I don't really know what to make of these first 20 pages. The book bring Bill Clinton up a lot and i think that may foreshadow something that might happen in the future. I find it very interesting that the dean was fired because he said spooks. It was obviously in a different context so I'm confused why they thought it wasn't. Finally, i can fell the harsh language starting to pick up as the dean is a very aggressive man.

How do you feel about the characters that you have met in The Great Gatsby so far?  Do any of the characters remind you of anybody that you know? How have the female characters been portrayed so far?

So far in the story the characters are very different. Nick, the narrator, is quite quiet and seems to just sit along for the ride not asking many questions. While on the other hand Tom is very out going and obnoxious. Tom is also very impressive as well as secretive. In some ways Dr. Eckleburg reminds me of  the eyes of god. His eyes in the Valley of Ashes look over the whole town and know everyones secrets. The women in this story seem to very mistreated so far as most of the women are being cheated on or committing adultery. 

New Pool

The instant my big toe touched a instant shock of warmth ran up my spine. The untouched water had not a single ripple. As I open my eyes there is a wall of bubbles that blocks my view. As the bubbles rise i entered a complete world of silence. Nothing is moving besides me. Weightless, as if I was in space, i float around. The only place that has dead silence. I lay motionless until I can't feel the water anymore. Everything feels natural. the peace inside me never seems to end. Yet it is cut short by the lack of oxygen in water. As i wait till the last second i rise back to the top to get a new gasp of air. I then return back down under. 

Loneliness

 In A Clean, Well-Lighted Place the ending is very different. The old waiter continues to say nada in the lords prayer. Nada means nothing and it represents the emptiness in his life. The old waiter is very much related to the old man. The bar is like a oasis for him. It is one of the few places he can be and not be alone. Even though the old waiter has everything in the world he has no one to love him. He thinks that there is nothing else in life to live for. He tells the young waiter to appreciate his life and be happy that he has a wife to go home to every night. 

Unacceptance

For my Steller project I chose to talk about the unacceptance throughout Paul's Case, The Chrysanthemums and Barn Burning. In all these stories all the main characters feel extremely unaccepted in society and by their families. For the first quote, from Paul's Case, I chose a picture of a man sitting alone on a bench with his head down. This is a great symbol for the quote as Paul feels alone and has given up in life. He realizes that this is the only way he can live and it will never change. Another thing that I like about this photo is that the man is a shadow. It resembles Paul's irrelevance to the world. Even though he has many problems in his life he is still just a face in the crowd. For the next quote I picked the picture of the 'WE CAN DO IT' woman because this is how Elisa is unaccepted. She isn't accepted as a woman in her relationship. They picture represents the person that he doesn't want to known as. When she finally dresses up nice he husband says that she looks "strong." To me this picture also represents what I think she looks like. Then for my final quote I choose the picture of the man running away from the fire. This represents Sarty's unacceptance from his family. They don't accept him because he doesn't want to burn barns. So as a result he runs away to tell the de Spain's before they burn the barn. This picture shows someone running away from a fire, which resembles the end of his unacceptance. He is finally running away from the thing that has been bothering him for so long, fire and his family. 

Paul and Elisa's Runnings

In Paul's Case and The Chrysanthemums both protagonists are trying to run away from social struggle in life. Whether its running away for sex equality or to be accepted from society they both had different approaches towards them. Paul felt unaccepted in society. He felt that no one loved him and he couldn't achieve anything in life. So Paul ran away to live in New York. Paul was successful with the running away in the beginning, but in the end it was a failure. Once he found out his dad was coming to get him he knew he had no way out. Due to this mind set Paul killed himself. The author was trying to say that no matter what Paul did he could never run away from the darkness of society. On the other hand Elisa is trying to run away from order. Every time a situation comes up about men doing something she always thinks she can do it. For example, when the tinker comes to their farm he lives in a wagon all the time. Elisa claims that she could do it but the tinkerer says that is is to though and scary for a lady. Rather than fighting back and attempting to live in a wagon like the tinker she stays and continues on with her chrysanthemums. The narrator is showing that Elisa continues to try to escape the daily life of being a woman but in the end goes right back to her chrysanthemums. 

The Rebellion of John

The whole story the narrator's life is being run by her husband John. She is sick and John doesn't think that she needs medical treatment. He thinks that she just needs rest and can't do any activities. “He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making, a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies, and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency. So I try. I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me.” (760) This statement reveals the essential difference in opinion between the narrator and her husband. He believes that her imagination makes her even more sick. She, however, knows that in order to get better she needs to do activities and use her imagination. So to rebel against Johns power she does use her imagination. She starts to write her own journal about the walls and whats going on in her life. 

"Bonté!" she cried, releasing herself from his encircling arm and retreating from the window, "the house'll go next! If I only knew w'ere Bibi was!" She would not compose herself; she would not be seated. Alcée clasped her shoulders and looked into her face. The contact of her warm palpitating body when he had unthinkingly drawn her into his arms, had aroused all the old-time infatuation and desire for her flesh." This is the breaking point of their affair. It is more than just meaningless sex at this point, yet it is just natures course. These lines show that this was a natural thing. Comparing their yearn for each other to the storm that was brewing. 

The narrator in the short story The Real Thing is the artist telling us about his encounter with the Monarch family. The artist had many mixed emotions through out the story. When the Monarchs first came in the story he was very happy because he thought that they were their to pay in for a painting. He thought that they were some sort of celebrities. He later found out that they were their to be models because they needed money had couldn't find a job. This made the painter feel very doubtful about the Monarchs. He knew that just because they look rich doesn't mean they really are. The Monarchs set their standards very high as they will only do certain photos, yet they turned out to be terrible models. This disappointed the artist a lot as they weren't cooperating and this affected his work in a terrible way. He then tries to get rid of the Monarchs but they end up being his servants and helping him with whatever he needs. In the end, with relief, he finally paid them a sum of money to get rid of them. "If it be true I am content to have paid the price- for the memory." This shows that in the end he was happy. The Monarchs finally showed who they were and removed their masks of being fake celebrities.

Dear Mr. Hawthorne,

            I enjoy your writing very much as it takes the mind to all different places. Your description to set the scene in the reader’s head is outstanding. Just as I, your writing makes people think what they are reading. You make people think deeper about not only the story but also about life itself. If I may, I don’t always agree with some of your beliefs. As our writing is very similar it is also quit different. Your writing, which is dark like mine, always has a moral to the story. Your writing really shows who you are as a person and what you believe in. It is hard to be such a dark writer and not think of all the evil in the world. The human race is incapable of functioning without a little evil in everyone. Every man is capable of doing evil; it just depends on how far they can be pushed.

                        Yours truly,

                                    Edgar A. Poe  

Shaping a Country with words

American Literature. The Great Gatsby, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, The Catcher in the Rye, the Grapes of Wrath, The Awakening, Fahrenheit 451, A Raisin in the sun. These pieces of writing are some of the most breathtaking stories ever written. Not only in America but, in the world. But, there is more to these stories than people think. These are more than just a bunch of words on some paper. These novels are a base around our countries history and well being. They act as a stamp to our culture as they have inspired millions of people over the decades. They have made you laugh, cry, love and hate. People like Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Ernest Hemmingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald have changed the way people think and live their lives. American literature has not only changed the way American live but the way the world lives.