English Blog: 3/25/13 What does Nick Really Think?

Nick declares at the beginning of the novel that  he reserves all judgements on all characters per his father's suggestion, but throughout the novel, we see he still has opinions and judgements about the other characters and the events they participate in.


Nick, despite his intentions, judges all the characters in the book. Initially, he thinks of Gatsby as this wonderful, mysterious man (as Nick talks about him in a fascinated light), but then he finds him boring.....which was strange....he finds him distant for a period of time. But by chapter 5, Nick starts to really get to know Gatsby. Nick thinks Gatsby this childish boy, who is just scared to talk to his crush. Nick goes from seeing him as this great man to the seeming boy that he is around Daisy. So, on the whole, Nick is fascinated by Gatsby's seemingly ever changing nature. On page 91-92, he talks about the three states of Gatsby, which ties there.

Nick thinks that Daisy is confused and conflicted. She basically fights and battles with her husband, and per Jordan's story, might be thinking of something else. Nick thinks fondly of her, as is evidenced through his consistant talk of her enticing voice, but initially finds her shallow, emotionless. But this is changed slightly later around Gatsby in Chapter 5, and around Gatsby seems to bring out a deeper side of Daisy. Nick feels Daisy wants to leave Tom, this brute of a man, for someone better, but at the same time thinks she feels obligated to stay.

Nick initially perceives Jordan as being aloof, with a sort of "nose turned up" personality. This is later confirmed at the first party, as his assumption that Jordan is a total gossip is cemented. Additionally, Nick sees Jordan for what she truly is, a pathological liar. Yet, the most interesting thing about this, is while he almost knows it's true, Nick still seems interested in her romantically.

Nick portrays Myrtle as this person who looks out for her own interests, specifically in the money department, through his narration. The primary reason she married Mr. Wilson, as he quotes her, was she thought he was rich. And Nick would have us infer that this is the primary reason she has an affair with Tom, referring specifically to the scene where Myrtle gets Tom to buy her several things, among them a puppy, that she really doesn't seem to want or need, but wants for the sake of taking advantage of Tom's money.

Finally, Nick's opinion of Tom seems to be rather low, almost sympathetic. In the opening sequence where we meet Tom, he is described by Nick as this person whose best days are behind him, one who is searching for one last great football game. This opinion is seemingly continued when Nick relates Tom's mostly ignorant rant about "the Nordic race."

BP Propoganda

First video
Glittering Generalities: "we are working hard," "I'm deeply sorry."

Second video
Glittering Generalities: Emerril literally spent the entire time talking about how they're "working hard," and how he spends the entire time talking about things which he doesn't fully understand.

Testimonial: He's pretty famous, but knows nothing about any of this stuff.

Third & Fourth
Testimonial: both were Olympic athletes for 'Merica.

Transfer: Lolo Jones holding the American flag, and then showing a BP (British Petroleum, ironically) logo shortly thereafter, thereby transferring the positive feelings associated with the flag to BP

On an irrelavent note, they talked about overcoming obstacles that aren't even remotely related to anything that BP does....

Fifth
Card Stacking: they talked the entire ad about how gulf tourism has had it's best year after the oil spill, and said how well the Gulf is doing NOW, not how it was doing when the oil spill happened.

English Journal 2/4/13 Super Bowl ads

Tide:
-Pathos (humor, appeal to passion for football)
-Target audience: football fans (especially women who are football fans who wash clothes)

VW Beetle:
-Pathos (humor, "feeling good")
-Target audience: People watching the superbowl

Oreo
-Pathos (humor, straight up absurdity)
-Target audience: People watching

Budweiser
-Pathos (sentimentality)
-Target audience: As sexist as it unfortunately seems to be, women.

English Journal: 1/16/13

'50s and '60s

New Country Corn Flakes
Appeals:
-Ethos: General Mills makes it, "the way they should." But more importantly, General Mills is an established brand
Fallacies:
-Half-truth: Doesn't say anything about how they taste, only about the texture (they don't wilt when you pour on milk)

Alka-Seltzer


'70s

Delk
Appeals:
-Logos: It's cheaper compared to others and is long lasting
Fallacies:
-Glittering Generality: Ward off trouble, "for a very long time."

English Journal 1/10/13 "Chain Gang"

Summary: People are working hard (whomever they are) and they're seemingly wasting their life away working at whatever they're doing (I doubt that the "chain gang" is literal)

Analysis:
-Chain gangs often do things in time together uniformly
   >At the time the song was written, suburban "cookie-cutter" America was just getting started...maybe a poke at the synchronization of the new American lifestyle by comparing it to a chain gang.

English Journal: 1/9/13

'80s Commercials Vol. 9

Mitsubishi Electronics:
-Appeals: pathos, ethos, logos
-Target audience: people with disposable income

Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera
-Appeals: ethos, pathos, logos
-Target audience: younger people or people who watched Frankie Avalogn.

Apple IIGS
-Appeals: pathos, logos, ethos
-Target audience: parents

English Journal 10/2/12. "Young Life"

Claims:
 -The man shot the deer
 -Bartlett is illustrating stereotypical "Redneck" America
 -Bartlett is praising stereotypical "Redneck" America

Support (to each claim, respectively):
 -The deer doesn't appear to be alive, and the man is holding a shotgun
 -The man owns a shotgun, a pickup truck, and hunts, all stereotypes of a redneck
 -The dead deer, the powerful position of the shotgun in the painting.