9
January
2009
This poem was very upsetting and shows the reader how miserable life really was for the residents of Spoon River. When a mother and child die during birth it is a sad bitter thing that can leave many people scared. However Elizabeth views it differently, she is in fact relieved that her child did not live as she cannot imagine all the terrible things life has to offer. If you are dead and you cannot look back on the life you led and cannot say at the very least that it was worth it, then there indeed is something wrong with the town you grew up in and called home.
Abel Melveny has a similar story as he compares his life to one of his work tools that was never used.
“I saw myself as a good machine
That Life had never used.” pg. 78
The American Dream talks about reaching out for something, having some form of goal to obtain that you are always striving for. In the other books from this year, many of the characters failed just as the people in Spoon River had. The difference is that many people in Spoon River did not even try to reach that goal or did not notice there was a goal to be reached. Even if Tom Buchanan realizes his life was pathetic and that he was not a very good person, he still can look back and realize that he accomplished something. It is unfair to yourself to say that your life was never used.
Posted: Connections, Spoon River Anthology
7
January
2009
George Grey
“…To put meaning to one’s life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire-
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid…” pg. 30
George speaks of life without meaning and how although it is inevitable, it is also impossible to live through. He recalls different instances of his life where he was faced with a new emotion or a challenge and how he coward away from them. Yet all the while he was thinking about the meaning of his life. This was George’s problem. He thought too much about what he should do and what was coming ahead that he missed all the events in the present.
His metaphor of life and a boat is this. Destiny is not a set path in your future, but like the waves will set you on different courses and on different adventures. If you are on a boat in the middle of the sea you have no choice but to accept your surroundings and make the best of it. However in life you have the chance to walk blind eyed through them, and this is what George believed he did.
On George’s grave stone is a picture of a boat in a harbor. However he recognizes that this is not where he has ended up but that is the story of life itself. Perhaps if he was still living he would have accepted life the way it was and would have “rolled with the punches” destiny flew his way. George is telling the reader to not believe there is a set path in life and thus seize the opportunity if it arises.
This connects with the other books read in class in them, the characters are doing what George is saying. Ahab goes after the whale and Ishmael goes out to sea to have a change in life. Gatsby goes after the girl. Janie becomes a strong women as she follows her heart to different men and life styles. Even in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ben does not let his odd life bring him down but instead he goes out and succeeds. All these characters live life in the moment rather than worrying about what is coming ahead. With this mindset, they all go after their American dream and fight for what they want rather than sit back and expect something to happen to them.
Posted: Connections, Spoon River Anthology
5
January
2009
In many of the stories we have read, a character reaches their goal and it is then taken away, or it is never reached. Several of the poems in Spoon River Anthology follow this same idea. Doc Meyers recalls his life as blessed.
“I was good-hearted, easy Doctor Meyers
I was healthy, happy, in a comfortable fortune,
Blest with a congenial mate, my children raised,
All wedded, doing well in the world.” pg 12
However one night Minerva came into the Doctors office with a problem that Doc Meyers could not solve. From this point on the town forgot about how good a man Doc Meyers had been an instead began writing things and talking about his hand in killing Minerva. This persecution drove Meyers to phenomena and ultimately his death.
Similarly to Janie, Doc Meyers was only trying to live his life the way it had fallen and to both of them, it had worked out quite well. Janie was living comfortably with the man she loved and Doc Meyers had a respected job and position in the town as well as a loving family. However after a series of events the comfort had to come to an end as Janie was forced to kill Tea Cake and Doc Meyers was forced into a sickness after being blamed for a death. For a little while Janie was being blamed for murdering Tea Cake however she got out of punishment when Tea Cake’s condition was learned. Only in Minerva’s testimony do we hear the real side of the story that could have saved his job and therefore his life.
Posted: Connections, Spoon River Anthology
17
December
2008
For the time Janie was living with her Grandmother, many things were were pushed upon her. Janie was forced to marry at the tender age of 16, and was constantly reminded by Granny of the life she could have had if born just a few decades earlier. All parents say, “back in my day….blah blah blah” however after our discussion in class today, i may understand why.
How am I, a Jewish teenager in 2008, supposed to know how lucky i am to be free to practice my religion and even walk outside without fear? How is a black child supposed to know that their college education is a blessing to their grandparents? How is someone supposed to know that the fact that Barack Obama is our 44th president an amazing moment in the world? The answer is a story. Stories have been told and then written down for centuries and they allow the generation of the present to learn about the generation of the past. Stories then allow us to compare our lives today and how our lives would have been if we lived in the previous generation.
It may seem that our system of books is old and not up to date in school and that perhaps our district is living too much in the past. However it is so important for us to learn and understand the past to understand why other things have happened in the future.
By understanding the past we are able to appreciate the present.
Posted: Connections, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
10
December
2008
Every great book has a symbol. In Moby Dick, the doubloon symbolized hope for many of the men. It represented religion and everything the men were fight for on the Pequod and off. In The Great Gatsby the green light symbolized something so great that you can never have. It showed your dreams and goals always two steps ahead of you. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, I found that the porch in front of the town building represents a different culture. There people go not only to gossip but to have fun. They do not have any bars or parties to go to, there is no cineplex or restaurant to spend some time. Instead they meet up at the porch every day at about the same time. The Porch was not always there. It was created by Stark when he moved to the town and demanded a central point. It shows the progress the people have made in the town and how they can all live together in peace and guidance.
The people of this town are fine with having the porch as a central spot. HoweverJanie is not. She is too restless in her position of running the store. The porch is stable and will not move. It is contained and will never grow any more or become broader. This is how Janie feels being married to Stark. She feels trapped in a life she believed she wanted for herself. Howevershe learned the harsh truth as she did not feel free enough as a woman and as Starks wife. She wants to grow and move around the town and get to know things, however her husband is holding her back. He is too interested in being the perfect mayor, or at least the perfect man. That is why he gets so upset when Janie crosses him at the store.
“Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible maleness that all men cherish, which was terrible…she had cast down his empty armor before men and they had laughed, would keep on laughing.” (pg. 80)
Janie and Jody are two verystrong individuals. Janie knows her place as a woman and is fine with doing the cooking and such, however cannot stand being told what to do. She needs her own voice and her own freedom. This is something she only had as a girl growing up that ended with her first marriage. Jody is an extremely strong man. Although i believe he means well, he is to certain on the image he has for himself, his wife, and his town, and thus any little disappointment or change will not suit him. Seeing as people are NOT perfect, it is very hard for others, especially Jamie, to follow his ideals.
Posted: Connections, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
7
December
2008
The purpose of the first two chapters was to give an in site into who our main character, Janie, is and where she comes from. We learn about her difficult life of being raised by her grandmother and being the product of a rape. In class we discussed how many African Americans who read this book were offended however we could not understand why. I do not believe the reason for this hostility was based on the language used in the book as many of the words are slurred “Ah takes dat flattery offa you, Pheoby, ’cause Ah know it’s from de heart.” pg 5. Instead the harsh feelings come from the story behind the people. Just from the first few chapters it seems like the only thing these people do is sit and gossip about another person in the town. From Janie’s story about growing up, we only see a story about a young women whose daughter was raped and had a child. The women who was raped became a drunk and left her baby in the hands of her mother. And in the present day, no one knows where she lives, and if she is even alive.
The core story of the book so far is not flattering at all for the people who live that life. All these characters are African American which could explain why the black community was not thrilled with the publication of this book.
Just as in The Great Gatsby and Moby Dick, there is a person (Nick/Gatsby and Ishmael) who go into a situation, or new society they are not familiar with (West egg and the Pequod). We see this pattern again in Their Eyes Were Watching God as although Janie lives in this town with the same people as before she left, they see her in a different light now as she returns in dirty cloths and man-free. It will be difficult for Janie to continue her life here as there are so many people who already know her past, but do not know what has happened since she left the town with a younger man.
Posted: Connections, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
19
November
2008
Yet another example of trying to achieve perfection, or something better in your life was shown with the Wilson couple. As we know Myrtle Wilson is Tom’s women on the side and her husband, ”Wilson” does some business with Tom. This realationship has been going on for some time without Wilson even knowing it. When Tom went over to Wilson’s to get some gas he learned of the Wilson’s plan to move West on Myrtle’s request. “She’s been talking about it for ten years…And now she’s going whether she wants to or not. I’m going to get her away.” (pg 123). Wilson goes on to say that he learned of something a few days ago, perhaps an affair. However it does not seem to be the affair between Tom and Myrtle as Wilson seems just as friendly with Tom as he always is and has been. Does Myrtle have yet another man? Could it be that the two women in Tom’s life were not really his, Daisy who is having a fling with Gatsby and Myrtle who is neither faithful to her husband or Tom? Here is where the first relationship breaks. Tom who believes he must have a women on the side to keep him happy and to keep reaching for something more now realizes that the women he thought he had is not loyal to him. On the way back from NY there is a big fuss around the Wilson house as Myrtle has been killed in a hit and run. To Tom Myrtle is already dead. However Wilson sees all of his planning and hopes for a different future of starting over gone. Pleasing Myrtle and giving her what she needs and wants is Wilson’s green light. However now she is dead and Wilson is left with the guilt of a miserable wife who hated her life so much she in response slept around and foolishly run into the road getting herself killed. Both Tom and Wilson have crushed dreams now…and they are not the only ones as a result of this chapter.
While in NY a whole lot of stuff went down. Tom called Gatsby out who in turn called out Daisy about never loving Tom at all. This surprised Tom, pleased Gatsby, and made Nick and Jordan utterly uncomfortable. However there was a twist. Tom turned the tables on Gatsby, threatening him with something from his past. What that is we do not know however Nick did give us some in sitethat he could have murdered a man. This gave Daisy second thoughts about her perfect plans of running away with Gatsby as her worry free future soon smacked her in the face as her “mistress” is a murderer. Daisy’s green light, or her doubloon, was a life of wealth (which she will have with Tom or Gatsby) and love (which only Gatsby can provide). She is so close to having both however, like all great goals in American literature, it is just out of her reach. Gatsby’s dream of living with Daisy is also ruined as he realizes that he did not have all of Daisy’s heart all the time. Gatsby had the perfect vision of Daisy however it was shattered in the fiasco that occurred in NY.
“‘Oh, you want too much!’ she cried to Gatsby. ‘I love you now-isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past…I did love him once-but I loved you too.’”
“‘You loved me too?’ he repeated.”
“‘Even that’s a lie,’ said Tom savagely. ‘She didn’t know you were alive. Why-there’re things between Daisy and me that you’ll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget.’”
“The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.” (pg. 132)
Gatsby needs to face that he and Daisy had a few months together, but Tom and Daisy have been through a marriage, a child, and about five years together. That is something Gatsby can never get back and something he can never take away from Daisy. It means that Daisy will not be able to leave Tom because although she had an affair with Gatsby, she had a life with Tom and nothing can beat that now.
Posted: Connections, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
17
November
2008
There are many different symbols or emotions in The Great Gatsby that represent the “American dream” or what the character is longing to have that is just out of reach. We saw this symbolism in Moby Dick as the doubloon reminded everybody to stay on task and hopefully they would be rewarded with the white whale, or depending on the beholder, going home to see their family or making a lot of money with the rich oil to sell back home. For Ahab, the doubloon along with his peg leg, his scars, and memory, all drive him toward his dream of catching Moby Dick. However he is trying to obtain the unobtainable. He is trying to catch the most deadly and fiercest whale in all of the seas. Gatsby is doing the same thing. He knew that Daisy was living across the river from him and just like Ahab, made certain moves in order to become closer to the prize. Ahab sailed through many seas while Gatsby had extravagant parties to lure her in. “He began asking people casually if they knew her, and I was the first one he found.” (pg. 79) The green light shows Gatsby that Daisy is still there and still close by. He remembers all the good times in the past and is trying to relive the past and not make the same mistake of letting Daisy go. When Ahab first encountered the Moby Dick he much would have rathered kill him then and there. By sailing after the whale Ahab was trying to relive the past and change the outcome. This is what Gatsby is doing too. He is showing off to Daisy, trying to woo her back into his arms just like it was 5 years ago. Gatsby is trying to relive the past and change the outcome so that it benefits himself, thus obtaining yet another precious jewel. “‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can! ….I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before,’ he said , nodding determinedly. ‘She’ll see.’” (pg. 110)
The perfect future is not possible. There will always be other elements going in and out of your life no matter how hard you try to stay perfect. There are so many times people have wanted to take back something they said or re-do a relationship, or even a test a school. However what Fitzgerald and Melville are trying to tell us, the American society, is that it is impossible to go back and recreate something that once was. People spend too much of their lives wondering what could have happened or what we should have done differently. However we need to accept the past and go on and live with the decisions we made. If we always second guess our actions then we will end up like Ahab or Gatsby. Two men in positions of great power that could do so much with their lives, waisting it away by longing for something in the past. Ahab and Gatsby outwardly seem happy. Ahab has the nice young life and baby to get back to and is excellent at his trade. Gatsby has all the riches in the world and is a likable man who must have many friends. However inwardly they are both struggling with the emotions they keep from the past instead of enjoying the life they made for themselves.
Posted: Connections, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
