Alankar's Blogs

     The technique of planting a seed and allowing it to grow throughout the progression of a work is simple to understand, but rarely recognized when practiced. A great example of such was noted in the analysis of The Great Gatsby that we read. The final paragraphs of the novel are some of the most famous in all of English literature, yet we often extract them from their place for further analysis without regard to the entire context: as if Fitzgerald wrote these words before the remainder of the novel and just randomly inserted them at the end. Each idea presented on the last couple pages was originally presented in the first chapter. The seeds were planted and naturally grew alongside the plot: each being intertwined with Gatsby’s fate.      The most common example of seeds is characters as we always analyze character development. However, we must also realize this development is rarely linear and immensely complicated – just as humans are. One does n...

Something I learned this week was how to effectively develop a character in literary work without writing a stereotypical narrative. Instead of having a chronological order, I can dissect the person – metaphorically – into events and perspectives that are crucial to portray. This was explained in great detail in The Atlantic’s article on storytelling. Even my choice novel, The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, utilized this technique by having each, seemingly unrelated, chapter represent a different trait of the main character. When an author decides to write a narrative where all the events are chronological and not independently and uniquely representative, the main purpose gets heavily distorted. In other words, the characters get watered down. This advice is especially helpful for college application essays: as I have to tell a story about myself, I need to do such efficiently without ignoring any vital elements. Furthermore, this method of storytelling connects to the...

     What is one’s identity? That is a fairly vague question as it differs with each person. Looking at Deming Guo, I believe his identity is his culture. I mostly say this because he had a coherent identity – regardless of whether it conformed to the expectations set by his mother (such as going past 8 th grade which I mentioned in my note page) – while he still lived with his mother, Leon, Vivian, and Michael. His early childhood was filled with cultural experiences and he had no reason to veer away from them or ignore their influence on him. However, when Deming becomes Daniel and lives with Kay and Peter Wilkinson, this connection to his background is broken. He is not even allowed to speak in Fuzhounese anymore (I mentioned how he must talk in English only once he lives with Kay and Peter in the notes). This causes him to be completely confused about who he is and where he belongs. Furthermore, Kay and Peter attempt to assimilate into their “American culture” by p...

          Eminent Domain. This is a classic example of a concept which in theory should work but often fails in practice. Once upon a time , when the Bill of Rights was being written in addition to the already written, but not ratified, Constitution, the 5 th Amendment was inscribed. One part of this Amendment briefed about just compensation when government chooses to acquire private property. Reverting back to today , just compensation just seems like a pink elephant . This idea is used in eminent domain. When government uses eminent domain, it generally has only two objectives : to develop on the land or sell it to a corporation. Simply put, the government operates like a business that has legislative powers. What is the incentive for bureaucrats to buy private property at a just price? There isn’t any; they would want the lowest price. And when we bundle this with the socioeconomic system we live in – corporatism – then matters for citizens owning priva...

Does “love” even exist in the Great Gatsby? This seems like a rhetorical question to the average person; “Why, of course it does! Gatsby loved Daisy,” is probably what they would say. But this is not true. There is no genuine love in this book. Rather, nothing is genuine aside from the genuine illusion. Some say love can be described when opposites attract. Others say love can be described when two people who are very similar find each other. I say love doesn’t exist. It is just another illusion to express our desire for an ideal. Humans are inherently selfish; we think and we act in our own self-interest; why would we give up this natural tendency for another? We wouldn’t. Instead, we cover up this highest order of selfishness with the word, love. Man does not care for another unless that other best fits their ideal. We set some standard for our partner. Some people are specific, some are general. That doesn’t matter. All that matters is we have some standard. If we didn’t, we w...

Gatsby has been a very mysterious character right from his original introduction which exclaimed him as a “gorgeous” person (Fitzgerald 2). Even after meeting Gatsby, we are still unsure whether what he tells Nick is the truth; if he truly comes from a wealthy family in the Middle West, then he should be living in East Egg, not West Egg. Analyzing from the fact that Gatsby does live in West Egg, this means he comes from new money. Not only did he become rich fairly recently, but people still do not know much about him or where he got his money from. In other words, Gatsby may be wealthy, but he does not wish to disclose much about his past or present self as it may damage his reputation. This begs the question, what is Gatsby ashamed about? Is it about how he acquired his wealth? Is it about his family? Or maybe both? We know he is affiliated with Wolfsheim, and Wolfsheim seems like a suspicious and shady character. Gatsby also did a “favor” for the commissioner once (Fitzgerald ...

Finally. I can kill him. “'My main man'” is finally going to die by my hand (Morrison 337). He has been lying and hiding from me. And NOBODY, I said nobody, lies and hides from me and gets away with it. I don’t get him. We were on the deal together, then what the hell did he get out of trying to fool me and keep all the gold for himself? I’ll think about that later. Let me first shoot him. Wait. Why in God’s name is he flying? What is going on? I got to shoot him right now! What the heck! He dodged the bullet while flying. This cannot be real. This cannot be real. Maybe I missed. I’ll shoot him again. HOW IS HE DODGING THE BULLETS? WHY CAN’T I KILL HIM! I give up. This is just stupid. All I need is the gold. So what if I can’t kill Milkman, I can still kill as many whites as I want. “Milkman! Where is the gold? Answer the truth. I’m done trying to kill you!”   Why isn’t he answering? Why are his eyes closed and peaceful as he’s flying up? He probably think he look...