Sunday, March 14, 2010

class entry

Last weekend, we were instructed to finish reading The Great Gatsby. This was relieving since I didn’t really enjoy the novel very much. I was however rather surpised by the solemn ending- Gatsby is murdered in cold blood by Wilson, who learns from Tom Buchanan that Gatsby was responsible for Myrtle’s death. This of course we know is not true since Gatsby was merely covering up for Daisy who was the only thing that every meant anything to him in his life. After his death, hardly any of the book’s major characters show up to Gatsby’s funeral. This shows that despite his riches and his glamour, he died a lonely man devoid of love and a purpose in life. And though I really didn’t like the novel, it taught me that riches can never by happiness which is an important lesson to learn.

This weekend, our task was to finish reading As I Lay Dying, a novel which unlike The Great Gatsby, I find it hard to find some deep underlying meaning that can be applied to everyday life. The story follows a family who are on a quest to bury their dead wife/mother. Along the way they are befallen by numerous misfortunes- Cash breaks his leg in the river-crossing (and the family stupidly pours cement on his leg to simulate a cast), Dewey Dell gets pregnant, Darl goes insane, Jewel just gets really pissed off all of time, and Addie, all along, is left to rot in a 2 X 6 wooden box with a hole in her face (thanks to Vardaman). And all of this information is left jumbled up in time, written in 15 different dialects, leaving the reader, hitting himself in the head, trying to discern it all. That’s all fine and well, if there was some sort of message to the whole novel. I mean their probably is but I certainly don’t get it and I don’t think anyone else in our class does either. Though it was amusing at times, I must say im glad its finally coming to a close.

This upcoming week we have an allusions quiz as well. I though it was last Wednesday and im pretty glad I was mistaken because now I know most of the allusions. 80 allusions is a ridiculous amount to learn for one quiz. I wish we could have just had a bunch of quizzes in smaller intervals rather than just taking one over ALL of them. Plus I need more quizzes (my quiz average is laying my grade to waste).

I’m also hoping I did well on my essay which I think we are getting back sometime next week as well. I don’t know though since I ended up changing my topic and rewriting my essay the weekend before it was due! My topic was just too complicated and I couldn’t really turn into an actual argument because it just sounded like a history lesson. Oh well, I feel pretty good about this essay so we’ll just have to see.

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