Emily's Super Cool Blogs (try to enjoy!)

Q: Marjane must learn new cultural expectations, including but not limited to religion, language, gender, and living situations. In what ways does this affect Marjane? In the second part of Persepolis Marjane moves to Europe. When she first moves there she notices that a lot of things she was used to was completely different than what the normal cultural expectations in Europe were. I think that the thing she would normally not do but she does anyway is smoking. This is from peer preassure not because she actually wants to but she wanted to fit in with the people she hung out with. She noticed that in Europe it was okay to have sex before marriage and she wasn't used to it. On page 186 Marjane was very disturbed but this changed her view later on in the book. She didn't think that sex before marriage was okay until the cultural difference started to have an influence on her on page 213 when she said that she was "too ugly for him to want her." Marjane chang...

I read a book called, Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld. It is about a society in which everyone turned “pretty” after their 16th birthday. Before they are 16 years old they are considered ugly. The two main characters are named Tally and Shay. Tally meets Shay and they become friends and they played a lot tricks. On the night before their birthdays (they had the same one) Shay asks Tally to run away to the Smoke. The Smoke is a place where people are all ugly but they live like normal people because they don't get the procedure to turn them pretty. Tally says no but later on this group called, Special Circumstances, questions Tally about Shay and tells her that she can’t turn pretty until she finds Shay with a note that only Tally can understand. Tally finds the Smoke but she ends up liking it. She lies to the people there until she feels like it’s her home. Special Circumstances gave her a pendant which would track her as soon as she opened it. It throws it in the fire assumi...

Of all the texts that we've read this year, which one is your favorite, and why? Which one is your least favorite, and why? My favorite text that we read this year was definitely The Great Gatsby. I liked The Great Gatsby because it is very lively and visual. I also enjoyed the movie with all of the colors and the actors. My least favorite book was The Merchant of Venice. I disliked this book because I don't understand Shakespear. To be honest I didn't really understand the book. For me it was a very bland book. The Great Gatsby and The Merchant of Venice are two very different books. In the end I prefer The Great Gatsby.

Write about anything having to do with The Great Gatsby that you have not already discussed or wish to expand upon. In other words - what interested you about this novel and what do you have to say about it? Something that I thought about while reading The Great Gatsby was the possibility of Daisy staying with Gatsby after the hotel scene. I think that it would be very different if they stayed together. I feel as if the death of Myrtle wouldn't have happened. If it did I think it would have been Tom who accidentally killed her because he would have been angered because Daisy chose Gatsby in this case. I also think that things between Gatsby and Daisy would be tense because she already stated that she loved Tom once. In conclusion, I believe that things would be more calm if Daisy stayed with Gatsby rather than Tom.

How does Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of the novel, fundamentally change over the course of the novel, and how is this change caused by the central conflict(s) that Gatsby faces? Use textual evidence to support your claim. I think that Gatsby's mood for Daisy changes over the book. In the beginning of the book he is very patient with Daisy, not to mention that he waited 5 years. Once he meets with her it is very awkward between them but Gatsby and Daisy finally get more comfortable with each other. Then his love grows more and more intense for her. Soon it becomes kind of controlling and desperate in my point of view. “Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby. "I love you now – isn't that enough? I can't help what's past." She began to sob helplessly. "I did love him once – but I loved you too." (7.261) I think that this quote shows how Gatsby only wanted Daisy to love him and no one else. He then gets so angry and almost hurts To...

What is the climax (turning point) of the novel? How do you know? How is the central conflict addressed in the climax? Use textual evidence to back up your claims. There are two possible turning points in The Great Gatsby. They are when Gatsby and Daisy meet for the first time in a long time (chapter 5-6) and when Tom and Gatsby fight the hotel (chapter 7). I believe that the climax of the novel is when Tom and Gatsby fight in the hotel. This fight is over who loves Daisy more and Gatsby tells Tom that she loves him more and she always has. Tom disagrees but also admits that he has “cheated” and he says “And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time." (7.251-252) Later on in the book Daisy actually runs away with Tom instead of Gatsby, which makes Gatsby in a very melancholy manner. I think that this is the climax because after a climax there has to be a big fa...

Prompt: In chapter 5, when Daisy and Gatsby meet, how is weather used to create mood, and what mood(s) is created? In chapter 5, Gatsby and Daisy meet for the first time in 5 years. In the morning, when Gatsby sends people to Nick's house to fix it up a bit, it is raining. Gatsby is nervous and scared of reuniting with Daisy. Gatsby doesn't think that it will be the same between him and Daisy. When Daisy comes to Nick’s house it is still raining. When Nick and Daisy enter the house Nick expects Gatsby to be sitting in the same place he was before. To Nick’s surprise Gatsby is gone, but he then hears a knock at the door and he finds Gatsby drenched in rain. Gatsby goes into Nick’s house with a scared attitude and his meeting was very awkward with Daisy. Nick leaves but Gatsby catches him before he can and tells him he should stay and that the meeting was a big mistake. At this point it is still raining, but when Nick comes back he finds Gatsby glowing with happiness an...