In class we have discussed how people view both themselves and others, namely during our discussion of T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." In the poem, the narrator stands apart from the party and ruminates on the universe and humanity.
In Chapter Two of the Great Gatsby, Nick finds himself in a similar position when he tags along with Tom to the city. Throughout the chapter, the personalities of many characters warp to match changes in setting.
How do the characters present themselves and act differently based on their surroundings ? To what extent does the setting play a role? Do inter-personal interactions contribute more to their demeanor?
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Taylor Peterson. You are 50 minutes late… just thought you ought to know. But it’s okay. Not like anyone posted anything anyway.
ReplyDeleteANYWAYS. This chapter was very confusing for me, most likely because of the fact that the scenery jumped around a lot. However, as Taylor points out, taking each different scene into account it can be determined that characters act differently based on their company and their surroundings. The most obvious example of this is Tom’s mistress herself. When she is in the presence of her husband, even in her husband’s store, she is very quiet, keeping her words and actions to a minimum. As Nick describes, “She smiled slowly and walking through her husband as if he were a ghost shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye. Then she wet her lips and without turning around spoke to her husband in a soft, coarse voice…” (30). Nevertheless, when she is with Tom in New York, away from her husband’s automobile shop, her voice is not so “soft”. Instead she turns into a haughty, demanding woman, one not afraid to show her relationship with Tom and declare how she deserves better than her real husband.
Several phrases capture her new demanding nature such as “she let four taxi cabs drive away before she selected a new one, lavender-colored with grey upholstery” (31) and “I want to get one of those dogs” (31) and “she had changed her dress to a brown figured muslin which stretched tight over her rather wide hips as Tom helped her to the platform in New York. At the news-stand she bought a copy of “Town Tattle” and a moving picture magazine, and in the station drug store, some cold cream and a small flask of perfume.” (31). We can see her actions reflect the change in status that she undergoes when she walks away from her husband and into Tom’s arms.
ReplyDeleteThere is also one quote that directly points out Myrtle's change. "Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream colored chiffon which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room. With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment and as she expanded the room grew smaller around her until she seemed to be revolving on a noisy, creaking, pivot through the smoky air." (35)
ReplyDeleteOh. And I also found this quote "Throwing a regal homecoming glance around the neighborhood, Mrs. Wilson gathered up her dog and her other purchases and went haughtily in." (33)
ReplyDeleteFitzgerald, although this could be wrong, uses color symbolism to indicate the differences in scenery, and perhaps also emphasize the changes in the characters as well. He starts off the chapter describing the desolate wasteland between West and East Egg, using the color grey to capture the essence of the place (“This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight” (27). Fitzgerald uses this color to describe the setting as well as the people inside it—sadness and decay. As stated in my last blog, Tom’s house is described with the word “rosy”, but in this chapter I discovered Tom’s apartment in New York is one of yellow. Fitzgerald uses phrases such as “The apartment was full of cheerful sun” (33) and “Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering” (40) to illustrate this. Yellow represents not only joy and happiness, but it can also express dishonesty, cowardice, deceit, and caution. However, the outside of their house is white—“At 158th street the cab stopped at one slice in a long white cake of apartment houses.”(32) to describe their disguise of innocence (such as the lie “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic and they don’t believe in divorce” (38). ) So basically, if this makes any sense, Fitzgerald uses colors to define the different settings as well as the actions demonstrated by each character in different settings.
ReplyDeleteWoah emma, pretty sure u just posted 5 comments before anyone else even wrote one... impressive.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I want to quickly respond to your ideas before I go into my own. First off, your statements regarding the behavioral changes of Myrtle are spot on. I was actually going to use the quote about the dress on page 35, as I believe that it fits ion perfectly with the idea of personality changing as a result of different surroundings. I also liked what you said about the scenery. The quote that you mentioned on page 27 actually reminded me a lot of GOW with the grey, dusty feel given to the scenery.
As for my own opinions on the matter, I feel that Tom's change in character should also be mentioned. If you will recall, Tom was quite the gentleman back in chapter one, when he was with his wife Daisy and Jordan Baker. He was calm and cool, acting as a good host to Nick and being polite towards the women. However, in this chapter we see a more violent, angry side of Tom. He does not portray nearly the same amount of control that he had in chapter one, and his actions prove this, "Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand" (41). "'It's a bitch,' Tom said decisively. 'Here's your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it'." (32). It is clear that Tom is very two faced from these passages, and gives his character a new feeling of being untrustworthy.
Another character I would like to point out is the narrator himself, Nick. As Ms. Parrish pointed out already, Nick gives a constant impression of being separated from the action, as he does not seem to be very involved with any of the characters. "It was nine o'clock-almost immediately afterwards I looked at my watch and found it was ten" (41). Time seems to pass quickly from Nick's perspective, and the event of the get together appear mushed together and disorganized in his mind. While it may have been partially because of the alcohol, "I have been drunk just twice in my life and the second time was that afternoon, so everything that happened has a dim hazy cast over it although until after eight o'clock the apartment was full of cheerful sum" (33), I still think much of the craziness from the day was due in part to Nick's being uninvolved and uninterested.
I think it's also worth noting a quote about Myrtle that I think represents her character well, "She turned to Mrs. McKee and the room rand full of her artificial laughter" (40). "Artificial" really describes how materialistic and attention-needing Myrtle is, and she overall gives the impression of being quite "fake" throughout the chapter.
Emma the fact that youve already posted 5 comments and its 7:57 scares me
ReplyDeleteI think, Emmma, your right, (we talked about what we were confused about on the bus to Boston today...), it's confusing because of the way the scenery jumps around paired with the quick and unexpected changes in character that result from that change in scenery.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about what Emma said about the opening passage of the chapter that Fitzgerald describes "the desolate wasteland between West and East egg, using the color grey to capture the essence of the place". And then I was thinking about what Luke said in the blog last night about his perception of the meaning of East and West Egg: "regarding the "egg", perhaps the word "egg" is used to show how closed in and encased the world in which Gatsby lives in is. If so, maybe Gatsby's "trembling" and "outstretched arms" could signify his yearning to "break out" of the egg and possibly, as Nicole mentioned, be "reborn" into the outside world?". I think it's interesting to think about this "desolated wasteland" that Fitzgerald opens the chapter with in that (I think...) it's the only setting thus far that is depicted as unfortunate, every other place is lavish 1920's rich and glamour, where social status is seemingly what defines a person and everything that matters. Here, a place that is between east and west egg, we learn about the only place (so far) that is not part of a setting that could perhaps be classified as "pastoral" like (Which, by the way, I got so excited, as you probably all did, when the word "pastoral" was actual used in this chapter: "We drove over to fifth avenue, so warm and soft, almost pastoral, on the summer Sunday afternoon that I wouldn't have been surprised to see a great flock of white sheep turn the corner"-- and on top of that the white sheep! The christopher Marlowe poem....!). So I was thinking that maybe the fact that this desolate land is in between the two eggs, rather than closer to the West Egg where Nick lives, could mean that morally, both "East" and "West" Egg, share "desolate qualities" ? So how does the setting play a role?...So in that sense, the setting that opens the chapter could symbolize the "in-between", what both East and West Egg share (and hence what the people of East and West Egg have in common), Fitsgerald maybe is relating these two places, and the two classes of people that stem from them, after he established them as so contrasting to one another in his previous chapter.
Ugh, I had almost finished typing my response when it accidentally got deleted. Now I have to type it over again.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Tom's true character is heavily displayed in this chapter with the presence of many different characters in the setting. The first example of this is his interaction with Wilson when he and Nick stop to pick up Myrtle. When Wilson jokes about how the man that's fixing up a car for Tom to sell to Wilson is "pretty slow," Tom angrily threatens Wilson, telling him that he'll "sell it somewhere else" if Wilson isn't satisfied with the car's progress (Fitz 29). Here we see Tom's dominant, controlling nature; he pays no respect to his customer's feelings and establishes his dominance over the situation. Though some of this can be chalked up to Wilson being the husband of Tom's mistress, we still get a good depiction of Tom's interactions with new characters in the setting.
We see this again immediately when Tom meets up with Myrtle. He simply tells her, "I want to see you," and then orders her to get on the train, to which she instantly complies without a question or protest (Fitz 30). Even though this is a woman that Tom actually loves and feels affection for, he still feels the need to boss her around and control her; later in the chapter, on page 41, he actually slaps her across the face for saying something that he doesn't like. The fact that he does this to a woman so important to him shows his desire to be the alpha dog among any character.
This is again seen during the party; when Tom enters the scene, Mr. McKee immediately tells his wife, "Sh!" and they all pay attention to Tom, showing that they've obviously experienced his controlling nature before. Then Tom tells the McKees to "have a drink" and orders that Myrtle, "get some more ice and mineral water," showing that he isn't afraid to show his bossy nature in front of guests (Fitz 36). He never changes his authoritative personality, and seems to stand watch over the party instead of converse with his guests; he briefly participates in conversation.
No matter the setting, be it with one person or multiple people, Tom acts in the same dominant manner.
The chapter was very confusing to me as well, and I thought that the confusion was coming from the changing of personalities of the characters throughout the scene. It seemed as though the characters were changing with each dialogue and I had a hard time keeping track of the dialogue, because the character's tone and manner. Mrs. Wilson was very calm and quiet before she arrived in New York, as Emma said, adding on to that, Mrs. Wilson was also very quiet (but not as quiet) when she was in New York. It was when the McKee's arrived, that the setting aura was deviated from its original atmosphere. When the McKee's enter the scene, they create a large amount of havoc, due to their overwhelming personalities and expressive opinions.
ReplyDeleteInitially, Mrs Wilson tries to refuse the change in setting, by rejecting Mrs. McKee's compliment towards her dress. Mrs. Wilson seems to not want a 'gossipy' evening with the girls, which is why she stays serious during this short section
"But it looks wonderful on you, if you know what I mean,'"
"Well she looked in silence at Mrs. Wilson , who removed a strand of hair from over her eyes and looked back at us with a brilliant smile. Mr. McKee regarded her intently..." (Fitzgerald 31)
Inclusively, Tom's personality also changed tremendously during the chapter. Initially, he was i love with Mrs. Wilson and dragged Nick off of the subway in order for him to introduce him to his wife. However later on in the chapter, Tom gets angry at his wife and throws a punch towards her nose.
"Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand" (Fitzgerald 37)
IS THIS REALLY A RELATIONSHIP? they seemed unpleasant together...
I agree with Kara that it is scary that emma posted 5 comments before 8 o'clock...
ReplyDeleteanyway
I think that the setting plays a major role in this chapter and that it greatly affects the mood of the reader, the tone and the characters.
As Luke mentioned on the first blog, the idea of the towns being called "egg" i think more than ever now represents the isolation, or contained atmosphere of these towns. When both Nick and Tom are within the "egg," they have completely different attitudes compared to when they leave and go to the city. The tension is high, uncomfortable and awkward in chapter one, however, when they leave the "egg" to go to New York (cracking/breaking the egg i suppose), their attitudes and actions change completely.
I felt that in the second chapter the level of tension was much lower for the most part. As Grace did, i was soooo excited when i saw the word pastoral and it made me imagine this beautiful country side in new york, different from the negative connotation associated with living in long island.
I feel that this shift in atmosphere and setting correlates directly to the change in each of the characters. As previously mentioned, when Myrtle is wiht her husband in the Car garage/shop, she is bland, undefined and nearly invisible. Had Fitzgerald not brought her out of this "dusty" and "dark" atmosphere, the reader never would have noticed her as a character. But by removing her from this setting, and placing her in the New York apartment, we see a new side of her, drinking and happy.
The same situation is true for both Tom and Nick. Within their "egg" towns, they are looked at through certain eyes and known as certain people. Yet when they step out and break out of the shell that surrounds them in their home towns, new characters are revealed. Tom and Nick in this chapter show that they can be relaxed and have a good time which seemed almost unexpected due to the forced and awkward nature of the first chapter.
I think this chapter really shows the way in which removing each of the characters, Tom, Nick and Myrtle, from the setting in which we ahd encountered them before, allows the reader to see them in a "different light"
This idea is true and important in life, if we remove a person from the setting in which we are accustomed to seeing them, we will see a new side of them and learn new things. which is clearly what occurs in this chapter.
Also, as i kind of mentioned in my previous blog...i thought that the section of this chapter that was important was when MrMckee says, "I should change the light,"... i'm not really positive, but directly after this, the conversation shifts to speaking of long island and the professions of the men at the get together. I interpreted this small quotation as suggesting that in changing the light, people will change, adjust or be seen differently...just as people change or are seen differently in different settings or atmospheres perhaps!
ReplyDeleteEmma you are definitely right in the changes we see in Tom's Mistress. While around her husband she is timid and less assertive than the demanding, "haughty" character she becomes once in New York with Tom and Nick.
ReplyDeleteAs for Tom, I slightly disagree with you Luke, I may be misinterpreting this incorrectly but I depicted Tom in ch one as arrogant, demanding and "mean". This ch i felt more emphasized his true character. He may not be physically violent in ch one, but he certainly is violent through his tone and words. I do not see him as a gentleman, as he constantly interrupted both women and Nick when he wanted a change in subject, or felt uncomfortable, he also seemed constantly harsh and tense. "You ought to live in California___' began Miss Barker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair" (18), and his dialogue often followed with descriptions such as "broke out Tom violently" (17) or "objected Tom crossly" (16). I did, however see changes in character, but only for a short period, initially in the shop. When they were at his Mistress' husband's shop and speaking to him Tom's dialogue was much more relaxed and friendly. When he first encounters Wilson he is joyous, "Hello Wilson, old man' said Tom, slapping him jovially on the shoulder" (29_. but as soon as he feels threatened of his importance or "greatness" when Wilson comments on the amount of time taking to get his car, he suddenly becomes defensive, angry, and uncomfortable like in the previous ch, "No, he doesn't,' Tom said coldly..." (29).
I agree with Karee (sorry if I spelt your name wrong..." That Tom's true character is emphasized in this ch, as he is described and hinted towards being a violent person in ch1, he takes actions to exemplify these descriptions in ch 2.
Emma...wow. That's all I'm going to say.
ReplyDeleteI also found Chapter 2 a bit confusing, definitely due to the rapid and often changes in scenery throughout. I agree with Emma's point that Fitz. coordinates his color changes with the changing setting; from the grey railroad to the more cheerful apartment. I noticed that when Fitzgerald was describing the apartment, he used the word "small" a LOT, which clearly demonstrated a deeper contrast with Tom's mansion on West Egg. The smaller apartment creates a more intimate setting, whereas the grand home that Tom and Daisy share is large and their problems are very clear and present. I thought that the description of the apartment itself was interesting, because there were small rooms, which reflected the home over the garage that the Wilson's share, but then there were also large pieces of furniture that brought in Tom's wealth, and a reminder of his home with Daisy, his wife. "The apartment was on the top floor- a small living room, a small dining room, a small bedroom and a bath. The living room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it so that to move about was to stumble continually over large scenes of ladies swinging in the gardens of Versailles" (Fitzgerald 33). This arrangement and style of living could also have created an overwhelming feeling for the couple perhaps, due to the fact that there is clearly not a lot of space, and a smaller space usually means that there is not enough space (obviously)-- this could be a small amount of space for the feelings, which Tom clearly has pent up inside of him.
The character of Tom really bothers me. I just wanted to put that out there...does anyone else have that feeling? Every time we have seen him thus far, he has been rude, and (for lack of a better word) a complete jerk to both his house guests and his women. In the first chapter, we saw the tension and discomfort between himself and Daisy. In this chapter, although he loves Myrtle, he still doesn't respect her, and breaks her nose. what?!?! That is not a healthy relationship. I don't think Tom deserves either of these women, and they both are probably with him only for the reason that he intimidates them. Perhaps they are afraid of what may happen if the relationship is broken.
Also, going off of what, I think Emma or maybe it was Grace? said, the Egg most definitely represents the isolation that characters experience while on Long Island. Tom is able to exercise more control at his apartment, and Myrtle "comes out of her shell" while with Tom. and then there is Nick. He is just a really awkward character, and no matter where he is, he does not fit in with what is occurring. Perhaps, later on he will get along with Gatsby...just a hunch.
Larissa you are DEFINITELY on to something. The question: What is love? I obviously a much-explored question in the literary world, and I feel as though Fitzgerald does not really value love in the way other people do. In his essay, "Cracked Up" he admits to his depression and isolation from his peers in the later years of his life. Fitzgerald says, "I didnt want to see any people at all." "I lived in a world of inscrutalbe hostiles and inalienable friends and supporters." "I had a strong instinct that I must be alone." He sends a message that brotherly comradery and love amongst all people was not important to him during periods of his life. These quotiations resemble a few of Tom's characteristics because I dont think he KNOWS how to love properly. We dont know much about Tom's background, but maybe there is something in his past that causes Tom to be unfaithful and treat women unfairly. Also, just to point out, the title of this essay is "Cracked Up," bringing up egg symbolism yet again, so, as many of you have mentioned before, the egg is clearly a big deal to Fitzgerald.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that Tom's mistress Myrtle still loves him after Tom gives her such orders and attitude that most women today would probably not stand for. When Myrtle is asked by Catherine why she married Mr Wilson, she responds, "I married him because
i thought he was a gentleman" (Fitzgerald, 39). However, it takes Myrtle quite a while to spit these words out, so it makes me wonder if she is ashamed of her marriage or feels she should have done something differently.
Larissa, you literally took the words right out of my mouth! As soon as the “Egg” was mentioned in conjunction with the big city, I got these notions of displacement and a loss of innocence so to speak. In the first chapter, I saw these eggs as sort of excerpts from society where extra care and nurturing where taking place. Here, in chapter 2, the big city definitely serves as a foil to the eggs that the reader has heard about thus far.
ReplyDeleteOnto a different topic now, I too was often confused by the sudden changes in setting in this chapter. I often found my self re-reading entire paragraphs only to find out that we had gone into a completely different realm. I noticed with this especially that in chapter 1, when the characters where in their “eggs”, the story was moving at a much slower pace. As soon as the characters come to the city, the storyline picks up speed undoubtedly echoing the lifestyle of New York. “Throwing a regal homecoming glance around the neighborhood, Mrs. Wilson gathered up her dog and her other purchases and went haughtily in” (33). What interested me most in this sentence was the word haughtily, which has the same connotations as arrogant or stuck up. I really didn’t see this in this particular character before she arrived here, which leads me to believe that it was the change in scenery that caused it. For example, when she was begging for the dog, I pictured it much more like a child begging for candy then a grown woman demanding something. This being said, as soon as she gets to her apartment, she suddenly goes from being childish, to being a typical New York City resident. (That is not to say that all New York City residents are pompous, just the rich ones.
Now, onto another topic all together, Tom. I agree with molly in that as much as he isn’t always physically violent, he usually accomplishes the same thing with words. Not to make excuses for his actions, but I might have some sort of answer to everyone’s question of “why”. We talked about these sort of familial feuds in our last blog, and I see Tom as the character who is struggling most to cope with this. This is not to say that he is right in being a jerk to everyone, but I do think that it highlights the feuds that we already deemed present. I don’t know, just a thought.
First of all, i respectfully disagree with Luke's idea that "Tom was quite the gentleman back in chapter one". I think, as Molly was saying, tom was perhaps more reserved in the first chapter, but definetly not a gentleman.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to this, we absolutely see all the characters as they truely are because of the setting: a small, intimate appartment. To refute Luke's idea, i do not think that Nick was separate from the party in this scene. Although I believe Nick's sobor self would be "disgusted" with the party as he was after the party in chapter one, it is important to remember that Nick is drunk. Not only that but it is Nick's second time being drunk. This fact alone makes the event important not only to the reader, but to Nick as well. I feel like Fitzgerald uses the alcohol as a device to reveal these characters' personal lives (alcohol is used in a similar manner in many other literary works). Also, the quote that Luke used ("It was nine o'clock-almost immediately i looked at my watch and found it was ten" 41) to show Nick's disconnect with the situation is one that i found that illustrated Nick's deep involvement with the situation--after all, every one has heard the phrase "time flys when you're having fun".
Before i get to off topic about alcohol and Nick's involvement in the party, i should answer the question. In addition to what Emma saw with color imagery, i also want to add something about the lavender-colored cab that she mentioned. Purple (in this case lavender) represents royalty. It is interesting how Myrtle is purchasing a dog while in this "royal" cab as i interpretted this as a reflection of Tom and Myrtle's belief that they are superior--a belief that is conveyed in the ownership of the dog. Not only that but the fact that Tom blatantly disrepects the dog seller's words about the dog shows that Tom assumes superiority over this man: "'That dog? That dog's a boy'. 'It's a bitch,' said Tom decisively." (32). To add on to what has already said about the obvious change in character when everybody is in the apartment, i think this has something to do with one's feel of superiority when in their own domain. We already talked about how Nick feels uncomfertable at Daisy's--a high class society--but we also just saw Tom's display of superiority in the cab scene. We also see this when Catherine talks about Gatsby's party in West Egg: "'I'm scared of him. I'd hate to have him get anything on me.'" (37 (yes, i realize this quote includes more but i don't want to type out the entire dialogue--it starts at the bottom of 36)
At the conclusion of the chapter we also see this superiority in domain demonstrated by the elevator boy: "'Keep your hands off the lever,' snapped the elevator boy. 'I beg your pardon,' said Mr. McKee with dignity. 'I didn't know I was touching it'." (42). How interesting this is when in the entire scene in the apartment prior, the servants are been commanded by all of those at the party but when those in the party enter the servant's turf, the servant becomes superior. When one is on their own land, they become superior.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to talk about the character changes that take place in Tom (seeing as the chapter is somewhat centered around him), but obviously people have gotten to it before me. Luke and Molly, I neither agree with nor disagree with the assertions of Tom's original character in chapter 1. It appears to me that, in fact, Tom Buchanan has elements of both being a gentleman and being (for lack of a better word) a jerk (I did not intentionally copy Larissa).
ReplyDeleteBut, either way, Tom changes into a worse version of himself when in New York. Perhaps it is the "valley of ashes [that] is bound on one side by a small foul river" (28) that affects him. Certainly, I would be disturbed by a valley of ashes (albeit metaphorical) and the foul stench of a polluted river.
Already, I can tell that I've ended up (or will end up) repeating what has already been said; as such, I'm going to cut this short and respond to the Kara's post above by pointing out that the Great Gatsby doesn't just appear to ask what love is, but also what want and obsession are and what place they have in society - what role do they serve and how are they affected by locale?
For example, I definitely see a sense of determined obsession, or want; "need", if you will. "'We're getting off!' he insisted" (28) or "'I want one of those dogs'" (31) clearly show a sense of wanting; Nick's becoming drunk, or want of liquor, for only the second time in his life shows an influence of the city; the fact that Tom's mistress is placed in NY, giving a sense of lust to the place, etc. All of these come back to the idea of love/obsession being influenced by the setting
Quickly, in case anyone would like to check for a recap before class tomorrow:
ReplyDeleteAnna: "Had Fitzgerald not brought her out of this "dusty" and "dark" atmosphere, the reader never would have noticed her as a character. But by removing her from this setting, and placing her in the New York apartment, we see a new side of her, drinking and happy. " GREAT!
Egg obssessers: be careful... you're on to something but think through it all the way... have we really seen a nurturing East OR West egg? Nurturing is taking it too far, and, I would argue, is a false symbol.
George: "The Great Gatsby doesn't just appear to ask what love is, but also what want and obsession are and what place they have in society - what role do they serve and how are they affected by locale?" Really interesting.
Tomorrow in class:
-discussion of linguistic tension
-valley of ashes and color: tension here, too?
-the dissolving dog biscuit
-the unexpected yet casually mentioned punch (right, Larissa... what is that all about?)
-the strange elevator scene (lever...? Mr. McKee... what are the tensions here?)
Who is posting tomorrow night?