Tom: scene pg129-130

“Open the whiskey, Tom,” Daisy ordered to me, “and I’ll make you a mint julep. Then you won’t seem so stupid to yourself…. Look at the mint!”
I could not take this humiliation any longer, especially not coming from my wife, a woman! I needed to get out this doubt, along with the anger, once and for all.

“Wait a minute,” I snapped with irritation, trying to hide my humiliation, “I want to ask Mr. Gatsby one more question.”

“Go on,” Gatsby said, with a gentle feeling of power and victory.

“What kind of row are you trying to cause in my house anyhow?”

This was it. It was time to face this man and confront him. Time to show whose boss.

“He isn’t causing a row,” Daisy said, again interrupting my moment. “You’re causing a row. Please have a little self-control.”

Self-control?! She wanted me to have some self control when some man was trying to take my wife. This was just ludicrous!

“Self-control!” I repeated mordantly. “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. NOBODY from NOWHERE make LOVE to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me OUT… Nowadays people begin sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.”

I just not could not take this! This man was trying to tear apart my family, MY family. Yes, I understand I had an affair with Myrtle, but this man had no right to bother our lives and our marriage. We were all much better without him!

Afterwards I realized I was standing by myself, but at least their attention was all on me, and I hoped that those words were sinking right in those empty brains of theirs.

“We’re all white here,” murmured Jordan.

I didn’t realize that part, but I still wanted to make them see that it wasn’t right for this Gatsby man to cause any trouble with my family, especially not my woman. But this man just thought he was so important and famous because of his huge social parties who just consisted of lazy people with nothing better to do that go waste some hours of their life at an unknown man’s home.

“I know I’m not very popular. I don’t give big parties. I suppose you’ve got to make your house into a pigsty in order to have any friends­—­in the modern world.”

I was mad. No, not mad, furious. I could already feel my packet muscles get tense. I wanted, no, I was desperate to shop everyone that I had every right to want to expose this man! I had to defend my morals!

“I’ve got something to tell you, old sport—“Gatsby began, but was, surprisingly, cut by Daisy’s helpless plea.

“Please don’t!” She cried. “Please let’s all go home. Why don’t we all go home?”

“That’s a good idea,” Mick said as he quickly got up. “Come on, Tom. Nobody wants a drink.”

Obviously no one wanted one. What they wanted was to get away from this huge embarrassing moment Gatsby was about to go through, by they were going to have to stay for it all.

“I want to know what Mr. Gatsby has to tell me.”

“You’re wife doesn’t love you,” said Gatsby.  “She’s never loved you. She loves me.”

“You must be crazy!” I exclaimed. I didn’t even think of how to respond him, I just did. From that moment I not only let my anger and hate toward Gatsby take hold of my words, by my feeling and emotions as well. This man must be truly insane to think that Daisy loves him when she has me. I couldn’t think of that being possible… Daisy’s love not being mine? I suddenly felt some huge anchor hit my heart.

Gatsby, on the other hand, was rather excited and pleased to have that lie out of his chest, for he jumped up and began talking once more.

The American Dream: Alive or Dead?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tiziana-dearing/us-wealth-gap_b_1093582.html
"Where Is the American Dream Today?"
A very good heading and question, in my opinion. So, where is this dream? Is it even still alive?
Well, according to Tiziana Dearing, it still is. This dream, though, is in danger of dying and that is because of poverty. This online newspaper article talked about hoe poverty has been increasing. We may try to seem hopeful and say that things will get back to normal soon, but the reality is that it will take even more years to get back on track even after the recession is finally over.
According to Fareed Zakaria, it will take about five YEARS for the economy to fully recover. Five years until people get back their jobs. And until those five years get here, what will happen to those without jobs? Poverty is going to hit those people and their family and that is what is destroying the american dream.
What is it that people look for in the american dream? Maybe a house of their own, happiness, and financial backup just to have a worry-free life. Well, i doubt that people in poverty have their own house and financial backup. Yes, they may have happiness, but it must be constantly invaded and interrupted by the worries of money and how they will get it to feed their family members. Yeah, that doesn't sound like a Dream I want to be in.
That is why we have to keep on working on this dream to improve it. The problem is, though, that this dream is based on economy and if our economy keeps on going like it's going right now, that American Dream will soon be just that, a dream that will never be.

Song Review

Time to review a song. I’m that picky with my music, but there are some that are just so annoying! That’s why I chose Lil Wayne’s song “She Will” (I could easily talk about his entire album The Carter IV, but I think one song is ENOUGH).

Ok, before I begin, I just want to say that I dislike many of Lil Wayne’s songs, but not all of them, just a lot.

So, let’s go into “She Will”. She Will what, Mr. Wayne? What is it that you are trying to say? That girls are whores?

“Maybe for the money and the power and the fame right now, she will, she will, she will.”

She’ll do anything for power and money? Why not say men will? I find this song very insulting to females. That’s the why I hate it! And especially with all the gorgeous language Lil Wayne uses, it’s just the strawberries on top of the frosting (not cherry, I prefer strawberries).

There are some good things about this song, though. I mean, the only reason I hate “She Will” is because of the insult towards female. Everything else isn’t that bad.

There some pretty good parts of it.

“What goes around, comes around like a hula hoop

Karma is a b****? Well just make sure that b**** is beautiful”

I like that part. Kinda like a life lesson, don’t you think? It’s like, try to make your life the best so what you get in return is good.

Yeah, other than that and the really cool rhythm, I still dislike this song. This dude, Mr. Lil Wayne, always uses bad language and has some really unpleasant lyrics about women, for example, like this song. But here, you can judge yourselfs:

http://www.djbooth.net/index/tracks/radio/lil-wayne-she-will/

(I honestly don’t understand how my brother likes to listens to this “song”)

It's Time for Winter

I'm going to admit that I'm not the best poetic person ever, but here's my winter poem:

It’s a time of joy,

A time of fun,

A time to watch the snowflakes fall from the sky,

A time for Christmas trees and Christmas lights,

A time of 12 wishes for the new year to come,

But the most important part,

Is that it’s the time to be with those who you care about,

And to be with those who care about you.

Yup, its time for winter.

J. D. Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye, one of the all time bestselling books is an amazing novel written by J.D. Salinger. In an interview with The New York Times in 1974, Salinger said he wrote for his own pleasure. “Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure.” This shows how secluded and isolated Salinger was, having been in isolation for many years. He seemed to hate the media.

J.D. Salinger reminds me a lot of Holden. Salinger was very isolated and seemed to keep his thoughts to himself (by not publishing his stories). I guess one reason why he might have published The Catcher in the Rye and his other works is because he needed money to go into his secluded land. Much like Holden, he doesn’t like people who seem conceited, so maybe Salinger wanted to disappear to not seem someone he disliked.

When The Catcher in the Rye was released in the 1950s, there was a lot of disapproval for the book. It quickly went on the banned book list because of the bad and inappropriate language, Holden’s excessive drinking and smoking for his young age, all the sex talk, and rebellion. But, really. That was in the 50s. We’re talking about Elvis Presley’s time. Everything was being censored because parents or those conservative people disagreeing with this new change (imagine what those people say about our generation. If their kids were bad, we must be beyond horrible). These people were the ones that disliked the Rock n Roll. SERIOUSLY!

Despite the book being in the banned book list, it was a hit. This book is what, people say, defined our phase as teenagers. It describes our confusion in life as we try to move on from a childhood of innocence to the world of adults, which is full of phonies. What I really think, though, is that maybe these people seem phony because that’s not how we saw them as children. Being a teenager means growing up and opening our eyes to see the real world.

Today, many classes include The Catcher in the Rye as part of their course. It’s known today as an American classic and is still on the bestsellers chart. The reason is because this book has a deep meaning for us all, especially teenagers. People who criticize Salinger say that it just made teenagers now how they are: rebellious (maybe it’s because crazy Chapman said that his motives to kill John Lennon were found in The Catcher in the Rye).

To finish, J. D. Salinger is a phenomenon for his legendary book, The Catcher in the Rye. 

Hoden

Holden is one weird guy. In a way he’s just like Ackley. He criticizes everyone based on very few things, like their appearance or a onetime conversation. You can’t do that. To judge someone as much as Holden judges them you can’t judge of surface level things. Like Ackley, he doesn’t seem like many people but he stills hangs out with them. That is a bit phony. I mean, why would you go out with a guy that you can’t stand?

Phoniness is something Holden can’t stand, yet he’s very phony himself. To him, the definition of phony something or someone that pretends to be someone they’re not. Like the movies. He knows that they’re fiction, and can’t stand them because of it. But why can’t he just see them as what they really are, for entertainment? He seems to reject what life gives him to enjoy. And why judge the actors? All they’re doing is earning a good and decent living. I mean, they aren’t phonies because people KNOW that they’re ACTING.

Another thing is that Holden is a big, fat LIAR! He lies to everyone, especially people he doesn’t know. He seems to do it for amusement. Like with Ernest’s mom, he could have just said that he didn’t know much about him and ended the conversation. But he doesn’t do it. I totally think that’s the type of phony acting he talks about because the ones Holden lies to don’t know he’s lying.

Holden seems to just be a weird teenager going through difficult phases, especially because I think that bordering schools are horrible and that they deprive their right to live with their family and siblings, people he cares about.

My Red Hunting Hat

My Red Hunting Hat. Well, a hunting hat is usually meant for other hunters to recognize you as a hunter and not some animal and try to kill you. In a way you try to be fit in with the other hunters in the area by standing out. You know, standing out with the bright red but just not to risk being shot or killed, and that way you fit in with other hunters.

I'm not sure what my red hunting hat would be. I'm not saying that I fit in a way that people recognize right away, but I’m just not sure what makes me stand out. One obvious thing I can think about right away, though, is my height. Just as a hunting hat is used to distinguish animals from hunters, I guess my height helps others distinguish me from others. For example, my friends would often refer to me as "tiny Jessica" or "short Jessica". They also tell me that they can always seem to know where I am in a crowd by seeing a small gap between some tall people or just seeing a shirt girl. Real nice, right?

So, my height helps me stand out, a lot. But I don’t seem to know how it helps me fit it. Is it that some people say, "Hey, that girl is short. I should talk to her." Um... I really doubt that. Maybe it's just that people see me stand out because of my height, so then they’re curious? I don’t know. It really doesn't help me identify with other people my age. I'm always being asked if I'm a freshman or 13 years old. But I guess I'm just like everyone else. I like many common things other teens like, such as music, hanging out with friends. 

I'm not sure if my height is some type of my hunting hat, but that's really all I can think of right now.