Clayton's Class Notes

Class Notes

Julia quote questions

Well that was a pretty crazy chapter...
Something i am confused on was when it says "he took her because he had no real right to touch her hand" (149)
This line answers some of my questions like why is he doing all this for her if he knows he has to get there alone and questions like that. It also brings up some new ones for me though.
What does he mean when he says he took her? Is that referring to her engagement before Tom? And my other question is if you guys think falling in love with Daisy changed how he felt when he was described in this quote?

Dilatory

Sorry for the lateness of this post. I wasn't able to post it on the Vap blog. 

"Nope." After a pause he added "sir"in a dilatory, grudging way (113).

Dilatory- tending to delay or procrastinate, intending to cause delay. 

The boy's dilatory studying cured him to fail his Latin test. 

Julia's class notes

Julia blog chapter 6

After reading chapter six I think one of the questions was answered for me. The "what happens when there is nothing left to dream for?" question. I think by the end of this chapter we definitely see at least how Gatsby wants to approach the situation when he reaches this point. 
"It is inevitably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment"(104)
"Can't repeat the past? he cried incredulously. Why of course you can" (110) 
"I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before, he said, nodding determinedly. She'll see" (110) 
"but if he could once return to a certain starting place..." (110) 
Gatsby is initially sad at the fact that he has achieved his dream of reconnecting with Daisy and it is not exactly how he pictured it. He then realizes that even though that dream is over and there is no more to wish for about Daisy, the real problem is the past. So an easy fix is to repeat the past and fix everything. He just needs to find the place in the past where everything went wrong. 

referring to the Langston Hughes poem, he finished the poem by saying "or does it explode". The world explode reminds me of a word that seemed to be mentioned a lot in the chapter. The word was Oblivion. When I think of oblivion, I think of nothing, literal nothingness because it has disappeared or maybe even exploded. Some of the examples are...
"Tom appeared from his oblivion" (105)
"I'd a little rather not be the polo player," said Tom pleasantly, "I'd rather look at all these famous people in--in oblivion."(105) 
I think Langston Hues was implying that when a dream is deferred like Gatsby's, it was fade into oblivion and turn into nothing.  

Chapter 5 notes

Chapter 4 Notes

Here are my notes for chapter 4

Julia passage unpacking chapter 5

"There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams- not through her own fault, but because of the colossal variety of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart" (95-96)
That last line is probably my favorite line in the book that we have read so far. There is something about it that just seems so sum up Gatsby's life. He has constantly worked on making his house better and bigger all in hope that Daisy will one day wander into one of his parties and see everything he has accomplished. That line talks about how nothing can challenge the dreams Gatsby holds in his heart for him and Daisy to be together.

Jacob's Notes from 5/7

Day 3 notes

If you can't read my handwriting just say in the comments. Sorry

Hi guys! So I figured I would passage unpack.
"I wanted to get out and walk eastward toward the park through the soft twilight, but each time I tried to go I became entangled in some wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair. Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual weather in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life" (35).
Nick is not in the right state of mind when he says this because this is only the second time he has ever gotten drunk. He looks out the window knowing that he should leave but the conversations and events happening inside keep him at the apartment with Tom, and his mistress and her friends. I think that in the last line Nick is talking about how he is witnessing things he has never seen before like all the different types of people and how they are disturbing yet fascinating to him because he is learning new things. The only part i do not understand is when he says "and I was him too, looking up and wondering" because i'm not sure who he is talking about here. Let me know if you guys have any ideas.

Great Gatsby - Day 1: 4/29/15

If anyone can't see or read what I have written down, just ask/comment and I'll tell you what I wrote.

Area of Interest

The area that I am going to explore is the idea something/nothing and how Stephen Hawking ties into Oskar's life.

Questions regarding POI:
Is nothing something? or is it something that makes it nothing?
Why are there nothing spaces in the grandma's home? What do they represent?
Does Oskar's loss make him nothing?
Why does Oskar feel such a connection to Stephen Hawking?
Why does Stephen Hawking matter even though he doesn't have a voice?
Is life itself nothing or something?

Passages to explore:

"Stephen Hawking's"letter to Oskar at the end
Grandma's story with the creation of nothing spaces
What Oskar writes to Stephen Hawking about

Essay Topic

Introduction sentence:  In the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Johnathan Safran Foer, Oskar's grandfather uses alternate forms of communication to reachout to the people he loves without speaking.

Questions that can be asked:
-What are the alternate forms of communication?
-To whom does he reach out to?
-Does this work effectively?
-Are words necessary to show pre-existing feelings

Quotes/ ideas that will be explored:
-The letters including "To my unborn child" and "To my child" (235).
-The note pad
-talking in the phone booth to grandma
-notes to the doorman
-throwing pebbles against the guest bedroom window

Essay

Area of interest: the idea debating whether or not words are necessary or if it is the feelings that matter… not sure which side i am supporting


In the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, the grandpa and father portray the idea that words are necessary even if it is the feelings that matter.


Questions:
How does he portray this idea?
Why are words not necessary?
What kind of feelings?
Who does he communicate with?
How does he communicate his feelings without words?

Support:
"If I could tell you what happened that night I could leave it behind me" (208)

The letters were never sent by the grandfather so nobody ever knew what he was feeling.

"I knew that we were sharing something with our eyes, but I didn't know what, and I didn't know if it mattered" (147)

"She was silent, I had made a fool out of myself, there's nothing wrong with not understanding yourself and she started laughing, laughing harder than I'd ever felt anyone laugh, the laughter brought on tears, and the tears brought on more tears, and then I started laughing, out of the most deep and complete shame" (117)… No words makes people think the worst is happening

I wanted to call her name, but I didn't want her to hear my voice, all of my desire was based on that one brief exchange" (116)

"We talked about nothing in particular, but it felt like we were talking about the most important thing in the world" (113)

"The more we took each others assumptions for granted, the less we said, the more misunderstood, I'd often remembered having designated space as nothing when she was sure we had agreed that it was something" (111)

Matt's mind map

I created a mind map that helped my organize my ideas.  It's a little confusing so if you have questions or suggestions let me know.  Feel free to steal and adapt ideas from it.

Essay Areas of Interest

Area of Interest:

Characters communicating through loss and pain. I especially want to write about the Grandfather's decision to isolate himself from other and be alone to avoid experiencing pain and suffering. Although the result of him to isolate himself from 

Opening Sentence:

In Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran, the Grandfather isolates himself behind a barrier of pain and as a result communicates with loved ones through loss.   

Questions:

• Why does he isolate himself?
• What Pain?
• How does he communicate?
• Who are his loved ones?
• What has he lost?

Passages:
Pg. 108- "Your mother and I never talk about the past, that's a rule."
Pg. 108- "It's a rule that we never listen to sad music, we made that rule early on, songs are sad as the listener, we hardly ever listen to music."
Pg. 109- "Maybe that was the story was telling myself when I met your mother, I thought we could run to each other, I thought e could have a beautiful reunion, although we had hardly known each other in Dresden."
Pg. 111- "There came point, a year or two ago, when our apartment was more Nothing than Something."
Pg. 111- "I gestured, "I thought this was Nothing,"
 

Treys Area of Interest

For this paper my area of interest will be on how Oskar wanted meaning for his dads death and want connections in the search that he had started in the beginning of the book. I would also like to touch up on communication failures thought Oskar's life.
My first sentence will be:
In the Novel ELAIC by JSF Oskar is exhausted, pessimistic and frustrated at the end of his search because Oskar wants meaning and connections for his Fathers death despite his death had no special meaning.
Questions-
1. What did he find at the end of his search?
2. What meaning and connections had he found so far?
3. Why does this matter?
4. How will the end of his search affect his life?

Passages-

pg. 290- When the communication between Oskar and Abbey Black unintentionally make Oskar's each much harder. However did this help Oskar rebound by meeting many other blacks who helped him try and move on from his dad
pg 167-168 This scene shows a unexplained reaction to the reviving Mr. Blacks communications with the world.
pg 7- Proof of how much Oskar loves his dad

* Sorry I posted this today, i thought it was uploaded yesterday