Synopsis: Nick closes down Gatsby's party, spending the night marvelling at the various antics of the opportunistic sharks who swirl around the cocktail table. Men slowly sink into arguments with their wives and the drunken man from the library is involved in a careless car wreck. Gatsby watches the entire scene, strangely detached and in "complete isolation" (56) from a window.
Later, Nick describes another eye-opening interaction with Daisy, during which she reveals a shocking and hypocritical carelessness and an "incurable" dishonesty (58). Finally, Nick states that in this world of swirling deceit and self-serving excapades, he is "one of the few honest people" (59)he had ever known.
Tasks for You...
1. Based on the book thus far, compose a paragraph that explains how one of the images on this blog relates to the novel. Be sure to make specific reference to the image, and to the novel. Completed paragraphs must include SEE format, and should pay close attention to syntax and diction.
... look carefully... she's wearing a party dress and her face is obscured by a mask....
10 comments:
Sam Coutu
The picture of the man with his eyes closed and the money symbols on his eyelids is easy for me to relate to the story thus far. This picture reminds me of Nick because in the last chapter that we read he explains how he dreams of being more important. He likes being with Jordan because she is important and it makes him feel important too. Even though Nick is a honest and caring guy he still has a greed for wealth and a desire to be recognized.
Marc B.
The picture with the man with his eyes closed and the money symbols on his eyelids.
The image relates to Myrtle and The reason she is with Tom. She is just with Tom for the money so she is blinded by her greed for money. This also relates to how she does not like her husband because he does not have high class. This becomes apparent when she talks about how she was angry with her husband because he borrowed his tuxedo for there wedding. She wants to be with Tom because of his money she shows this when she gets him to buy the dresses for her and then starts to give them away at the party, also when she gets the dog it latter says that the dog was cowering in the corner and not been fed. This shows that she does not care anything or anyone just herself.
Morgan:
The image of the business man with money symbols over his eyes relates to the novel The Great Gatsby through as the characters are also blinded by all the wealth that they have lived with. This man in the photo seems to be dreaming about money, but that is also all that he can see, and is oblivious to his other surroundings. All of the characters in the novel have some involvement or dream of wealth, and with this wealth comes conflict and deceit. The line in the novel that shows how Nick has turned over the obsession with money is, “I was flattered to go places with her, she was a golf champion, and everyone knew her name.” As Nick talks about Jordan this way, it shows how in some manner he is dating her because she is quite famous. Since he is being seen with her, he feels noticed and involved. While spending more time in this money filled community he is slowly turning into those people. We see the true side of Nick when he says that he is dating Jordan, but also has a girl back home. This seems more like the character of Tom. The photograph relates to the novel by having the common theme of being blinded by wealth, which can only end up in conflict between the characters.
Patrick Harris The picture with the dollar signs in his eyes. I think that it represents that they are only think about money and that the fact that is all they really care about. How you see this in the book is when is at the party because I think that the people are just there at to see Gatsby and to see the money and try to get there hands in his pockets. “I think that big parties are more intimate”. This shows use that she thinks at a big party she would be able to show off what she has but with out getting to close to some one and letting them know what she is really like. This relates back to the picture because having dollar signs on his eyes show you that he is always thinking about just like the people at Gatsby party.
Mikaela...
SO far in the novel we see how the different characters develop the theme of loneliness. This theme of loneliness is developed through almost all of the characters in the novel. We realize as we read on that the characters Gatsby and Nick are very lonely. We see Nick look for companionship in Jordan and we see Gatsby look for compainionship in Nick. As well as Nick and Gatsby we soon realize that most of the other characters are lonely and look to false companionship to fill the loneliness. The picture of the woman sitting alone relates to the novel so far because it as well develops the theme of loneliness. The girl in the picture is by herself just like Nick is in the novel. The following quote displays the theme of loneliness in the novel “I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes- and I felt it in others.” This quote above clearly displays the theme of loneliness as it is seen in the picture. The woman in this picture is alone and is using face paint maybe to hide her loneliness. This is similar to the novel because we see how Nick is alone and how he knows by stating “I felt it in others” that the people around him are lonely as well they just use false relationships to get rid of their loneliness just like the girl in the picture is using face pain to display falseness. Clearly the picture above can be related to what we have read in the novel so far because they both display the theme of loneliness.
In the story “The Great Gatsby”, money is like an individual character who manipulates peoples lives. The character Gatsby from the book is a victim of this. He lives in a big mansion, has amazing parties. Consequently out of this prosperity, he is very lonely. Gatsby looks over his guests when they are held up by a car crash, “A sudden emptiness…endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host”. Nick describes Gatsby looking over them as “empty” meaning that there was not emotion or pleasantness on his presence. Gatsby is also described as being in “complete isolation” which is ironic for someone who has had such a gargantuan party. Gatsby is blinded and manipulated by the wealth he holds because he cannot connect with the outside world which has made him lonely. The man in the picture above has dollar signs printed on his eyelids, showing that he is thinking about money due to the smirk on his face. Gatsby can be related to the man in the picture because the man is blinded and manipulated by money because he has his eyes shut, “isolating” him from the outside world very much like the Gatsby is with his prosperous life.
Pierre F
Byron;
This picture of the northern llights relates to the novel because it represents something that Gatsby strives for. The Northern Lights are a beautiful night spectacal that can only be seen and not explained. When Gatsby looks across the bay “a single green light, minute and far away” (pg.25) this is his hope to acquire something important. Even though the light is most likely a dim glow from the Buchanan’s party on the other side of the bay, it figuratively represents something other then what Tom stands for, which is greed, wealth and fame. We know that Gatsby is not in a quest for riches because he has already gained a substantial amount of wealth. When Gatsby has parties he is a ghost floating around his property. And when the night comes to an end, they guests all leave with no one to help clean up. When the author states “a single green light” it means that Gatsby has a dream for the future but we are not yet aware of that dream.
This picture of the clown relates to the novel because of all the greed and envy that has been going around. In the picture it shows a clown having green eyes and green clothes on which is the color that symbolizes greed, and envy. The clown is also has the look of being there for his own gain over anyone else’s betterment. This idea of greed and envy is also predominate in the novel thus far in the example of the guests that Nick seems to notice at Gatsby’s party. This line is shown with “agonizingly aware of the easy money” (43) from this line it shows that people are there to get something for themselves and no there to enjoy the party with the words “easy money”. Greed and envy will be a constant theme in the novel to the very end of people looking to better themselves over others.
Jack
~Caitlin~
The “Secret Society” is governed by profit. People profit in economics, they profit in their connections to certain people, they even profit off their own “friend’s” misery. Jordan Baker is such a person; she was unsympathetic to Daisy’s dilemma of her cheating, misogynistic husband, Tom. “She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don’t you think?” (20) Jordan speaks this to Nick about Mrs. Wilson –the mistress- yet the entire time Baker has no pathos for Daisy. The photo has a man with shut eyes, on his lids there are dollar signs; this is symbolic to the saying being “blinded by money”. Characters have shown this on a plethora of occasions, one being the party that Mrs. Wilson said to her friend, “This old thing? …I just slip it on sometimes when I don’t care what I look like” (33). The only thing to gain from deceit in this society is another notch up from the “other guy”. The aristocrats behave in this manner to feel accepted. No one can “profit” from this situation, because there is only social attrition in this endless search for companionship and intimacy.
Sheena
I chose to relate the image of the girl wearing a mask to the story of “the great Gatsby”. In this image the girl is wearing a mask covering her true expressions and all of her emotions. This girl may be the life of the party but it could be a complete false identity and if you were to meet her somewhere else with a smaller amount of people she would most likely be a completely different person. This image suits the quotation, “and I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.” (50) That quotation shows how Jordan believes that when you are at a small party everyone gets to see yourself and you have to take off the mask and lose all your “privacy”. Furthermore, at the large parties Jordan believes there is privacy because everyone can see the mask but the difference here is no one bothers to take it off.
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