Monday, November 30, 2009
Gatsby Introduction
Introduction: On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess.Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. But how empty was their pursuit?
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a a great fictional work thank you ms garner
ReplyDeleteThe city in the background has lighting as if its either Vegas or new York, and that where the story takes place, New York. The lips of the image have lipstick as if dressed for something, the eyes have make up. But inside the eyes it looks like there are people or doves in side of them. A bright light on the bottom in the middle of the cover that looks to be if there’s a hope. It look likes there a tear coming from one of the eyes, if it was hurt or sad about something that had happened to it. It all happens in the city.
ReplyDeleteGreat Gatsby Cover Art
ReplyDeleteThe symbols that come apparent in the cover art to me are the bright red lips and the deep looking eyes. Below them are bright lights, which illuminate a diverse looking city, gives the sense of a “Las Vegas” party town enveloped within the lights. This ties into what is going on, it looks like a party town that a woman hidden by shadow lives in, and has very deep pure feelings about. This is also the inference I can make about the novel, I would guess it deals with a woman of depth who lives or either gets caught up in the bright, active life of a busy no-sleep party city. And in the story I can guess she is either often masked or hidden or the she feels trapped behind a fake impersonation of herself from the events that occur in the story.
By John Pierce
B-B November 28, 2011
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe city is somewhere big like New York. She has make-up on which might mean that she is dressed up to do something or go on a date. If you look further in the woman appears to be sad looking; it looks like there is a tear coming down on the left hand side in the middle. It all happens in the city of New York and that is where the story takes place.
ReplyDeleteThe great Gatsby cover art work
ReplyDeleteColton Jorgensen
Francis Cugat was commissioned to illustrate the cover for The Great Gatsby. The thing I see when I look at this cover is a girl with beautiful eyes and bright red lipstick. Behind the girl is a city with bright lights and millions of people. The girl’s eyes look like they tell a story to them. By all these symbols I predict that the novel is going to be about a girl who lives in the city and had a rough childhood. But some how she by passes her childhood and becomes wealthy (telling by her red lipstick). I think the story will be about her childhood and what the world was like in the 20s.
The original cover art for The Great Gatsby actually has meaning unlike the book cover of ours. The cover of the original's meaning is shown through the picture of the bright lights, the green tear, heavy outlined eyes, and so on. The bright lights could be interpreted of big cities such as New York (where the story takes place) or Las Vegas. The green tear could represent the green light that the Gatsby is starring at in the end of the first chapter. The heavy outlined eyes could be the headlights of cars. The 1920s were famous for technology booming; like cars, radios, and movies. The woman in the picture is wearing make-up which could show how women in the 20s were changing and becoming less modest and more flashy. The cover art is important for the story because it portrays the 1920s in a way that students now-a-days would not understand without background information.
ReplyDelete2. I think he does this so that he can maintain his status yet he doesn’t enjoy drinking. He may also want to avoid saying something he regrets, or maybe he is avoiding getting arrested for drinking. Gatsby seems responsible. I predict that he is hiding something and doesn’t want to reveal it by getting drunk.
ReplyDelete3. The idea of celebrities is really shown through Gatsby. Fitzgerald thinks we need to change the direction the world was headed because it can destroy people by being famous.
4. The East egg people believe he inherited his money just like them, while the West egg people believe he earned his money and choose that side to build his house, either way he is accepted by both sides.
5. Gatsby’s smile is reassuring. It is one that you see and know it’ll be okay. Nick liked it because he it was a rare smile that made you believe in whatever you wanted and it was an understanding smile. It infers that Gatsby will be a kind caring man and most of the rumors will be ridiculous.
6. Jordan is depicted as a girl that doesn’t have virtues. She is sort of shy but has a lot to tell. She is what is viewed as the east coast woman, and that’s what Nick is interested in to become more into the east society.
Essential Question:
1. He interprets the 20’s as a very changing time. He portrays the 20’s as more of a bad change though. He wants people to understand that the celebrity idea is a destroying one. It kind of makes me want to go back in time if I was famous and change the idea into no celeberties.
2. The message that Fitzgerald is lost because we still have idols and famous people because they have money. And rumors about them still destroy them.
2. I don’t think Gatsby drinks or gets drunk because to do that involves being around people. Gatsby tends to stick to himself and just watch others around him. He also doesn’t know half of the people at his party. And he likes to keep the peaceful, and when two drunk people are going at it there can be no peace made because you aren’t able to make clear decision.
ReplyDelete3. He shows that everyone is big into drinking and going to parties. If you are anyone parties is what you do for fun. This was the time during prohibition so drinking became that much more popular just because it was illegal so the chance of getting caught because it was illegal just made drinking that much better. And the way people are dressed. Everyone is dressed in a very nice dress with jewelry and all the sparkles. And then men are dressed in a nice suite with a tie and hat.
4. No one is really sure how Gatsby got all his money, so depending on where he got it he could be from the West or East egg. If he is from the west egg then people will think that he worked hard and became rich on his own. But other people from the east think that he was born into money. He is also very shy. Which I categorize as to be more of a west egg trait. The east egg people seem to be more outgoing and fun while Gatsby is more reserved.
5. He is fascinated by how young Gatsby is. He thought of him as to be older. But Gatsby is a very handsome young man with a gorgeous smile. Which is never how Nick really pictured him to be.
6. Nick’s relationship with Jordan shows how he has acclaimed more to the east because he abaondend his values and morals of his western lifestyle and is dating someone that is completely opposite of himself and his standards in life.
1. We see it as the American dream everyone hears about. He has the nice house, beautiful girlfriend, nice friend, party invites, and money that every person thinks they are getting when they come to American. But really Nick just got lucky, and the odds of that happening for everyone are slim to nothing.
2. We do not attend parties like that anymore. We do not dress up in fancy dresses very often, or go to someones’ house for dinner. And we don’t stay at someones house until very late hours in the morning.
2. I think he sits back and watches because I think Gatsby does the parties to keep all of the people happy. I think because of his extreme amount of fame people strive to just be around him and due to this he puts on the parties to make the people happy. I also think that he wants to keep the mystery alive with his fans. By not making himself noticed he can keep them wondering.
ReplyDelete3. I noticed that people were bossed with their social status. People wanted to be rich and famous that began to care about what others thought about them. That’s why they went to Gatsby’s party. Gatsby is very rich and very high in the social latter and that’s what people want. The mood of the twenties he is trying to get across is the feeling that everyone is very selfish and will do next to anything to be in the higher social class.
4. Some characteristics that make him part of both sides are that people in the rich class think he got his money from a cousin and that’s why he is rich. The other side thinks he worked for his money and happened to be very successful.
5. Gatsby’s smile is amazing according to Nick. He says it is a smile that only a few people can have. He says it makes you feel comfortable and like every thing will be just fine, he says it is a smile that makes you believe in your self, understand you as far as you want, and a smile that gives you exactly what you want nothing more and nothing less. I think the inference is that Gatsby can make you believe or get what ever he want because he captivates the world with his smile.
6. Jordan is depicted as a liar and a cheater. He says that she has an incurable lying problem. Although he still likes her a lot and I think that this is saying that he wants the popularity and the social class. He says he enjoys going places with her because everyone knows her. So I think this is telling us that he is willing to put up wit her lying in order to be in the higher social class.
1.He interpreted the 20’s through nick by showing us the wild party side that America is quickly evolving into. He shows us how the people were and gives us the 1st hand view of the twenties.
2. I think his message is lost because modern day America in my eyes has become an even worse version of the way people were in this book.