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.