Fitzgerald's view of the rich - "Her voice is full of money"

Chapter Seven is an excellent source to dive into the way wealth is depicted The Great Gatsby - specifically how Daisy is a representation of money. The scene opens with Jordan and Daisy lounging due to the immense heat of the summer. "The room, shadowed well with awnings, was dark and cool. Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans" ( 115). This screams of Veblem's idea of the idle wealth. The women can do nothing but sit around, Daisy ignores her child, she ignores her husband, all due to a heat wave. THe chapter continues to exaggarate Daisy as a figure of wealth. She is obnoxious and frivilous with her actions. At one point, in front of Jordan, she pulls Gatsby to her level and kisses him. Does she have no sense of deceny? Her husband is in the next room! This is an expression of the true moral decay that happens within the upper levels of society. She has no emotional connection to Tom, but ultimately she chooses to be with him for the social stability.

My favorite part of this chapter though is when Fitzgerald describes Daisy has having a "voice full of money". The comment is so fitting for Daisy's character because she embodies wealth entirely. She is a beautiful, young Southern debutant that plays the role of wife - a shallow, selfish one for that matter. Nick reflects on her character, "That was it. I'd never understood it before. It was full of money - that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it... High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl..." Nick is such a marvelous character because he contrasts intensely with the society he surrounds himself with. He is able to break down the fragile shell that the Buchanan create to perform their outlandish lifestyle. It is true that he gets carried away at points, but for the majority of the novel he serves as a level headed narrator.

Overall, Chapter Seven is a really interesting representation of wealth that captures the idle rich well. They deliberate over going into town for the majority of the chapter, which only culminates with Myrtle's murder.

A land turtle crawled....

In his novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck devotes all of Chapter Three to describe a "land turtle" crossing a concrete highway. The immense amount of details makes clear the fact that the turtle is going to be a reoccurring symbol throughout the novel. He is introduced in this scene, "And over the grass at the roadside a land turtle crawled, turning aside for nothing, dragging his high-domed shell over the grass. His hard legs and yellow-nailed feet threshed slowly through the grass, not really walking, but boosting and dragging his shell along..." While the chapter is extremely short, the emphasis is very important to note early on in the novel.

The two interactions the turtle has with society in this chapter speak volumes. The turtle can be read as a representation of the vagrant farmers in California and his tenacity proves the strenght of these men and women. Here is first interaction the turtle has: the "forty-year-old woman" did all she could to avoid the turtle, even putting her own life in danger as she skidded off the road to avoid taking the life of this animal. Contrastingly, when a truck driver saw the helpless turtle, he intentionally swerved to hit the creature. These two different mindsets are very interesting, especially when they are placed directly next to each other. Steinbeck's turtle is a fighter, and he makes it through the awful circumstances in the same way that the farmers do. Without a home, without food, the turtle perseveres and I predict the California farmers, like Joad, will do the same.

Later in Chapter Four, Joad reaches out to the turtle, taking him from the highway. I look forward to seeing how Steinbeck develops the symbol of the turtle as the novel continues.

Lily Bart - A Sexualized Object

 I thought it was really interesting to see the "living picture" scene depicted on film! I didn't picture Lily as she was cast in this film, which always ends up being my main issues with cinematic adaptations of books I have read.

'Mrs. Lloyd' by Reynolds - Lily's character in the scene from Chapter 12 in Book One 

At the end of Book One in The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton Lily Bart participates in the tableaux vivants at the Bry’s paty. She impersonates Reynolds’ Mrs Lloyd, as pictured above. This choice is perfect for Lily because she is able to embody the character without losing herself, or so it is represented. In fact, Lily is not herself on stage; she is a sexualized object.

The explanatory notes define tableaux vivants as the posing of ‘living pictures’ based on famous works of art or historical scenes; a favorite form of entertainment employed at all social levels. In the upper class New York society, these displays were of femininity and wealth. Lily is objectified as a sexual being in this scene. She is oogled by the crowd for her beauty. Wharton writes, “Her pale draperies, and the background of foliage against which she stood, served only to relieve the long dryad-like curves that swept upward from her poised foot to her lifted arm” (132).  She is literally working as a piece of art that men can purchase. She is to be collected not loved.

Ironically, this is the same scene when Selden feels that he glimpse into the real Lily Bart, but the moment is short lived. Lily surrounds herself with men who value her for only her outward appearance. Contrastingly, she is unable to value a man who does not have wealth, but at the same time holds some hope to finding a man that will love her, as well.

The tableaux vivante scene captures Lily’s quest in life very well. She tries to perform the best version of herself, the most beautiful, the most refined, but ultimately she is not valued in society apart from appearance. “No other tableau had been received with that precise note of approval: it had obviously been called forth by herself, and not by the picture she impersonated” (134). She is unable to harness either of her opposing desires, to love and to marry well, and therefore is left only as a beautiful face admired by male society. Sadly, beauty is a transient feature and once it is gone Lily is left with no hope.