ELIT 48C: Class #3

Commonly Misused Word: Refute

Grammar Slide

http://listverse.com/2011/06/07/top-10-misused-english-words/

AGENDAFinish Williams and HughesLecture:

o The Great Gatsby: Historical Context

Discussion:o The Great Gatsby

Author Introduction: Lois Tyson and Critical Theory Today

William Carlos Williams So far, all of the

manifestos that we have read are serious invectives. Yet, here we encounter the playfulness in Williams’s Spring and All. Given the playful, ironic, and humorous tone of Williams’s manifesto, it may be difficult to tell how deadly serious he is about his vision for modern poetry.

It is spring! but miracle of miracles a miraculous miracle has gradually taken place during these seemingly wasted eons. Through the orderly sequences of unmentionable time EVOLUTION HAS REPEATED ITSELF FROM THE BEGINNING.—from Spring and All

1.How is William Carlos Williams’ manifesto Spring and All a crisis of modernity in terms of literary convention that is reflective of the period (c.1914-1945), if at all? If he is arguing that ‘originality’ exists when ideas are ‘new’ (i.e., restarting the process all over again) only to lose their novelty through ‘evolution’, then is it humanly possible to every truly overcome this dilemma?

2.Q: Why does William Carlos Williams say, “Only the imagination is undeceived.” What is he arguing about humans and the way we act?

Langston Hughes

Many modernist writers supported the idea that artists and writers should be fiercely committed to their personal vision regardless of what the market, critics, or other writers said. In “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” Langston Hughes argues that an artist’s racial identity complicates this commitment to personal vision in ways that white writers had not fully appreciated.

I am ashamed for the black poet who says, “I want to be a poet, not a Negro poet,” as though his own racial world were not as interesting as any other world . . . An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.

—from “The Negro Artist and

the Racial Mountain”

1.Q: What does Hughes mean when he says, “An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid too what he might choose”? What does society lose when it represses art and culture, such as that of African American Artists?

2.What role does the concept of double consciousness play in Langston Hughes’s “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”?

QHQ: Hughes1. In Langston Hughes’ manifesto “The

Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” Hughes describes a community without an ethnicity and a racial divide which hinders their culture. Why is it difficult for African Americans Artist to accept their culture? Why must they be white-washed?

2. How can African-Americans recover from internalized racism when mainstream culture is focused on white standards?

3. Why does Hughes change his font size throughout his manifesto?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL05VV040Ls

1896-1940F. Scott

Fitzgerald

LECTURE: HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Historical Context

Post WWI Standard of living increased for most Americans abandoned small towns in

exchange for urban living Economy prospered as Americans

tried to forget troubles of war- frivolous spending- illegal liquor- immorality

The 1920s: NicknamesThe Roaring

‘20sThe Jazz AgeThe Flapper Era

1920’s ContextWWI made Americans question

traditional ideals.Literature and art denied foundations

of the past and went for the new.The philosophy of the Jazz Age was

“modernism."

The Jazz Age / Roaring Twenties

Era: 1918-1929 The age takes its name from jazz,

which saw a tremendous surge in popularity.

This was a period of pleasure seeking & reckless exuberance

Most of Fitzgerald’s stories provide a picture of youthful hedonism and the antics of the liberated young women known as “flappers,” affronting conventional values with short skirts, short hair and make-up.

Prohibition 18th Amendment to Constitution

prohibited manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages

Thousands turned to bootlegging Mob activity increased to supply the

demand for what was once legal

More 1920’s This period has been referred to as “The Lost

Generation.” Hemingway, in his novel The Sun Also Rises

depicts a group of expatriate Americans, wandering aimlessly through Europe, sensing that they are powerless and that life is pointless in the aftermath of the Great War.

The Great Gatsby likewise reflects this perception of life without purpose, of restlessness, dissatisfaction and drifting.

Conspicuous Consumption This term was originally coined to

refer to the rise & power of extremely rich businessmen, who displayed their wealth in ostentatious houses & extravagant behavior.

This was invariably wasteful & implied increasing poverty among the lower classes in society.

Advertising & the mass market By the time The Great Gatsby was published, the

American population had almost doubled. The solution included mass production, which led

to technological development - cars, air travel and the telephone - as well as new modernist trends in social behavior, the arts, and culture.

This growth in commodities led to standardization, where all citizens had the opportunity to buy items that had been too expensive or difficult to acquire.

The early years saw a corresponding change in advertising – products were given brand names as a sign of reliability. But new advertising also sought to create the desire for commodities & packaging became more important

DISCUSS THE GREAT GATSBY AND POST #2

INGROUPS

A Brief Summary?

Mia Farrow and Robert Redford 1974

Carey Mulligan and Leonardo DiCaprio 2013

• How does the reunion of Daisy and Gatsby signal both the beginning and the end of Gatsby’s dream and of his success?

QHQ: Gatsby Gatsby assumes he can “fix

everything just the way it was before” if he could only make Daisy renounce her love for Tom Buchanan. He also tells Nick that his associate Meyer Wolfsheim, the man who helped Gatsby achieve great wealth, “fixed the World Series back in 1919.” How does the notion of “fixing” — or even “fixation” — relate to the character of Gatsby?

Character Sketch Daisy leans forward and talks in a

low voice. Tom is restless and hulking. Jordan balances something on her

chin almost in an athletic stance. What is Fitzgerald’s purpose in thus

describing them?

Daisy Buchanan The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise — she

leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression — then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room.“I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.” She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see. That was a way she had. She hinted in a murmur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker. (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.)

Tom Buchanan He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he

was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body — he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage — a cruel body.

Jordan Baker The younger of the two was a stranger to me. She was

extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless, and with her chin raised a little, as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall. If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it — indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for having disturbed her by coming in.

At any rate, Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she nodded at me almost imperceptibly, and then quickly tipped her head back again — the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright. Again a sort of apology arose to my lips. Almost any exhibition of complete self-sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me.

QHQ: NICKQ: Why does Nick Carraway end up respecting Jay Gatsby even though he “represented everything for which [he] [had] an unaffected scorn?”

• Trace the recurring image of eyes, and ascertain the purposes of those images. Consider blindness on any level as well as sight.

The Eyes “above the gray land and the spasms of

bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg.   The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic – their retinas are one yard high.   They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose […] But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.” (Chapter 2)

QHQ: The Great Gatsby1. Q: In chapter three, we’re introduced to three types

of criminals: a murderer, a reckless driver, and a liar. In the end, the same three crimes are committed by a single person, Daisy. Why are these three crimes significant and how do these crimes connect to Daisy, Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, and Gatsby?

2. QHQ: What is the significance of the green light? Is Gatsby’s death tragic, or could his death be viewed as the ultimate solace of his struggle?

3. What is Fitzgerald saying through these self-reflexive moments?

4. What is the significance of “time” throughout the novel?

Broader Themes Q: Is Gatsby in love with Daisy or the idea

of Daisy as a symbol of the American Dream?

Q: Does Tom Buchanan’s character represent the state of American society in the 1920s?

Q: Discuss the roles of women in The Great Gatsby. How are they portrayed? Negatively? Positively?

Q: How [are] the primitive stages of feminism being portray[ed] in this novel?

Race What comments, both subtle and

explicit, does F. Scott Fitzgerald make about race in his novel, “The Great Gatsby”? How do these comments reflect the opinions about race within the 1920’s, considering that this was also the period of the Harlem Renaissance movement?

Music?What is the significance of song lyrics in the book? What other seemingly inconspicuous details are symbols or hold hidden significance in the story?Song lyrics first appear when Jordan Baker and Nick Carraway are driving through Central Park and hear girls singing these lines:

“‘I’m the Sheik of Araby,/ Your love belongs to me./ At night when you’re asleep,/ Into your tent I’ll creep——’” (84).

The second time song lyrics appear is when Gatsby, Daisy, and Nick are all at Gatsby’s house and the boarder plays the piano and sings for them. The song is “Ain’t We Got Fun,” which came out in 1921 and represents the Roaring Twenties in a lot of ways. The main lyrics that appear in the story are,

“In the morning, in the evening,” while “the rich get richer and the poor get children,” “Ain’t we got fun” (102).

Lois TysonLois Tyson is a Professor of English at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, USA. Tyson earned a Bachelor of Arts in French from Rutgers University in 1972, and double master’s degrees in education and English from Ohio University in 1982 and 1984. She earned a Ph.D. in English from the Ohio State University in 1989.

You can find a link to

on our course webpage, under “Secondary Texts”

This textbook

HOMEWORKRead: Critical Theory Today: Chapter 1 Introduction 1-10Read: Critical Theory Today: Chapter 5 New Criticism 135-164 Post #3: QHQ: New

Criticism