Connecting "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" to "The Great Gatsby" Queer Lens

It is brought up in the queer lens literary criticism of The Great Gatsby, that the sexual ambiguity of the novel and homosexual aspects of some characters are caused by Fitzgerald's interest in homosexuality. The point is raised that Nick Carraway is gay, which leads to the emphasis on many other characters' homosexual qualities, through the eyes of Nick. This literary criticism suggests that Fitzgerald makes Nick gay, or seem to be gay, to reflect himself and his own homosexual identity, similar to how Nick describes other characters to have homosexual qualities, to reflect himself. Although it is still uncertain whether Fitzgerald was gay or not, he demonstrates a clear interest in homosexuality throughout his literary work. In his short story, "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz", he does not necessarily portray any of the characters as gay, but there are a few quotes that contribute to the queer lens perspective.

This story is told by a third person omniscient narrator, whose identity we are unsure of. Therefore, we know that Fitzgerald is not trying to portray any of the characters as gay; however, there are some remarks that may suggest that Fitzgerald was gay, or at least had an interest in homosexuality. The first example is when he describes Percy as "a quiet, handsome boy,"(Fitzgerald 2). Another quote is also about Percy, he is described as "gorgeous in white kid knickerbockers, smoking in an easy chair," (Fitzgerald 7). These quotes most likely reflect Fitzgerald's view on these characters and how he wanted to portray them. Although these quotes are brief and almost insignificant to the plot and understanding of this short story, they provide support to the literary criticism of The Great Gatsby and one of the claims made by the author.

Beautiful and Relatable Quote in "The Great Gatsby"

Out of the many beautiful and deep quotes and passages in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the following is one of the most meaningful; not only to the novel, but to many other situations.

"As I went over to say goodbye I saw that the expression of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby's face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness. Almost five years! There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams- not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart," (Fitzgerald 101).

Daisy and Gatsby had not seen each other in almost five years, but for all that time Gatsby could not take his mind off of Daisy. As time goes on while Gatsby is apart from Daisy, he dreams and fantasizes about the relationship that they had and what they could have had if he did not leave for war. His fantasies about Daisy were so amazing, that no reality could ever live up to them, no matter how amazing that reality really was. The dash in the third sentence represents the continuity of Gatsby's dreams and illusions about Daisy and how she has been constantly on his mind for the past five years. The "faint doubt" that occurs to Gatsby is because his reunion with Daisy was not as amazing as how he had imagined it to be. Many people can relate to Gatsby's situation in this passage, usually in a much less extreme way. We spend days, weeks, months, or in Gatsby's case years planning out scenarios and anticipating future events; typically, the actual event is never as good as how we imagined. The final sentence of this paragraph brings Gatsby's situation into more of a generalization. Fitzgerald is saying that nothing will ever be better than Gatsby's memories with Daisy and the fantasies he has had about her. This is why Gatsby will go to such extremes to get her, even though she is married to Tom. All he wants for Daisy to do is say that she has never loved Tom, because that is how it was five years ago when Daisy and Gatsby were in love. Even if Daisy says that she loves Gatsby, that is not enough for Gatsby because his memories and dreams of Daisy have nothing to do with Tom.

My Grandparents Are Like Nick Carraway?

At the end of Chapter One of The Great Gatsby, Nick is watching his neighbor, Mr. Gatsby, from a distance. He does not speak to Mr. Gatsby because he seemed "content to be alone,"(Fitzgerald 25). The descriptive and colorful imagery suggests that Nick is curious about Mr. Gatsby and that he is unsure about him. While I was reading this scene, it immediately reminded me of my grandparents. My grandparents have a fascination with knowing what their neighbors are doing, they're not creepy stalkers or anything, they just like to know what is going on around them. Every time I go over to their house and we are sitting in the front room and they see that one of their neighbors is outside, they will look out the window and make observations and predictions about what that person is doing. In the summertime they like to sit outside to enjoy the nice weather and to observe what their neighbors are doing, they occasionally like to make conversation with them-if they are not too busy, but they mainly like to keep an eye on what is going on around them. Sometimes when I talk on the phone with them they will stop in the middle of the conversation to observe their neighbors and tell me what they are doing. They also have a police radio in their house (which everyone in my family loves to joke about) because they like to know what is going on around them and they also get bored sitting in their house by themselves. Although the situations of my grandparents and Nick Carraway are similar, there are also some major differences. Nick does not know anything about Mr. Gatsby, he has only heard Jordan Baker mention his name once. He is curious and slightly suspicious of him. My grandparents know all of their neighbors very well, they just get bored easily and love to know what is going on around them.

"The Glass Castle" Quote Analysis

"'Things usually work out in the end.'
'What if they don't?'
'That just means you haven't come to the end yet.'" (Walls 259).

Out of the many insightful quotes in The Glass Castle, this is one of my favorites. It is part of a conversation between Jeannette and her mother, Rose Mary. Rose Mary is the one who makes the insightful comment. It relates perfectly to Jeannette Walls and all of her siblings, who had to undergo such a difficult childhood. Their childhood was a dreadful cycle with poverty and many horrible troubles looming over their heads. Every time the Walls family encounters an obstacle, which is very frequent, they somehow always find a way around it-even though it is not always the best way. Although the children face many obstacles like always moving, not living in the greatest areas, and have to deal with bullies and many different types of people; their biggest obstacle is their parents, who do not have their priorities straight. In her adult life, Jeanette finds out that her mother owns land in Texas that is worth a million dollars. Walls says, "All those years in Welch with no food, no coal, no plumbing, and Mom had been sitting on land worth a million dollars?"(273). This reveals that providing necessities for her children was not as important to other things were to Rose Mary Walls. This shows that Rose Mary believes that everything will work itself out, which is the essence of the quote above. When Jeannette is in high school, she counts down the days until she can move out of her house and go live with her sister, Lori, in New York. This quote relates perfectly to her situation. Regardless of the circumstances that Jeannette was forced to grow up under, she did turn out to have a very successful adulthood, proving this quote to be true.

Racism- Is It Only in The Past?

Earlier this week I was on Twitter and I came across this tweet by Shaun King (@shaunking), who is a writer and civil rights activist.



                                  
                               

This post made me think about how, since the "Civil Rights Movement" is over, society just assumes that the majority of racism is in the past. Since we live in a very diverse area, we do not witness racism often, if at all. We associate racism with slavery and the Civil Rights Movement, all times that we have only experienced through our history books. Granted we know that racism is not completely diminished, however its prevalence is very unexpected.  Through this post, it becomes clear that society is unaware of many racist actions that take place in our own country. Of course, we hear about many of these terrible things on the news or via the internet, and we acknowledge how wrong they are- but no one is really aware of how big of an issue it is until we see a list of them all together. 

I believe that racism exists in a different way today than it has in the past. In The Bluest Eye, Cholly is immune to racism, he is so used to racist comments and actions that he is unaffected by it. Morrison writes, "Cholly heard nothing. The insults were part of the nuisances of life, like lice," (Morrison 153). During that time people were greatly aware of racism, however they chose to ignore and do nothing about it. Today, people are not as aware of racism, because it is associated with the past. However, when people are aware of an act of racial injustice they react much more effectively and it becomes a much more widespread issue. Racism surely is not worse than it has been during different time periods, but America today is definitely not as perfect as everyone may think. 

Modern Issues in "The Bluest Eye"

In The Bluest Eye, which takes place in 1941, Toni Morrison addresses an issue that is still very prevalent in our society today. Pecola, a young black girl longs to look like Shirley Temple or Mary Jane, who are stereotypical young white girls- with blond hair and blue eyes. "To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane," (Morrison 50).  Pecola does not buy the candy because she particularly likes the taste, she likes the image of Mary Jane on the wrapper; and hopes that by eating the candy, she will somehow become Mary Jane and feel accepted. This is similar to an issue that occurs very much today. So many people, mostly girls, are influenced by the media and are told that they have to look or act a certain way in order to be accepted. Although society is much more accepting now than it was in 1941, people are still pressured into living up to certain standards, that are sometimes unattainable. Similar to how Pecola admired the pictures of Mary Jane on the candy wrappers, companies advertise using "perfect" people so that customers will purchase their products. However, there is no such thing as the "perfect person." Advertisers use Photoshop and other techniques in order to create this unrealistic standard. So many people idolize celebrities, and many companies use them in advertisements so that people will be drawn to their product. For example, many more people would buy the makeup product modeled by Taylor Swift than the one modeled by someone else that no one has heard of. Logically, adults know that they will not end up looking like the celebrity that models the product, but they feel that if the celebrity uses the product, then it must be good enough for them to use. However, children, like Pecola, have hope that they will end up looking exactly like the face on the wrapper.

Gender Labels on Toys

Starting at a very young age, children are taught what they should and should not like based on their gender. Weather it is what clothes to wear, what movies to watch, what toys to play with, or simply what colors they can like, there is a fine line dividing "girl things" and "boy things." Girls are taught to like dolls, princesses, and anything pink and sparkly, and boys are taught to like trucks and Legos. However there is also a double standard prevalent. It is true that parents encourage their daughters to play with "girl toys," but if their daughter decides that she wants to play with a hot wheels car or Lego set, she is considered a tomboy or people will say that "she'll grow out of it." However if the situation were reversed and a boy decided that he wanted a Barbie doll many more people would have a problem with the situation. At a very young age, boys are taught that they have to be tough and masculine and this is reflected through the toys that they play with. The same is also true for girls; however, society has changed and now views women as more strong and powerful than they were viewed in the past. In the past the typical women was dainty and soft spoken, which is reflected through the typical doll. However Barbie dolls encourage girls to step out of the view of the typical woman. In "Our Barbies, Ourselves," in her counter argument, Emily Prager defines Barbie as "a liberated woman, a gal on the move." Most dolls are just pretty little girls in  pink dresses, but Barbie has many different careers. Indeed there are the typical woman Barbies, but there are also astronaut and police officer Barbies. Not once have I seen a superhero toy take on a more feminine career. As women have gained more power in society, it puts more pressure on men to still remain as the dominant gender; and as sad as it is, it still affects how young children play as they are growing up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CU040Hqbas


In the YouTube video linked above, Riley is frustrated with the fact that companies market toys toward each gender. What this four year old says is something that everyone is aware of, but we overlook it because this is what was drilled into all of our brains at a very young age.

Similarities In Maus

   

The last pages of each volume of Maus are similar in a variety of ways. First being that the conflict on both pages deal with Anja. On page 159 (Volume 1), Art is angry with Vladek because he burned Anja's old diaries. Art is upset because he wanted to see how Anja felt during the Holocaust, and he has no other way to get this information now that she is dead. Contrarily, Art fails to see this situation through Vladek's eyes. Vladek wanted to burn away the bad memories associated with Anja and the Holocaust. The reason that the two men have so many altercations is because they lack a sense of empathy towards each other. It is ironic that Art is calling Vladek a murderer because earlier on in the volume Art expresses how he blames his mother's suicide on himself.  On page 136 (Volume 2), Vladek is discussing how he and Anja both made it out of the war alive. He says "More I don't need to tell you. We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after." However, this is ironic because we know that they did not exactly live "happy happy ever after" because of Anja's suicide. Another similarity between these two pages is that they both end with one of the men calling the other by a different name. At the end of Volume 1, Art calls his father a murderer because he "murdered" all of Anja's diaries, killing all of her experiences that Art wants to know about very badly. On the final page of Volume 2, Vladek calls Art "Richieu." This demonstrates the bad relationship between the father and son. Having this as the last dialogue of the graphic novel, Art makes his final point about their broken relationship. The final page also wraps up both of the stories that were going on throughout the books: Vladek's story about the Holocaust and Art's story about his relationship with Vladek. Vladek's Holocaust story ends on a happier note showing Vladek and Anja embracing after they are reunited, and later on the page showing their grave together. Art's story with his father clearly does not end in the same way.  

How The Past Affects The Present

Think of the last time you told someone a story. Did you tell it exactly as it happened, in the exact order that it happened? Did you leave out details by mistake, or add details in to add emphasis, emotion, or excitement? Even as we tell of small, almost insignificant events, we as humans cannot portray to another person exactly what we have experienced.

In Maus, Art asks Vladek to tell him about his experience of the years during the war, as well as his personal life. Vladek carries the emotional burden of the death of his wife, Anja, who he misses very much. Even as Art uses words and pictures to tell the story of his father, the reader still will never come close to feeling anything remotely similar to what Vladek felt as he experienced these terrible things first hand. We can sit here and say how terrible it all was, or feel sympathy and sadness towards the horrific events that went on during this time, but no one will truly be able to understand what Vladek went through and how that affects his life after the war. This is demonstrated throughout Maus, as Art has trouble relating to his father in certain aspects of his life. Art lacks a sense of empathy towards his father, instead he becomes easily aggravated towards his father's quirks, which are most likely a result of the war. Mala also lacks this sense of empathy, which is ultimately what leads to their break up. Mala believes that since she also experienced the war and concentration camps, the two of them should not have as big of differences. What both Art and Mala fail to understand is that people have different experiences that affect them in very different ways, and it is impossible for anyone to truly understand how another individual thinks or feels unless they were faced with the same exact experiences. For example, Art does not understand his father's need to save money or his desire to keep everything neat and organized.

Here are a few passages that illustrate the differences between Vladek and Art and Mala and their lack of understanding towards him.

Feminism in Society Today

Bell Hooks defines feminism as "a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression." Feminism does not state that men are the enemy, nor that females are the only ones who can be feminists. "Practically, it is a definition which implies that sexist thinking and action is the problem, whether those who perpetuate it are female or male, child or adult," (Hooks 1). In today's society, people throw around the word "feminist," unaware of what it really means. People have so many negative stereotypes associated with feminism, when in reality everyone, male or female, has at least some feminist beliefs.





Many people think that feminism is the belief that women are better than men, when in reality it is very different. Men are not the enemy in feminism; females can have sexist thoughts against their own gender. Bell Hooks says, "Sisterhood could not be powerful as long as women were competitively at war with one another." Ultimately, this means that women cannot expect men to think of them as equal and treat them the way that they would like, if women have sexists beliefs against women themselves. This ties in with a quote from one of my favorite movies, Mean Girls; "You all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores."

Obviously, there are many differences between males and females that make it impossible for the two genders to be one hundred percent equal in every aspect of life; but that should not take away from the power and importance that women have in the world today. In The Woman Warrior, Kingston can only be in a position of power when she is disguised as a man. Although she is the best warrior in her area, she will only be taken seriously if she is a male, and unable to be a warrior if she is a female. As a child she was told that she could only grow up to be a wife or a slave. Luckily, our culture today is moving away from that. Now males and females can both serve in war, and many females are taking on jobs that have been considered to be "men's jobs" in the past. We may still have a way to go, but fortunately, society is moving in a positive direction for female equality.

Our Country Today

In "The Partly Cloudy Patriot," Sarah Vowell discusses the impact that the events of September 11th have had on her life. This made me think about what important national events have had an impact on my life. After thinking this through thoroughly, I concluded that all of the national events that have had a major impact on my life have happened before I was born or old enough to remember them. I am not saying that there have been no important or tragic national events in my lifetime that I remember, but the most important and effective events have happened before my lifetime.

As for the events of September 11, 2001, I do not remember that day at all. I was only two years old. Sarah Vowell writes, "What did happen, a lot, was that citizens or politicians or journalists would mention that they wonder what it will be like for Americans now to live with the constant threat of random, sudden death."  All that I have ever known is the world post 9/11, I have nothing to compare the world today to; but from what I know our country has changed drastically. For example, the Patriot Act was passed in October of 2001, adding security and law enforcement to help prevent terrorism. This is why airport security is much more intense than it was previous to 9/11. Many people are against the Patriot Act because it limits our freedom, but it is necessary to prevent anything like this from happening to our country again.

A few events that have impacted my life the most include the Revolutionary War and the struggle for women's suffrage. Of course, these events happened many years before I was born, but they still affect my life today. Just imagine how different our lives would be if the Revolutionary War never took place in 1775. Our freedom would be nonexistent and who knows what other differences would be prevalent. We could still be under the rule of the British. Or instead of obtaining gay marriage rights in 2015, we could be having a revolutionary war against the British right now. Also the fights for women's suffrage and other women's rights took place many years ago, making it so that women today are treated more equally. Granted, our country still has inequalities and other flaws that we must work on; but compared to life back in the 1700's, 1800's, 1900's, and even the early 2000's we have come a very long way. Our generation may face some difficulties and they may not be easy to overcome, but we are lucky that our country's worst struggles are in the past, and that we can continue to make our country great.

But we are all Americans...

Throughout history, many minorities have struggled to be treated fairly in our country. In Frederick Douglas's "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," he discusses the struggles African Americans faced during the time of slavery. Elizabeth Cady Stanton argues for equality from women in her piece, "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions." Although both of these pieces deal with issues from the past, certain minorities are still not treated completely fairly today in our country "[where] all men are created equal," (Jefferson). 

If all men are created equal why are some people treated differently? Are some people just more equal than others? Why do people believe men to be superior to women? Why are people discriminated against merely because of the color of their skin? These are all questions asked by many people today regarding inequality. For many years the identity of America was thought to be just the white man. Today many people think of it as a diverse melting pot, however many people still do not. This is America! No one is purely American, everyone's ancestors came from some other country. You can ask any American what their nationality is and they will respond with something like German, Italian, Mexican, etc. My point being that no one is technically "All-American," so why should people be discriminated against because their ancestors came from a country where people have a different color skin? It is just mind boggling that people used to think that this was okay, and some people still do today. The Americans in the 17 and 1800's had just finished fighting for freedom from England and then they turn around and control slaves in an even worse way. Frederick Douglas says, "Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body?" Douglas uses an effective argument with creative persuasion techniques to prove why slavery should end. Obviously racial discrimination is not nearly as bad as it has been throughout history. Our country has come a long way since the times of slavery and segregation. For example, we currently have our first African-American president. However, it still remains clear that our country has a long way to go, and we may never get to the place where we should be. 

                             

Why Does Who Is Remembered, and How, Matter So Deeply?

Everyone is the person they are today because of their past. The paramount events that happen in people's lives drastically affect who he or she is today. Everyone carries an emotional burden of something that has happened in the past, and most likely it deals with another individual. In Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, carrying emotional burdens is one of the central themes of the novel; most of these burdens are caused by the remembrance of other people.

In the episode, "In the Field," all of the men are mourning Kiowa's death. They all feel a sense of guilt and sadness. They will forever carry the memories associated with Kiowa, and the burden of his death will follow them for years to come. Many years after the war, O'Brien goes with his daughter back to the field in Vietnam where Kiowa was killed. O'Brien was trying to find closure for the death of Kiowa. "I looked for signs of forgiveness or personal grace or whatever else the land might offer,"(O'Brien 173). Tim needed to find this closure because he cared about Kiowa so deeply and thought so highly of him, that it was so difficult for him to cope with the grief. Tim O'Brien, and the other men, remember Kiowa as an honest man with a kind heart, and all of the good memories of him helping the other men deal with their regret and sadness over different situations make coping with his death so difficult. If they had more negative memories associated with Kiowa, it would not have been as difficult for them to deal with his death. This proves that the more positively one remembers another individual, the more pain and sorrow will be present when that person is no longer in his or her life.