The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby 

      -F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald, in full Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, (born September 24, 1896, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.—died December 21, 1940, Hollywood, California), American short-story writer and novelist famous for his depictions of the Jazz Age (the 1920s), his most brilliant novel being The Great Gatsby (1925). His private life, with his wife, Zelda, in both America and France, became almost as celebrated as his novels.

About novel 

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.

How did the film capture the Jazz Age - the Roaring Twenties of the America in 1920s?

The Roaring Twenties, from its wild parties, dancing and illegal drinking .In The Great Gatsby, jazz appears as constant background music. In the contemporary phenomenon of “Gatsby parties”—festivities intended to capture the air of the titular Jay Gatsby's famously lavish, bacchanalian parties—jazz is de rigueur to evoke the 1920s.

How did the film help in understanding the characters of the novel?

We can't easily understand the characters of novel in movie because first of all we should have the basic knowledge of the  characters of novel then and only then we can understand the characters of novel in movie properly. 

How did the film help in understanding the symbolic significance of 'The Valley of Ashes', 'The Eyes of Dr. T J Eckleberg' and 'The Green Light'?

The Green Light

Situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn, the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and in Chapter 1 he reaches toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. Because Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is broadly associated with the American dream, the green light also symbolizes that more generalized ideal.  Nick compares the green light to how America, rising out of the ocean, must have looked to early settlers of the new nation.

The Valley of Ashes

The valley of ashes between West Egg and New York City consists of a long stretch of desolate land created by the dumping of industrial ashes. It represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the plight of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result.

The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg

The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. They may represent God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral wasteland,though the novel never makes this point explicitly. Instead, throughout the novel, Fitzgerald suggests that symbols only have meaning because characters instill them with meaning. The connection between the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg and God exists only in George Wilson’s grief-stricken mind. This lack of concrete significance contributes to the unsettling nature of the image. Thus, the eyes also come to represent the essential meaninglessness of the world and the arbitrariness of the mental process by which people invest objects with meaning. Nick explores these ideas in Chapter 8, when he imagines Gatsby’s final thoughts as a depressed consideration of the emptiness of symbols and dreams.

How did the film capture the theme of racism and sexism?

Instances of racism and sexism were not uncommon. However, racism and sexism are not really tolerated or accepted in today’s time. To suit the modern audience, instances of racism and sexism were omitted in the production of the movie. Many other differences can be found between the movie and the book. As times change, so do the accepted norms of society. The changes can be found seen in the characters and themes of the story.

5.Watch the video on Nick Carraway and discuss him as a narrator.

Nick Carraway, tells a story in which Jay Gatsby tries to attain happiness through wealth. Even though the novel is titled after Gatsby, Nick analyzes the actions of others and presents the story so that the reader can comprehend the theme. Throughout the novel, Nick is the vehicle used to gather all of the pieces together to learn about Gatsby. Nick is the only character that changes in the novel from the beginning to the end. 

Archetypes Theory

Archetypes Theory

1.What is archetypal criticism?What does the archetypal critic do?

Archetypes determine the form and function of literary works, that a text's meaning is shaped by cultural and psychological myths. Archetypes are the unknowable basic forms personified or concretized in recurring images, symbols, or patterns which may include motifs such as the quest or the heavenly ascent, recognizable character types such as the trickster or the hero, symbols such as the apple or snake, or images .

Archetypal critics find New Criticism too atomistic in ignoring intertextual elements and in approaching the text as if it existed in a vacuum. 

2.What is Frye trying prove by giving an analogy of 'physics of nature' and 'Criticism to literature'?

North Frye is comparing 'physics to nature' and 'Criticism to literature '.Physics is an organized body of knowledge about nature, Physics is a systematic​ study of nature. In the study of physics it's not only about nature,but similarly criticism is the study of literature . Criticism, Frye explains, is essentially moving when it moves inwardly, towards the structure of a text; it is tending to move away from a centre ,when it moves outwardly, away from the text and towards society and the outer world.This things North Frye is trying to prove in an analogy of 'physics of nature' and 'Criticism to literature'.

 

3. Share your views of criticism as an organized body of knowledge. Mention relation of literature with history and philosophy.

According to me History, literature, and philosophy are the central elements of the humanities. They interlinked with other. History and literature are the essential studies of the humanities because we can be able  interpret human experience. To the extent that we are knowledgeable about these subjects, we are better able to communicate with one another.When we study literature and history together, we can reunite two fields of learning stories written in the past, and the story of the past itself that should never have been pulled apart.

4.Briefly explain inductive method with illustrations of Shakespeare's Hamlet's gravedigger's scene.

Inductive is used to describe reasoning that involves using specific observations, such as observed patterns, to make a general conclusion. This method is sometimes called induction. The grave digger scene is the best example for inductive method The gravediggers scene in Hamlet is clearly foreshadow that more deaths will occur which shows something more tragic will happen. 

5.Briefly explain deductive method with reference to an analogy to music, painting, rhythm and pattern. Give example of outcome of deductive method.

Deductive method involves moving from general to specific. As we can see music has rythm and painting has pattern. By hearing music we can't understand it in one time . But seeing painting we can understand it easily. So like that literature seems to be remediate between music and painting. 

6.Refer to the Indian seasonal grid (below). If you can, please read small Gujarati or Hindi or English poem from the archetypal approach and apply Indian seasonal grid in the interpretation.

Chart of Indian Seasons

This poem portrait monsoon season. During the monsoon season their will be greenery everywhere. In this poem, we find seasonal symbols.As we know, according to Archetypal Criticism, different seasons  have different meaning.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

George Orwell

 

George Orwell was born on 25 June 1903 Motihari , Bengal Presidency, British India.

Eric Arthur Blair, known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic.

His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism.

He is known for the allegorical novel Animal Farm (1945)Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Died on 21 January 1950 (age 46) London, England.

Brief summary of novel 

1984 is a dystopian novella by George Orwell published in 1949, which follows the life of Winston Smith, a low ranking member of ‘the Party’, who is frustrated by the omnipresent eyes of the party, and its ominous ruler Big Brother. ‘Big Brother’ controls every aspect of people’s lives.

Characters Chart

1.What is Dystopian Fiction?

Dystopia is a literary device and genre used by writers to present a vision of the future that challenges readers to reflect on the current social and political environments in which they live. Dystopian literature often portrays society in cataclysmic decline resulting from environmental ruin, control through technology, and government oppression of individual freedom and expression.

Central themes Dystopian Fiction 

Government control: dystopian works often reflect extremes in terms of governmental rule, from oppressive totalitarianism to violent anarchyenvironmental.

 Environmental destruction: dystopian stories are typically set in “apocalyptic” environments that reflect destruction of life and an uninhabitable landscape, usually as a result of war and weaponary.

Technological control: dystopian works often reflect advancements in science and technology that grow out of human control and become domineering and fear-inducing.

survival: characters in dystopian literature are often left to their own means of survival due to oppressive or violent societies.

Loss of individualism: dystopian literature often emphasizes the needs of society and conformity at the expense of individual freedom and expression.

1984 as dystopian fiction :-

George Orwell's 1984 is a defining example of dystopian fiction in that it envisions a future where society is in decline, totalitarianism has created vast inequities, and innate weaknesses of human nature keep the characters in a state of conflict and unhappiness.

In 1984, characters live in fear of wars, government surveillance, and political oppression of free speech. The London of the novel is dirty and crumbling, with food shortages, exploding bombs, and miserable citizens. The government is an all-powerful force of oppression and control, and crushes the characters’ identities and dreams. This dystopian vision of the future, written thirty-five years before the year the novel is set, suggests that man’s inherent nature is corrupt and repressive. Orwell wrote the book in the aftermath of World War II and the rise of fascism in Germany and the Soviet Union, and paints a pessimistic picture of society’s ability to avoid further global disasters.

Dystopian novels explore the effects of oppression and totalitarianism on the individual psyche as well as how the individual functions in a repressive society. Winston’s trouble retrieving and trusting his memories illustrates the way the Party has corrupted his emotional life as well as his daily existence, asking the reader to question the nature of memory and individual consciousness. By suggesting that Winston is initially complacent because he can’t remember whether or not life was better and he was happier before the Revolution, the book examines the importance of memory in creating a sense of self.

2.What according to you is the central theme of this novel? 

According to me the most important theme in 1984 is totalitarianism. The Party

has almost achieved the idea of a totalitarian state completely.Totalitarianism is a form of government that theoretically permits no

individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of the

individual's life to the authority of the government Or simply said: the belief that a government should have total power over

its citizens.The society the protagonist (Winston Smith) lives in, is a totalitarian

state. They achieved that in approximately 60 years. The state was formed mainly by using all sorts of propaganda and by making the entire life of a Party member (as well Inner Party as Outer Party) revolve around

the Party.

For example

Everywhere in the streets there are monstrous posters with

the Party slogans and the face of Big Brother. Especially the one with the

phrase Big Brother is watching you. 

The regime keeps on making clear to its people that they are monitored,

that the Party knows everything about what the people do and think. The

Party keeps the people small by creating a kind of fear. That fear leads to the obedience ofthe inhabitants .Not only the Party or their neighbors could betray a Party member, even their own children are used. From the moment they can walk and talk, they join the Youth Leagues, and are trained to become Spies.  

3.What do understand by term Orwellian?

My understanding of term Orwellian is as follows ​Characteristic of the writings of George Orwell, especially with reference to his dystopian account of a future totalitarian state in Nineteen Eighty-Four.Term Orwellian is used to describe a political system in which a government tries to have complete control over people’s behaviour and thoughts.

4.Write brief about 'Newspeak'.

Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate that is the setting of the 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell. In the novel, the Party created Newspeak to meet the ideological requirements of Ingsoc (English Socialism) in Oceania.

An Artist of the Floating World

Kazuo Ishiguro, in full Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, (born November 8, 1954, Nagasaki, Japan), Japanese-born British novelist known for his lyrical tales of regret fused with subtle optimism. In 2017 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his works that “uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.”

About novel 

An Artist of the Floating World (1986) is a novel by British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It is set in post-World War II Japan and is narrated by Masuji Ono, an ageing painter, who looks back on his life and how he has lived it.

Movie An Artist of Floating world 

Yoshiji Ono, a prominent painter, struggles to adjust to his new environment after the Second World War, which then forces him to confront his past role as a propaganda artist.

 Movie is directed by Kazuki Watanabe. 

Thinking Activity 

1.Lantern appears 34 times in the novel. Even on the cover page, the image of lantern is displayed. What is the significance of lantern in the novel?

The lantern appears 34 times in the novel and the significance of Lanterns in the novel are associated with Ono’s teacher Mori-san who includes a lantern in each of his paintings and dedicates himself to trying to capture the look of lantern light. For Mori-san, the flickering, easily extinguished quality of lantern light symbolizes the transience of beauty and the importance of giving careful attention to small moments and details in the physical world. Lanterns, then, symbolize an outlook on life which prizes small details and everyday moments above the ideological concerns of nationalists or commercial concerns of businesspeople. It is an old-fashioned, aesthetically focused, and more traditional way of viewing the world.

2.Write in brief a review of the film based on the novel.

An Artist of the Floating World movie was directed by Kazuki Watanabe on March 30, 2019. An originally the is written by Kazuo Ishiguro. Movie is truthful to novel. But some changes are seen  in movie.Reading novel looks more better than watching the moive. But due to scarcity of time of time watching movie is the best option one can choose. 

3.Debate on the use of Art / Artist (five Perspectives: 1) Art for the sake of art aesthetic delight, 2) Art for earning Money - Buisness Purpose, 3) Art for nationalism/ imperialism,  Art for the propaganda of Government Power, 4) Art for the poor Marxism and 5) No Need of art and artist (Masuji's father's approach).

Art for the sake of art aesthetic delight

Seiji Moriyama a rich and talented artist who takes on young pupils, including Ono and the Tortoise, inviting them to live in his villa and study his aesthetic. Mori-san lives in a large decrepit villa in the countryside. He believes that the most delicate beauty in the world exists in transient moments at late-night bars among geishas in the pleasure district, and is dedicating his life to trying to capture this beauty in his art. He uses European techniques in his painting, eschewing the use of dark outlines in favor of shading. When students try to take a different direction in their painting, Mori-san demands that they leave the villa.  This perspective is reliable for Art for the sake of art aesthetic delight.

Art for earning Money - Buisness Purpose

Master Takeda is the owner of a studio (Takeda firm) of artists who churn out traditional Japanese paintings for mostly foreign buyers. He hires Masuji Ono as a young painter and holds all his artists to tight deadlines and difficult quotas.This perspective is reliable for Art for earning Money - Buisness Purpose.

Art for the propaganda of Government Power

Under the influence of the nationalist Matsuda, Ono decides to change his style of painting to promote Japanese imperialism.Ono feels that, even if his work pursued a mistaken ideology of nationalism, his good faith effort to do what he believes in and make an important contribution means that he can be proud of his life’s work.His propaganda posters became well-known, and his fame assured him that he had made the right choices in his career.  This perspective is reliable for Art for the propaganda of Government Power.

Art for the poor Marxism 

Matsuda challenges Ono to tell him who Karl Marx is, and though Ono pretends to know, his answer (that Marx was a leader of the Russian Revolution) is incorrect. Matsuda tells Ono that small charity projects for local communities won't do the job—what's needed to fix Japan, which is run by greedy businessmen and politicians, is for artists to engage with bigger ideas. Ono replies that artists can and should do nothing but strive to capture fleeting beauty; Matsuda says in turn that artists can be a part of a wider movement to return Japan to tradition, stability, and the rule of the emperor. Japan, Matsuda says, needs to assume its rightful position in the world, forming an empire like the British have. Moriyama didn't support Ono's career and he leaves the villa.This perspective is reliable for Art for the poor Marxism .

No Need of art and artist 

Ono grew up with a father who did not support his becoming an artist.He even burns the painting of Masuji Ono. 

4.What is the relevance of this novel to our times?

Intergenerational Conflict portrays a society that instills the importance of respect and obedience towards elders in the young, but is, nevertheless, defined by intergenerational conflict and distrust. This conflict becomes particularly fierce after the war, as the younger generation heaps blame on the older generation for leading the country down a disastrous path. There is intergenerational conflict in a variety of  contexts between parents and children, teachers and students, and political elites. This theme  of of An Artist of the Floating World  is relevant in present times .

War Poetry

                      War Poetry 

1.What is war poetry?

War poetry is, simply put, poetry that deals with the subject of war. War poems capture the darkest moments in human history, and also the most luminous.The war poetry of Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg, Edmund Blunden, Robert Graves, Edward Thomas and Ivor Gurney among others, marks a transition in English cultural history.

2.Note down the difference of all the War Poets.

Ivor Gurney:- Gurney was a musician and a poet, who combined his skills at song writing and wordplay.

Siegfried Sassoon:-His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war.

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson:-His poems often focus on the lives of the working class. This, again, was based on the idea of making poetry more honest and accessible to everyone.

Rupert Brooke:- Rupert Brooke wrote his poems in neo-Romantic style, inspired by the style of Georgian poets. 

Wilfred Owen:-Owen's war poems are written in a very simple, eloquent and straightforward manner in a language that is common among the soldiers. However, his use of metaphor and personification adds to the new style he has developed for treating his subject matter.

3.Compare any two poems with reference to

subject, style of writing and patriotism. 

  Poem Dulce et decorum est

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War.

 Wilfred Owen does not have a particularly large body of verse, but many of his poems are considered among the best war poetry ever written in the English language. He is often compared to Keats and Shelley, and was influenced by Tennyson and Byron. He began writing at a young age, showing interest in conventional subjects, but demonstrating a keen sense for sound and rhythm.

Subject:-

Dulce et Decorum est" is a poem written by Wilfred Owen during World War I, and published posthumously in 1920. The Latin title is taken from Ode 3.2 (Valor) of the Roman poet Horace and means "it is sweet and fitting". It is followed by pro patria mori, which means "to die for one's country".

The main subject in “Dulce et Decorum Est” are the limits of patriotism and the realities of war. The limits of patriotism: The ideals of war spread by patriotism and propaganda, Owen argues, serve only to perpetuate the suffering of those who fight.

Style of writing 

The style of "Dulce et Decorum est" is similar to the French ballade poetic form. The rhyme scheme of “Dulce et Decorum Est” is, of course, ababcdcd, etc. (the traditional pattern of an English sonnet prior to the turn), but Owen does not complete the turn by ending on a rhyming couplet.

Patriotism 

 The full phrase which Owen uses to close his poem is dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, which can be loosely translated, “it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.” Owen consciously works to undermine this noble statement of patriotism by showing the ignominy of death in modern war.

 Dulce et decorum est is simply patriotic propaganda to get young innocent men to fight for the fatherland, or in other words, a despicable lie that sends innocent youth to their graves.

The Soldier 

The Soldier" is a poem written by Rupert Brooke. The poem is the fifth in a series of poems entitled 1914. It was published in 1915 in the book 1914 and Other Poems. It is often contrasted with Wilfred Owen's 1917 antiwar poem "Dulce et Decorum est". The manuscript is located at King's College, Cambridge.

Subject:-

 The Soldier” is a war sonnet written by the poet Rupert Brooke. The poem has a patriotic approach. The thoughts of a soldier towards his motherland with his immense desire to sacrifice his life is also reflected in the poem.

The poet admires England and expresses his gratitude to it. The poet is describing about some foreign land, which is the part of England and on which he will be buried after his death. He wants a peaceful country and there would be no war between the two countries. According to him the surroundings of England is just like heaven as he says, “under an English heaven”.

Style of writing:-

“The Soldier” borrows from both the Italian, or Petrarchan(EFG EFG) , sonnet tradition and the Elizabethan, or Shakespearean, tradition(ABAB CDCD) . Like a Petrarchan sonnet, Brooke's poem is divided into two main parts, the octave and the sestet.

Patriotism 

It is a deeply patriotic and idealistic poem that expresses a soldier's love for his homeland—in this case England, which is portrayed as a kind of nurturing paradise.

4.Do you find any such regional poem/movies/web series/songs which can be compared to any one of the poems given here. Also, give a proper explanation of the similarity. 

I would like to compare bollywood  song Desh Mere song with poem the soldier .

Song Desh Mere 

ओ, देस मेरे, तेरी शान पे सदके
कोई धन है क्या तेरी धूल से बढ़ के?
तेरी धूप से रोशन, तेरी हवा पे ज़िंदा
तू बाग़ है मेरा, मैं तेरा परिंदा

है अर्ज़ ये दीवाने की, जहाँ भोर सुहानी देखी
एक रोज़ वहीं मेरी शाम हो
कभी याद करे जो ज़माना, माटी पे मर-मिट जाना
ज़िक्र में शामिल मेरा नाम हो

ओ, देस मेरे, तेरी शान पे सदके
कोई धन है क्या तेरी धूल से बढ़ के?
तेरी धूप से रोशन, तेरी हवा पे ज़िंदा
तू बाग़ है मेरा, मैं तेरा परिंदा

आँचल तेरा रहे, माँ, रंग-बिरंगा, ओ-ओ
ऊँचा आसमाँ से हो तेरा तिरंगा

जीने की इजाज़त दे-दे या हुक्म-ए-शहादत दे-दे
मंज़ूर हमें जो भी तू चुने
रेशम का हो मधुशाला या कफ़न सिपाही वाला
ओढ़ेंगे हम जो भी तू बुने

ओ, देस मेरे, तेरी शान पे सदके
कोई धन है क्या तेरी धूल से बढ़ के?
तेरी धूप से रोशन, तेरी हवा पे ज़िंदा
तू बाग़ है मेरा, मैं तेरा परिंदा.

Poem The Soldier 

If I should die, think only this of me:

That there's some corner of a foreign field

That is for ever England. There shall be

In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,

Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,

A body of England's, breathing English air,

Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

 

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less

Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;

Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;

And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,

In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Comparison between between song and poem. 

“The Soldier” explores the bond between a patriotic British soldier and his homeland. Through this soldier's passionate discussion of his relationship to England, the poem implies that people are formed by their home environment and culture, and that their country is something worth defending with their life.

Oh My Motherland, Is There Anything I Can Offer YouNothing Is Worth More Than Your Dust(Here "Dust" Represents Love And Courage For The Country).Your Air(Thanks Motherland For Providing Such A Beautiful Place)You (Here "You" Represents To Motherland).There Is Only One Request From Your SonWhere I Had Born (Started My Life)I Could Take My Last Breath At That Place Only.Can I Go (Return) Home To Celebrate Our Victory OrMy Body (Wrapping In Shrouds) Will Reach My HouseWhatever You Choose I Will Accept.

Both song and poem are based on their Homeland and the Soldier ,so this are the similarities between poem and song.