First Cuckoo's Nest Blog

Anti-Hero: I believe that McMurphy best fits the description of an anti-hero. Initially I thought that he could be a Hero but  finally decided that while I was drawn to his personality as if he were a hero, holistically, however, he best fits the anti-hero category. Starting out he is very genial and communicates well with the other patients on the floor. This can be seen in sections such as "Damn, what a sorry looking outfit. You boys don't look so crazy to me." and his incessant use of the word "buddy" when talking with the men. Even when he is talking less than positively about them there is still the sense that he cares about the other men, I suppose the genuine quality is created through "buddy" as a term of endearment. I am inclined to call him an anti-hero because of his behavior and set of morals that seems to have brought him to the hospital. The only reason he is in the hospital is because he was able to con his way out of not going to a work camp. Not exactly the picture of societal greatest, therefore, anti-hero.

Tragic-Hero: I'm not quite sure. There is not really one true, good, honest, Super Man-esque hero in the book, but there does seem to be a few characters who have Hero elements to their personality. One such individual is Chief. We like him He seems nice. And I feel that their is some level of sympathy that we as the audience feel towards him as we discover how tragic his life has been and his current afflictions. His honesty and yearning for justice make him a hero. This qualities are best exemplified through " I been silent so long now its gonna roar out of me like flood waters and you think the guy telling this is ranting and raving my God; you think this is too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! But, please. It's still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen." I also pull my belief that Chief is a tragic hero from this quote as well. The last sentence is bitingly ironic as it contradicts everything Chief had just said and all of the importance he put in his words. His ideas of delusion plague him throughout the passage and loosening and tightening their grip as they pull at our heart strings. His inablilty to see reality and over come his illness makes him a tragic hero. 

Villain: The Big Nurse. She drugs people with medication that they don't want to take. She manipulates the patients and instigates feelings of inferiority. She picks her help based on the fact that they have just enough hate in them. The extent to which she will play the villainous role is still to be determined but I am certain that she is the villain.  

Final Gatsby Post

-Why does Fitzgerald refer back to the green light in the final page? What significance does the light hold?

Ø  The light is green to represent envy and most simply Gatsby's dream of having Daisy once more; a yearning which took over his being and dictated his every move. This venture was disastrous for everyone involved: Myrtle got ran over, Daisy ran over Myrtle, and Gatsby got shot in head. Obviously Fitz. is trying to tell us something about holding onto extravagant dreams far too long. Fitz. refers back to the light in the second to last paragraph to ensure that the audience does not lose sight of the story's theme that the past is the past and cannot be recreated no matter how desperately one wishes.

-How effective was Miss Baker as a character in general?

Ø  Miss Baker served as a counter example to Daisy, Gatsby, and Tom in that unlike the lot of them she is able to let go of the past, or at least the illusion of the past that everybody else seems so enamored with. Nick tells the audience this directly in one of the latter chapters but we also see this trait when she and Nick part ways. She does seem to be still love Nick but has chosen to move on, even telling him that she is engaged to a new man. Through this she serves her purpose and therefore is an effective character.

-What is Fitzgerald's purpose of putting Nick and Gatsby on West Egg and Tom and Daisy on East Egg?

Ø  It has been said that Nick and Gatsby represent different aspects of Fitz’s own personality. Nick the even headed, slow to action personality and Gatsby the celebrity consumed by the idea of wealth and riches personality. To illustrate this they are put on the same island. So to put them on the same island, right next to each other would have been fitting to convey how they represent different parts of the same person. They lived so close to each other and were described in such a manner that I began to see their properties and lives as being connected.

-How effectively does Fitzgerald use Gatsby to get across his ideas about dreams and living in them?

Ø  The grandness of Gatsby that all too quickly becomes the tragedy of Gatsby serves as a very effective method of expressing the dangers of always trying to recreate a glorified past. It is revealed that Gatsby’s life after the war was a plan to win back the heart of Daisy, a plan that went horridly awry. At first Gatsby seems like a very grand, mysterious creature who rivals God himself but as the novel progresses it becomes all too easy to see that truly he is a sorry individual trapped in an unattainable idea. This painting of him as a tragic figure makes him a very effective vehicle for Fitzgerald to drive his theme right into our heads.

The Great Gatsby 2

1. Through Wolfshiem we get some characterization about Gatsby. Wolfshiem is a gambler, apperenly a rather powerful one and he seems to know Gatsby rather well. The fact that Gatsby chooses to associate with him suggests that maybe Gatsby is also involved in similar activities. This information also reiterates the question about how Gatsby got his money.
2. The backstory about Gatsby and Daisy does alot to clear up some of Gatsby's mysterious behavior. We know that he bought the house across the bay from Daisy in order to be close to her. He throws his grandiose parties for the sole purpose of possibly attracting Daisy to one of them. Because of this we now see why he seems to not truly enjoy his parties; without Daisy his parties are unsuccessful. To me he almost seems like a vulnerable teenager pining for the affection of a long lost love with a shell of The Great Gatsby.
3. I get the impression that Gatsby is a very determined indiviual. He knows his goals and uses his charm to get ever closer to them. From the story about the night Gatsby kissed Daisy my view of him as a vulnerable teenager is reiterated. He is unable to let go of the past and is unwilling to accept anything than the feeling of that night, almost as if he is afraid to think of the possiblity that he may not be able to win Daisy back.
4. Through these chapters my view of Gatsby has been broadened and as a result he seems human. No longer is he a glamorous figure in the clouds but instead he is a man with a broken heart. All he wants to do is recreate the past, something I think everyone can relate to. I found myself liking him more because of all of it. His broken heart helps as does his added human quality.

Great Gatsby 2/20

Nick- Our narrator, Nick, is undoubtedly a hero in the Great Gatsby. We as the audience are intended to have similar views and values as Nick who is made easy to like because Nick is a rather passive individual. He encounters numerous situations that most people would have a definite opinion but Nick seems to just watch the scene fold out in front of him, never really having an opinion or judging. '"We're getting off," he insisted. "I want you to meet my girl."/ I think he'd flanked up a good deal at luncheon, and his determination to have my company bordered on violence." (pg. 24) Through this quote we see how Nick does not really comment on the doings of others. Tom is taking him to see his mistress and all Nick has to say is something about the manner of Tom's behavior after lunch. As a result of Nick's rather apathetic attitude, it is very easy for the audience to identify with him; you can't disagree with someone who does not have an opinion.

Tom- Villain. While Nick never says anything judgmental about Tom's behavior we as the audience see that Tom is not a kind or considerate man. He has a mistress whom his wife knows of but still cohorts with, not giving a moment of thought to Daisy's feelings. If that weren't enough, there seems to be a thread of violence and uncontrollable anger that runs through his actions. "Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand." (pg37) From this we see how easily Tom is rowed and violently he reacts. The audience is not supposed to like this character, categorize him as a villain, with his gallivanting around and beating women.

Daisy- For some reason Daisy seems to be a Tragic Hero. The audience is intended to like her and we do, but something is wrong. She does not seem happy being married happy to Tom. We get some insight into what she feels life is like when she tells Nick about her child. "'Alright,' I said, 'I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."' The pain that is expressed through this sentence mirrors how Daisy feels about her own livelihood and life with Tom. At this point in the novel it may be slightly premature to label Daisy a "tragic" hero because we have yet to give her ample time to overcome her sadness and oppression from Tom but at the moment the label stands.

Gatsby- Hero, possibly Antihero. At this time the Jazz Age is in full swing meaning that parties are not out of the ordinary, although the scale to which Gatsby throws them might be. Because of this I don’t know if Gatsby can be classified as an Antihero because firstly, he has received so little description thus far and secondly, he has not rejected all societal values by throwing the parties. He has instead embraced the values of the current popular culture. Nick describes him to be a very special kind of a man the kind of man whose smile had "a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in live."From this I do not believe that Gatsby is a villain, so therefore he is a hero, but the jury is still out on whether he is a Hero or Antihero, or for kicks he may even be a Tragic Hero. Who knows. We've only read 10 sentences about him.

Evaulating The Two Paragraphs

I found the Michael Kroll's essay on the death penalty to be much more persuasive than the one by Mencken. Kroll's use of Pathos in his essay pulled at just the right heart strings and made me think predominantly with my empathetic heart rather than my rational mind. I was specifically persuaded by the description of Robert Harris' death. Kroll wrote that his friend was "strangled slowly to death in front of [Kroll]" as he "writhed for seven minutes, his head falling on his chest, saliva drooling from his open mouth." As I read this I could not help to feel sorrow for this man. While Kroll's essay relied on pathos and was very persuasive, Mencken's essay employed more logos and in turn was not nearly as persuasive. I felt excluded from the piece, only a bystander reading it. The arguments in favor of capital punishment were fashioned around simple analogies that over simplified the issue and in the end created a feeling of apathy in me. When writing to persuade on such a touchy subject, Kroll's approach of pathos worked much more effectively than Mencken's dumbed down logos.

"Sixteen Millitary Wives" (2004) the Decemberists

Subject: The lyrics are about military wives mourning the loss of their husbands. In the next verse, the lyrics describe celebrities and their lives. And in the final verses the lyrics describe cannibalistic behavior.

Theme: On a larger scale, I think the song comments on how easily we as a society reduce news to facts and figures that have little meaning once they are reported.

"Race for the Prize" (1999) the Flaming Lips

The theme of "Race for the Prize" is the prize of life, one's epitome of glory and achievement often comes with a high price. The "cure" that the scientists wre looking for is representative of the desired achievement and both the scientists compete under pressure and in the face of danger in order to obtain the cure. This relates directly back to the theme as one's achievement in life comes with a price just as the scientists had to make sacrifices to find the cure. The melancholy feel of the music adds to the bittersweet idea that life's greatest "prize" can come with great sacrifice and cost.