The Great Gatsby- 4

"Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness." page 22


At first I didn't know if this had any relevance at all but after reading the first half of the book, I definitely think the green light is a symbol. I was confused as to why Gatsby was staring at a dock. This was also when little was known about Gatsby's character so he appeared mysterious and like he was hiding deep secrets. We later find out that the green light was at the end of Daisy's dock and Gatsby is in love with Daisy so he likes to look out and know that he can see her. I think the green light represents Gatsby's hope for the future. As long as he can see that green light, he believes that there is a chance for him to be happy with Daisy. I think it represents everyone's dreams as well. The green light is like that light at the end of the tunnel. If we see even a slight possibility that something can still happen, then we believe it and we hope for it. 

The Great Gatsby- 3

"Oh, I'll stay in the East, don't you worry," he said, glancing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more. "I'd be a God damned fool to live anywhere else." page 10


I think the setting and time period of this book plays an important part to the theme and conflict. The book takes place in the early 1920's. It's after the war and people are obsessed with this idea of the American dream. Everyone wants to be rich and successful and be associated with rich and successful people. However, this leads to a lot of people hiding things, like Jordan's lies and Tom cheating on Daisy. The setting is also important. I sense almost a rivalry between people that live in the West and East Egg. More rich people seem to live in the East egg. I think they are more of the people who have become successful through business and are seen as a higher class. The West Egg people aren't poor, but I feel like they are on a lower scale. Gatsby appears to be the only rich and successful person living in the West Egg. I think this setting plays into the fact that people think they are better than others and keep trying to upstage one another, like Tom's comment above hints at the fact that he thinks he is better than West Egg residents.

The Great Gatsby- 2

"Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward." page 7


I think characterization is achieved a lot by physical descriptions in this book. Every time a new character is introduced, an in depth physical description is given and I can immediately picture exactly what the character looks like and what kind of personality they have. The above quote is describing Tom and I immediately became almost threatened by his character. He seems very overbearing and seems like he always wants to be in charge. All of that comes from Nick's description of him, his "hard mouth" and "learning forward aggressively". Nick also describes Mr. Wolfsheim as a small, flat-nosed Jew...I discovered his tiny eyes in the half-darkness". This gives off the impression that Mr. Wolfsheim is secretive or sneaky. We soon learn that he is a gambler. I think the physical descriptions are an excellent depiction of the characters.

The Great Gatsby- 1

"At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes" page 57


I think Nick and Gatsby are parallel characters. From the outside, they appear quite different because Gatsby is rich and owns a huge mansion and is very successful while Nick doesn't really know many people, doesn't have much money and isn't very successful in the business world. However, I think they actually have a lot in common. They were both in the war which I think affected both of them. Gatsby even says that he wanted to die in the war. I think the thing they most have in common, is their desire for something greater than possessions. I think they both want companionship. Gatsby pines for Daisy and has waited for five years just to see her again. He is rich and successful but deep down he is lonely and only wants Daisy. Nick is also lonely as seen in the above quote. He wants to be happy and is searching for a companion. He thinks he might be in love with Jordan but he has a "situation" back home that he has to figure out. 

Mr. Kirwin

"Mr. Kirwin had shown me extreme kindness"
"His countenance expressed sympathy and compassion"
page 131


This may not be relevant to the plot line but I was really interested by the fact that Mr. Kirwin was so compassionate towards Victor. Everyone in the town thinks Victor killed Henry and keep giving him dirty looks and scorning him. Yet Mr. Kirwin gets him the best room and continuously checks on him. I really wanted to know why! Maybe it was revealed and I just missed it, but it seemed like Mr. Kirwin just genuinely cared about Victor even though they had just met. I think he truly believed the story Victor told about the creature. I kept waiting for him to tell some story about how he understood where Victor was coming from because he had been through something similar. Or a story that he saw the creature. Or he was somehow connected to Henry. Anything! But there was no connection or explanation which means that Mr. Kirwin represented the few characters in the book who just did something out of the kindness of their hearts. There was no motive or incentive or what's in it for me. I like that guy.

The Bride of Frankenstein

"I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy it's own peace at the price perhaps of the existence of the whole human race" page 121


I understand where Victor is coming from when he says this. He knows he has already caused so much pain so he doesn't want to risk endangering more people. However, I don't think not creating the female creature was a good idea. Victor knows that by not creating the female creature, he will anger the monster and that anger could result in murder. The monster gave him is word that he would leave and never harm Victor if Victor granted him this wish. I know Victor probably doesn't trust the creature because he killed William but I think Victor owes it to the creature to follow through. Victor hasn't given the monster anything at all and he was the one who created it. I think Victor should have followed through with his plan because it could have potentially made the creature happy. This happiness would have resulted in Victor and Elizabeth being safe and happy. So I'm not sure exactly what Victor was thinking. 

Why?

"but I was the slave, not the master, of an impulse, which I detested, yet could not disobey" page 164


This is interesting because the creature kept telling Victor that he was the slave and the creature was the master. Now the creature is calling himself the slave. I think he is saying this because deep down the creature didn't want to hurt people. I don't think the creature was "born" evil because he first reaches out to Victor and he wants to be a part of the De Lacey family. The creature only became bad because of how society treated him. The creature had absolutely no one to turn to. He tried everything he could to get people to accept him but no one would. When Victor doesn't make the female creature, he destroys the creature's last hopes of happiness. Because of this, I think the creature felt like he had to kill Victor. He was fixated on this idea that making Victor's life miserable was his purpose in life because Victor had robbed him of a chance to enjoy his own life. I don't think the creature killed Victor's loved ones out of pure malice. I think he did it because he felt alone and betrayed. He was hurt so deeply that he had to hurt others to attempt at making himself feel better.