This Side Of Paradise Analysis

For centuries, seasons have been understood to stand for the same set of meanings. Seasons are easily understood by the reader, and are easy for the writer to use; as Foster states, “Seasons can work magic on us, and writers can work magic with seasons” (Foster 192). The different seasons are a huge part of our lives; we live through each one every year, and we know how each of them impacts our lives. This closeness between people and nature allows us to be greatly impacted by the use of seasons in literature. In addition, Foster lays out the basic meanings of each season for us: autumn is harvest, decline, tiredness; winter is anger, hatred, cold, old age; summer is passion, love, happiness, beauty; and spring is childhood and youth. On the

Isn’t it strange how the weather can have such influence over us? How we dress, commute, plan, and even feel? The Great Gatsby, written by F.Scott Fitzgerald, is a book that includes much weather symbolism that makes the characters and the reader perceive certain emotions. The novel consists of a man named Jay Gatsby, and his past lover as well as married woman, Daisy Buchanan. As the novel persists, Gatsby continuously attempts to reclaim Daisy’s love, however these events only lead to bloodshed and heartbreak. Weather, in The Great Gatsby, reflects and captures the main characters’ climactic emotional events. It is constantly and subtly mentioned as turmoil persists, as well as when the truth unravels. Main points mentioned alongside the weather, is when Gatsby and Daisy reunite, when Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby fight with Nick and Jordan to witness, and to conclude, when Gatsby is killed.

Season; noun, is defined as one of the four periods of the year beginning astronomically at an equinox or solstice, but geographically at different dates in different climates. The seasons plays a huge role in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a novel about a young wealthy man who has been trying to reunite with a woman who he deeply loves but, only to be reaching out for his death. Three seasons spring, summer, and autumn all have different meaning throughout the novel as it symbolizes the actions and tones of the characters, especially Mr.Gatsby. Spring represents sadness, depression, or love; Summer symbolizes anger, hatred, or fights/arguments; and Autumn indicates death,

The seasons in the poem also can be seen as symbols of time passing in her life. Saying that in the height of her life she was much in love and knew what love was she says this all with four words “summer sang in me.” And as her life is in decline her lovers left her, this can be told by using “winter” as a symbol because it is the season of death and decline from life and the birds left the tree in winter. The “birds” can be seen as a literal symbol of the lovers that have left her or flown away or it can have the deeper meaning that in the last stages of our life all of our memories leave us tittering to our selves.

Foster’s insights about seasons and weather in literature change the story’s interpretation by clarifying their purposes. Foster’s main idea in the chapter It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow is weather always has a purpose; for example, rain, which has an “association with Spring,” can allow a “character to be cleansed symbolically” and “can bring the world back to life.” This insight is clear in the short story as outside Mrs.Mallard’s room the “trees were all aquiver with the new spring life” and “the delicious breath of rain was in the air.” The rain and spring weather may be dismissed as merely setting, but Foster’s insights allow the deeper meaning behind the inclusion of rain and spring to be clarified. The rain and spring show how Mrs.Mallard was cleansed

Fitzgerald used lots of visual imagery in his books to immerse the reader by describing scenes or visuals that the reader can imagine in his mind and feel like he or she is there while reading. He does this in chapter 3 on page 39 of The Great Gatsby, by describing the sun looking down on the sand when he says “Taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach”. By reading this the reader can easily comprehend and think of an ocean shore with the sun beating down on the sand making it hot. In the same chapter Fitzgerald uses visual imagery again by saying “and enough colored lights to make a christmas tree of gatsby’s enormous

The first example of this weather motif, is when Nick is invited to dinner with Tom and Daisy. Fitzgerald uses the weather as a tool to help the reader understand what Nick was feeling as

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald is an extremely renowned coming of age novel. It portrays life in the roaring 20’s, following the life of a young Amory Blaine. Amory faces obstacles from devastation by wealthy women to fighting in World War I and losing some of his closest friends. Reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster emphasized the main ideas throughout Amory’s life. The two main ideas that stood out in Fitzgerald’s book, was the quest taken by Amory Blaine and what Foster calls “baptisms” throughout the story.

Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism to portray Gatsby’s desperation to get Daisy back. On pages 25-26 it says, “…he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light” (25-26; Ch.1). In chapter 9 it also declares that “Gatsby believed in the green light” (189; Ch.9). The green light represents Gatsby’s hopes, dreams, and ultimate goal to get Daisy back. E.E. Cummings uses symbolism to show how the women and men are wasting their time and living carelessly. Lines 5 and 7 in cummings’ poem states that, “Women and men (both little and small)…they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same” reveals that the townspeople just did what they had to do to get by (In 5,7). It also shows how they lived without a purpose. The author uses the seasons, “autumn winter spring summer” to demonstrate how time constantly passes by (In

Fitzgerald uses an abundant amount of symbolism that is tied to heat. Which describes the intensity of the events going on. The more intense the situation get, the weather begins to get hotter. Fitzgerald portrays heat to portray panic and confusion.

The Other Side of Paradise explores topics society refuses to speak about today. The author Staceyann Chin grows up as an outcast in Jamaica. The memoir begins with Chin at a very young age, her and her brother Delano both live with their grandma. Chin was left alone after being born by her mother and her father refuses to claim Chin as his own child. Throughout the memoir, Chin experiences sexism, classism, racism and strict religious standards. Furthermore, The Other side of Paradise, along with bell hook’s article, provides insight towards the roles of race and class, as we see in the memoirs characters, Staceyann and Delano.

In his book Member of the Club, Lawrence Otis Graham details the struggles of living as a black student at Princeton University. The chapter “The Underside of Paradise” opens up with a quote by Paul Robeson that compared living in Princeton to living in a southern plantation. Despite Graham attending Princeton three decades later, he found the quote to be accurate in describing his own student experience at the esteemed college where subtle but real racial segregation divided the campus. Through an analysis with the functionalist perspective, the tension and division between the white and black students can be understood as a result of organic solidarity. Ultimately, the two groups of people are part of an interconnected society. However, they are separated by issues of civil rights. Black students are able to relate to the injustices that take place in the world. However, white students are often unable to do so and remain indifferent and separated from the issues. An example can be seen when Graham participated in the antiapartheid movement and his roommate Steve confronted Graham and asked, “Please don’t get offended by this, but do blacks really think Americans are so terrible, and that things are so racist and unfair in the United States?” (Graham, 1995, p. 204). In a sense, the racial segregation could also be seen as a mechanism to prevent conflict between the two groups. As Emile Durkheim (1972) states, “The closer functions approach one-another, however, the more

This motif of weather really surprised me. I took me a while to notice how that the weather matched the emotion of this novel. When ever Fitzgerald made a point about the weather, it helps to describe the emotional tone of what is going on. In chapter V when Gatsby gets Nick to set up a meeting with his lost love daisy, Gatsby uses rain and dismal weather which helps set the tone for the affair that is about to take place between Daisy and Gatsby. “They had forgotten me, but Daisy glanced up and held out her hand; Gatsby didn’t know me at all. I looked once more at them and they looked back at me, remotely, possessed by intense life. Then I went down the marble steps into the rain, leaving them there together” (Fitzgerald 96). Then once again weather is used to support the atmosphere. When Tom confronts Gatsby about the affair with his wife, Fitzgerald sets the weather as being extremely hot and scorching. This mirrors the emotions that were present at that time. Lastly, Fitzgerald once more calls upon the weather for Gatsby death. The summer is over and it is the first day of fall. This represents that time has moved on and the past can’t be redone. His death was part of

At one time or another, every person has experienced the beauty of summer. In this time of the year, nature is full of life, the weather is at its finest, and the paramount joys of life can be experienced to their fullest. Then the fall comes, the trees turn lovely shades of red and yellow, and the wind offers a nice chill breeze for relief. Unfortunately, seasons change and the beauty that people once experienced vanishes. People focusing only on the material and petty aspects of life, rather than the beauty around them, will let life pass them, missing out on the true wonders of the world. In his poem “To Autumn,” John Keats utilizes imagery to express the importance of indulging in the beauties of nature, while alive, because humans are mortal beings bound by the limits of time.

John Milton's epic “Paradise Lost” is one that has brought about much debate since its writing. This epic tells the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, although from a different perspective than what most people usually see. Milton tells the story more through the eyes of Satan, whom most people usually consider the ultimate villain. The way in which Satan is portrayed in this story has caused speculation as to whether Satan is actually a hero in this situation. He certainly has heroic qualities throughout the story, yet still is ultimately responsible for Adam and Eve's sin. Satan can easily be classified as a hero in this story, as well as the main antagonist, depending on the viewpoint of the reader. Milton introduces Satan as an important