The Tone Determines the Poem

The tone in “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” changes according to the reader who interprets the poem. In the first possible interpretation, the main conflict is between hard toil and laziness. While Icarus flies up in the air, enjoying himself and the wings that help him enjoy his freedom in the air, peasants and farmers work hard on land tilting the soil. When this conflict is considered, Williams’ tone is sarcastic because no body realizes the falling Icarus. As those on the land are much busy with dealing with the soil, they are concerned with their own work only. To support this tone, the poet uses such words as “concerned,” “sweating”, “unsignificantly” and “unnoticed”. When these words are combined, the great tragedy of Icarus becomes insignificant. Therefore, it is sarcastic.

A second interpretation may be given as the conflict between ignorance and knowledge. The busy peasants deal with agriculture, which means that they are ignorant about technology. Icarus represents technology and his flight signifies the beginning of aerospace research and aeronautics. He is like a pioneer astronaut who becomes a martyr of technological inquiry. When we read the poem from this perspective, the tone of the poet becomes bitter because he is sorry for Icarus and angry the ignorant farmers. In this interpretation, the words given about becomes quite opposite of the meaning in the first interpretation.

Besides these words, Williams does not use any punctuation, which supports the continuity of the tone. The reader has to read the entire poem non-stop and without taking and breath. Eventually, by the end of the poem the breath will be exhaled completely, which signifies death or “drowning.” Form wise, Williams uses seven stanzas of three short lines each, which speeds up the reading pace.

In “Out, Out-,” Robert Frost tells a terrifying story of a boy who chops his hand while cutting wood for the stove. As his concentration shifts from his work to his sister’s call for “supper,” he loses his hand because the saw cuts it off. First, the boy laughs bitterly, unable to understand what has happened to him. Second, he begs that the doctor not cut off his hand. Finally, the doctor operates him but he passes away during the operation. His heart beatings become “little-less-nothing”. As he dies, life goes on as it used to be. Frost’s poem, unlike Williams’, is written in an easy tone in the beginning but the tone becomes more and more serious and it becomes terrifying at the end of the poem. Frost writes his poem in a form without any break. It is a poem of thirty-four longer lines. However, he uses punctuation such as the hyphen to make the reader stop, think, and empathize. For instance, the reader stops when the boy’s hand leaps, when the boy sees all and understands when he understands that he is a boy doing a man’s work, and when he begs for his hand, not to be cut off. These are crucial instances when the boy gets mature too fast to die finally.

Week in Antalya

Sunshine

Dazzling, sizzling

Stable, soft, relaxing

Warmth, lethargic, timid, soothing

Music

Waves,

Foamy, salty

Ebbing, flowing, melting

Thirsty, freshness, wetness, waiting

Dragging

Mountains

Purple, erect

Running, walking, jogging

Freedom, liberty, joy, comfort

Sublime

Master of the Strings

I have been learning how to play the guitar. The instrument seems quite simple but it demands a lot of energy and exercising. It's not easy to play the guitar, I have learned it. The reason why I'm putting much effort in the practice is because I love metal and rock. Metallica seems to be an old band who's songs are still being played and listened to. One of its famous songs, Master of Puppets has me do something, at random lately. The title of the song is strange. It seems to be connected with the world today. There are masters who posses power to rule the earth. They hold the strings of millions of people. People are treated as if they are puppets but my interpretation of the title is quite different. I presume the guitar player to be the master of the strings of the guitar, and the guitar, the puppet. Thats all folks.

Gatsby on Digiturk!!!

A few days ago, I was amazed to have been informed that the latest version of The Great Gatsby would appear on Digiturk. I remember having watched the previous one in which Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek were starring. It was a beautiful film which was much loyal to Fitzgerald's original text. Moreover, it gave the atmosphere of the novel very well. However, in the last version, there were a lot missing. The atmosphere was much gloomier and the scenes were more episodic, that is, the story line would not flow naturally. The characters were not selected appropriately. The actor that was playing Gatsby was not Gatsby at all. He was an ordinary guy who still lived in those years when he was James Gatz. To become Gatsby, one needs to develop charisma and appeal. Daisy was not Daisy either. She was more innocent where as she had to be more cunning and evil. The only person who looked exactly the character in the novel was George Wilson, not Nick. The actor who played the part of Wilson didn't have to do much so as to develop his role. He simply played the part of the simple man as a simple man. I strongly recommend that you watch the original version if you don't want to get frustrated. Or, you might as well read the novel, which is a better choice.

Hamlet's Soliloquy with George Wilson

George Wilson, the mechanic, plays a central role in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Wilson resides in the Valley of Ashes, a land where “ash grows” upon “ash-grey men.” Lifelessness prevails in the valley. There is no hope for a better future, no life which promises a human expectation and no life energy to sustain one’s self. Were George Wilson familiar with the passage, he would appreciate Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy. It does not matter much for those like him whether to go on living or to die because there is no much difference between the lives they lead and death. George Wilson may psychologically choose either way out because he is lonely. He cannot develop a sense of belonging and he is completely frustrated with his life.

George Wilson does not find any meaning in sustaining his life because he suffers psychologically from an extreme sense to loneliness. His loneliness is due to the fact that he cannot rely on himself like a romantic poet. He seeks for establishing communication with his customers, trying to serve them in the best possible way. He fills in their gas tanks, repairs their cars and he only wishes to exchange a few words. No matter what he does, he is humiliated and rejected by those like Tom Buchanan. Moreover, he wants to share his loneliness with his beloved life Myrtle, who cheats on him and despises him. He cannot share his loneliness with Myrtle because he is a stranger to Myrtle’s world as much as he is a stranger to the world of others. Therefore, when Myrtle is killed in a car accident he is completely left alone and he is confronted with no choice but to commit suicide. For Wilson, the lonely man does not know whether he should fight or quit, to “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles.”

Wilson cannot sustain his life because he cannot develop a sense of belonging. He cannot belong to either of the Eggs, to any part of the society that parades in front of his garage. He is isolated in his garage from which he wants to escape with his wife. He cannot do it either. He only belongs to the Valley of Ashes although he does not want to. Belonging to the valley means belonging to the land of the dead. Although he seems to be living, he is psychologically dead in the valley. Therefore, it does not matter much to think about whether “to be or not to be” in the Valley of Ashes where he belongs. He is like a ghost who is and is not at the same time just like Hamlet who is between life and death when he quotes “For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely the pangs of despised love, the law’s delay.”

Wilson is frustrated with life because he’s not clear on his future. His frustration with life is augmented with the death of Myrtle. With the death of Myrtle, George Wilson is unable to find a reason why he should continue living. Myrtle’s death creates some vacuum in Wilson’s life. To begin with, after Myrtle’s death, Wilson is left without an ideal in life. Then, he is frustrated as he has lost his partner in life. Finally, his frustration leads him to a point where there it does not matter whether he lives nor not. This same feeling is seen by Hamlet when he says, “To grunt and sweat under a weary life.”

“To be or not to be” does not make a difference of choice for Wilson since he is dragged into an inevitable loneliness, belonging to nowhere and a tragic frustration. The psychology of a man as he is cannot be restored because these are traumatic experiences and there is no cure for them. Under these circumstances, Wilson will eventually choose death as a path to escape from life. Anyway, “to be” is identical for him with “not to be.”

The Car: A Vehicle of Cataclysm

"Cars were the symbol of the new consumer society that emerged in the 1920s. In 1919, there were just 6.7 million cars on American roads. By 1929, there were more than 27 million cars--or nearly one car for every household in the United States. In that year, one American out of every five owned a car--compared to one out of every 37 English and one out of every 40 French car owners. Car manufacturers and banks encouraged the public to buy the car of their dreams on credit. Thus, the American love affair with the car began." (The Consumer Economy and Mass Entertainment)

Cars have a significant role in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. If the cars in the novel were taken out of the plot, the novel would collapse. Fitzgerald brings the cars in the novel to the foreground in order to critize the American Consumer Economy, which became catastrophic in 1929. The consumer mentality became a race of buying the most extravagant and expensive car so that the car would serve as a symbol of one's status. Gatsby's car, a Rolls Royce, is definately much more expensive than Tom Buchanan's car. While these two cars are racing in the novel, those who are poor, like the Wilsons watch the race. They owe their survival to the cars, which are serviced by Wilson. However, ironically and tragically their death comes from the cars. Myrtle Wilson is run over by the Rolls Royce, which forces George Wilson to destroy the monster that drives the car. As he kills Gatsby, he also commits suicide.

Fitzgerald's prophecy is that cars bring destruction, if they are not merely taken as transportation vehicles. If they are taken as objects of show-off(as in Turkey) and invested a lot of money, the result will be both economically and spiritually a great depression as it was for the Americans by the end of the 1920's.

Worshipping Money

"That was always my experience-- a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school; a poor boy in a rich man's club at Princeton ... . However, I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works."

F. Scott Fitzgerald hates those who are rich but ironically he has created a great character with the legendary name of The Great Gatsby, which stands for legendary richness. Although readers of the novel are expected to hate Gatsby as a rich man from the viewpoint of the writer's perspective, they do not. Why do not they hate Gatsby? It is because Fitzgerald did not create Gatsby as a rich man without any human touch. Gatsby is romantic. He is a good lover. He is loyal and he can sacrifice all his wealth, just to win Daisy and her dedication. Therefore, Gatsby is not a typical, inhuman, materialistic rich man. He exploits the powers the richness to attain Daisy. Because of this, Gatsby is Fitzgerald himself, who is not a money worshipper.

Fitzgerald, participating in The Great Gatsby

"Unwilling to wait while Fitzgerald succeeded in the advertisement business and unwilling to live on his small salary, Zelda Sayre broke their engagement."

From this quotation, there appear certain affinities between Fitzgerald's life and his novel, The Great Gatsby. The first affinity arrises between Zelda Sayre and Daisy Buchanan. Both women signify a breaking of the engagement with their male partners. In Fitzgerald's life, Zelda escapes, in Gatsby's life, Daisy escapes. Therefore, Fitzgerald and Gatsby are almost identical with each other. The quotation also suggests that Fitzgerald was in the advertisement business. The same business appears in the novel with the gigantic sign post of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. The "small salary" in the novel can be attributed to Wilson, the poor mechanic. The sign overlooks Wilson's gas station. Therefore, in a way there is an affinity between the poor Fitzgerald and Wilson.

The Great Gatsby: Chapter Nine Summary, Imaginary Journal & Post Reflection

Summary

Together with a third character group, two opposite character groups appear in Chapter Nine, which is about Gatsby’s funeral. These two character groups are those, who do not attend Gatsby’s funeral and try to escape from the atmosphere and responsibility of the funeral and these people who are the betrayers of Gatsby, of course Tom and Daisy. Also, neither Meyer Wolfshiem, nor Jordan Baker came to the funeral. All of these people are betrayers. They are not true friends. Tom and Daisy “left no address” and they disappeared. Wolfshiem “gone to Chicago” (p. 161) because he says “I can’t do it – I can’t get mixed up in it” (p. 163). Nick wants to break up with Jordan Baker but she says “that she was engaged to another man” (p. 168). These characters do not have emotions and they cannot love other people. They are selfish. In the third group of characters, there is Nick, Gatsby’s father. These characters are opposite to the first group because they are loyal to friendship and true love. Nick tries to call everybody to the funeral. However, he says, “but it wasn’t any use. Nobody came” (p. 165). Henry G. Gatz also belongs to this group. Although his son did not care for him, he came to his funeral and he is still proud of his son. He says, “He had a big future before him, you know. He was only a young man, but he had a lot of brain power here” (p. 159). The last group of characters is people who gossip and journalists. This third group feeds on “grotesque, circumstantial, eager, and untrue” (p. 155) reports. They lie and they tell stories which people want to hear.

Imaginary Journal(Tom Buchanan)

He killed him! George Wilson killed Gatsby. He killed Gatsby and he killed himself too. This is too violent but Gatsby deserved it. He shot him while he was swimming in the pool. Now, everything will be mixed up. Daisy and I better go from this place. I have to leave Long Island as soon as possible and take away Daisy too. Poor Myrtle, we used to have great fun in the apartment in New York. I have to give the apartment back. I bet Nick will try to get in touch with me and call me and Daisy to the funeral. But I told the servants at home not to tell him anything about where we are. I do not want to attend the funeral because I hated Gatsby. By the way he was not “great” at all.

Post Reflection

Physical force in The Great Gatsby is observed in four places. The first and the most impressive show of physical force is when Gatsby’s yellow Rolls Royce, driven by Daisy, runs over Myrtle Wilson. The car and its brand are the symbols of wealth and finance. The second one is when George Wilson takes a gun and goes to Gatsby’s Mansion to kill him. Being a poor man, he decides to fight against the cruel power of money by showing physical force. The gun and the bullet are the symbols of physical force. The third place, where physical force is used by finance, corporations and money institutions is the Valley of Ashes. There are “ash – grey man”, who are factory workers. They have to work hard and probably they do not earn more than George Wilson does. Finally this same physical force caused Nick Carraway come to West Egg from the mid-West. He has to earn money because without money, he cannot be a respectable man in the American society. Therefore, physical force is the money, which is like “the future that year by year recedes before us”, says Nick Carraway. The hope of becoming rich and powerful is the in the American dream.

The Great Gatsby: Chapter Eight Summary & Imaginary Journal

Summary

"I can't describe to you how surprised I was to find out I loved her, old sport. I even hoped for a while that she's throw me over, but she didn't, because she was in love with me too. She thought I knew a lot because I knew different things from her... Well, there I was, 'way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn't care. What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do? (p. 142 - 143)

The significance of the above paragraph is its implication of three facts about Gatsby's character. These are his moral, social and behavioral aspects of his character. Morally speaking, Gatsby is a person for whom love is a moral value. He does not cheat Daisy or betray her. For him, love is not sexuality. Love is a value which two people share with each other. On the other hand, Daisy betrays him because she does not call him or come to see him. Gatsby says, "I waited, and about four o'clock she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light" (p. 140). Socially speaking, Gatsby is an asocial person. In the above paragraph, it is implied that he does not mention anybody else but Daisy. His love for Daisy has made him an asocial. However, once he tricked Daisy as if he was a person who was respected in society. Nick says, "He (Gatsby) had certainly taken her under false pretences" and he continues "he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself" (p. 142). Therefore, Gatsby does not have anything to do with society but his mind is full of Daisy and her love to him. Behaviorally speaking, the above paragraph shows that Gatsby has not behaved and will not behave as required from him. Although, Nick tells him "You ought to go away. It's pretty certain they'll trace your car", he does not go (p. 140). This is because of his love for Daisy. Daisy once gave him hope and he still lives with that hope. Nick says, "He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn't bear to shake him free" (p. 141). Gatsby's behavior is not right because he is still in a dream. He must wake up but he cannot because Wilson kills him with a gun.

Imaginary Response(Tom Buchanan)

Daisy can never leave me because only I can protect her. Gatsby thinks that I will beat her but I will not. He must be waiting at home for a telephone call from Daisy. But Daisy will not call him back because I will take her away from this place so that she forgets everything about Gatsby and the accident. Now she goes to the window and she stands there for a while but then she turns of the light. Gatsby must be frustrated. He must have been used to getting everything he wants. But he cannot get Daisy because she is not his type. I wonder what he will do when the police arrest him for Myrtle's murder. Poor George Wilson, he lost his wife to me but she died because of Gatsby. I'm afraid, when he learns that Gatsby murdered Myrtle, he will kill him.

Key Sentences

1) I waited, and about four o'clock she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light. (p. 140)
2) He had certainly taken her under false pretences...he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself. (p. 142)
3) You ought to go away. It's pretty certain they'll trace your car. (p. 140)
4) He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn't bear to shake him free. (p. 141)
5) God sees everything. (p. 152)
6) If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. (p. 153)

The Great Gatsby: Chapter Seven Summary & Imaginary Journal

Summary

In the first part, Fitzgerald uses the literary device of hot weather to produce the overall effect of choaking. It is as if characters cannot get fresh air and they continuously sweat. If it rained everything would return to normal but extreme heat and hotness of the sun do not permit characters to be relaxed and cooled down. Everywhere is “broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer” (p.109). Fitzgerald makes the conductor of the train repeat hotness over and over again, “Some weather!...Hot!...Hot!...Hot!... Is it hot enough for you?”(p.109) In the second part, where all characters go to Plaza Hotel “to the side of Central Park” they are still under the effect of the hot weather. Fitzgerald uses hotness of the weather on his second part to produce the overall effect of confusion as Nick explains: “The relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me” (p. 118). This confusion produces a conflict between the characters, especially between Gatsby and Tom. There are three points of conflict between them. One of them is Gatsby’s picking up “old sport”(p.121). The second one is that Gatsby is not “an Oxford man”(p.122). The third one is Gatsby’s bootlegging “in Chicago”(p.127) and selling “grain alcohol over the counter”(p.127). In the third part, Fitzgerald uses the literary device of an accident in front of George Wilson’s garage to produce the overall effect of violence. Although Fitzgerald does not give the actual scene, the reader understands the violence by the words of a police man “auto hit her. Ins’antly killed”(p. 133). The police man says “she ran out ina road. Son-of-a-bitch didn’t even stopus car” (p.133). The effect of violence is more than the actual scene. Fitzgerald provides the reader with the following insight about Gatsby that he is ready to face everything in order to have Daisy. He keeps on waiting for her and he is ready to get the responsibility of the accident on him, saying “but of course I’ll say I was.” (p. 137)

Imaginary Journal

I have made inquiry about Gatsby. He uses “old sport” very often. This shows that he comes from a vulgar background. He is not a gentleman. He did not attend Oxford at all. He had been in bootleggin business with Meyer Wolfshiem. Although he says that he and Daisy love each other, Daisy does not have a choice to be with such a man. She needs both money and aristocratic reputation. I will show Gatsby that Daisy will always return to me. But this accident! Myrtle Wilson is killed. It must have been Gatsby, who ran over her. This will finish him off.

Key Sentences

1) Some weather!...Hot!...Hot!...Hot!... Is it hot enough for you? (p. 109)
2) The relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me and I had a bad moment. (p. 118)
3) Why not let her alone, old sport? (p. 121)
4) Your wife doesn't love you, said Gatsby. She's never loved you. She loves me. (p. 124)
5) Yes, he said after a moment, but of course I'll say I was. (p. 137)