Senses and Color: Motifs in The Great Gatsby

A major motif that I noticed in The Great Gatsby was attention to the senses. There is a lot of focus on that in the writing. Eyes themselves are a motif, shown in various passages, including the repeated mention of the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. But as I continued reading the book, I noted frequent mentions of the other senses as well. Everything from sights to sounds to smells are used as descriptors. Differences in characters' voices seem to be particularly important. Here is one example of sensory motif from the book:

"With enchanting murmurs, Daisy admired this aspect or that of the feudal silhouette against the sky, admired the gardens, the sparkling odors of jonquils and the frothy odor of hawthorn and plum blossoms and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate. It was strange to reach the marble steps and find no stir of bright dresses in and out the door and hear no sound but bird voices in the trees."

To add to the sensory experience, a motif in itself is color. Fitzgerald never fails to mention some sort of color in his descriptions as well. I noticed that gold and silver are mentioned a lot, such as gold items in Gatsby's house or the scenery of "pink and golden billow of foamy cloads above the sea." These particular colors may be emphasized to show riches, as a central theme of the book is rich people and their life as seen by a semi-outsider. And of course we know the significance of the green light for Gatsby. The color and sensory motif of the book definitely lends itself to the main story. As we get to know the characters, these motifs help to enrich our experience and interpretation of it.

Week 1: The Things They Carried and Thoughts on War

The Things They Carried reaffirmed my thoughts on war in general. I had a pretty limited knowledge base on the Vietnam War before this unit. However, from what I did know, I couldn't really understand why we were there in the first place. Yes, to stop the spread of communism, but it seems to me that there was a lot of unnecessary stuff going on. My personal belief is this: If we are going to fight a war, we need a strong purpose. For example, the Revolutionary War was to gain independence, and the Civil War resulted in reuniting the country. From reading this book, and from what I have learned about Vietnam in the past, I don't think the strong purpose was really there. Especially if you take into account the killing of innocent civilians, which happens in any war.

This is not to take away from the soldiers. It is very honorable that they serve our country. But for their lives to be endangered because of wars with vague purposes is not a good thing. From other war texts I have encountered, many have been from the soldiers' point of view, showing the hardships they have to go through when they are fighting a war, such as Fallen Angels, which The Things They Carried did as well. It helps to gain an understanding of what they are actually going through. However, many times the actual events of the war are glossed over in real life, and texts like The Things They Carried let us know what really goes on. I think that is the most important thing. We should be more engaged with the wars that are happening. Hopefully by doing so we can realize its true purpose, or lack there of, in order to take action to stop any unneccessary fighting.

Op-Ed: Fostering a New Activism

This piece I found on the LA Times site is about the changing views of homosexuality. A large part of it is based on an interview with Alan Weeks, a 78 year old gay man from Los Angeles. He talked about his experiences being gay before there was such a gigantic taboo. This is an effective persuasive piece because it shows how, years ago, even though people weren't open about it, being gay wasn't considered this huge deal. I think this article shows that there can be a life without these unnecessary prejudices. I don't think anyone should have to hide who they are, such as Weeks did. But, the article does show that as a society we can all treat each other as equals, and no harm can come from that, as we should all know.
Fostering A New Activism

Indian Boarding Schools and Cochlear Implants

It's clear that the motivations for the Indian Boarding Schools were based on prejudice. The people that ran and supported the schools wanted to eliminate any sign of Native American culture. Heather's parents in Sound and Fury were afraid that the cochlear implant was an endeavor to eliminate deaf culture, like the boarding schools strived to eliminate Native American culture. I can see many similarities here. Many boarding school attendees weren't allowed to go home, or to participate in their culture at all. This was seen in the cochlear implant schools that focused solely on speech, as well as the children with implants of hearing parents, who choose not to make them aware of their deafness and deaf culture. By sometimes not even being aware that they are--or were--deaf, they lose a part of themselves just as the Native American children did when they were forced into these boarding schools.



I think that the major difference between the Indian Boarding Schools and the cochlear implant controversy is that most of the people behind the boarding schools were doing what they were doing out of prejudice. While Heather's parents thought that the hearing people supporting the cochlear implants were out to eliminate deafness and deaf culture out of prejudice, most of them just wanted to help deaf children have an easier life. Therefore, most didn't have discriminatory motives.



I do think that assimilation is important to some extent, but not in the sense that we should strive to eliminate all cultures except one. The goal should be to bring all of the cultures together; never to make one forget where they came from. Everyone should have pride in their culture.

Ichthyophobia--Fear of Fish

Yes, you read that right. I am afraid of fish. They are slimy, scaly, and squirm-inducing. I suppose this may be an irrational fear, as so many fears such as these are. But I fear them nonetheless, and I am afraid it may be more rational than it seems.

When I was little, I always had a goldfish. They'd die and I'd get a new one, no problem. It wasn't until my last fish died that my fear of fish surfaced. My fish was five years old, about the max lifespan of a goldfish, and he was losing color, losing scales, and just looking ancient. One day, I came home and he was floating at the top of the bowl on his side. Now, this wasn't that traumatic for me, I'd seen dead fish before. However, when my mom took him out of the tank, he started flapping around. He had only fainted. This went on for the next few weeks. He'd faint, we'd deprive him of oxygen, and he'd come back to life. By the time he finally died, I was so freaked out by this fish "dying" and miracuously recovering, that I didn't want to go near the tank anymore. I didn't want to see him passed out/dead again. Thus, when the time came to discuss getting a new fish, I cringed at the idea. No more goldfish for me! To this day just seeing goldfish gives me chills up and down my spine. Now, I fully acknowledge that my fear of fish was just a tiny bit irrational. But when I went up north this past summer, my fear became totally rational. In the lake where we swam, there were a lot of little fish. It's normal to feel a little nibble on your toe. This year the blue gills were especially viscious though. They only went after me! They would lie in wait for me to stop moving, and then go in for the attack. The freckles on my calves were chewed off, they drew blood! My whole family would be in the lake, but the second my tender flesh hit the water, those demon bluegills would go in for the kill. I'd try kicking at them, hitting the top of the water with a pole, nothing worked. They just stayed there, watching me and waiting for an opportunity. One day I was dangling my feet off the end of the dock, and about 10 of them came swimming over the minute they smelled me. It was terrifying. Bluegills are shallow water fish, but when I went out swimming in the middle of the lake, which was deeper than they should ever have gone, they followed me and bit me while I was swimming. That entire week I could not go swimming without fearing the fish that gathered around me. It was pathetic, me and my Neosporin covered limbs. I love swimming, but for the first time in a long time, I was afraid to put even a toe in the water.

Being stalked by fish is not the most fun thing in the world. Those viscious little bluegills made me feel more vulnerable than I had felt in a long time. Perhaps this is why my fear was magnified. Perhaps it touched on my deeper issues. Unfortunately, I still would run away rather than be anywhere near those scaly creatures. It may take years of therapy before I ever let my future children have a pet fish.

The Universality of Fear

Fear is something everyone can relate to. That is why so many different genres utilize fear. Fear comes in many different forms, and can be interpreted in vastly different ways. No one can truthfully say they aren't scared of anything. Fears can range from spiders and fish (Yes, fish. It's a long story), to psycho killers or even the fear of failing a class. Different genres play on fears of their audience in different ways.

This famous painting, The Scream by Edvard Munch, is one of my favorites. You can really sense the terror coming from the image. Its colors make it especially eerie. You wonder what the story is behind the art. Paintings, and all art forms for that matter, are a great way of expressing an emotion like fear.The artist can easily get their point across. However, art is always up for interpretation by the individual viewer. Because it can be so subjective, the artist's point might not always come across the way they want it to.

Scientific magazines that have articles on fear, such as this one, Emotions and the Brain: Fear, from Discover Magazine's website, are more informative then anything else. In the article, they explain what your brain does when you feel fear, purely the physical reactions you experience. This article may benefit some people; by making it technical, it helps you detach from the emotion a bit. Some may then be able to overcome their fears by knowing the science behind it. However, the limitations this genre has are great, considering that many fears come along with some deep seeded issues that an article about the brain will never be able to fix. Fear is an emotion, and emotions run deep, sometimes not even recognized consciously.

Music is a great way to express any emotion. Besides the horror movie kind of fear, there are other, more deep seeded fears, such as the fear of abandonment, failure, or being loved. One of my favorite songs, Fidelity by Regina Spektor, talks about the fear of being vulnerable and opening yourself up to someone completely.
The benefits of music as a way of showing fear are that the artist can choose to express it in any way he/she chooses. Music can also often be interpreted in many different ways and in that way be meaningful for many different reasons to all kinds of people. It also has its limitations, in that how the artist chooses to go about expressing the fear can affect how it's received. Fear is powerful and can be interpreted in so many ways. All genres can use fear, and since everyone in the world can relate to it, it is truly universal.

Break That Metaphoric Dam!

For me, writing is like a dam breaking, all the water breaking through what is meant to keep it in place. My thoughts are often a mumbo-jumbo of incomprehensible, sometimes redundant nonsense in my head. My mind is like the ocean, vast and overwhelming at times, sometimes calm, but almost always with new waves of ideas rushing in at breakneck speed. This especially happens when I try to write. I have so many ideas in my head, but when I try to put them on paper (or blog, etc.), there is a dam, so to speak, keeping me from putting my ocean of thoughts into physical form. Everyone knows what I'm talking about: writer's block! But, when I finally find the right things to say, relief comes and the flow turns from a few measly words into sentences, into paragraphs and pages. In this way writing is the dam breaking, opening up the passageway for all my thoughts to come out faster and faster. Once I finally start, it's hard to stop. As it happens when a dam breaks, the results can sometimes be disastrous at first, but with a little work, they can turn into something beautiful, like writing.