The Star of "The Two"

The chapter “The Two” opens with “At first they seemed like such nice girls. No one could remember exactly when they had moved into Brewster” (129). Lorraine and her loving spouse Theresa are not introduced as individuals, but rather as a pair of girls. Throughout the entire chapter the women of Brewster Place, especially Sophie, do not make the couple feel that they belong in this community because of their sexuality. Just a few pages into the text after witnessing Theresa catch Lorraine as she trips over a child’s toy the narrator reacts, “They had seen that- done that – with their men. The shared moment of invisible communion reserved for two and hidden from the rest of the world behind laughter or tears or a touch” (131)

Even though Lorraine displays all the qualities that these women would want in a neighbor (considerate, quiet, friendly) ultimately she is ostracized for her sexuality. Sophie spreads rumors about Lorraine and her spouse and “the two.” She even publically humiliates Lorraine at a community meeting. This is a very important scene because Lorraine flees out of embarrassment and I consoled by a man named Ben. His kind words make her confident and later when she leaves a party after a fight with Theresa she does not go directly home.

The horrible scene when Lorraine is gang raped leads an interesting reading. Maybe she is being punished for her outlying sexual behavior. Because she does not conform to societal norms, Lorraine is not safe. The Women of Brewster Place creates a very stifling environment for the characters of each chapter and Lorraine suffers a great deal. Ultimately, she stumbles away from the scene of the crime and murders Ben. This retaliation is a statement to her disappointment in men. She finally confided and felt safe around Ben and when her guard was let down she was brutally raped.

Real Life Turtle!

I went to Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth this past Sunday with my two brothers. As we were leaving the beach, I was shocked to see a turtle in the road! Obviously I couldn't help but think of the turtle from Grapes of Wrath. Since we weren't on a busy road, I told my little brother to get out and help the turtle off the road. He quickly jumped at the opportunity and helped encourage the turtle to the safety. I love with texts come to life : )

Depression Era Recipes

Wow! The group presentation we had in class on Monday was fabulous. Not to mention the fact that we had so many accepted students in class who I'm sure were blown away by the music, photos, and FOOD.  I really feel like I have a better understanding of what the Jode's and many other family experienced on their journey to California.

The main aspect of their presentation that resonated with me was how resourceful the families were. I looked into the recipes from the Depression and found a great deal of information. These women and men were creating cakes without flour and pies without fruit! The portion of their travel guide with food prizes definitely made the financial strain more understandable. When you compare the idea of buying sliced baked ham for 39 cents a pound to beans for 13 cents a can, is there really an option? Not to mention how difficult it was to secure fresh produce. Just look at this quote from the NY Times from an article "Urges Charity Gardens," "Soup kitchens and the missions state that they can always get meat scaps and day-old bread, frequently for nothing and always for very little, but the vegetables that make up the bulk of the soups and stews which they serve are few and far between, and those they can afford are poor and stale. Arrangements are being made to have baskets at the Grand Central and Pennsylvania Station to recieve contributions of fruit and vegetables brough in on trains."

In their presentation, one of the recipes covered was "mock apple pie" and we were even given the opportunity to taste it! Surprisingly, I found it actually resembled traditional apple pie which made me think - what else can we create without the normal ingredients?



I stumbled upon a 93 year old woman's blog that is completely devoted to recipes from the great depression. Here is one of her youtube videos of her cooking in the kitchen:

And here is one of her recipes:

Meatless Meat Loaf

Ingredients

1 cup rice
1 cup peanuts crushed
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
Combine all the ingredients together. bake in a loaf pan for 30 minutes or until loaf is good and set.

History
With meat at a premium during the Great Depression, many people made do without chicken, beef or pork, except on rare occasions. One recurring theme that I have read from each story from someone who lived through the depression was that they remember being hungry all the time. The Meatless Meat Loaf may not sound appetizing, but it was filling.

Response to the NYTIMES - Gatsby!

Adieu, Sweet Life of ’20s Luxury

"Dan McCall, a professor emeritus at Cornell University, taught the book for 40 years. He marvels at the hold Gatsby still has on students. On the one hand, he said, with its hypnotic prose, its layers of longing for money, status, reinvention and love, it’s still channeling the American experience. “It’s not an antique to them, it’s never gone out of style the way some books I teach.” On the other hand, he said, Gatsby’s evocation of the American dream has an innocence and passion that are impossibly distant, like astral material from a lost galaxy. “Gatsby’s dream, the way he’s so devoted to it, that’s not something you find much in this economy, at this time. I think it’s breathtaking for kids in college. It’s an America they haven’t heard about from their parents.” " - PETER APPLEBOME


"Maybe someone will write today’s “Gatsby.” Or maybe it would just be an epic tweet: “Yo, Gatz. Blue lawn, green light, so close, but too far. Ahh, Daisy. We beat on, boats vs. the current, borne back, lol, into the past.”

 

I think that Peter Applebome's comment on how students connect to The Great Gatsby is really true. First off, it is a short novel that many of us had read before coming to Harrington's class. Though one of my peers, Elise, had never read it before though and I remember distinctly her reading it in one of our other classes. It drew her in so intensely that she could not put it down! Personally, I had read the novel in high school and was astounded at the beautiful sentence structure all over again. Even something as simple as in Chapter 7 as a boat moving along the water, Fitzgerald is able to capture intensity, movement, and beauty in with his words. "On the green Sound, stagnant in the heat, one small sail crawled slowly toward the fresher sea...Slowly the white wings of the boat moved against the blue cool limit of the sky." Fitzgerald pulls us in with his words.  They meld together so smoothly that before I realized I was already half way through the book. More over, Fitzgerald has astounding characters that represent ridiculous aspects of society. We see immense wealth, moral decay, death, adultery. These are the topics that get audiences engaged and that is why this book functions so well in the classroom. Is Fizgerald representing the American Dream? Is Gatsby corrupt?

Applebome goes further in the NY Times article to comment on who Jay would be in the 21^st century. Would he be a Bernie Madoff or a Mark Zuckerburg? I think that this article captures a great deal in the side comments. The commentary was brought up though because a huge mansion in Great Neck is being sold and it is said to be the inspiration for The Great Gatsby. Does it matter if these mansions disappear? Apparently over 500 of these mansions have already been knocked down.

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.