The Great Gatsby is less about class struggle and more about the individuals inability to form meaningful and lasting relationships. To what extent do you agree with this point of view?

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald is one of the greatest and most famous works of American literature, looking at themes such as class struggle, the “American Dream”, and, at the end, the “American Dream’s” death, symbolized by the death of Jay Gatsby. One main theme that is often left out when discussing the novel is the characters’ inabilities to form relationships, both romantic and platonic, which I believe is even more prevalent in the book than any of the other themes mentioned.

One example from the book that makes the character’s inability to form relationships is the relationship between Gatsby and Nick. One page 1, Nick says about Gatsby “only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction – Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.” This quote shows that Nick thinks of Gatsby very highly, and has respect for him, which is something he does not have for many people. In addition, on page 111, during Gatsby’s funeral, Fitzgerald writes “Our procession of three cars reached the cemetery and stopped in a thick drizzle beside the gate…” Given that the entire book is from the perspective, we learn that Nick was one of the three people to show up to Gatsby’s funeral. These 2 quotes combined show that Nick view Gatsby as a real friend, who did not have an ulterior motive. After reading the book, which is about Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy, it is clear that Gatsby was using Nick the whole time to get closer to Daisy. Gatsby took the only true friend he had, and instead of trying to take care of the relationship, and have a lasting true friendship with Nick, he threw away that chance for a chance to have Daisy.

Reread the section in chapter 2 where Tom takes Nick to meet his mistress, Myrtle. How does Fitzgerald depict Tom and Nick differently here, and why? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

Fitzgerald’s depiction of both Tom and Nick’s personalities helps to show the great differences between their characters. In this extract, Tom is very outgoing, talking to Wilson, the husband of the girl he is having an affair with. They have a good conversation about a car that Tom has promised to sell to Wilson after Tom has the car tuned up. By comparison, I have found that Nick is very shy and quiet, preferring to keep his thoughts to himself. Fitzgerald wrote, “though I was curious to see her, I had no desire to meet her.” This shows how Nick prefers to keep to himself and observe others, rather than throw himself out into the crowd and try to be the center of attention.

Another interesting difference between the characters is that, from this extract, it is clear that Tom is used to getting his way, and will manipulate people to get his way. In this extract, Tom forces Nick to meet his girl, without taking into consideration whether Nick would want to at all. He also manipulates Wilson, by telling him that he has a car to sell, so that he can keep seeing his mistress at their home. On the other hand, Nick is used to not being in charge of making the decisions and goes with whatever the other people want to do. In the story, when Tom says that they are getting off of the train to go meet his mistress, he does not complain, and just blindly follows him. Later on in the chapter, the same thing happens, where he is forced into meeting a bunch of Tom and Myrtle’s friends and ends up spending most of the night with them. This goes well with his character, as in the first chapter he confessed that people find it very easy to open up to him, and finds people constantly talking to him about his problems, as he is very introverted, and keeps quiet with people.

This chapter and extract do a very good job at contrasting the characters and setting some distance between Nick, and the more Upper-class people in the areas of West and East Egg.

I will be reflecting on pages 54-55, when Gatsby reunites with Daisy. Gatsby and Nick invite Daisy over to tea, as Gatsby and Daisy used to be in love, but Daisy’s parents did not like Gatsby, so she was forced to leave him.

I really liked this extract, as it shows a more vulnerable side to Gatsby, which hasn’t really been shown to this point in the book. This is expressed a few times in these 2 pages. The first comes on page 54. The book says “Finally, he got up and informed me, in an uncertain voice, that he was going home. “Why’s that” “Nobody’s coming to tea. It’s too late!”” This shows a part of his vulnerable side, because you can see how disheartened he is that Daisy has not arrived yet, who was the only person invited to tea.

I personally really like this addition to Gatsby’s character for many reasons. It makes Gatsby more relatable to the reader, as he is not as mighty and unaffected by the world anymore, and it makes him see more human. I also like this addition to Gatsby as it shows just how much he loves Daisy. He is one of the most wealthy and famous people in the world, and could have his pick of women, but is still this disheartened by the fact that Daisy, the only girl he wants, does not appear to be coming.

I will be reflecting on pages 31-32, where Nick meets Gatsby, while at a party hosted by Gatsby. Nick had spent some time searching for Gatsby, but had been unable to find him, eventually giving up, and going to a table to eat. While at the table, he has his first encounter with Gatsby, but is unaware of this until later.

The writing style of the author and the book greatly fit into this extract, as the author goes into much detail about Gatsby, focusing on his personality and his mannerisms over the general appearance. While I have not found that, throughout the book, this style has helped much with moving along the story, it worked really well with the introduction to Gatsby. It allows the audience to feel like we know Gatsby personally.

Through the use of dialogue, we learn more about his friendliness and general personality, and how he handles himself around people. It is clear that Gatsby is the kind of person who views everyone as a friend, and feels comfortable in large crowds. This is a characteristic that I feel I share with Gatsby, as I tend to be very comfortable and relaxed in large crowds, and tend to view people as a friend until I have good reasons not too. The author shows this in his dialogue as him being capable of carrying out a conversation with Nick, without knowing who he is, and about more personal matters such as his service in the Great War.

I feel like, through the author’s writing style in the book, as well as the general view of Gatsby so far in the novel, that the purpose of Gatsby’s character is to visualize life in the East, being very posh and lavish, but still having a good time, untroubled by anything. His character does a great job at reflecting the time that the book takes place in, as well as life for the richer people in the East.

School affects our personality in many ways, both positively and negatively. School makes us more social, more educated, more successful, and also enhances our desire to strive for greatness. While these are all great, some of the affects, like demotivating students, as well as depression are quite bad. It also leads to a loss of sleep in teens, stress, and bullying. This really makes you wonder, is school really worth it.

First let’s look at some of the upsides to school. Obviously, it educates our children, which improves their intelligence, and helps to prepare them for the real world. It also gives children and teens alike a safer place to be social with one another, and allows them to meet in a safe environment, without much worry of any harm coming to your child. School can also lead students to strive for excellence, both in an individual class or in general. Schools offer programs like the academic and principal role, the valedictorian, and many other systems, such as the honors system can give a students a reachable goal, and can help motivate them to strive for greatness.

While this all sounds great, there are many issues with school. While school can lead to motivation, school can also strip people of their motivation. These competitive programs, such as the academic role, are great goals for students to strive for, but if a student fails to reach it, they can be left feeling like all of their work wasn’t worth it. That, combined with the practice of sharing grades can make getting a lower grade hurt that much more. It also is a major contributor to stress in children and teens. Schools give somewhat unrealistic workloads every night, that require working through the night and into the early morning to finish, which does cause stress in students. This issue also results in getting less sleep than the recommended amount, and students commonly come in for school with 3-4 hours of sleep. For comparison, the recommended amount of sleep for a teenager is 8-9 hours. The last issue to bring up is bullying. School’s can easily lead to students being bullied, and the school’s don’t always handle the situation well. This can cause students to become depressed and suicidal, which not only is unhealthy for them, but also causes them to lose all of their motivation to work. 

After looking at these points, its hard not to question wether or not school is actually healthy for students or not, as well as wether or not the schooling system needs a great reform, matching the current modern world, instead of preparing students for factory work like in the 19th century, when the current school system was established.

Create an article to explain how celebrities can influence us and shape our identities and relationships. Support your article by including references to examples. Justify your response with details that support your understanding or perception of the global context identities and relationships .

Wether they realize it or not, celebrities have a big impact on our identities, a power which rivals those of world leaders and politicians. This is a lot of influence that they possess, and it can be very harmful to our identities as well as our relationships.

Firstly, celebrities are idolized by all. We look at celebrities, wether they are famous actors like Johnny Depp or Robert Downey Jr, or famous athletes like Lebron James or Christiano Ronaldo, and we wish that we had what they have, wether it is their look, their athleticism, or just their success. This idolization of celebrities took a very nasty turn in 2015, with the Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge. It led many young people, who idolized Kylie Jenner and wanted to look like her and be like her to suction the air out of shot glasses, and hold them on their lips to enlarge them. The problem with this challenge was that it was very dangerous, as suctioning all the blood to your lips can cause blood clots and can pop 3 blood vessels, in addition to the shot glass breaking, which would cover the participant in glass.

Secondly, the use of social media by celebrities is very dangerous. They can easily spread false information, and with their larger following, it is very easy to believe it and have this information become prevalent. It also is bad because celebrities can heavily filter what goes onto social media, both in terms of the content that they put out, as well as filters to make the celebrity appear more attractive. Filtering the body creates unhealthy and unnatural body expectations, and can lead to children starving themselves to have a smaller waste, or excessively working out, which can cause eating disorders as well as permanent damage to the muscles, especially at a young age.

Many people might bring up that celebrities are important because they can help to spread awareness about issues in society, such as bullying, and racism, but they fail to recognize that in many situations, these celebrities are either the root or a major factor in these problems. For example, look at TikTok star xobrooklynne. Brooklynne is a major advocate for accepting people for who they are, and not being quick to judge people, and has done great things for the body positivity movement, leading most people to overlook a major controversy surrounding her. While she had this platform, she took part in a group chat on Snapchat in which she, a Canadian, would add trump supporters and republicans, and relentlessly bully them for their political beliefs. One of the leaked messages from her group chat was her telling a republican that “she does not understand why all republicans don’t brutally kill themselves.” This is not something that anyone should say, but the fact that she already had a big following online at that point makes the situation so much worse. Hearing a celebrity say something like that can begin to brainwash kids and force them to follow a political party, even if their personal beliefs do not align with this party.

While there are benefits to having celebrities in the world, there are also many, many issues and problems that can arise from them, and these can greatly affect our own personal beliefs, ideologies, as well as our mental health, and our safety.

Global Context: Identities and relationships

Write a speech to be given to parents about why going to an international school is beneficial for giving student’s a global perspective. Justify your reasons with details that show different perspectives and perception of the global context and identities and relationships.

In this speech, the students should write a short speech about how attending an international school has benefited them, and why it is beneficial for all students, talking about the relationships that it forms, and how it can prepare students better for the future. They can write about having friends from all over the world, as well as learning more about many different cultures.

Many schools all over the world have adopted dress codes to help make the students in attendance appear more presentable. These dress codes include rules on exposed skin, vulgar language, as well as how to appear more decent in a school environment. Some schools have taken the dress code farther than others, and some have adopted school uniforms, and these schools should try to abolish their uniform policy.

Many school administrations say that it takes less time out of your morning, as you do not have to pick what outfit to wear to school. While this fact is true that it doesn’t take as long to choose the outfit, many schools’ uniforms are extremely complex, meaning that the time that is saved when picking out the outfit is spent later on appearing more presentable in the school uniform.

One benefit of choosing your outfit is that you can express your personality and yourself much better. Many school uniforms are copy and paste uniforms, and everyone looks the same. Choosing your clothes allows you to personalize your look, and express your mood, beliefs, and personality, as well as your hobbies and interests.

Another benefit of choosing your outfit is that it can cost much less. I used to attend a school that had a strict school uniform, and most of the clothes you bought had to have the school crest on them, meaning that you can only purchase them at the school store. For example, my old school required a blazer, and you would typically need a new blazer every year. Purchasing a used blazer would cost typically around $100, and getting a new one would cost much more. These prices add up quite high and can make it difficult for many people to attend the schools.

No school uniform also lets you have more control over your appearance. Many schools that enforce a uniform have restrictions on what the uniform has to be. For example, my old school required all boys to cut their hair short enough that it did not touch the collar of their neck. They were strict about this rule as well. Many people enjoy getting to choose how their hair is cut and styled, and enforcing this rule took away from the individualism of the school population.

Lastly, and probably my most compelling argument, is who actually wants to wear a school uniform. Who actually enjoys wearing blazers and ties, when you could be comfortable in a hoodie and sweatpants.

In conclusion, while dress codes are important to have to make sure that your students appear presentable and decent a school uniform takes away from your freedom and control and can also be quite expensive. Therefore, schools should not require a uniform.

I believe that the better learning environment comes from inside the classroom rather than on a video call.

Through the recent Covid pandemic, we have all learned through online school, and many have become well adjusted. That being said, the better learning environment, is definitely in a classroom. 

While in the classroom, it is much easier for the teacher to assess any individual student’s knowledge, and see if they understand the material of the lesson. Many teachers go off of facial expressions and general attitude during the actual class to determine if the material needs more revision, and this is lost in online schooling, as the teachers cannot see the student in person, and cannot assess this for themselves. It is also easier for students to ask questions, and signify that they have a question. While in class, all that must be done to ask a question is simply raising your hand, and asking the question. While online, you must unmute during a time when you aren’t interrupting the teacher to ask the question. While online does allow students to work at their own pace, it is not beneficial for students, as this does not prepare them quite as well for future careers, as they will have to meet short deadlines.

It is also easier to focus in the class. From my own experience, it is very difficult to focus during an online class, much more so than compared to a class attended in person. While in school, teachers can restrict phone usage, can restrict computer uses, and also remove general distractions from the students’ vicinity that will result in less productivity. While online, it is very easy to be on your phone during a lesson, as well as watching youtube on a seperate tab from a zoom call, or playing a game. In addition, as long as your camera is off, you can leave the class and will only be caught if the teacher asks you a question. While being in person you do have human distractions via interactions with your friends, which can cause a loss of focus, it is much easier to avoid that by adjusting the seating, and talking to friends, as long as both care about the course and schoolwork can be beneficial, as they can share knowledge with each other.

Attending school is also better for student health, both socially and physically. While online, you are mostly isolated in a room by yourself, and spend most of the day like this. This ends up limiting the amount of human interaction you can have, and can lead to anxiety, stress, and depression. Going to school gives you a way to meet up with friends, have conversations, and can boost your general mood. Online school also helps to promote unhealthy activity schedules, as many students do not move from the time that class starts to the time that class ends, and most spend the entire day staring at a computer screen, which can affect your brain. While in school, students are able to walk around between classes, play sports and games during breaks, and also have physical education classes in which a major part of the curriculum is sports and movement, which is harder to teach while online.

Many students currently prefer online school for many reasons. It is easier to game, watch youtube and netflix, and generally not pay attention in class. This affects the students’ knowledge in the topic, which can come back to bite them in the future when this knowledge needs to be applied. Most teachers would notice this, except for the fact that online tests are extremely easy to cheat on, and the teachers either do not know this, or have decided not to acknowledge this and proceed with the tests and the grades.

These are just a few of the reasons why going to school in person is a better learning environment for students than doing school online. 

“You ended that man’s career! How on Earth do you do that every week?” Jackson asked retorically.

“You’re saying I ended their career? What about you, 2 interceptions and 5 tackles in one game! I can see why you committed years ago,” I said. Jackson was my best friend, and more importantly, was the best football player our school had ever seen, followed shortly by me of course.

“Its easy to dominate when the other team plays a freshman at quarterback. I guarantee that I would not have done as well had there been a more experienced qb out there.”

“How are you so humble. You are the best player in the state. You committed in your freshman year for crying out loud!”

“What can I say, lots of guys commit early, I just got lucky. Speaking of committing, have you decided where you are going?” He asked me. I honestly hadn’t, it hadn’t even crossed my mind.

“Not really. I’m thinking about going to LSU, but I’m not sure. Any advice?”

“Well, go somewhere that offers a good education, and make sure that the team gives off a good vibe. Thats why I picked Georgia.”

“I might actually want to go to Georgia. Seems like a good team, and we can continue to dominate together.”

“Thats an idea,” he said, “but make sure thats not the only reason that you go there. Go somewhere you want to, because I’m sure you are going to dominate wherever you go.”

“So, we playing Halo tonight?”

“Of course, its Friday night after all.”