reflections on all class discussions

During most of our class discussions I have found new revelations in the reading that I had not noticed before in the readings, when we were discussing it in class. Since we have read the books,"The Great Gatsby," and "Nickel and Dimed," over the summer, I have been more interested in them than I was when I was reading them during the summer. At first I found," The Great Gatsby," to be just a story of a pathetic girl who got herself mixed up with Jay Gatsby, and after our first and second discussion about the book, I soon found that I was actually more sympathetic toward Daisy than Gatsby. This helped me to analyze characters more thoroughly and that maybe the way they act is the only way that they know how to live their lives. I have also found it extremely intriguing to find that some authors like to put an aspect of themselves into their books, just like F. Scottt Fitzgerald did in his book, and I found that talking about some of his work gave me a glance at his life. I have had a lot of "Lightbulb moments," as I affectionately refer to them as, in a lot fo our class discusions and am hoping to have more of these moments.

8/27 Carlos Fuentes

In the artcile, "How i Started to Write," by Carlos Fuentes has a purpose that is very unique in my opinion. As I was reading this article, I noticed that he was a Scorpio, a controlling, yet intense fire sign if the zodiac. The problem with his father was that he wanted his son to be born in Mexico, since he was involved with the Mexican legation, but instead his son was born in Panama City, not under the Eagle and the Serpent. This significane to the story is very relevant if you look back at mexican history when natives were looking for a place to call their own, they found a Eagle holding a serpent, which is what we see on the Mexican flag today. Later on in the story when Carlos Fuentes says that his father's high standard and imagination of Mexico was not real, the little lightbulb went on in my head once again. I realized that the point he was trying to get across was that was that what we hold dear in our imaginations becomes so great in our minds, that when we realize that it is not a reality, our entire world could come crashing down. So, ths can relate to Gatsby, in the sense that he held the image of Diasy in his mind for so long, and lived in the past, just like Fuentes' father's view of Mexico. But, then I read further, and I saw that Fuentes realized that his father's country was real, so maybe his father was making it so great to make his son think that he is part of somethig greater, when in reality, it did the exact opposite. This is all due to a language that is not spoken, btu exists among all people no matter what race. Fuentes ended up realizing that he could dream his own dreams and that human beings share a tradition. I really like the quote,"There is no creation without tradition. No one creates from nothing."

reflections on class discussion 8/24

Based on the class discussion on thursday, I feel that the quote, "I could tell you stories" brings on a whole new meaning. I used to think that it was just a way to break the ice, but when it comes from a middle-aged woman who was making out with a hot young guy in front of a train with a lot of people watching just really makes me think. My first thought was that of the girl on the train "EWW," but at the same time I felt a sort of sympathy for the middle-aged woman. I feel for her because whether we know it or not, we all have had those moments when we wish we could share a story about our lives, but don't, we just keep it bottled up inside. So, bascially this quote opnes up a window into this person's life and invited the other girl into the her life's story, but the reason the middle-aged woman stays quiet after saying the quote is simply because the other girl was not interested. Why? I believe that becasue of her shallowness, that she will never be able to find happiness in another person just ike the woman she was staring at did. Also, the fact that she could have told the story, but the fact that she did not could be because she knew the girl would not understand, especially since she couldn't do her stories justice. I thinkshe knew the girl coudn't relate anyway. The stories also might change over time, because what usually happens is that people forget bits and pieces of the story, and eventually the story does not relate to what that perosn was originally talking about in the first place. I feel that this quote can be interpreted in many ways, these are just my thoughts on this quote.

reflection on class discussion 8/22

The class discussion on Wednesday was very interesting, and was very difficult to understand at the same time. There were times during the class when a little light bulb just came on in my head, and I was like, “wow I get that so much better." One of these moments was when I realized that F. Scott Fitzgerald is literally trying to use Gatsby to portray himself in way. Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald let himself be defined by the people around him, and I think that he has lost that aspect of himself and to me that is sort of depressing. For someone to give in to other people for a lifestyle that is just very interesting for me, but at the same time I feel that we ourselves have experienced similar situations in which we let people define us through fashion trends and social dynamics. I also love the fact that this book makes you really think, I mean when I read it I never thought about the green light being something that we cannot ever reach. Gatsby lives in his past since he knows no other life other than the one other people make him out to be, and he goes along with all the rumors that people, who he doesn't even know, make about him. But is James Gatz pretending to be Jay Gatsby to please Daisy? I think that he is, and that at one point Daisy loved him in the past, but since Gatsby is not the same person I think that she doesn't love him as much. The main problem is that one cannot change the past. Would Fitzgerald be writing these great books if he was the same person as he started out, and wasn't as famous? I believe that this is a possibility, but then again I'm not the same person I was when I was 14 either. So this brings up the question do we live in our past? Subconsciously yes, but there are people who try to change what has happened in the past even though they can't. I think that Jay Gatsby is the kind of character that most people can relate to in a lot of ways, whether you live in the past or not. All good writers try to connect to their readers in one way or another, and I think that Fitzgerald does this magnificently.