Great Gatsby Reading 2

1. I see Meyer Wolfsheim as being a way to develop Gatsby, in our eyes. His character shows just who Gatsby will put up with and deal with. In this case, Wolfsheim is a little bit sneaky and cheating, and maybe colors our judgement of Gatsby. But at the same time, one can also look at their relationship as interesting in the fact that Gatsby seems to merely put up with him, though showing a few signs of liking him as a person.

2. Their relationship makes Gatsby seem a little tragic. They seem to have been in an obviously good relationship, however he had to leave to go to war. Then Daisy marries Tom (for what reason, we aren't quite informed, only that she thinks it was a mistake) and she is obviously unhappy with him. Gatsby, in the meantime, is well forgotten for all intents and purposes, and yet he still loves her all the same. It just happened that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or more likely not at the right place at the right time. Now he has to see Daisy in an unhappy relationship and he is unable to do anything about it himself.

3. Gatsby, unlike many of the others of this crowd, is partially a self-made man (other than the money left behind to him by Cody) and that sets him apart from the rest of the people in that we can respect him for making his own money rather than merely inheriting it. We also feel sorry for him in that part of his money came from his best friend who died. In general, the rest of his background makes him into a rather sad figure, and it seems as though he has some issues dealing with his money and with what he is doing and in general it just shows you why he is so awkward at his own parties.

4. I get the feeling that I shouldn't like him more, since he is in love with a married woman. However, overall, these chapters have only served to make me like Gatsby more. I feel sorry for him, losing Daisy to Tom, and I also like him for how awkward he is whenever he first gets to see Daisy again. His wonder at the situation (after his embarrassment) made him more likeable and overall human. He seems more real than some of the other characters, and feels like maybe he's still in wonder with his wealth, still capable of real happiness, while all of the other characters seem to look at everything like it's old stuff.

Jelly Roll Morton, "Black Bottom Stomp"

How do you envision this music playing a part of Gatsby's parties?
There are two ways I can imagine this music. The more likely of the two, I think, is as dancing music. Probably not ballroom dancing, but the kind where people would be okay to dance by themselves. The other way would be while people are eating. However, I don't imagine a lively song like this to be used during eating, and more likely was playing while people were dancing.

What is the mood? How/why?
The music is very upbeat and danceable, making me think of a happy and energetic mood in which everyone is talkative and wild.

What activities go along with this music?
Dancing, for the most part. Dancing quickly, with or without a partner.

The Great Gatsby- Reading Blog 1

From what we have already read, I must say that there are three characters that I can categorize as either a hero, antihero or villain, or at least predict that they will become that once we get more characterization. 

Though he only comes in during that last third of the reading, I imagine that Gatsby is a hero of this story, not alone part of the fact that the book is called "The Great Gatsby". Another reason is that, while nobody that Nick talks to seems to know much about him, the indirect characterization you get while talking to him and from the guests show that he actually is a pretty nice guy. In one instance, a girl is talking about how she ripped her dress at the last one of his parties, and that "inside of the week [she] got a package from Croirier's with a new evening gown in it." (43) She goes on to say how expensive it was and how odd of a man he was for doing something of the sort. Then, later, once Nick has actually met him, Gatsby seems quite friendly towards him, if a bit distant any time someone else approaches him or tries to talk to him.

Jordan Baker strikes me as a sort of antihero, in that she is obviously meant to be portrayed in a friendly and nice light, or at least to be identified with as a sort, but at the same time she has a sort of hauty nature and a tendency towards lying that most would more so associate with a villain. When first introduced, her description of holding her chin in the air "as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall" gave me the impression that she had an air about her like she thought she was better than everyone else. The last few pages in the reading then go on to detail how she had a penchant for lying, which Nick quickly forgives because she is a woman and that is something one can easily forgive a woman for. However, while she does have these very obviously bad traits, she is quite friendly and helpful with Nick during the party at Gatsby's, keeping Nick company and trying to help him find Gatsby.

One character who immediately rubbed me the wrong way was Tom Buchanan. His first description of stubborn and hard and all together too strong for himself, carrying himself as though he was so much better than everyone else gives one the idea that he might be the villain, all that he is supposedly a sort of friend to Nick. His insistence during that dinner that the white people should rise up and put other races in their place would be looked upon in a bad light, at least by modern audiences. And the later fact that he has a mistress (a fact that his wife knows and yet can do nothing about) and that he cares not if people know it puts him at odds with most peoples' ideas of morality in general, and his treatment of said mistress is also one to be looked down upon. Though neither he nor Myrtle are the best of people, and their relationship seems plainly based on the fact that neither likes their spouse, many will feel sorry for Myrtle when Tom strikes her and causes her to have a bloody nose, all based on an argument over whether Myrtle may talk about Daisy or not. I personally cannot find any good traits about Tom, and only bad traits or ones that are neutral at best.

Bua's Style

Bua's style is very angular, but with important curves that are not quite realistic. In fact, his style has an abstract element to it in that it does not portray, realistically, the way people and things look. The poses the people in his paintings are in look based on real ones that people could actually pull off, but are not entirely accurate and seem  unnatural. The colors that he leans towards are very earthy, with lots of greens and browns.

Mencken vs Kroll on the Death Penalty

Out of the two, I would have to say that the Kroll piece was much more effective, if only because it was much more connected and together as compared to the Mencken essay. With Kroll's essay, the pathos was so heavy you could have cut it with a knife; with Mencken, the appeals were scattered, if they were even there. While I do not believe an argument can be very good if the only thing it relies on is pathos, compared to the scattered nature of Mencken's essay, Kroll's was more effective. With Mencken, I had not the slightest idea who he was aiming his essay at, and at about the first mention of religion, the entire argument slides into a downward slope of hypothetical after hypothetical, until it finally reaches what was probably the entire point of Mencken's argument: him talking about how the execution process should be much quicker. With that he manages to backdoor you into what he believes, without really having any substance. However, the Kroll essay is a narrative, one that takes a clear bias as it tries to get you to agree with Kroll. The effect, while not quite that much for me, was much better than Mencken's if only because of the cohesiveness of the essay, rather than Mencken's scatterbrained attempt to make a point, which he only got to after insulting the opposition and trailing off into tiny rant after tiny rant. My assertion that the Kroll essay is better is more so based on the fact that the Mencken essay was anything but persuasive to me, rather than the fact that it was all that amazing.

"Sixteen Military Wives" by the Decemberists

What is this song about (subject matter)?
This song is about (in the first stanza) army men who die fighting, and leave behind wives The next part is about a group of  "academics" out of whom only a few care. The last one is about cannibal kings eating the aforementioned characters.

What is the theme of this song?
The first stance and chorus led me to believe that it is about how soldiers were sent out because "America" "can't say no" and that because of this they say that it is necessary, since "America" says it to be. "And America dies, if America says it's so." But then the idea that the anchorperson goes "la de da de da" which is pretty much nonsense and means that the anchorperson does not actually care.

"Race for the Prize" by the Flaming Lips

What is the theme of the song?
The theme of the song is that sometimes a race doesn't mean competition, people can work together towards a common goal for the good of humanity. In the first stanza it says "Two scientists were racing/For the good of all mankind...For the cure that is their prize..." In this song the race is not a literal one, but a figurative one in which both of them merely want the "prize" not for themselves but for humanity. The race does not mean that they are working against each other, and in the third line it says "Both of them side by side" meaning that really, they are working together and the "race" is how they both want to get the cure (the mentioned "prize") for the good of humankind. Therefore, in this song, the lyrics point toward a resolution to get the prize for their species and not for themselves. The music pushes a somewhat resolute, calming idea, at least at first. But then it gets more rocky, somewhat like turbulence, which shows how the two scientists are working together against whatever danger it is that they are fighting against.