Sunday, December 8, 2013
All that Glitters is not Gold
This week we read three of Francis Scott Fitzgerald's pieces in class, and as we read these pieces our class realized that Fitzgerald stuck to the same theme in all of them. The theme of human's disillusioned dreams ending in disaster was prevalent in all his stories. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby wanted Daisy, whom he viewed as the "American Dream",because she was beautiful and rich; On the surface she seemed perfect, but on the inside Daisy could really care less for Gatsby because she was a materialistic and selfish person. In the end Gatsby ended up dying for someone who didn't care about him. In Winter Dreams, Dexter was mesmerized by Judy Jones' beauty and riches, but once he got to know her he became disappointed because she did not live up to his expectations of her glamour. Finally, in The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, John Unger fell in love with the Washington's lavish lifestyle, but after he had spent enough time there he started to learn their secrets... their psychotic secrets. Most people would think that people with tremendous would enjoy sharing their wealth and would want other's to know of their status, but the Washington's basically killed or imprisoned anyone who found out. Because they were suffocated by the secret of their diamond, the Washingtons could not live normal and happy lives. These stories exemplify how people glamorize things more than they should and they build up their expectations until it all comes crashing down on them and they realize their mistake. Dexter and John were lucky enough to realize in the end that having everything you dreamed of does not mean you are happy or content, and they were able to go off and live their lives with this new found knowledge. Those of us lucky enough to be in AP english have had the chance to break down these stories and learn from the mistakes of these three unfortunate men. Things are not always what they seem.
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True, things aren't always what they seem! Fitzgerald obviously wanted to get this across to his readers. Nice post May!
ReplyDeleteParts of your post made me laugh... "...their psychotic secrets"! Their secrets were incredibly psychotic!
ReplyDeleteYou comment on our blogs?!? I have never seen this happen! It's as though the people of the Capitol have come to District 12! What is happening? Wow. So cool.
DeleteReally good post! I like your analysis on how Daisy is actually a superficial person. She may seem perfect on the outside, but she is extremely corrupted and materialistic on the inside. It sucks that Gatsby went for a girl that didn't even care about him. You're absolutely right in saying that "things are not always what they seem."
ReplyDeleteThis is a cliche but the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" holds very true for this. We should look at things with a different perspective because nothing is always what its seems. Great post! I could really hear your voice and style through this.
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