The Great Gatsby ch 1-6

As the book goes on, I come to dislike Daisy more and more with each page. The part of the book where her and Gatsby finally meet again in Nick's home seems like Fitzgerald is trying to get the reader to like her. Gatsby thought she wouldn't want to see him and since she stayed and cried and got emotional we're supposed to feel sorry for her. She's 'stuck between the two'. But the thing is.. she didn't wait for Gatsby like she was supposed to. She married Tom, why? He was wealthy and seemed like a good husband. At the time. He's cheating on her, which I think serves her right to some extent. She's stuck-up and materialistic. She wants Gatsby now that he's rich and has this big house and throws all these wild parties. Why didn't she just wait for him when he went to war if she loved him so much? It's not like she was madly in love with Tom at the time anyways. Which is why I don't feel sorry for her and I don't trust her character at all. She's shallow and a complete tease to Gatsby. She's not going to choose him over Tom. I don't mean to make Gatsby seem like the victim either. I like him, but at the same time his expectations are way too high. He spent 5 years dreaming about Daisy. Now he's disappointed because she doesn't meet his expectations. Life isn't a dream and it was foolish of him to think they would have a perfect reunion. Daisy is stuck-up and set in her ways. She's not going to leave Tom. I know it. She's all about appearance and materialism. Even if she knows Tom's cheating on her, she won't leave him. Even if she loves Gatsby more, thats just the way she is.

The Birthmark - Summary & Comparison to the Crucible

A scientist named Aylmer got married to an 'almost perfect' woman. He is obsessed with perfection, and cannot stand the hand-shaped birthmark on her cheek. She is so near perfect, he can't stand the way it ruins her face. Other men have liked it and found it special, which is why she never thought to remove it. Seeing his disgust of the birthmark makes her soon hate it too. She rather die than continue to live with the birthmark ("Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life!"). After her fainting episode, he is intent to get rid of the birthmark. She finds his book of experiment recordings and later finds out he had been doing experiments on her the whole time. When she goes into the laboratory and finds him and Aminadab working on something (probably for the next experiment), he tests a liquid planned to rid of the birthmark on a plant, it got rid of the spots on the plant. She drank the liquid and the mark started to disappear. He thought the experiment was successful, but she started dying as the hand faded.

The relation in theme between the Crucible and The Birthmark, is the obsession of perfection. Anything odd or different is looked down upon and cast out. Salem tries to rid of its impurities (the witches) as Aylmer tries to rid of his wife's impurity (the birthmark). Both attempts to "purify" resulted in tragedy. In the Crucible hundreds of innocent people are killed, in the Birthmark Aylmer loses his wife. Both thoughts of imperfection were relative. Others thought Georgiana's birthmark only added to her beauty, Aylmer thought the opposite. His obsession with perfection ruined his life, as the obsession with perfection ruined Salem village.

Stephen King - On Writing - Essay

Practice makes perfect, but in the eyes of Stephen King practice shouldn’t feel like practice. A writer should write often and enjoy doing it, “if there’s no joy in it, it’s just no good” (page 150). A writer has to take writing seriously but be passionate about what they’re writing at the same time. Throughout his life King has always written, even when situations were tough, and that’s why he’s such a successful writer.

At a young age King was writing his own short stories and submitting them to magazines. With as many rejection notices he King received, most other adolescents would give up. He took the rejections and used them to build his determination. He looked forward to little critiques on the slips; these pieces of advice formed him as a writer. Critique shouldn’t break you down, it should build you up, and Stephen King is a great example of this. No matter how many rejection slips he had to pin on that spike, he never stopped writing.

Writing doesn’t always come easy, as King learned while writing Carrie. He lost emotional connection with his story, which is never good (Page 76). He just about gave up on the story, threw it out even. All he needed was a little encouragement from his wife to get him back on track. Even though writing Carrie was difficult from the start, his determination to finish the story is what caused his prolonged breakthrough to success. Carrie was his first major publication. The advice he got as a child, and all the practice he got from non-stop writing contributed to Carrie’s success. Had he given up on this story for good, there’s the possibility he never would’ve gotten his taste of fame. It’s important to keep writing no matter what because you never know if your next story could be the one to “make it big”. King never would’ve thought Carrie would achieve as much as it has. He kept writing, just as every good writer should.

Even after Stephen King’s horrific accident he continued to write. He was an immense amount of pain, definitely not in a writing mood, but he got back to work anyway. With determination and passion anything is possible. Success come to those who persevere, King of all people should know this concept well. If you’re writing for the right reasons, with the right amount of drive, and as often as time allows success should be an evident outcome.

Part three - Steven King's On Writing - Analysis

Most essays I’ve written, there were no second drafts, so it’s interesting to see how much of a difference that second draft makes. That whole equation (2^nd draft = 1^st draft – 10%), pure genius. Cutting out 10% seemed like a bit much to me, until I saw the revisions he made to The Hotel Story. There are details that sound necessary and fitting in the moment, but when you go back and take some of those out it actually does flow better. I thought it was funny when he made the joke about everyone having a history, but most of it isn’t interesting. I immediately thought of that one person in class that has an impulse to tell any story even the slightest bit related to something the teacher has said. They drag on for what seems like forever, and in the end nothing is gained. No one paid attention and everyone would’ve been just fine not having to endure one more of the countless stories. The same applies to writing; though it may sound good to you it’s important to remember that no one really cares as much as you do. Cut out the unnecessary details and move on, you’ll be doing yourself and everyone else a favor. I’ll definitely remember this concept in my future essays.

State of the Union Address 2012 response

Stephen King - On Writing Analysis - Part Two

The idea that writing is form of telepathy both surprised me but fascinated me at the same time. The concept makes sense. When you write you really are transmitting your thoughts to another person in that special way, I never would’ve thought of it that way though. I never would’ve compared writing skills to a homemade, wooden toolbox either. In his advice on vocabulary and descriptions he says the first things that come to mind are usually the best choices. Writing is creative and in the spur of the moment which I thought justified that advice. The words you remember first are usually the most vivid. Most of these things I never thought of but knew all at the same time; like he said, like cleaning the rust off of drill bits. I always used to think description of the characters was really important. King’s explanation of the show don’t tell kind of opened my eyes. After a few characteristics the rest usually go in hand with the previous, there’s no need to add in unnecessary details. When he started writing about not having a plot, I was a bit skeptical. I thought about how unorganized and all over the place the story would be. Just like all the other advice in this book, I eventually ended up agreeing with him. I originally thought the writer plans out the story, but I like the way he sees the story as already there just waiting to be written; as if the story writes itself. He’s truly passionate about what he does and he’s more than good at it. Many of the tips and explanations contradicted my original thinking, but now I see why he’s so great and what makes his writing just as great.

Stephen King - Part 1 of On Writing - Response

Stephen never gave up on his writing which I thought was really significant. He was constantly being rejected when he was young. He took criticism well, and used it as motivation. That motivation and persistence is what attributed to his success. He saw the world in a different perspective. His imagination got him in trouble more often than not as a child, but came to his advantage later in life. Most of his books come from random off the wall ideas that only he could think of. He wrote through periods of poverty, mourning, and addiction. I think only a true writer like King can do so and still have great pieces as a result. His mother and his wife were the two people that always motivated him, I highly doubt he would've gotten his life back on track without them. Even as a struggling single mother, King's mother always encouraged him to do better and keep writing. In moments of doubt his wife seemed to give him that extra push to keep him going on with his career. Writing always helped him at the right moments. The points in his life where he thought he’d hit rock bottom his writing always seemed to help him back up to his feet. He never gave up writing, and writing never gave up on him.