The Great Gatsby Reading Blog #2

Meyer Wolfsheim seemed to be introduced as a character to show that Gatsby's past was not as glamorous as Nick had been told; he is a gambler who in fact helped to fix the World Series in 1919, and Gatsby is connected to him in some way that, while unexplained, shows that he is indeed associating with someone so shady. Wolfsheim offers Nick a "business gonnegtion" but then realizes that he mistook Nick for another friend of Gatsby's, showing that he does not hesitate to extend his profession to others.
The backstory regarding Daisy and Gatsby instilled a sense of pity for me personally as a reader; it seemed that neither ever got over the other, and yet they could not be together. Daisy even regretted her engagement to Tom on the night before her wedding, and of course Gatsby is still in love with her. It altered my view of Gatsby as a person as well; it shows that he has a chink in the armor, and that he is not as perfect and mysterious as he seems.
The story of the rest of Gatsby's life also showed that he is not as perfect as he might seem. For instance, he came upon his money neither through inheritance from a wealthy family member nor that of his best friend, Cody, who he helped on a ship. Instead of growing up in a rich family, he grew up in North Dakota and worked as a janitor at university to pay for his tuition. This past shows that he worked hard to get to where he is now, and that much of it was for Daisy, so that they might be together.
Overall, this set of chapters has altered my view of Gatsby for the better. Though I did not dislike him before, there was much left unsaid, and hearing about his true past left me with a different impression of him. He seemed to have a somewhat difficult past, and he never let go of his love for Daisy, which leaves him with a rather pitiful appearance. His past shows who he really is, and as a reader I like him much more now.

Black Bottom Stomp-Jelly Roll Morton

-What stands out to you about this music?

-How do you think this song would have meshed with the mood of one of Gatsby's parties?

-Why does it work/not work?

This song has a very cheerful feel and seems to almost bounce. It seems that it would have gone well with one of Gatsby's parties; it gives off the feel of many couples dancing happily and quickly together. It promotes the happy mood of Gatsby's parties-even if he himself only really watches others enjoy themselves. The song seems to also fit the time period and the preferences of the people living during the 1920s.

The Great Gatsby Reading Blog #1

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway seems to be both the protagonist and the hero of the story. He writes (having given the impression that it was he who wrote the book) that he is "inclined to reserve all judgements," (p. 1) as well as the fact that he "is one of the few honest people that [he has] ever known" (p. 59). This leaves him with a sense of honor that the audience cannot help but like; he is simply someone who does right.
Jordan Baker, to whom Nick was introduced by his cousin, Daisy, seems to be an antihero. She is extraordinarily dishonest and has cheated in a golf tournament-and yet Nick and the audience still seem to like her.  Nick says that "she was incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard, jaunty body." (p. 58) In saying this, he implies that she seems to have grown up with this dishonesty and was unable to let go of it.
Gatsby himself is a mystery so far in the book. He seems to be a bit of a hero due to the description of his personality; "He smiled understandingly...one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It face-or seemed to face-the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey." This implies that he has an aura of simple understanding-and yet, at the beginning of the novel, he seemed to be a complete mystery to Nick, leaving the reader with mixed feelings about Gatsby and his intentions.

Justin Bua's paintings

The artist's style is exaggerated and has specific jagged angles and positions. The people are frequently in an awkward in-motion position, and often look rather uncomfortable; a common theme is that the people are lanky and almost caricatured in their abstract distortion.