Essay on Nick Hornby's High Fidelity

Fitzgerald emphasises that the pursuit of sex in ‘The Great Gatsby’ results in an abusive and violent conclusion most strikingly through the presentation of Tom and Myrtles physical relationship. When Myrtle, in her drunken state taunts Tom Buchanan shouting ‘Daisy, Daisy, Daisy’ he reacts with his fists. ‘Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand’. This brings the party to an abrupt halt and the action quickly comes to an end. The Monosyllabic words ‘Short’ and ‘deft’ that Fitzgerald uses in particular create a shock factor with the reader not expecting such an outburst in the midst of a celebratory atmosphere. In this scene we see that Tom is showing his desire to keep the two fragments of his life completely

The novel is able to share how music is of great importance and is able to affect people’s moods and thoughts.

In the article “The Trouble with Nick: Reading Gatsby Closely,” Scott Donaldson argues that “Nick Carraway is a snob” (98). Donaldson cites Carraway’s intolerance toward those who do not know how to act, Carraway’s conflicting feelings about Gatsby, and Carraway’s obsession with social propriety as manifestations of his snobbery. According to Donaldson, a final revelation of Carraway’s aloof attitude is his static personality, a personality that refuses to learn from the experiences of others. However, Scott Donaldson’s argument is incorrect; Nick Carraway is not a snob. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway is an unpretentious man who exemplifies tolerance and respect and learns from his experiences. Nick Carraway exhibits

In the memoir A Long Way Gone, author Ishmael Beah describes his survival journey as a lost child in his country, because of the civil war in Sierra Leone, then becoming a child soldier facing war daily, afterward the process that Beah went through during rehabilitation and finally in fear escaping the civil war. Ishmael Beah emotional journey has three stages of development in which Beah utilized music. In the first stage, Beah uses music as a survival mechanism to keep sane and safe. In the second stage, begins when he loses his brother and friends, Beah reaches the lowest point with the loss of his entire family again, some friends, music, and being forced to join the war. In the final stage, is the process of rehabilitation where Beah connects with music once again. Ishmael Beah exposure to music at a young age stayed with him throughout his life. (Beah, 2007, p. 5-218)

There are several instances in The Great Gatsby that support the fact that when a person is observing a relationship, it is easy to see its true dynamic. In the presented scenarios, a character on the exterior of a relationship, mainly Nick, is observing how two parties relate and seeing the reality of the situation rather than the superfluous attitudes the characters display in front of one another. Though it can be argued that in a relationship one knows the other’s sincere feelings, one can also hide their feelings in order to maintain an ideal relationship, as to avoid flaws.

There is a fine line between love and lust. If love is only a will to possess, it is not love. To love someone is to hold them dear to one's heart. In The Great Gatsby, the characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are said to be in love, but in reality, this seems to be a misconception. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the themes of love, lust and obsession, through the character of Jay Gatsby, who confuses lust and obsession with love. By the end of the novel however, Jay Gatsby is denied his "love" and suffers an untimely death. The author interconnects the relationships of the various prominent characters to support these ideas.

Anyone can relate to the feeling of being lonely at one point in their life. In result, when someone feels lonely it’s probably because they are not around friends or family, and just want to be able to have conversation. It also could mean someone wants to stray themselves away from the crowd because they want to be alone, that being said, everyone needs those silent moments to have for themselves. However, whichever situation it may be people still feel that “loneliness” every once in a while, and that’s what this poem is relaying.

It is no secret that music has a strange way of reaching people who were previously thought to be too far gone. Music has the capability to connect to individuals and touch them in a way that causes them to have some strange reactions (Warner et al, 35-36). These reactions aren’t fully understood but have the possibility to lead to great medical advancements. While some psychologists, and parents are strong believers in the helpful effects of music on people’s mental health, others see the dangers that come with music’s great influence and think it could be used as a dangerous tool against individuals.

Red Forman is a character from the sitcom That 70s Show. He is a resident of Point Place, Wisconsin. He was born December 7, 1927 and is a retired WWII and Korean veteran. He is a father to three children (Eric, Laurie, and Steven Hyde), and a husband to Kitty Forman. Even though he seems to always be at odds with his son, Eric and his friends, deep inside, Red is a caring father.

It became a way of self-expression; his own movement within himself. He related to the way he felt the music move him, was the way the heroin flowed through his veins and set him free. Free of the confinements of the city that trapped his youth, and free of the bars that held him hostage to break his habit of addiction. Even though he had hurt his family, he was able to relate his pain and struggles through music. With his own emotional struggles after the death of his child, the narrator reunites with his brother years later.

He is forced to be patient, but inside he is boiling with rage and contradictory emotions

For example, in the beginning of Ordinary People, perhaps the time when Conrad was struggling the most, he results to music, “He thinks of a simple, spare melody… ‘Rainy Day Man,’ an old James Taylor tune… He hums it through to relax himself” (pg. 21). Music symbolizes his antidepressant; it is the method he uses to cope with discomfort. Conrad uses music to escape the pain caused by depression. Similarly, Styron uses music as a tool to provoke his writing’s creative side, and in concurrence with alcohol, as an alternative way to evade his attention from his suffering.

The film Dangerous Liaison, directed by Stephen Frears remains just about faithful to the epistolary novel, Dangerous Liaisons, by Choderlos de Laclos. Stephen Frears does "betray" the novel towards the end of the film but, it makes the ending that much more better and enticing. The film represents what the epistolary novel only hints at us readers. The novel is composed of letters where we only get a sense of the characters thoughts and emotions. The film tries to put those words into action but only showing one version of each scene. It is different in which the writer of the novel is using words while the film maker is using pictures to describe what's happening.

Some people think that music can positively influence the listener while others disagree and argue that it has a negative impact. Mark Edmundson, the author of “Can Music Save Your Life?,” asserts through his own experience and the research of others that music solely “preserves” the listener’s life as a “balm—cortisone spread” (paragraph 25). His use of a well-known medical supplement makes it more relatable and believable to the reader. The authors of “Feeling the Beat” support Edmundson by stating that they observed an increased sense of confidence in oneself and one’s beliefs in the people they interviewed(Iwamoto, Creswell, & Caldwell 346). Their main support is the quote from one of their interviewee’s who said, “We can identify what they are talking about” (Iwamoto, Creswell, & Caldwell 343). This not only explains why students listen to certain types of music, but also why it can have such an impact on them. Derek Iwamoto, John Creswell, and Leon Caldwell declare their statement that positive influence of music by stating that the majority of the students they observed used their music as a way to

Thesis: Music is a unique form of sound powerful enough to manipulate mood, feelings, and cognition.