Symbols

The Youngers' apartment plays a rather large role when it comes to the book's whole atmosphere and feel. The apartment itself is a small, one window, trapped dungeon for the family who feel as though they cannot escape their lives and poverty, especially Walter. The lack of light in the residence resembles their sense of confinement-a situation in which someone is forced to stay in a place, especially a prison, and not allowed to leave. The small speck of light that does make its appearance in the apartment is a reminder of the family's dreams. Like the family itself, the furniture was originally chosen with pride but now old and worn. It provides a symbol for the Youngers family over time. The "old and worn" feel to the furniture shows the tired and strained conditions of everyday life. Many symbols are provided in this book, in which they explain much of the family. Their characteristics and lives are shown in depth and detail with the apartment, furniture, and light. With this it better explains the main theme of the book; The struggles and hardship of an African American family during the 1950s while they keep a sense of pride, not like many at the time.

Same Yet Different

F. Scott Fitzgerald has a tendency to use the same plot with his pieces. With the two pieces "The Great Gatsby" and "Winter Dreams" it is shown.
Both main characters, coming from little to no money, share a common dream of wanting wealth and fortune as well as a high society leading lady. Both ladies are flirtatious and hard to get. They marry someone else and have their child, realizing too late when they see or talk to the main characters again that they could've had a better life. Yet, when the main characters attempt to regain their past love with their ex's, it fails miserably and they end up alone.
Now there are differences to these two stories, obviously, or else they would be the same one. Dexter in "Winter Dreams" isn't involved in an illegal way of making money as Gatsby from "The Great Gatsby" is. Gatsby makes money by illegally selling alcohol during the prohibition era while Dexter owns a laundry service, which he later sells. Also, Dexter's view of his "love" Judy changes when he realizes how much her beauty has deteriorated while Gatsby always finds his "love" Daisy beautiful.
In all, the two pieces are both still very identical, but there are ways in which they differ.

Gatsby

We all have a natural attraction to wealth, power, and beauty. This proves to be the reason as to why most people attend Gatsby's lavish parties. Yet there's another reason for attending a "Gatsby party" and that's to find out things about this character.
Gatsby is perceived to be this self made man when in reality he comes from no money. His past is embarrassing to him so he creates this persona of a wealthy man. He changes his name, going to war, and then becoming involved in a shady business to get him rich. Ultimately, he does this all for a woman he loves names Daisy. His obsession with her since the war has motivated him to throw parties, hoping she will come one day, and buy a house across from her where he can watch. He tries extremely hard to rebuild what he and Daisy once had when they were young. But, as time passes by it shows that that relationship they once shared is gone. In the end we see that he's stuck not being able to go back to the past and recreate that life but stuck not being able to move forward without her either.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald can easily be regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Despite having many pieces published without much recognition, The Great Gatsby proved to be his greatest novel and one of the best pieces of that time period.
Fitzgerald first began writing small stories and such for his high school newspaper. After graduating high school, he attended Princeton. World War I hit within his first years there. With being on academic probation, he decided to enlist in the army. At one of the locations, he met a woman named Zelda who he knew he had to turn into his wife. She, however, wouldn't commit to him unless he was financially stable to support her. Fitzgerald's piece, The Side of Paradise, made him much money. He then moved to France for inspiration on his next piece, with his last one becoming very popular, very quickly he needed to up his game and be able provide for his wife, Zelda. A year later, The Great Gatsby was published. He felt comfortable with the amount of money he had made at that point that he asked her to marry him. They wed and had a child together. Though, after the success of Gatsby, he wasn't able to produce something as great after. He ventured off to Hollywood to make scripts for movies and shows attempting to come up with enough money to produce a piece as great at Gatsby. Sadly, he passed away from a heart attack while in the middle of another piece.

Punctuation

Parts of the opening statement for the debate on punctuation are included (side apposing strict punctuation rules):
Due to the evolving world's increasingly modernist/minimalist perspective it is only natural that punctuation also adjusts to differing norms. As source A states "The reality is that language evolves in conjunction with culture." Due to changing punctuation there has never been a correct standard to follow. For example Shakespeare didnt use the same rules we have now yet did it affect us for the worse? no. We have never stuck to a "correct standard" of writing. With the evolution of the English language the value of punctuation has decreased. Therefore the unnecessary rules shouldnt be strictly enforced. Why are they as strictly enforced now and at school if its bound to change sooner or later? There are hundreds of rules for just a comma but we arent about to sit down and learn every single one. Also strict punctuation rules restrict the freedom of expression and individual style. We can specifically remember certain writers not just for their words but also for their use of rules or rather how they make their own. We arent in school just so we can learn all the rules but also how to make writing into something that sets us apart from others not make us the same.

Annotating

Something we've done often in our english classes has been to annotate written works. As the classes got harder and it became more strenuous, people became annoyed of the process. I, for one, enjoy annotating. I'm crazy, I know. Yet, it's solely for the reason that we as students are capable of finding a deeper meaning to a book, phrase, or even a name.
In The Scarlet Letter, Hester's daughter, Pearl, provides one of the biggest symbols in the novel. Her name gives much insight into her as a person and it feels great to put together the pieces of how to two are alike. A pearl is derived from an oyster, the oyster lives a painful life upon delivering the pearl, the black pearls, that mimic Pearl's appearance, are the most beautiful and unique, etc. As we found all of these correlations from Hester's daughter's name to her life situation, we obtain knowledge of a deeper meaning as to why the author chose that name, it fits her to a T.
Authors will often find ways of incorporating meanings or correlations into details in their works. Though, you have to find them and make the connection. Again, a process I enjoy.

Judgement; Letter or not

In the Scarlet Letter, Hester is forced to wear, on her clothing, a letter A. The A represents the sin committed by an adulterer. Though, what would the world be like if everyone was forced to wear the letter of their committed sin?
In our society people judge. Most of the time they don't know if what they're judging you for is true or not yet they do it anyways. They could be envious of a quality you possess or an object you attain. In Hester's case she was beautiful as was her letter. It made the women of the town even more envious and nasty, much like what happens in our society. It gave them a way to make certain remarks or faces at her. A leeway into projecting their hatred.
Everyone will perform a sin of some kind, small or large, in their life. Having a letter to represent the largest one visibly on your clothing would share it with the world. It would give people an automatic viewpoint of you and make room for their judgement.
The main point of this blog post was to share my opinion on the similarity between how people judge each other, letter or not. Because at least to me, it doesn't seem like much of a difference.