Well, what can I say about this? This first chapter had a lot going on in it. When we discussed the story in class I noticed that I caught some of the main parts, but there was also a whole bunch that I definitely just missed. Reading through the book, I did not know that Benjy was the narrator. I had no idea how old any of the characters were either. I was slowly starting to put some of the pieces together, but I knew I was missing something. In reading the “cheat” way I started to put those pieces together slowly. I realized that Benjy, Caddy, Quentin(1) and Jason were all siblings. This helped me to understand a little bit more. Oh, and what is up with the obsession with Caddy? That is just not right! If I didn’t pick up on anything else, I definitely could not miss that point. Throughout this whole chapter that was a lot of what they were talking about. Caddy then loses her virginity and gets married and moves away. Benjy is very saddened by that, and he waits for her to come back. (Not realizing that she is not)In this chapter Quentin dies, but how? And who is the other Quentin? We know it is a female, but where did she come from? Time to read and find out…
A Surprise Ending January 30, 2007
The Great Gatsby was a book that I had never read before, and I can’t say I feel as though I missed out. I did find it interesting, but if I had been required to read it in high school, I am not so sure that I would have wanted to pick it up and read through it again. It took me a while to get into the story. I think that there are a lot of underlying ideas that are not so easy to get to. The beginning was a very slow read in the way that not much happened. What disappointed me most is that we didn’t even get to know Gatsby until close to half way through the book.
Toward the middle of the second half of the book was where I really started to get into the reading more. There were a lot of events that began to take place. There was action, and it was exciting. Gatsby, who was originally a quiet, to himself man, was all of a sudden being very straight forward with Tom about Daisy. Where did this come from? Why did he change?
When Myrtle got hit by the car, I was in shock. Everything started to just come through at this point. The story all came together, and everyone’s story was unraveled. I must say that in the beginning of the book I was not so sure I would want to continue it, but I am glad I did. Yes, it was a weird book, but it was interesting all the same.
A Change In the Story January 27, 2007
This is the first time reading this book for me. I am finding it a bit difficult to get through. There is so much and so little going on at the same time. I feel as though there is a lot of information given out in a short amount of time, but a lot of it doesn’t fully relate to the main idea of the story. I found it interesting that we did not find out who Gatsby truly was until around page 65. In the beginning there was not much talk of him at all. The only thing we read about were rumors about him, and who he might be. Turns out that none of these rumors are true. I am just not sure why he wasn’t formally introduced earlier on in the book, because well, it is the title. When he was finally introduced he was not the man I thought him up to be. I pictured him an older, grumpy man. Instead, he was younger, around Tom’s age. Then we soon find out about his relationship with Daisy. This whole idea is very interesting. Gatsby, however, maintains to keep this very low key and quiet. He goes out of his way entirely to make sure that this gets out to nobody. He gets very uneasy and tense when Daisy is in the picture. He always worries that she is not happy enough or that something is wrong. It seems as though his self-esteem is not very high.
What I Think About When I Hear “American Literature” January 18, 2007
When I hear “American Literature” I think about long and uninteresting books. Alot of these books are required to have been read throughout our years in elementary and high school. I always felt that when I had to read a book it became less interesting to me. I liked it better when I got to choose my own book, or was reading just for fun. Don’t get me wrong, I do love to read, but when it was a book I had to read, it was less enjoyable for me. So, when I hear “American Literature” that is what I relate it to.
Hello world! January 18, 2007
Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!
