysterious person, mainly because he doesn’t let a lot of people in. Gatsby could have the world at his fingertips, but it doesn’t mean anything f you don’t have someone to share it with.
The second thing that comes to my mind when I read this quote is the changes money can do to someone. Money can do very devious things to someone. I think Fitzgerald is trying to say that sometimes money can change people for the worst. It is so easy to get greedy and power hungry. People can loose sight of who they really are and I think that is what Fitzgerald is trying to say.

The Great Gatsby Journal (Wordle)

The first page of “The Great Gatsby” caught my attention. When Nick Carraway quotes his father, it was a very original way to begin the novel. The quote is: “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone just remember that al the people in the world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” To me this quote is self explanatory. It clearly means don’t criticize people when you don’t know their side of the story. The details in the first chapter are very vivid and sometimes threw me off.

_The main characters in the first chapter are:
-Nick (narrator)
-Daisy (Nick’s cousin)
-Tom (Daisy’s husband)
-Jordan Baker (Daisy’s friend)
-Jay Gatsby (Nick’s neighbor)

Nick moves to New York where he rents a house in west Egg. In the novel West Egg is a home to the rich. Nick visits his cousin Daisy for dinner in East Egg. While there he learns that Daisy’s husband, Tom Buchanan was a former member of his social club from Yale University. Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker is there and after she goes to sleep, Daisy and Tom suggest to Nick that he should take interest romantically in Jordan. When Nick arrives home he notices, next door, Mr. Gatsby, his extremely wealthy neighbor, on his porch. Nick finds Gatsby very mysterious.

In Mind

There's in my mind a woman
of innocence, unadorned but



fair-featured and smelling of
apples or grass. She wears



a utopian smock or shift, her hair
is light brown and smooth, and she



is kind and very clean without
ostentation-



but she has
no imagination



And there's a
turbulent moon-ridden girl



or old woman, or both,
dressed in opals and rags, feathers



and torn taffeta,
who knows strange songs



but she is not kind.

-Denise Levertov

Denise Levertov was born in Britain, in Ilford Essex England on October 24, 1923. Levertov was home schooled and was very passionate about writing at an early age. She published her first book of poetry “The Double Image” in 1946. Levertov married Mitchell Goodman, an American writer in 1947. She moved to the United States in 1948 and lived in New York City. Her first American book, “Here and now” was published in 1956. Later in 1959 she published another book called “With Eyes at the Back of Our Heads”. She began to publish many prize-winning books of poetry. Levertov became involved in anti-war movements. From 1982 to 1993 Levertov taught at Stanford University. Denise Levertov died on December 27, 1997 at the age of 74 from lymphoma.

“In Mind” I think, is about someone’s perspective on another person. “There’s in my mind a woman of innocence.” There are two sides to everyone, a good side and a not so good side. In the beginning of the poem she is speaking of an innocent woman who is kind and then in the end of the poem she refers to the woman as “turbulent moon-ridden girl” with “no imagination” and “is not kind”. Denise Levertov is very creative in her writing and manages to her point across without actually saying it. Since Levertov starting writing at such a young age, she is very experienced in writing.
As you read, a white bear leisurely

To the Reader
As you read, a white bear leisurely
pees, dyeing the snow
saffron,

and as you read, many gods
lie among lianas: eyes of obsidian
are watching the generations of leaves,

and as you read
the sea is turning its dark pages,
turning
its dark pages.
-Denise Levertov

For the third part of my English assignment I had to pick another poem by Denise Levertov. I read a few pomes but “To the Reader” really stood out to me. It was so creative. She uses personification in the last stanza: “the sea is turning its dark pages”. While reading this poem I pictured each stanza in my head with detail. Levertov used imagery throughout the whole poem. I really enjoyed reading this poem; it was very different, and original.

Denise Levertov wrote a lot of different poems and I didn’t read all of them, but I did read a few. The two I focused on in my assignment were “In mind” and “To the Reader”. Both of these poems are original and creative. Denise Levertov was born in Britain, but if I didn’t read her biography I would not have known that based on the poems I read. Her poems are, like I said original, but they have no reference to Britain in any way. I only read a few but they sound American.

For this weekend’s assignment I chose to write about Kate Chopin. The two short stories she wrote are: “A Pair of Silk Stockings” and “Lilacs”. “A Pair of Silk Stockings” is about a poor woman who stumbles upon fifteen dollars on the street. She spends the fifteen dollars on gifts for herself, a treat she never experienced before. This short story does not show any Romanticism. “Lilacs” is about a woman names Adrienne who use to live in a Convent with her nun friends. Every year she goes back to visit her friends, the story doesn’t tell why Adrienne left the Convent. This short story is called Lilacs because the smell of Lilacs reminds Adrienne of the memories of her past at the Convent. This short story shows a little bit of Romanticism. It shows the reader that something as simple of a smell can remind someone of their past.
Both of these stories show America Realism because the focus of the story is on a certain person. People that read these stories can relate to them. For example in “A Pair of Silk Stockings” the woman finds fifteen dollars on the street and treats herself to a gift. That has happened to me a few times and I’m sure a lot of other people. In “Lilacs” the smell of the flower reminds the main character of her past. There are plenty of smells in my life that remind me of things. For example, my mom use to make me a certain meal when I was younger, when I smell the food I get a flashback of my childhood.
I believe the topic that Chopin tries to cover in both of these short stories is change. Without change a person would not be who they really are. As you grow up not only your body goes through changes, but your mind too both physically and mentally. In “A Pair of Silk Stockings” The woman is poor, but when she finds fifteen dollars on the street, and treats herself, she changes into a person who can afford fancy things. In “Lilacs”, Adrienne changes her life a little more drastically then the woman in “A Pain of Silk Stockings”. She changes when she leaves the Convent starts living a different life.
Chopin is a great writer. The two stories that I read over the weekend were very interesting. Chopin uses a lot of real life examples in her stories that can connect the reader easily. While reading “Lilacs” I understood why Adrienne visited the Convent and her nun friends. She wanted to revisit her past. I love how she connected something as simple as the smell of a flower and made that the highlight of the story. I had a connection when I read”A Pair of Silk Stockings”. Finding money on the street is exciting, even if it is a dollar, or one hundred dollars, epically if you are poor like Mrs. Sommers. When you have the ability to go out and buy whatever catches your eye is a very good feeling. Chopin showed Mrs. Sommers excitement a lot through the story. She really connected the reader to both of her short stories.