#3 First Paragraph

In the book, The Great Gatsby, a man named Gatsby is represented as a Christ figure and also as a man who takes the easier/ bad path in life while he searches for the answers and the Truth of the world and how he can make sense of his life and what he is meant to do. He creates himself, almost like Jesus, through his own will attained from the ideas of others. He then does what he thinks he should do to get what he thinks he wants, which is a girl named Daisy. He takes a low path in life to get money, resorting to bootlegging to get rich because he thinks money will solve his problems and help him achieve his goal of eternal satisfaction with his life. When he finds out the truth, he realizes that money can't solve everything and that he should have been a better person and not taken the easier way out. His life ends with him realizing this and he finally knew that he was a good person and that in the end, he was already satisfied with himself and he was ready for whatever else lay ahead.

#4 Outline

Thesis: Gatsby is depicted as a Christ figure and a bad man at the same time and he cannot seem to make sense of the world, so he tries to reach out to his friends and the people around him for answers.
1.The Beginning
A.Platonic Conception of himself (98)
B.He was about his father's business (98)
2. Chaos of the World
A.Hard rock or the wet marshes (2)
B.The rock of the world on a fairy's wing (99)
3. Antichrist Figure
A.Eckleburg thinks he is God (159)
B.Eckleburg's eyes watch over the Valley of Ashes (159)
4. The End of Gatsby and his Understanding of Truth
A.Gatsby carries the mattress/(cross) t the place where he dies (161)
B.Valley of Ashes/(Hell) (23)
C.Gatsby's Book/(Bible/Ten Commandments) (173)

#2 Bonus Blog - Daisy's passage

For John was young and his fake realm of emotions and actions was surrounding him with smells and styles that set the mood of that time of year, assimilating the new and insightful meanings of life that come along only every so often when you let your mind wander. During this night that John was looking at life in lots of new ways, a D.J. was mixing a lonely, but still joyful tune and it drifted into his mind and made him the littlest bit happier than he had been what seems like a year ago, but was just but a blink in the past. All of the other beings around him danced as if their souls were on fire and they would continue to do so until they could stand no longer, and at that moment they would crawl into taxis and be whisked away to their lairs. Meanwhile, the festival of dancing would continue on as if they had never left, because there were always fresh, new souls to join in on the merriment that leaked through every room in the house as if it were an entity itself.

Through this sickly sweet realm of happiness and sorrow John began to internally change, and before he knew it he was flirting with different girls every couple of minutes but then he would move to the next group because he had seen that these females he had been conversing previously with were nothing like him in any way so he moved to a new group to try and find someone with a good connection to him. He awoke the next morning laying next to strangers that he could just vaguely remember. he then looked at everyone near him very deeply. He looked at their faces, who they were lying next to, he remembered what their conversations were last night when they spoke, and he finally realized it. They were just like him. In every way. He realized that they had no idea about what they were doing, only that they were all looking for love, attention, and something to live for. He then got up, took in a deep breath and knew that everything would eventually be o.k. John went home a new man, a better man, and he looked forward to what his new life would be like and he took with him the ideas of all of the strangers he had never come to know, yet he knew so well.

#1 Dust in Gatsby

1. On page 2, the scene about dust is in Gatsby's dreams. Fitzgerald is talking about Gatsby's demons and flaws that haunt him in his ever constant lifestyle of trying to be something he isn't. Nick seems sad about something (Gatsby's death - but we don't know that yet) and says many good things about Gatsby, almost as if he was not a person.
2. On page 26, the dust scene is about Wilson. It covers everything in Wilson's house except Myrtle, which shows that she might not be there all the time, and that she is a very active person. This scene shows that Wilson has a layer of decay surrounding him, as if he doesn't realize what is going on in the world around him.
3. On page 66, the dust scene is about Gatsby's story of him going around Europe looking for jewels and hunting and doing personal fun stuff. Nick says he got an image of a mannequin leaking sawdust, referring to a mannequin being fake (he thinks Gatsby is fake).
4. On page 151, the dust scene is about Daisy's youth. She says that in a nightclub type place, there are a lot of people that dance all night and stir up the "shining dust" and she thinks it looks beautiful, cheerful and sometimes sad.
5. On page 116, the dust scene is about Daisy having dust on her breast, and as she hugs her daughter, she gets a little powder on her hair. This represents Daisy's personality and traits going down to her daughter.
6. On page 137, the dust scene is about Myrtle being hit by the car, and her blood mixing with dust. It shows that her life was dirty (committing adultery with Tom), and that she was becoming one with the earth.
7. On page 148, the dust scene is about the dust in Gatsby's house. It shows that Gatsby's lifestyle is decaying, and that Gatsby's house was just a little dusty, showing that many people were there all the time, but it was not musty, because it is ever changing in atmosphere, just like a party itself.
All of these dust scenes are different in little ways, but they all show decay and small barriers and little things that are very personality based and are everywhere all the time.