erinc09’s Blog

In this set of chapters Janie stood up to her husband and left him, only to be put in another bad marriage. She had so many high hopes for her relationship with Joe/Jody. He was so inspirational and told her of his dreams to make a change in the world for black people. She was drawn to him, but was unfortunately disappointed when he became too powerful as mayor. Once again she was placed in a situation with a man that did not make her happy.

On page 48 there is a line that shows how Joe changed his morals and personality once he had power. “It was bad enough for white people, but when one of your own color could be so different it put you on a wonder. It was like seeing your sister turn into a ‘gator. A familiar strangeness. you keep seeing your sister in the ‘gator and the ‘gator in yours siter, and you’d rather not.” When Joe approached the town about making changes and promising a safe place for them they believed him. He seemed so promising, but like many people in our society the power got to him. His head became bigger and the things that mattered to him the most before did not seem as important. This is such a common thing for people to do. Once they get so used to having power they completely forget about who they were before. It is sad to see Janie get put in this position, because she left her husband thinking that Joe would be a much better match for her. She had so many high hopes, but they are not being fulfilled yet.

In chapters 1 and 2 of Their Eyes Were Watching God there was a lot about the women of the town gossiping about each other and about Janie, especially in the first few pages. There is a quote on page 6 that discusses it. “To start off wid, people like dem wastes up too much time puttin’ they mouf on things they don’t know nothin’ about. Now they got to look into me loving Tea Cake and see whether it was done right or not! They don’t know if life is a mess of corn-meal dumplings, and if love is a bed-quilt.” “So long as they get a name to gnaw on they don’t care whose it is, and wht about, ’specially if they can make it sound like evil.” It’s such a common trait for people to get into other people’s business and make it their own, especially these days. Instead of admitting to their own troubles they just focus on others and criticize them to make themselves feel better about their situation. All of these women had so many opinions about Janie but I’m sure that their lives aren’t perfect and that they have a few secrets that they could own up to, but they wouldn’t because it would ruin their image in society.

The topic of gossiping reminded me very much of The Great Gatsby because there was that whole issue of the women gossiping all the time in that novel as well. Seeing that in both books it was the women who were caught gossiping, it seems that it has become the steriotypical image for women.

The ability to feel sympathy is a big charactersitic that everyone shouldh ave and use at least a few times in their lives. There are points in time where it is only right moral to feel sorry for someone; it shows the truness of their character and where their values are. When Gatsby died Nick took on the role of planning his funeral and being there for him, een though he had only met the man a few months before. He oculd have easily avoided the responbility but he took it on because he wanted to do something good for Gatsby, and he knew no one else would. “..I began to look involunatirly out the windows for other cars. So did Gatsby’s father. And as the time passed and the servants came in and stood waiting in the hall, his eyes began to blink anxiously, and he spoke of the rain in a worried, uncertain way. The minister glanced several times at his watch, so I took him aside and asked him to wait for half an hour. But it wasn’t any use. Nobody came.” (174). Nick had so much sympathy for Gatsby and his father. He saw how everyone had used him for his Saturday night parties but they obviously did not care enough to show up. His dedication to his and Gatsby’s friendship showed how true and giving the American character can truly be. Nick is a good example of waht we should aim to be.

In American culture there has always been this idea that if you are rich or own something very expensive you will be respected more for it. This can be seen now more than ever, because people are becoming more and more materialistic. The Great Gatsby shows this a lot since it is set in a town where money is everywhere, so everyone tries to out do each other by seeing who can have the more luxurious house or car. This misconception of value being the most important aspect can be seen in this quote on page 149: “It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy–it increased her value in his eyes. He felt the presence all about the house..” It doesn’t seem right to me that Gatsby wanted to be with her more just because he knew that it would make him look good. The fact that he is placing value on a woman is also not right, but at the time I guess it was normal. That seems to sometimes be the case in our society today as well. However, it is such a misconception because deep down I don’t think anyone really respects others more when they have more money. It actually causes more intimidation, which is not necessarily  a good thing.

While reading chapter 7 Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship really began to go more public, to the point where it was so noticeable that Tom even knew. He had always been the one who galavanted all over New York and had affairs with multiple women, his most notorious one being Mr. Wilson’s wife. It had seemed like such a normal thing for him to do but he never thought about how it would feel to be in Daisy’s position. However, in this chapter he was definitely put in her shoes. This quote on page 119 really showed his jealousy and shock at the situation: “She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opneed a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as some one he knew a long time ago.” Many times readers can see characters just like Tom in their novels. It is a very common trait for people to think that something they are doing is fine until they are put in the opposite place and realize how terrible it is. It is almost as if they were just very ignorant before and did not want to admit that what they were doing was wrong. Affairs are perfect examples of this common trait. To the person committing the adultery it seems so right, but when they are then cheated on later they still feel sad. I liked that Daisy became the one in power and was able to make Tom feel astounded and jealous. She was always the one being left at home and knowing that her husband was having an affair, but this time she was the one in charge.

There is a paragraph in chapter 6 that I really enjoyed because i feel like it described a habit that all of us humans tend to do. On page 104 Nick is thinking to himself, “I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn’t been there before. Or perhaps I had merely grown used to it, grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy’s eyes. It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment.” Basically, Nick is saying how he became so used to the ways of West Egg and had become so immune to its harshness and unpleasantness that he did not even notice it anymore. It’s interesting to see how qualities that are so terrible can become so normal to us. We have allowed ourselves to accept bad characteristics as okay, but that is not right. Americans have almost set new standards because we don’t expect the best out of everything anymore; we have simply become so used to satisfactory things instead of hoping for the best we just hope for something that is good enough. It is not a very redeeming quality, but unfortunately it has become part of our lifestyle and part of the American character.

This quote can be applied to so many different things in our world today. One being that we have become so accustomed to the fact that our country is so industrialized. We have let it take over our lands, to the point where we don’t even really value nature and a clean environment. It was only very recently that people realized how far we had let this come and how necesarry it was to stop its spread. Finally people are coming to their senses and realizing that it is not normal or right to let your surroundings become so taken over by electronics or technology. Unfortunately we did not realize this until now when it is going to be that much harder to get back to a more normal environment.

Jay Gatsby always seems to be so put together, and he is known for his cool attitude. So far that was how I perceived him because that is all I have known him to be, but in this chapter I saw another side of him. When he finally gets the chance to see Daisy for the first time in years his nerves take over him and he becomes vulnerable. “She turned her head as there was a light dignified knocking at the front door. I went out and opened it. Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes” (86). I chose this quote because I feel that it perfectly shows how vulnerable the average American character really is. We always try to come off as strong and independent, but we can only pretend to be so stable until something comes along and strips us of that confidence and strength. Gatsby was able convince everyone that he was this smooth kind of guy, but his sudden breakdown over Daisy just proves that the American character can be easily brought to pieces by certain triggers. Everyone has their own personal thing that makes them fall, and in Gatsby’s case it was his nerves over seeing Daisy. However, it just showed how normal and human he actually is.

This reminds me a little of Moby Dick. All of the whalers on the ship, including Captain Ahab, came across as these fearless men who journeyed the seas and encountered all of this danger. However, when the name “Moby Dick” was mentioned they could not help but suddenly cower in fear. Moby Dick was the one thing that they could not pretend to not be afraid of. It is interesting to think about what makes everyone around you become so vulnerable, or even about yourself.

Throughout this novel I have noticed that the women are often pictured as the typical, very feminine type who just sit around in dresses and gossip. In the 1920s it was very unusual for women to really have a voice or to have the same rights as men, therefore I guess it is understandable why they are depicted like that in this book. On page 76 there was a quote that said, “..when we walked out of the room, the perals were around her neck and the inicident was over. Next day at five o’ clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver, and started off on a three months’ trip to the South Seas.” I liked this quote because it showed how people expected women to simply marry who was suitable for them even if they didn’t exactly love them. Daisy was having second thoughts on her marriage and you would think that her family and friends would support her, but instead they just pushed her into the marriage because that was what was “right.” It’s amazing how resilient the women had to be and how they had to pretend that they were always so happy.

Although women have definitely gained many more rights since the 1920s, there are still some people who believe that men are above women. Back when Hillary Clinton was running for president there were many mixed views. A lot of women supported her because they were so excited to finally have the chance to have a female leader, but a lot of people shut her down. They didn’t think a woman was capable of the job. When Hillary was seen getting teary eyed at a press conference they pointed out that she was too emotional and made such a big deal out of it, acting like a male would never be caught doing that and that the last thing we need is an emotional president. It’s just interesting to see how much women are often criticized for doing things that are only human.

In chapter 3 we are finally introduced to Gatsby and he actually seems pretty normal considering there are rumors that he killed a man. The chapter also exposed Nick to many new people of the town because he goes to Gatsby’s party. At the end, after all of his summer experiences, Nick says a statement that I enjoyed. He said, “Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (59). Many people think of the American character as an all around wholesome person. This could include one who never commits a crime, cheats, or lies. So far Nick seems to capture this image. He is fairly quiet and does not seem to talk badly about anyone, nor does he act like someone he is not. The fact that he believes himself to be very honest also fits into the classic American character image. He may turn out to be someone different than I expected later on in the book, but I have a feeling that he will continue to capture this steriotype.

The fact that Nick was able to make that statement about himself is a very big thing. Not many people can say that about themselves. I feel like in our society today honesty is really something that should be cherished because we are faced with lies every day. Honesty is a trait that we often look for in a friend, companion, or leader. Just last week we elected our new President, and I think a lot of people voted for him because they wanted an honest person to run the White House. Many Americans believe that Bush made some dishonest remarks about the war and economy to make things appear to be okay, but this lack of honesty just created anger. It just shows how honesty is such an important trait, and one that should be valued.

In this chapter I was kind of in awe at the remarks of some of the women. Women can be so catty and can say the rudest remarks without even realizing what they are doing. On page 34 I came across a quote that really showed this. “I amost made a mistake, too, I almost married a little kike who’d been after me for years. I knew he was below me. Everybody kept saying to me: ‘Lucille, that man’s ‘way below you!’ But if I hadn’t met Chester, he’d of got me for sure.” I feel as if the American character can often be characterized as one that is obsessed with social power and image, and this quote perfectly shows how much it is a part of their lives. They let it control their every action, to the point where they will make decisions not based on what will really make them happy but instead what will make them look good.

This quote reminds me very much of the society I live in today and the way that I see many people in Greenwich behave. I am not typically friends with these sort of people, but I definitely see this behavior at school in many of the girls or guys. They are so into wearing designer clothes or only being friends with the rich or popular people. Instead of finding true friends that they actually like they try and get to know the people that will make them boost their image. This can also be seen in the Greenwich moms who seem to only marry for money in some situations. I’m sure this is not only in Greenwich; it’s a pretty typical characteristic of every high school so it was a good quote to relate to.