Character Symbolism- The Great Gatsby

Jay Gatsby is sort of like an onion. He is a rich man. He throws parties all the time and has lots of fun. That's his outer layer. Somewhere in the middle of his character, he is a very loving man: you don't see this at his parties, but you certainly see this in the way he looks and acts around Daisy. His final innermost layer is afraid. He is afraid to lose Daisy and very afraid of swimming pools. I haven't read enough to know why though. A prediction I have for this is that his fear of swimming pools root back to his childhood. Here is a picture of how Jay (portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio) looks at Daisy (portrayed by Mira Sorvino) like how I said in his middle layer.

Do you know anyone with an "onion" personality? When do you see their "innermost layer"?

Book Choice- The Great Gatsby

Why did I choose The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald? The movie was coming out when I got the book. But when I bought the book, I bought The Fault in our Stars and Looking for Alaska along with it, and read them both first. I originally started on Gatsby but then read The Fault in our Stars instead. I now wanted to read Gatsby because I've refused to see the movie first. I barely knew what the book was about going into it, and that's what I think kept me from reading it to start with. Now that I've started reading I love how the story is told. The narrator being part of the story makes me excited to read the book.

Setting- Fahrenheit 451

The setting in 451 is a future American society. It's the kind of future written about, in fear that we might come to it. All of the citizens are essentially brainwashed by the government, and have no knowledge outside of what they've been told. The society revolves around censorship, and that's the only way of life they know. "They walked in the warm-cool blowing night on the silvered pavement and there was the faintest breath of the fresh apricots and strawberries in the air, and he looked around and realized this was quite impossible, so late in the year," (Bradbury 4) I actually love this line. It gives you idea of the time and place. Time: autumn, Place: southern. You know because he talks of how late in the year it is, yet there is fresh fruit. It's south because I know that apricots grow down south. This provides great imagery of what it would be like to walk around in this place. What does that line remind you of? It reminds me of walking my dog at night in the summer, where it's just kind of cold at night, but hot all day.