Blog Post 25

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

16 May, 2017

Blog Post #25

Prompt: Of all the texts that we've read this year, which one is your favorite, and why? Which one is your least favorite, and why?

    Considering all of the books we have read in ELA class this year, I would say I enjoyed reading most of them, but there were definitely a select few I would consider superior to others. My favorite book would have to be The Great Gatsby one, because it is fresh in my mind being the most recent book we read. And also because I feel this book did the best job of contextualizing Fitzgerald's life, and the time period where he decided to write the book. I feel it was through all of the contextual studies we did inside and outside of class that really provided me with a better appreciation of the novel, The Lost Generation documentary especially. My least favorite book however would have to be The Odyssey. I have never been a fan of greek mythology, and this book directly expressed my dissatisfaction with it. Combined with the fact it was written in a poem like format, this was not a recipe for my indulgence. Sure there were moments in the book I enjoyed, but evidently it resulted in an unpleasant experience.  

Blog Post 24

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

English Literature

7, May, 2017

Movie vs Book

This past Wednesday I had the privilege of watching the film The Great Gatsby, which is of course an adaptation of the book, The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This week for my blog, I chose to write about my overall thoughts about the movie in contrast to the book, and how I thought it was represented. After finishing it, I thought the movie adaptation stayed very truthful to the book in many ways and was represented very accurately. I thought that the choice of cast was very intelligent and worked very well, especially Nick Carraway's character played by Tobey Maguire and Jay Gatsby’s character played by Leonardo DiCaprio. A few minor details such as a few of the songs used in the movie were confusing to me as they didn't really fit the situation in my opinion and I think a different song choice would be better suited. However this small detail didn't take away from the films overall brilliance. Something that I thought was interesting was Nick’s little subplot with the doctor who referred to him as “morbidly alcoholic” and how it showed him looking back on the experiences with Gatsby, then proceeding to write it down by hand and eventually type it into his finished work. This was an interesting addition to the movie that I thought for the most part worked quite well. For the rest of the film, it stayed right on track with the book without any major differences, other than little details of course, that I could find.      

What do you guys think? Did the movie do Fitzgerald's masterpiece justice?

Blog post 23

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

5/1/17

Blog post 23

            Choose one of the themes in the book that we identified and discussed in class (this should be in your notes) and decide which one you believe is the primary theme of The Great Gatsby. Explain why you think this is the primary theme and provide three pieces of textual evidence to support your position.

        In the Great Gatsby we discussed in class what possible themes could be for the book. We also studied what exactly differentiates a theme from a topic because there is some confusion there, for example, some people would say the theme of the Great Gatsby would be “The American Dream”. This would be incorrect because the American Dream is a topic of the Great Gatsby, but a theme would need to be a complete sentence. For instance, I would say the theme of the Great Gatsby is related to the topic of the American Dream, but it would need to be said like this; The American Dream is an unrealistic goal that will ultimately disillusion anyone who strives for it. A piece of textual evidence to support my claim would be on the last page of the book where Nick says “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close… Into the past” pg.180. What I took away from this small passage in the book was that Nick is saying Gatsby ended up spending all this time on reaching his goal of the American Dream and it was wasted in a sense because he ended up wishing his life away instead of enjoying it. On page 161 Nick says “If that was true, he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream”. I think what Nick is saying that a person should have a variety of goals and interests and that if there is just one single motivation behind every decision you make than you can miss out on incredible opportunities and experiences. Overall, there are many themes to be identified inside of the great Gatsby, but the one I previously stated is the most important because examples of it can be found all throughout the book and it seems to be what drives the plot of the story.

Blog Post 22

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

4/24/17

Blog Post 22

What is the climax (turning point) of the novel? How do you know? How is the central conflict addressed in the climax? Use textual evidence to back up your claims.

    For this weeks blog post, I chose to write about what I thought the climax of the story was. Finding the climax of this story was incredibly difficult for me to clearly identify and it wasn't until after I read the last three chapters that could truly see a few possibilities. It was interesting to me that the climax came so late in the story as from personal experience I would have predicted it to be earlier in the story than it was, but up until chapter 7 there weren't really any central conflicts that were presented. In chapters 7 and 8 however, there were a few possible climaxes I could point out, for example, when Tom confronts Gatsby in the suite, (Then Tom's voice incredulous and insulting…Tom glanced around to see if we mirrored his disbelief, but we were all looking at Gatsby. Pg. 129) when Myrtle gets hit by the car (Myrtle Wilson’s body wrapped up in a blanket… Pg.138) or when Gatsby gets shot (The chauffeur- he was one of wolfsheim’s proteges- heard the shots… Pg.161). I came to the conclusion that when Myrtle gets hit by the car fits the climax role the best as It is when everything starts to go downhill for Gatsby. This part of the book really convinced me to think it was the climax because it is the first really big obstacle that faces Gatsby so far. And even though it doesn't even directly involve him, It later affects his future incredibly as this incident leads him to getting shot.   

Blog Post 21

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

4/17/17

Blog Post 21

Prompt: In chapter 5, what is revealed about the characters of Gatsby and Daisy based upon their reactions to each other when they finally meet?

    In chapter 5, Nick throws a tea party in attempt to reintroduce Gatsby and Daisy to each other, so Gatsby can try to win back Daisy’s heart just like he did in Louisville. By the end of this whole experience, a lot of light is shown upon a different side of Gatsby’s personality that is quite interesting. First off, Gatsby shows up an hour earlier than the event was supposed to start, perhaps giving the impression that this is indeed was very important to him, and that much thought went into preparing for it. Then, after he gets there, he begins to have second thoughts about the whole idea and starts to skepticize if Daisy will even come. And Finally once Daisy does actually show up, just before, Gatsby runs out of the room and appears at the front door creating the illusion that he wasn't waiting for her all this time. As soon as the two meet, Gatsby instantly becomes incredibly awkward especially when he knocks over Nick’s clock, but eventually the two become comfortable with each others presence and it seems to be going smoothly. After they talk for a while, Nick leaves the room for around 30 minutes and returns to Daisy crying joyfully and Gatsby glowing as the two have finally admitted their feelings for each other.

There is a lot we can learn from this whole tea experience with Gatsby and Daisy. For example, we found out that there is much more depth to Gatsby’s character he hasn't shown us yet. Referring to this situation specifically, he showed us an element of extreme nervousness, and discomfort, something I had no idea he was capable of. Daisy on the other hand didn't surprise me too much in terms of her actions, but I think it's incredibly important now that we know she probably has very strong feelings for Gatsby just like the two had in the past, and I’m intrigued to find out if she will cheat on her husband Tom, just like he has repeatedly done to her, and if what Gatsby believs to be true about recreating the past with his money. 

Blog post 20

Blog Post 20

Prompt: In the first two pages of the novel, Nick Carraway claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgment." Do you find that this is true so far? Please provide textual evidence to support your position.

    The book The Great Gatsby starts off where we are introduced to our narrator of the story Nick Carraway. He claims that throughout the book he will not show any sign of him passing judgement about any of the other characters. He then proceeds to describe Gatsby as someone who “represented everything for which he has an unaffected scorn” and that “there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life”. Right away in the first two pages I get a vibe that he seems to be quite dishonest and not the man who he says he is at the very end of chapter 3 “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known”. Throughout the first few chapters however, there are a few cases where one could make an argument that he is passing judgment upon another character. For the most part though, he seems to stick to his word when talking about anyone but Mr. Gatsby. When referring to Gatsby it is as if he puts him on a higher pedestal than the rest of the characters, and speaks as if Gatsby is like a god looking down on us mortals. This is only what I’ve noticed during the first few chapters, and I am inclined to see if his viewpoints change as we continue reading.

Blog post 19

Blog Post 19

This week the prompt was to discuss the characteristics of my play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and determine if it was a comedy, a history, or a tragedy. In my opinion this play was undoubtedly a comedy, there are so many features of it that fit the definition of a comedy. For instance I could tell it was one just by reading the major plot points of the twisted love triangle, the ass’ head, the ridiculous play put on by the laborers, and just the fact that everything is being manipulated by magical fairies. Even if somebody didn't know the structure/guidelines of a comedy, I think it would still be obvious to tell that it was one, however the play fits the Shakespearian format perfectly, as nobody dies throughout the story, and it ends in a huge wedding and a joke play. Concluding my argument, no other category would remotely make sense. There is no historical elements in the play and tragedies are usually filled with death which in this play there are none. Also there are tons of characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a ton of sub plots which are typical for a comedy in contrast to a tragedy where there are few characters that drive the plot, for example Romeo and Juliet.