Class Entry- 3/7/10

I am now doing the journal entry that I need to make up from last week because I missed so much school that week. I remember doing the activity where we had to pick the word from As I Lay Dying that we thought was most important. I chose the word fish. I thought it was the most important word in the story because it shows how upsetting the death of Addie was for the entire Bundren family, especially Vardaman. I think that small children are always the best indicators of how upsetting an event is because they don’t know how to hide their emotions as well as adults and their behavior is always affected. Vardaman is quite upset and he is acting weird, talking about how his mother is a fish, so I would say this event is quite upsetting. There is logic in Vardaman saying that his mother is like a fish though because the Bundrens are disrespecting Addie’s body the same way you would a fish you’re about to eat. Also, I liked the activity with the song “The Other Woman.” I feel like that song related to Myrtle in The Great Gatsby so well. Myrtle always enchanted Tom and she was always right there when Tom called for her. But, Myrtle will never “have his love to keep” because Tom will always go back to Daisy. Myrtle will be alone. She won’t really be alone, because she has her husband, but she’ll feel alone because she won’t have the guy she wants. This song also relates to Gatsby. He’s not the other woman, but the other man. He’s always trying to impress Daisy with material things and he is always nicely dressed for her, and he always is interesting to Daisy. He is always right where Daisy wants him. He always ends up sad or stressed out though because Daisy will always go back to Tom to protect her reputation. He never got to keep her love and he spent his life alone before he died. Daisy didn’t even attend the funeral because of everything that happened before he died as a result of his being the other man. I think that this song actually better suits Gatsby than Myrtle, although it does make sense for both of them. I think that we should sympathize with Myrtle Wilson because she really is getting played by Tom. He is not a good guy and she just keeps waiting and waiting on him. She is unhappy with her husband and she’s looking for an escape and she thinks of Tom as her escape, but he’s a jerk who broke her nose. I feel sorry for her. She’s going crazy. I also feel sorry for her husband though because I think that he is completely oblivious to what’s going on, and if he’s not, then he’s doing a really good job of hiding it. Myrtle is mean to him and treats him like a dog. Myrtle will forever be the other woman and that’s sad.