APEnglish–Los Al

Alright, so some of you are already waxing sentimental and growing misty eyed.  And my grades aren’t even yet!  Ay me!

Well, I had a wonderful time this year.  Some great discussions and vibrant personalities.  You make teaching what it is–great.  I can’t tell you how many times I count my blessings that when I go home from work, I don’t want to rush out the door to happy hour or mire myself in hours of TV.  I feel pretty accomplished and feel that some quiet time with the wife and dog are in order.  And that is, of course, thanks to you.

Good luck to you all.  I look forward to seeing your scores in July.  (I have a good feeling about them).  And enjoy your last summer of high school!

Oh, and I dropped the ball about the pun contest.  So I will be taking suggestions and votes about the best ones and will be awarding a $10 and $5 starbuck’s card to the winners of 1st and 2nd places.  So start campaigning.  And keep those on the blog.  You might get groans from you audience, or, if you’re in the LBC, a right cross to the jaw.

Bon voyage.

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Period 4

First of all, I’m sorry if these notes are a little disjointed, I’d like to finally get some sleep so here’s what I wrote down during class:

• We passed back the green packets from the AP test. There were some complaining about who finished early and whatnot, and how ridiculous the third prompt was, but nothing major
• Jumping straight into Gatsby (for once), we talked about the parallels drawn between Tom and Myrtle
  • Tom saw Daisy and Gatsby together
  • Myrtle saw Tom and Jordan together
  • Although in Tom’s case the relationship is real, in Myrtle’s case it’s just an illusion, which is an extension on the theme of reality vs. illusion, as well as romanticism vs reality, past/present, and rich vs. poor
• Existing conception that the rich is inherently superior to the poor, but Myrtle’s and Tom’s reactions are not all that different despite the different socio-economic statuses-through them, Fitzgeral shows the rich and the poor really aren’t that different
• The last sentence of the book unifies the theme
• Barriers between people are artificial - Fitzgerald lived in a time of both extreme opulence and extreme poverty, but through the juxtoposition of Nick and Gatsby’s social status (Nick’s small house and relative poverty right next to Gatsby’s huge mansion) they’re shown to be both human, and not all that different
• America is a country of social climbers
• Tom and Daisy - evasive, prefer not to confront things straightforwardly - it took seven chapters for them to finally address their problems
• Daisy’s major character flaw - spineless
  • Teetering between Gatsby and Tom now that they’re both rich - exposing herself for personal gain
  • Missing moral courage, pathetic fear of being impoverished
• Tom - one of the few to stand up and confront people, but for all the wrong reasons (Even the “great” Gatsby could not stand up to Tom)
• Mr. Wilson was crushed in the face of adversity, turned to cowardly murder
  • A gun is the ultimate form of power- it’s power over life and death
• Death of Gatsby - theme of reality vs illusion - Gatsby is just as dead as Wilson right next to him, exposes the mortality of him under all the legends and stories and the aura of superiority, as well as a deconstruction of the artifical socio-economic distinctions and barriers
• The continuing theme of water
  • Gatsby hasn’t gone swimming all summer
  • Water represents time and separatiuon
  • Finds Gastby underwater in the pool - drowned sailor
  • Gatsby first found his future also in the water, by finding the doc on the boat and sailing for years
• The story follows the seasons, from the flowering to the ripening to the fall
• At the end, Fitzgerald ties the green light that Gatsby sought to the dreams of the Dutch colonists-linking factor-everyone’s connected, not all that different
• Another major theme - it’s hard to recognize the things we really want until we lost it
• There’s only two things - love and lost. Everything’s just a slight variation on it. People are losing every moment in life.
• Everyone in the book’s lost everything at the end.

Period 5

Today in Period 5, the topic of discussion was again the Great Gatsby, more specifically chapter 7. In this chapter, the oppressive heat seems to affect everyone and it becomes clear that Tom is aware that there is something going on between Daisy and Gatsby. After Tom and Gatsby get into an argument over who Daisy really loves, everyine decides to go. Of course, with an uneasy Daisy behind the wheel, this is the end for Myrtle Wilson. There is more to this event than is originally thought. Daisy’s erratic driving is symbolic she must make between Tom and Gatsby. Her running over Myrtle is her decision, choosing Tom over Gatsby, and in turn, killing Gatsby.

Another topic we discussed was the symbolic meaning of Nick turning 30 years old. This age, in most cultures, is the age of adulthood, a time when a person leaves childlike behaviors, such as experimentation and hopeful thinking, behind for more realistic views of the world.

School’s almost out!

-William Avalos

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Period 5

Dear Eldridgeans,
The day kick-started with one of our favorite pastimes: a reading quiz! For those of you unlucky ducks that were absent today, I caution you to look up any words such as, oh, I don’t know, “somnambulatory,” that look a little foreign to you. Moreover, be sure to pay attention to all the little details included in chapter four, as the quiz contains four question that require attention to detail. After grading those little delights, we then went on to discuss specific passages in Chapter Three. From our discussion we concluded (well, Eldridge mainly did, with a smidge of help from others):
A) The Great Gatsby is basically a three part play; Fitzgerald planned it to be this way because he was a meticulous weirdo who also planned the number of words each chapter would hold. Just thinking about this, stresses me out.
B) On page sixty, (second to last paragraph) the phrase “glowing gardens” connects to the gardens that were present in the Valley of Ashes. Therefore, we begin to see that chapters 1-3 are just one giant garden scene.
C) Gatsby is a series of gestures, evidence is also on page sixty at the end of the same paragraph
D) Nick claims he’s the writer in the last paragraph. This causes one to ask, “Is Fitzgerald supposed to be Nick?” Writers are known to be sneaky, with all their symbols and what not.
C) Nick admits to manipulating the narrative, which ultimately is20a warning sign. Eldridge offered the idea that he’s doing this to protect himself from blame. Furthermore, Nick is NOT gay. In fact, he’s REALLY into Jordan and he expresses this interest and his cryptic desires in a polite, yet perverted manner-making them not so cryptic anymore. I.E. “She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage, and given this unwillingnesss I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard jaunty body.” If Fitzgerald is Nick, then he needs to simmer down, asap.
E) Jordan is also a liar, as we gain evidence that she might have paid off her caddy and witness in some Golf Tournament. “At her first big golf tournament there was a row that nearly reached the newspapers-a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a badlie in the semi-final round. The thing approached the proportions of a scandal-then died away. A caddy retracted his statement and the only other witness admitted that he might have been mistaken.”-pg. 62-63
F)FINALLY, the last line of the chapter: “Everyone suspects himself of a t least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine:I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”-pg. 64. The fact that Nick had to state this reveals that he does not actually mean it and underscores the notion that he is in fact a big, fat, gigantic, colossal liar-liar pants on fire. We connected this to the Catcher in the Rye, a novel in which the main character is constantly lying and this is mainly used as a psychology trick.

We concluded the day by discussing the features of Gatsby and the background of his life, which we noticed were out of order in the novel.  And that was basically it. Homework tonight is to read chapter five!

Tangents of the day:
Avenues in New York run North to South; whereas, Streets run East to West.
Fitzgerald coined the term, “Jazz Age”
and 70% of information witnesses give is false because people ultimately see what they want to see. That’s why a camera is so much more valuable.

Pictures:
I looked up “Jaunty” and this what came up:

Ello, Gatsby:

Fitzgerald:

Period 4

Well, I learned today, Tuesday, that I was scribe on Monday, so my notes may not be as complex as wanted…not that many of you will be even reading this as no one goes on this website anymore, jk.

Okay…We started off class with a rousing quiz on chapter 4 from the Great Gatsby. It asked various questions some of which included:
Define: incredulous, wan, denizen, somnambulatory
-What did the policeman do?
-What was the most interesting garment Wolfsheim wore?
-What did Daisy want to give back?
I don’t really remember what the other few questions were, but the answers to the above questions are:
-incredulous : unbelieving (not unbelievable)
-wan : weak (different than wane which means to lessen)
-denizen : someone who lives somewhere (similar to citizen except without rights)
(hmm…I just realized that denizen is like Denethor, from Lord of the Rings, the steward of Gondor-a man who just lives in the kingdom with no kingly rights.)
-somnambulatory : sleepwalk
-The policeman did not give Gatsby a speeding ticket when he pulled him and Nick over
-Wolfsheim was wearing cufflinks made out of human molars
-Daisy wanted to give Tom back the pearl necklace while in a drunken stupor
After the test we went over what happened in chapter 4:
-Wolfsheim and Gatsby are intertwined with some kind of mafia as supported by Wolfsheims story and his questioning of whether Nick was the “one”
-Jordan reveals Gatsby secret obsession with Daisy and tells Nick of his plan
-Every three chapters make up an Act:
-Chapters 1-3 were dominated by imagery of gardens
-We learn that Gatsby was truly an Oxford man and was an officer during the war when he shows Nick a picture of him at the school and the medal he received from “little Montenegro”
Shenanigans:
-there was a constant uproar by Michelle Elias about receiving a water bottle for donating blood that culminated in her receiving one only having to relinquish it to Michelle Lampert

17 MORE DAYS!!!!

-Aloha. Ethan.

This is Meyer Wolfsheim one of the movies, the man who fixed the World Series.

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Period 4

Scribe Notes 5/28
We started off class by working with our groups on the following questions. Only questions 1-4 were discussed in class:
1.    How do time and family recur in chapter 1
-family values
-comes from a prominent well-to-do family
-went to Yale (like rest of family)
2.    Find 3 examples of Nick’s elevated diction and imagery. Explain them and how it characterizes Nick.
-Pg. 12 description of house
-grass- growing into house (makes it seem as if the house is alive)
-poetic diction
-Pg. 15 Jordan Baker
-description of individual details
-1920’s behavior
-Pg. 39 Party
-acts as an observer to a party he’s in
-portrays a romantic glamour, yet he is still realistic
-shows his push and pull
3.    Find at least two examples of how dialogue characterizes each character: Nick, Daisy, Tom
-Nick: likes to make stories
-“wheel painted black”
-romantic and realistic
-Daisy: Self centered; focuses on how people view her
-“do they miss me?”
-No concern for the baby
-gossips (tells a “family secret” about the butler)
-creates meaningless conversation
-Tom: Self centered as well; rude; disrespectful (to wife)
-slams the window (takes air out of the room)
-reads “scientific” books but doesn’t understand them
4.    Why and how are the Valley of the Ashes and Myrtle’s apartment juxtaposed?
-Ash symbolizes the poor; it is inescapable; Valley of Ashes is present because the city needs a place to put the waste; ashes “grow” like wheat
-Myrtle’s apartment is small, yet her furniture is large (tries to raise her own class); it is located on the top floor-far from ashes
-Nick says of pg. 29 “must be something beautiful” –switches between romanticism and realism
5.    Characterize Myrtle through her actions and dialogue and what others say about her
6.    How does the tapestry function?
7.    What is Nick’s tone in chapter 2? Give examples-what is with the last scene in chapter 2?
Some important notes about the book:
-Nick’s narration is SUBTLE- you have to read carefully to pick up all of his hints
-Summer represents life and youth
-nick’s story starts hopeful and optimistic at the beginning of summer and becomes bitter, hateful, and angry towards the end (of summer)

Mr Eldridge compared this to the mangoes of Hawaii. They continually develop. When in season, they are ripe and succulent; then they become overripe and rot and flying roaches infest them, then they fall to the ground and leave a nasty mess.
Don’t forget to read the next chapter.
THE END

Period 5

Today we reviewed the Great Gatsby.
We went over the theme of nouveax riches which is new money (lil wayne would be an example of new money).

The Great Gatsby described the conspicous consumption and grandiose lifestyles of the upper class.
Truth vs. beauty.
Platonism.
Romanticism - revolt against Enlightenment ideals - emotion over logic, etc.
It contained many classical references, ie. Morgan and Midas, Odysseus, Sirens, etc.
and the the persistence of the past.

All in all its probably the most boring book i have ever encountered.
Just kidding i love reading

Jay Lee

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Period 4

SCRIBE 5/26

we had a substitute.
we checked out THE GREAT GATSPY from the media center.
we read THE GREAT GATSPY during class.

not much went on today, if you were not there you did not miss much, just remember to check out THE GREAT GATSPY!!

Period 5

Well hello everyone, today was sad day in english, Mr. Eldridge was gone ):, however, many things were accomplished.

The class started without Mr. E and everyone was shocked to meet the sub (forgot her name, oops), everyone was in disarray. But as soon as the sub calmed everyone down, the entire class filed out of the room and ventured to the media center to check out ,The Great Gatsby. Those who brought their id’s with them, were fortunate ,this allowed them to check out the book without any hassle, now for the individuals that forgot their id’s, this was a problem because the woman scanning the books was acting extremely cranky. Luckily the sub took action and forced the scanner woman to allow the “id-less” to check out the book. After this process of book checking out, a total time of 17 minutes had elapsed and everyone sat back in their desk and began to read ” The Great Gatsby.”

The instructions for reading chapter 1 were given and from the looks of it, everyone seemed to finish reading about 15 minutes before the bell rang. For the better part of the period, minds toiled in obscurity as each student developed a prospective on how F. Scott Fitzgerald employed his messages through his writing.

Tomorrow will be 17 days until summer starts.

This has been another report by Anthony Kriakin, over and out commandos.

(Yikes!)

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