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How literature shapes culture
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Many stories have parts that leave a reader annoyed and confused because they do not know what is going on, or what has happened because a character acts contrary to how the narrator is presenting them. This is because humans suck; humanity does not have the ability to be exact or unbiased. This is what happens in stories that annoy and confuse readers. Flaws are in all people, thus being the reason stories with false information are the fault of human narrators. The humanistic aspect of narration is what irks many people while reading. Flaws such as outlook bias, omission of information, and lack of omnipresence are all obstacles of meagre humans. There are three sources for discussion where these inadequacies are present are F. Scott Fitzgerald's …show more content…
Quite early in the story one can see that Paul’s opinions and ideas do not match those of the people in his culture. He very often gets annoyed by things that do not catch the attention of the others around him. For instance, he notices that one of the waiters at their table points at everything with his pinkie finger. Paul shares with the reader (and vocalises to the members at his table) that this action perturbs him. Some may see that his noticing something as insignificant as this is a skill or even an asset, however he does not notice everything. One thing that he does not notice quickly is that his brother's wife is crying. Paul says, “…it was only after I settled down in my chair that I realized Babette was crying.” (Koch, 83) So, his attention to detail does not follow with him always meaning that his outlook is not as meticulous as it may have seemed. The opinions that Paul has about certain subject give cause for one to accept his words as fact. Paul has some raciest opinions. This is not something that should be surprising because forms of racism exist in all people. At the table, Paul begins talking about “…all those other nasty Negroes, the uppity Negroes. The dangerous Negroes, the muggers and the rapists and the crack dealers.” (Koch, 80) He talks about this topic in a very offensive way that the reader then feels like they should not believe …show more content…
Nick Carraway from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a perfect example of someone who's perspective is affects details. Nick's perspective is incomplete and untrustworthy at times. One example of this is in chapter eight while he is recounting the events that had happened, but he announces, "I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon." (Fitzgerald, 33) So, his perspective is influenced by the alcohol and he even states that his memory of the afternoon "has a dim, hazy cast over it." (Fitzgerald, 33) Nick's perspective is also clouded by the fact that he does not know Gatsby at the beginning of the novel. Because of this, he has a biased opinion when he meets Gatsby. He only hears rumblings of Gatsby's extravagant parties and expects him to be magnificent and beyond human. Also, at Nick's first Gatsby party he continues to hear rumours of the host, which has him creating a picture in his head of who Gatsby is. Therefore, the reader is surprised along with Nick when it is discovered that Gatsby is not who he had believed he
For all of Paul’s life, he has been bullied by his brother Erik and hasn’t told anyone because he feared him. On page 263 and 264 of the book, Paul had a flashback “I remembered Erik’s fingers prying my eyelids open while Vincent Castor sprayed white paint into them.”. This illustrates
Paul’s character relates to the central idea because he is an example of a person who was not accepted by others and fell down on a dark path of no
" That shows that Paul had always thought low of himself because his parents never told him the truth. This decision made Paul feel weak and miserable because he had always thought it was his fault. On page 265, Paul gets his parents to admit what had actually happened to make him blind. They said they didn't tell him the truth because they didn't want him to hate his brother. What Paul mentions is quite sad.
Of course Nick is going to talk to him before he makes any assumptions. Even though Gatsby is one to easily be judged based off of his lavish lifestyle and looks. It’s important here because Gatsby asks Nick for his opinion of himself, but before he gets the opinion he wants to tell Nick his story before he hears nonsense from anyone else. While listening to Gatsby talk about his past, Nick starts to slip. In this passage Nick is talking about how he reacted to Gatsby be so called past, “With an effort I managed to restrain my incredulous laughter. The very phrases were worn so threadbare that they evoked no image except that of a turbaned ‘character’ leaking sawdust at every pore as he pursued a tiger through the Bois de Boulogne.” (Fitzgerald 66). However before talking to Gatsby Nick says, “So my first impression, that he was a person of some undefined consequence, had gradually faded and he had become simply the proprietor of an elaborate road-house next door.” (Fitzgerald 64). Nick judged Gatsby, based off of his appearance and what he had seen next door. Of course, Nick doesn't own up to that, he uses the word impression instead of
Nick Carroway is not a very judgmental person, in fact, he himself states that he withholds judgment so that he can get the entire story out of the person to whom he is listening. To say that Nick is both approving and disapproving is not suspiring, for Nick rarely looks at things from only one perspective. Nick finds Gatsby to be ignorantly honest, in that Gatsby could not fathom the idea of saying something without really meaning it. He respects Gatsby for his determination to fit in with the East Egg crowd, though Gatsby does not realize that he does not really fit in with them. On the other hand, Nick sees Gatsby to be excessively flashy and, in the words of Holden Caulfield, 'phony.' Gatsby's whole life is a lie from the moment he left behind the name James Gatz and became Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lies about his past to try to have people perceive him as an 'old money' guy when that really is not necessary. Gatsby's valiant efforts to lure Daisy are respectable, yet they show Gatsby's failure to accept reality and give up on his long lost dream.
As a child Paul and Norman were very much the same, for they both seeked love from their father but, growing up Paul strayed from his fathers teaching. We see that in fly fishing; Paul leaves the four tempo technique, and creates a technique called shadow casting. Paul seeks attention, for example when he danced with the Native American girl all eyes were on them due to the provocative dancing or Native American. Paul loves being in the center of attention whenever; he came home he would often tell stories with both parents giving him full attention. Paul’s character was very boisterous and quick-tempered. Paul tended to start fights and cause a scene. Paul is not reserved, and he will quickly tell you how he feels. Paul is a very independent person, and he does not like to receive help; for example after the gambling scene Paul tries to dissuade Norman away from helping him. Paul is not one to follow other people’s example, but rather sets examples like fly fishing. Paul has an alcohol and gambling problem, and he knows, but he refuses help due to his pride. Paul was equally loved as a child, but he craved for attention as an adult because he did not know what to do with the love that was given to him. In the movie Paul started to really act out when Norman came home, and perhaps this was because he felt as if he was in Norman’s shadow. Norman was called the “professor” in the family because he went to college, but Paul never left Montana, and he could never achieve what Norman achieved perhaps that is why he acted so immaturely to receive
Paul believes that everyone around him is beneath him. He is convinced that he is superior to everyone else in his school and in his neighborhood. He is even condescending to his teachers, and shows an appalling amount of contempt for them, of which they are very aware.
Paul's father is a single parent trying to raise his children in a respectable neighborhood. He is a hard worker and trying to set a good example for his son. His father puts pressure on Paul by constantly referring to a neighbor, whom he feels is a perfect model for his son to follow.
Paul surrounds himself with the aesthetics of music and the rich and wealthy, as a means to escape his true reality. In Paul’s true reality, he has a lack of interest in school. His disinterest in school stems from the alienation and isolation he has in life. This disinterest in school reflects Paul’s alienation because of the unusual attention he receives there that he doesn’t get at home. In class one day he was at the chalkboard and “his English teacher had stepped to his side and attempted to guide his hand” (Cather 1).
In the beginning of the story, Paul seems to be a typical teenage boy: in trouble for causing problems in the classroom. As the story progresses, the reader can infer that Paul is rather withdrawn. He would rather live in his fantasy world than face reality. Paul dreaded returning home after the Carnegie Hall performances. He loathed his "ugly sleeping chamber with the yellow walls," but most of all, he feared his father. This is the first sign that he has a troubled homelife. Next, the reader learns that Paul has no mother, and that his father holds a neighbor boy up to Paul as "a model" . The lack of affection that Paul received at home caused him to look elsewhere for the attention that he craved.
Even though he had some thought that the meeting would provoke harmful tensions between Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby, he went along with it anyways, further demonstrating his own innate lack of reservation. Ultimately, Nick is an unreliable narrator who overlooks Gatsby’s lies because of his biased judgment of him. Nick portrays Gatsby as a generous and charismatic figure while in reality, he is a duplicative and obsessed man entangled in illegal business who is determined on an unattainable goal. It is highly ironic that Nick judges others for their lack of morality and honesty; his own character is plagued by lies as he abets Gatsby in many of his schemes.
At the beginning of the book, Nick's dependability is demonstrated as he recounts various information about himself. He is “inclined to reserve all judgments”(1), a trait that implies objectivity and therefore reliability as a narrator. However, he continues to say that this reservation of judgment has certain limits, especially recently in his life. These limits, apparently, do not apply to Gatsby, as evidenced in the next line. Nick says that only Gatsby “was exempt from [his] reaction”, even though Gatsby “represented everything for which [he has] an unaffected scorn”. He then continues to praise Gatsby's “heightened sensitivity to the promises of life”, and his “extraordinary gift of hope”(2). This beginning excerpt from the book in the first two pages sets the tone for the rest of the book and foreshadows the events that are going to happen. It is one of the most important sections of the book, as it lays out ...
When we read any work of fiction, no matter how realistic or fabulous, as readers, we undergo a "suspension of disbelief". The fictional world creates a new set of boundaries, making possible or credible events and reactions that might not commonly occur in the "real world", but which have a logic or a plausibility to them in that fictional world. In order for this to be convincing, we trust the narrator. We take on his perspective, if not totally, then substantially. He becomes our eyes and ears in this world and we have to see him as reliable if we are to proceed with the story's development.
At the beginning of the book Nick sees Gatsby as a mysterious shady man. In the beginning of the chapter Nick somewhat resents Gatsby. In Nick’s opinion Gatsby was the representation of “…everything for which I have unaffected scorn.” (Fitzgerald 2). Nick sees Gatsby as what he hates the most in life, rich folk. Since the start of the novel it was obvious that had “Disapproved of him from beginning to end.” (Fitzgerald 154). As time passes, Nick realizes his neighbor has quite a mysterious past. Some think he’s a bootlegger, and a different person wa...
Materialism appears at the beginning of the story when talking about the type of life Paul and his family have. For example, D.H. Lawrence says that “although they lived in style, they felt always an anxiety in the house” (793). This example explains that even though Paul and his family