In The Scarlet Letter, pay particular attention to sunlight. Who does it fall on? Who does it avoid? What, symbolically, does this mean?
Also, what is Hawthorne saying about Puritan life? Is it different from the time that Hawthorne was writing? How or how not?
In The Great Gatsby, pay particular attention to color. What color does Daisy wear in chapter 1? What does this symbolize? What colors are a daisy? What other object that is frequently mentioned has the same colors? Symbolically, what does this mean?
Also, pay attention to time. What is Fitzgerald telling you about time?
Don't forget, you should be annotating your novels as you read. If it's not your book, use post-it notes. Underline important statements. Write notes in the margins. Put a ? mark if you don't understand something.
Finally, as soon as you read this post, please email me and tell me where you are in your summer reading. :)
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I have gotten to the forty-fourth page, and it's quite interesting. Daisy and Tom Buchanan seem to have a different understanding than usual couples, Tom talking about the breeding of the white race 'dominant race' with the other races, and Daisy not believing him. Daisy told Mr. Carraway, the narrator, about her daughter and what she said when the daughter was born. Myrtle, the mistress of Tom's, thinks her husband is so dumb he doesn't even know he's alive, and so does Tom. Rumors are already staring to float around about Mr. Gatsby. They haven't really talked about his appearance in certain places yet. I didn't catch what the author said about the time and Daisy's clothes.
ReplyDeleteIf you didn't catch something, go back and reread.
ReplyDeleteAlso, please sign your posts with your first name so I know who you are.
Mrs. Reese
well so far in chapter 1 Daisy is wearin the color white through out the chapter. It say she and miss baker are both wearing white dresses that are rippling and fluttering. Im not really sure what it is suppose to symbolize, but it does say she was conselentious and paralyzed with happiness. Daisy's are white petaled with a yellowed center, maybe she dresses accordling to a daisy flower.
ReplyDelete* i have one question on page 16: who had the instint and why to telephone the police?
-Nichole
Hey Mrs.Reese I plan to have my books finished by the end of the summer, im not far along though ive read three chapters in one of the books and im having trouble starting the scarlet letter. (im not slacking off i have a massive amount of summer school! D':
ReplyDeletewell ive finished the Gatsby its a good book i like it. I think Fitzgerald is telling through out the story, that in this time period it was all about how wealthy you were, and what every american dreamed about how thier life. i also think this book tells how men and women were different, and love for a women was for a wealthy man to take care of her and her luxary needs, not neccesarly they were in love they just wanted to be known and to be wealthy. Colors in this story i see alot of white i think that symbolizes the power of wealth, thats mainly the color ive seen.
ReplyDeletequestions: was it really the gatsby who killed mrs wilson? and why did Mr. wilson kill the gatsby when he eventually knew she was having an affiar with tom?
- posted by nichole
Nichole, good work. The novel is about the American Dream. However, is it portraying the dream in a positive or negative light?
ReplyDeletewell i think in a bad way because the women in this story are not following their hearts just their minds, the reason why i say this is because daisy for example, she knows she loves the gatsby, but she had to wait for him, so instead of waiting for her true love, she married tom to become more wealthy, and to be known as a wealthy person. Also why i think its in a bad way is because this book only tells you about how someone would be rich not exactly how and why they were wealthy, there was not really middle class or lower class explained through out the book, so i think people would just take being rich and higher class as the only american dream, and since its from one person's point of veiw i think thats thats just one way of explaing one individuals.
ReplyDeletethe scarlet letter is a tough book. Im only half way through the begging was really confusing but when i got to the chapters it got a little easier to read. i have a couple questions, and comments. The sunlight i think symoblizes the good in everyone but hester has commited a sin which is now lead her to be a shame to her colony, her punishment is to stand and being the center of attention for three hours instead of death. The question i have is was the baby from an affair? was she married? im just really confused about that main subject.
ReplyDeleteFreya,
ReplyDeleteDone with Gatsby, but I saw mostly a lot of colors that portrayed the feeling of wealth and money, like the green light at the end of the dock Gatsby looked for. Daisy is wearing white in Chp 1, and usually Daisies are yellow, I guess this symbolizes her innocence. But there are frequent mentioning of what the people have in affect of their money. And Gatsby did let Daisy drive so it'd calm her nerves, she ended up killing Mrs. Wilson. The only part that really confused me was the time you mentioned, because he does make references to time when he's with Myrtle and the McKees and some such. He's seems a little impatient to get out of there, and time is zooming away, but I don't know the relevance of it at the moment. Scarlet Letter is very confusing but the one thing I know is that Hester has had an affair with another man, since her husband she thought had been dead for two years comes to town with a secret identity and asks Hester who the man is that she cheated with.
Freya,
ReplyDeleteThe other part that confused me I had forgotten to mention was when Mr. Wilson tells Tom he has come to realize something. Did Mr. Wilson think Tom killed Mr.s Wilson, but then Tom tells Mr. Wilson what he thinks happened? It's a little discreet what they said, it threw me off.
well ive finished the scarlet letter, it was a rough book to read, personaly. The sunshine i think falls a pound those who are good, and stay in their faith and commit good deeds. On the other hand the sunshine did not fall a pound Hester Prynne, because of her sinful deed she has commited. She was in prison for commiting such a sin of Adulterer, which is the embroided on her dress. (having a baby with a man who was not indeed husband).symbolically the sunshine i think only shines on those who are commited to doing only good, and for those who were in prison like hester, are considered dark, and looked at with only shame. The way i understood Puritan life was strict and strongly based one religion, all the men in charge of the town and colony were powerful and strong relious leaders.
ReplyDeletefreya, Mr. wilson doesnt think tom killed his wife mrs. wilson, he knows the Gatsby did because his car was the one in the accident. Thats why the gatsby gets killed by mr. wilson in the end.
ReplyDeleteAlso i have some questions about the scarlet letter.
ReplyDelete1)Mr. Dimmesdale is pearl's father right?
2)Mr. Roger Cillingworth is Hester's husband right?
Nichole: Yes and yes. Trust yourself. I'm sure you did great! We'll talk about it on the 17th!!
ReplyDeleteNichole--great job on helping out Freya. Daisy actually killed Myrtle because she was driving Gatsby's car.
ReplyDeleteFreya and Nichole--thank you for all of your hard work this summer!
Okay so i just figured this out!!:) The sunlight falls upon Pearl, it has not shunned her like it has done to Hester. She has not sinned like her mother has. The sunlight falls upon those of good. And avoids the ones of sin and "evil"
ReplyDeleteOK sorry for not posting earlier I hadn't had hardly any computer access at all...
ReplyDeleteThe Great Gatsby-In the Great Gatsby Daisy wears white in the first chapter. Daises are white with a green steam and leaves and a yellow center. The white is supposed to symbolize innocence and purity. I believe the yellow symbolizes death and decay. Finally the color green was used to symbolize hope. The other colors he uses in this book such as; pink and lavender were used to symbolize people's feelings.
The time in this book kinda represents the way Gatsby lived, if he chose to stay with Daisy (in the past) or climb the ladder to god (in the future).
~Emily
I agree with Kristin about Who the Sun falls on... that it truly shone on those people who are good and avoided those who were evil/bad. The Puritan life was a religion that was taking the place of government. It was the grounds of punishment and reward in the communities. people were expected to follow the rules that were laid out or they had to suffer the consequences.
ReplyDelete~Emily
Kristin---exactly!!
ReplyDeleteEmily, great examination of color. Did you use Sparksnotes, or just your brain?