The Great Gatsby Essay Example for Free

The Great Gatsby Essay The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, introduces the reader to scenes of violence that contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Wealthy, powerful characters such as Tom Buchanan are the major causes of violence introduced because they are selfish and careless. Through an accident that killed Myrtle Wilson, or the passionate murder of an innocent man, Fitzgerald incorporates themes of the novel. The violent act that begins the downward spiral in The Great Gatsby is when Tom Buchanan hits Myrtle, his mistress, in the face. It was a body capable of enormous leverage — a cruel body (Fitzgerald, 12). † is how Nick describes Tom’s intimidating physique when he first meets him. So it is not surprising that when Myrtle begins to taunt him by repeating his wife’s name that he reacted and â€Å"broke her nose with his open hand (Fitzgerald, 41). † This scene of violence demonstrates that people like Tom, living in East Egg, think that they are better than everyone else and can disrespect or ignore others because of social status. This is the underlying cause of the deaths in the novel. One of the most tragic scenes of violence occur when Daisy Buchanan is driving in the car with Gatsby, returning home from their dramatic visit to the city with her husband. She is hysterical because Tom revealed that Gatsby is a bootlegger. While passing through the Valley of Ashes, Myrtle runs out to the car because her husband is forcing her to move and she needs help. â€Å"The ‘death car,’ as the newspapers called it, didn’t stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment and then disappeared around the next bend (Fitzgerald 144). is how the killing is described. As a result of Daisy’s recklessness, she brutally ran over Myrtle Wilson. Besides the fact that Myrtle was murdered, the importance of this scene is that Daisy did not even stop to take a look at the damage her state had caused. Her ignorance ultimately was the cause of Gatsby’s death. Fitzgerald purposely included wealthy, irresponsible characters in his novel that caused the violence and completed story. To sum up the importance of the crowd with â€Å"old money†, this is a quote from when Nick is speaking to rejected Gatsby. He says, â€Å"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. (Fitzgerald, 188)† It is clear that all they cared about was themselves, and after the murders occurred, they left town and did not attend one funeral. The last act of violence, when Gatsby is murdered, leaves an important impression on the reader and the novel. George Wilson is devastated by his wife’s death and thinks that God wants him to kill the person who is responsible for it. Naturally, he went to the Buchanan’s to get some answers because it was their car. Tom was in a fragile state because he truly loved Myrtle, and directed George to Gatsby. Gatsby did not kill anybody but he paid the price for it. He was laying in his extravagant pool and saw â€Å"that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees (Fitzgerald, 172). † First George shot Gatsby, then he shot himself and ended two innocent lives. It was because Gatsby constantly chased one single dream his whole life that the scene of violence had to happen. Daisy was not good for him, and dreams keep getting pushed farther and farther away from people because the past is haunting and unchangeable. The violent scenes Fitzgerald included in The Great Gatsby are the altering moments that support the underlying themes of the past, society and class, and love. Tom’s powerful nature, cheating on his wife, and violence represent the danger and authority. Fitzgerald made a point to include careless, wealthy characters in the novel that contributed to completing the violence and work as a whole.

Historical Account of African-Americans Seeking the American Dream Essa

Historical Account of African-Americans Seeking the American Dream The American Dream began as a vision for the men who framed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. These two documents provided the foundation upon which the American Dream was built. The reality of the American Dream translated into a nightmare for the African-Americans who had to overcome slavery in order to achieve the ideal that all men are created equally. Their dream did not become a reality with the signing of the Declaration of Independence; in fact, even after slavery was abolished, there was no concrete date established that mandated that whites and African-Americans were equal. The law said the slaves were free; however, society did not consider them equals. The African-American writers utilize the American Dream in their works, but they seem to use it in an interesting manner: connecting to the past in order to realize their future. The slave narratives outline dreams of freedom and often provide insight into the horrors of s lavery, while more contemporary writers use the dream to connect to their characters’ past and the horrors in their lives in order to realize their future. The founding fathers of the United States of America crystalized this country with a "dream". Their dream was a vision of the things they wanted in life and for their country, which was memorialized in the form of the Declaration of Independence. The architects that built this country dreamed that all men would be considered equals and "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights" including "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" (Jefferson, 729). The original version of this dream, found in ... ...ument, which made this declaration. The American Dream is a real part of our culture and the dream seems to be a strong theme in the African-American literary canon. Works Cited Bradley, David. The Chaneysville Incident. New York: Harper & Row, 1981. Brent, Linda. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Group, 1987. Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Group, 1987. Equiano, Olaudah. The Life of Olaudah Equiano. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Group, 1987. King, Jr., Martin Luther. "I Have a Dream." Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 28 August 1963. Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: The Penguin Group, 1977.

Potato Osmolarity Lab Essay

Purpose: The purpose of the lab is to discover the osmolarity of the potato tissue. Background Information: Osmolarity is a concept similar to concentration, except it is the total number of solute particles per liter. In this lab we can show osmolarity by using sucrose solutions and potato ores. This experiment displays hypertonic, hypotonic and isotonic solutions. A hypertonic solution is a solution with a relatively higher concentration, hypotonic cis relatively lower, and isotonic is the same. Variables: Constant = size of potato core Independent = sucrose molarity Dependent = mass percentage change Safety: Follow lab safety protocol and be careful with cork borer. Procedure: 1. With a cork borer, cut six cores from a potato. The cores should all be as close to the same length as possible: 30-50 mm cores are recommended. 2. Before continuing, produce a table that will show the volume and mass of the potato cores before and after being placed in solutions of 6 different sucrose molarities. 3. Determine mass of potato cores using a laboratory balance. Record in table. 4. Place each core in a different test tube labelled with the core’s identification letter and the molarity of the sucrose solution to be placed in the tube 5. Add a labelled molar solution to each test tube until core is covered. Place foil over each tube and store for 24 hours 6. On the next day, repeat step 3 Conclusion/Analysis: The osmolarity of the potato core is 0.4 M, I determined this by finding where on my graph the percentage change in mass was equivalent to 0. This meant that there was no change in mass, the tissue and solution were isotonic, and the molarity of the solution is the same as the osmolarity of the tissue. In this lab, and all experiments, an accurate measurement of mass was crucial to finding the correct results, trend, and osmolarity. The conclusion of this lab was based off of a negative trend on the graph which could have been skewed from inaccurate data. In order to attain more reliable data I could have done multiple trials in the procedure which would clarify my results and conclusions. Also to generate better data a more precise device for measuring the mass of the potato cores could have been used. Also the size of the potato cores could have been more constant to create more accurate data. Outside of this experiment osmolarity is used in urine tests to calculate the concentration of certain particles in urine. An osmolality test can also be used for the blood to see the number of solutes present. These tests are then helpful in diagnosing and treating patients.

An Interdisciplinary Unit On The Civil War Themed - 872 Words

To showcase my proficiency with middle level curriculum, instruction, and assessment, I have selected an interdisciplinary unit on the Civil War themed â€Å"Preserving the Past†, a Discipline Literacy and Instructional Planning project about North Carolina geography, and a collaborative Greek Mythology unit I taught during student teaching. In all three of these artifacts, I have developed relevant, integrative, challenging, and exploratory units of study. The â€Å"Preserving the Past† unit incorporates all four core subjects as well as a service learning opportunity. My interdisciplinary unit on geography connects Language Arts with Social Studies with visual art mixed in, and the Greek mythology ELA unit was taught in conjunction with a Social Studies class (1). The Civil War unit and NC geography unit I have created incorporate Common Core standards as well as NC Essential standards. Lesson plans and assessments in all of these units were created using backwards design in which I started by looking at the standards and objectives students would be expected to reach and based my assessment based on those objectives (2,10). The â€Å"Preserving the Past† unit was created in collaboration with two other colleagues. We all created the Social Studies lesson plans, and each person was responsible for one of the other core subjects. This project required collaboration in order to create an authentically interdisciplinary unit. The service-learning opportunity requires students to think