Journal 21 - Some Like it Hot

Although Some Like It Hot is a comedy and The Great Gatsby is a tragedy, both works use popular culture to portray life in 1920s America.  Focusing on the following elements (characterization, conflict, and theme), discuss how the two works are similar and different and what each is saying about American life.

            In both of the stories, it explains in some way that each person has gone through a hardship and is trying to get away from a part of their life.  It seems thought that both centralize around love, romance, and marriage.  Also, there is the fact that it was around the time of the prohibition and at least one of the characters in each story had a connection to that, especially when it includes crime and murder.  Such as when it was revealed that Gatsby was involved in bootlegging.  When it comes to the characters, each one can be connected from one book to the other.  From Some Like It Hot, the character Joe, also known as Josephine and Junior the billionaire, he can easily be connected to Gatsby.  Both had tried anything they could to get close to the girl they loved, even if it meant that they were with someone else or have had bad relationships in the past.  Then there is Sugar, who is like Daisy, both being the girl that every girl wants to be and every guy wants to be with.  A final example is Spats, who is like both Gatsby and Wolfshien.  Both were involved in the wrong kind of business, one of which had ended up having them killed in end.  Although there are many similarities that you can make between the two, there are also some major differences.  Such as, in The Great Gatsby, the love stories that were involved in it had ended up more of a tragedy for many. While on the other hand, in Some Like it Hot, the main love story that it had focused on, those two people had actually ended up together in the end.  Then there is the obvious between the two that one is a tragedy, the other being a comical love story where the people who actually love each other end up together. 

Journal 20 - Gatsby Conclusion

Read the novel’s last passage (beginning with, “Gatsby’s house was still empty when I left”) and discuss the use of imagery and symbolism that is being employed by Fitzgerald.  In your response, specifically address what Nick is saying about the green light and the connection that he is making between Gatsby and the Dutch sailors who “discovered” Long Island. 

            In the last paragraph of the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald had used multiple means of symbolism and imagery.  The first thing that he had started to describe was about Gatsby’s house.  Not only how the looks of it were, but how lonely it felt since Gatsby had passed.  An important part of this last passage was when he had mentioned the green light which had stood across the water at Daisy’s house.  There was also the reference made to the Dutch sailor’s.  What the interpretation of this reference might mean is that when Nick was lying on the beach, he had started to block out all the other houses that surrounded the area in the distance in front of him.  By doing so, he was able to recognize all the things that were there when apparently the sailors had discovered that same area that Nick was admiring.  

Journal 19 - Characterization in The Great Gatsby

Write a description for each of the following characters based on his/her first appearance in Chapter 1. Your description should include: -the character’s physical appearance; -the character’s actions/words; -an adjective that best describes the character based on his/her initial appearance 


Nick Carraway Polite to others and always seems very aware of what’s going on. Was not as judgmental as the others.

  Tom Buchanan He is very fit and shape, with large muscles, an athletic person. Had an aggressive demeanor in some ways. Also, was very forceful in the ways when he would speak to other people. Untrustworthy, since he had another woman.

  Daisy Buchanan Seemed very charming to others, chatty, has blonde hair, tries to ignore the lies that surround her.

  Jordan Baker Charming and very polite, was very chatty, dark brown hair. Also involved in what is going on in other people’s lives.

  Jay Gatsby He is quiet and kept mainly to himself. Always seen staring at the green light across the water from his house. A tall and slender man.

Journal 18 - Hemingway

1. What is the significance of the story’s title?

The significance of the story’s title is that the soldiers were in a different country, and also foreign to what is surrounding them. The people, who were anti-war, there were not always pleased to have them there and would yell at them for being involved in the war. For this reason, they would stand out more than they already were.


2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?

One of the characters that best represents the “Hemingway hero” would probably be the Major. The reason for this would be that he had gone through the most suffering through his life. Just between losing his wife and injuring his hands. His hands were important because he was a fencer in his life. Even through all of this, he carried himself with dignity and respect,





3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up? What is the significance of the major’s reaction?

What can be inferred from the photographs that the doctor hangs up was that it showed how the machine helped to strengthen whatever injury the person had. In reality, it was the motivation from the patient that helped to heal them and hard work, kind of like physical therapy. The major didn’t buy into it though and believed that it wouldn’t do anything to help him. Also, he isn’t listening to what the doctor is saying, but instead is looking out the window. By doing this, he is facing his loss and suffering.

Journal 17 - Prufrock

1. What is the significance of the poem’s epigraph? How does it relate to Prufrock?

The signifigance of the poem’s epigraph is that the author is not afraid to tell his own story. In Prufrock’s poem, it shows a glimpse of his private thoughts and private confessions of from his mind. Although, this story was not meant to be publicized, for if it was, he would feel shame and disgrace from it.





2. Make a list of questions that Prufrock asks. Do you see a pattern/theme to these questions or are they random?

The list of questions that Prufrock asks:
- Do I dare disturb the universe?
- So how should I presume?
- Then how should I begin to spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
- Is it perfume from a dress that makes me so digress?
- And how should I begin?
- Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets and watched the smoke that rises from the pipes o flonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?
- Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, have the strength to force the movement to its crisis?
- Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?

There is a theme to all these questions. The theme is that for question that he asks, it is a form of being self-conscious of himself. He is not bold enough to make even the most trivial decisions by himself.








3. What do you think is Prufrock’s main flaw/problem?

Prukrock’s main flaw, or problem, would be that he lacks decisiveness and self-confidence. Also, he is very concerned with time and other things along that line.






4. Why do you think this is called a love song? In what way is it a love song?

The ironic thing about this being called a love song is that the poem’s about not being able to find love. In some way though, some love songs can be about not finding love, but wanting to.

Journal 16 - Crane & London

Read the following quote and discuss how it applies to the main characters in both stories. In the course of this discussion, address how each of the characters is both similar and different:

“Determinisim governs everything … The writer must study the inherited traits of individual character and the social condition of the time. Together, these elements determine the course of any action, the outcome of any life. Free will or self-determination is mostly an illusion, although chance is granteed a role in human affairs. Still, even the effects of chance are obliterated in the inevitable course determined by the interaction of inherited character traits and the social environment.“


It is very possible to compare this quote to “The Blue Hotel.” In the quote, it talks about how one individual character is able to effect their whole surrounding, which is exactly what happens in this story. When the three men came off the train and into the hotel, there was one who started to become very paranoid. Thinking it was the wild west, he feared that there had been murders in the hotel and that he might be next. By thinking such things and reacting in such a ridiculous ways, he began to effect the few people around him. Such as, when the hotel owner made him become drunk, the son partaking in a fight with the man, the cowboy saying to kill him during the fight, the journalist never saying that the man was right about the cheating, and finally, the man in the end who stabbed the drunken paranoid. Whether the effect is positive or negative, there is always an outcome.

Taking from the quote, you are able to compare free will to “To Build A Fire”. When the man was out looking for gold in Alaska, there were other native to the area who had told him many things, including not to go alone, in order to survive. Although he may have been told this, it was his freewill when he had chosen not to listen. All the negative things that had occurred had happened because of his negligence to listen. Such examples of this would be when he was told how cold the temperatures would reach to, but even so, he did not come prepared for it. Also, the only other “person” that he had brought with him was the dog, which at one point he was willing to kill, but was not able to even reach his knife in the end. All of these happenings started with the point on whether he was willing to listen and take the advice that given or not.

Although both of these stories may have different types of characters, or barely any characters to begin with, both of them have a negative social environment. In the end, both had a undesirable ending where they had died. Though one died from nature, and the other from, in a way, influencing his negative and disruptive behavior upon others which had him receive the undesirable outcome. When looking back at both of them, the characters could have avoided all of this. If they had just listened to the other people, they would have foreseen their outcome.

Journal 15 – William Dean Howell’s “Editha”

1. Write a sentence that summarizes the story’s overall message, and provide three direct quotes from the story that best illustrate this message.

Overall, the story’s message was that romance can be played as a hurtful and dangerous game. Some quotes to support this are “But the man I marry must love his country first of all”. Another would be, “Before it seemed as if she could have written, there came news of the first skirmish, and in the list of the killed, which was telegraphed as a trifling loss on our side, was Gearson’s name.” A final quote could be, ‘”I would rather of died myself than done it!” Editha said, with more truth in her voice than she ordinarily found in it.’


2. What tactics does Editha use to make George believe as she does about the war?
Editha tells George that she isn’t able to marry someone who doesn’t love their country before everything else. Also, she had said that she believed God meant it to be war. She had used this tactic because her fiancée and his family was religious as well.

3. Is there ever a time in which Editha truly understands what she has done? Does she ever experience an epiphany?

There is a time where Editha truly understands what she has done. Near the end of the story, when she goes to visit her deceased fiancee’s mother, the mother had basically told her that this was her fault since Editha was the one to convince George to go to war in the first place. This was the point where she had her epiphany. Although, at the end of story when Editha is talking to sketch artist and the woman calls the mother vulgar, Editha continues back to her old ways.