The theme of the short story “The Lesson” is the vast differences in life between the poor and the rich. This story highlights the vast differences of quality of life from the perspective of a child, which serves the purpose of keeping the commentary pretty black and white. This simplistic view from which the story is told causes us as an audience to think. One scene from the story that stands out in my mind is the reaction of Rosie to F.A.O. Schwartz. She says “White people crazy”. This statement reveals how narrow but mature her and her peers’ outlook on life is. They relate spending money on a toy to how much it costs to feed their families. These points to reflect on make this story a powerful one.

Gooseberries was a heavily emotinal, frame narrated story by the cray Russian Chekov. To make it so emotional he used strong diction (ex. “cold and malignant”). but now i will discuss the theme of this story. I would say that the theme is about how your dreams should be more centered on happiness than materialism. For example, consider this quote from the main character Ivan: “It’s the correct thing to say that a man needs no more than six feet of earth”. This shows Ivan’s own feelings about materialism. He believes that happiness is much more valuable than things. He also doesn’t think that people should be willing to oppress others in the pursuit of their own dream. By deriving joy from something as simple as gooseberries, Ivanovitch teaches a lesson on being content.

The narrative piece “Good Country People” illustrates that the mystery of Christian redemption can be a part of daily life even in unlikely locales. In this story, the locale is at Mrs. Hopewell’s house. This is an affluent atheist house, but somehow Pointer is able to get himself invited to dinner and then get himself a date with Joy, of all people. Despite being a phony, Pointer does unwittingly bring Joy to her salvation (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say “close to her salvation”). He does this by pretending to be one of those good country people that Mrs. Hopewell is oh-so fond of. Pointer does this by combing his “preachiness” with a romantic and realistic attitude that appears to sway Joy’s atheist feelings. I also think that an argument of this narrative could have something to do with the hypocrisy so prevalent in religion. I say this because of how Pointer is portrayed as a character, especially how he ends up taking out his flask and describes all the things he has scammed people out of. I think, too, that Joy’s comment to him about Pointer being “a fine Christian” and “just like them all- say one thing and do another” supports this argument nicely.

Alice Walker was born on February 9th 1944 in the state of Georgia. She was shot in the eye and partially blinded as a child. Her life stayed very eventful through the sixties as she considered suicide along with getting pregnant and getting involved with the Civil Rights movement. She went to a couple of different colleges. also, she used writing a lot of times as an outlet for her stresses from all of her life’s drama. More of this drama includes losing a pregnancy due to complications as well as having the only interracial marriage in all of Mississippi at one point. One of her most famous pieces of writing is The Color Purple, which won the Pulitzer.

I dont know much about plot arc. The climax of the story is probably towards the end when the main character finds out that he has to play the game with the general and then ends up winning. There is tons of suspense used by the author in this story. In the beginning he starts creating it and it builds and builds until the climax and thru the final hunt. Thats all i got.

1.) half understandable, half not

2.)“a heightened awareness of ethnic differences does constitute a significant element in the book…explore the function in the novel of the consciousness of ehtnicity” (53) (Ms. Robison’s blog)

3.)There are many deliberate decisions Fitzgerald made in his portrayal of attitudes and ethnicities that you can notice by looking closely at this book.

4.)There were a few parts of this article that were just confusing. This confusion was the result of just too many words, or perhaps it was because the sentences were long and had too many clauses (-cough, cough: “DGP EXTRA CREDIT FOR SPENCER?-cough cough). There were, however many eye opening points in this article. Of course i noticed how ridiculous Tom’s rants about race were, but I never thought to relate that to the people and feelings during the nineteen twenties. Also, the thought that Nick had some underlying prejudices was a completely new idea to me. The author mentioned that even though he didn’t come right out and say it, there was some acceptance of that general attitude which was surprising.

I am enthused, excited, and encouraged about AP Lit! It is scary and different from other classes.

In the summer of 2007, I lived in Italy with locals for a month. That month was the best of my life. I ate better, shopped better, had more fun, and just lived better. Essentially, I became an Italian at heart.

I believe that Italian culture is superior to that of America in every way.

I believe there is something to be said for a well tailored, slim fitting dark Armani suit and crazily yet fashionably colored shirt and tie. Americans may call this vanity, but Italians take pride in how they look. Styles start in Italy and then proceed to make their way to America two or three years later. And yet most of the youth here in America aren’t aware of the roots of their own trends. This kind of personal expression through clothing is a staple of Italian culture and is quite obviously better than America’s.

I believe there is something to be said for such a value as the Italians place on family, friends, and history. In many places in Italy you could simply show up unannounced at your buddy’s doorstep and you would be invited in to eat. Italians care about family and sticking together. How many of America’s families are close-knit like an Italian family? Not many. They eat together. Fathers and sons work on cars together all the time. And don’t get me started about Italian cars. There is no sound in the world like that of a Ferrari revving its engine.

I believe there is something to be said for an enormous authentic Italian pizza. Like a “Pizza Visuvio” in Naples, the original home of pizza. Or a calzone. Italians place a high value on food, and rightfully so. They aren’t afraid to send a dish back if for no other reason besides that they don’t like it. And meals are big events in Italy. The average meal in our nation (A “Fast Food Nation”) is ridiculously low compared to Italy. There, it is not uncommon for a meal to stretch to two or three hours, or more. As a result Italians are most often much healthier then Americans. They eat real food- food with real ingredients. Not food injected with hormones and chemicals or processed in a dirty factory. Their food contains real fresh ingredients, and it tastes better than I could describe with words. It’s like a partito in bocca, a party in your mouth.

In short, Italian culture is superior because of Armani, Ferrari, and pizza con carne. Italians know how to live much better than Americans. Questo Credo.  This I believe.

Here it is, the last blog post:

Character/ American Dream-After changing my clothes I went next door and found Mr. Gatz walking up and down excitedly in the hall. His pride in his son and in his son’s possessions was continually increasing and now he had something to show me.

“Jimmy sent me this picture.” He took out his wallet with trembling fingers. “Look there.”

It was a photograph of the house, cracked in the corners and dirty with many hands. He pointed out every detail to me eagerly. “Look there!” and then sought admiration from my eyes. He had shown it so often that I think it was more real to him now than the house itself.

“Jimmy sent it to me. I think it’s a very pretty picture. It shows up well.”

Here we meet Gatsby’s father for the first time. His name is Gatz, actually. Anyway, in this passage i couldn’t help but notice how proud he is of his son. It was the same way when he first walked in to that great mansion of his. It seems to take away from the sheer darkness of the way the book is ending. Think about it. Gatsby doen’t get Daisy, he gets killed. That is quite a powerful ending. But Mr. Gatz is a random but well-placed bright spot in the story. He is sort of living the American Dream vicariously through his son. His son was helping him out financially apparently. I suppose that suold be part of the American Dream as well- being able to take care of your family financially. That no doubt probably brought Gatsby great happiness, to buy that house for his dad. It appears that his dad has been happy. I personally think that comes from how he doesn’t appear to really care too much about money, at least for himself…

Color/ American Dream:

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning——

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Now we can sort of put the pieces together. The green light represented so much. Remember that we first see Gatsby with his arms reached out towards the light. That light represented Daisy and his dream, his American Dream. And so the book really comes full circle with these final few paragraphs. Fitzgerald, through Nick, compares the green light to a future that eludes us year by year. This is a commentary from Fitzgerald as to how, in many cases, the American Dream is unattainable. It is something that will never be enough once you get caught up in it. That’s how our “boat” is against the “current”. The deck is stacked against those with the American Dream. Think, too, that the two characters in the book chasing the American Dream the most end up dead.

It was dawn now on Long Island and we went about opening the rest of the windows down-stairs, filling the house with gray-turning, gold-turning light. The shadow of a tree fell abruptly across the dew and ghostly birds began to sing among the blue leaves. There was a slow, pleasant movement in the air, scarcely a wind, promising a cool, lovely day.

It seems so strange that the gray and gold light are both affecting the house at the same time. The gray conveys a strong image and contributes to the empty feeling inside the house. It is so big, but there is a lack of luster or sparkle about it. Gatsby has gone to great lengths to make it golden inside: he wants to give the impression of old  money. So, of course, the gold turning light is appropriate. He has spent all this time, effort, and money all with the object of getting Daisy and so the gray light sort of hints at the vanity of it all, because, after all, she doesn’t end up siding with Gatsby.

American Dream-

It was nine o’clock when we finished breakfast and went out on the porch. The night had made a sharp difference in the weather and there was an autumn flavor in the air. The gardener, the last one of Gatsby’s former servants, came to the foot of the steps.

“I’m going to drain the pool to-day, Mr. Gatsby. Leaves’ll start falling pretty soon, and then there’s always trouble with the pipes.”

“Don’t do it to-day,” Gatsby answered. He turned to me apologetically. “You know, old sport, I’ve never used that pool all summer?”

Fitzgerald pokes fun at the ridiculousness of some of the material things the rich are so concerned about. Here Gatsby has this great pool right there on his property, and yet he hasn’t used it all summer. As we learned in the previous chapter, it got pretty hot that summer. So why does he need a pool if he doesn’t use it? Many people of that class have things and get things just for appearance- just to have them, for show. Throughout the book I believe Fitzgerald has been saying that the American Dream perhaps shouldn’t be so overtly materialistic. Maybe it should be more about family, friends, and happiness. After all, Gatsby is really short on friends and at this point, we are not even aware of any family. He is really short on happiness due to the emptiness he feels without the companionship of Daisy.

Character- George Wilson has gone through a lot of crazy stuff recently. He has learned of his wife’s affair, but then she is killed by a hit and run car accident. In this passage, George talks with Mikaelis even though he is pretty looney and foggy from the recent events. He is fascinated by the big eyes of the TJ Eckelburg advertisement. He says that they remind him of god, and how “God sees everything”. He tells Michaelis that he told Myrtle that God knows what she had been doing. The way Fitzgerald describes through Nick’s future knowledge the dialoguee and events, we know that Wilson is gonna blow soon. He is completely crazy. Pretty soon, he ends up tracing the car and finding the way to Gatsby’s house. Then he kills Gatsby. And himself. Personally, from the last few paragraphs I didn’t understand that Gatsby was dead. I thought that Gatsby ended up killing George. Perhaps Fitzgerald created a desire in his readers- so that they wanted to believe he was still alive. Either way, the complicated “beginning of the end” of the story was masterfully done.