One flew Over the Cukoo's nest #1

I believe that this book is extremely similar to The Great Gatsby in the sense that it has the same basic structure of hero, antihero, amd villain. The protagonist in this book, the cheif, speaks sparsely and is merely an observor of what goes on in the mental ward. He keeps to himslef and doesn't appear to be the hero although I can certainly see the audience rooting for him.

McMurphy is going to be the antihero and that is the closest that we will come to a hero in this book. He is a brute and he can sometimes be a jerk to the other patients but he is someone who will work against the system. When McMurphy says, "...it's just foul the way they tore into you like that," to Harding, the audience knows that he will at least try to turn the system on its head. Thus, although we may not agree with him, he is basically the only character to root heavily for.

The villain is obviously the big nurse. From the way the patients describe her as being a fearsome and sometimes cruel woman, along with the power she holds among the staff and the doctors, she controls the hospital. She simply has too much power and thus will do anything to maintain order, setting her up ideally to abuse her power and maintain control.

Great Gatsby #3

Interpretive: What do the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckelberg symbolize in the novel?

From the beginning of their mention in chapter 2, the large billboard eyes were looking down over a desolate wasteland known as the valley of ashes. To me they symbolized someone looking down upon the people and judging them. Then George Wilson compared them to the eyes of God and that belief was reinforced somewhat but in a different way. I now believe that those eyes are those of God looking down uon the valley sadly because of their dilapidated nature.

Interpretive: What does the green light symbolize?

The green light I believe is mentioned twice: once at the beginning of the novel when Gatsby is reaching towards it and at the end when Nick is describing the light and what the people that first came to the sound must have thought about it. To Gatsby the light was his one huge dream of winning Daisy back; that much is obvious. When Nick talks about it in regards to the settlers coming there, I think the green light takes on the idea of the "American dream" and striving to obtain ones dreams.

Evaluative: If this book was a commentary on how hollow the aristocracy of America is, then why have Tom Buchanan win Daisy in the end?

I understand that this book's main purpose is to show how unattainable dreams really are through the death of Gatsby; that is clearly evident. I also believed though that another theme of this book was of how shallow and ill natured the rich are through characters like Buchanan and symbols like the valley of ashes or Eckelberg. Why then doesn't Tom get what he deserves in the end? Unless he was also commenting on how the rich come out on to despite their horrid nature.

Evaluative: How effective is it that the protagonist in the story (Nick) doesn't benefit at all from Gatsby and winds up depressed and alone at the story's end in communicating the messages of the book? Does it affect the story at all? I think it is interesting that Fitzgerald would have the person who reserved all judgements and would have feelings similar to those of the audience in such a poor state by the story's end. While Nick contributes almost none to the story's main themes, I think it says something of Fitzgerald's ideas about us if the character who is supposed to represent us is worn by life at the novel's end.

The Great Gatsby #2

1) The purpose of Wolfsheim as a character is to give us a shady idea of Gatsby's business exploits. Since Gatsby says that he was involved in the fixing of the 1919 World Series, it connects Gatsby to a criminal. This gives the reader the notion that Gatsby isn't what they have previously believed he is.

2) The backstory informs us that Gatsby is determined if not a borderline stalker of daisy. To buy a house across the bay specifically for her and then wait five years for the right time to reveal himself to her seems a bit strange to say the least and makes the audience a bit wary of Gatsby as a person. At least thats what it did to me.

3)The story of Gatsby's past for me established him as a legitimate person, one who did not steal or cheat to get his money.

4)I see Gatsby still as a mysterious person. The way he acts around daisy to when he first confronts her is particularly odd and combined with the fact that he was so in love with her that he bought his house because of her makes me question his sanity. Although he has somewhat of a confirmed background, his shady underground dealings also put him in a dark light.

Great Gatsby Blog 1

I believe that the hero of the story is Nick is the hero of the novel because he is from what we can tell a honest man and he is the protagonist. He doesn't have any vices or evil qualaties, in fact in chapter two he recollects that he'd only ever been drunk once before that evening. So he has good judgement compared to most of the other characters in the story so far.

I believe that Jay Gatsby is most clearly the antihero at this point in the story. In these three chapters he is a very mysterious man and one even when we do meet him is peculiar. In chapter 3 Nick observed that Gatsby was, "standing alone on the marvel steps looking from one group to another with approving eyes," (50). He throws extremely lavish parties but doesn't participate in them or mingle much; he only watches from afar. This I believe is someone who is not necessarily bad, but may have some other motivations for what he does.

I believe that Tom Buchanan is the closest thing to a villain so far. With all the money and property one could ask for, Tom still has poor, almost mean attitudes towards life, is unfaithful, and is abbusive to people. Even when taking on a mistress, Tom breaks her nose in a drunken fury. He represents everything wrong with aristocratic life and thus is the villain.

Bua art

It is abstract art because the proportions in all of the paintings aren't realistic. All of his paintings include African American culture in relation to music which in combination with the abstract natures of the paintings I believe speaks on how challenging the life of a musician is. Also some of them have troubled expressions which I believe adds to that notion.

John Coltrane

Mood is used to set the stage for the music in instrumental music. In Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things" he uses the drums and a piano as a sort of base at the beginning of the song and then comes in with his instrument to establish a more joyful melody.

the decemberists

The song is about how Americans are dying fighting at war and despite this celebrities are still the main focus on tv.

The theme of the song is that people have incorrect values. These soldiers gave their lives for their country but instead of honoring them and their wives, we pay more attention to celebrities instead.