"To Build a Fire" --- Naturalism mini-unit

In class we have been introduced to Naturalism and Realism which deal with the harsh reality of life and how nature doesn't care about humans. Nature will go along with its course without worrying about human life. In the story "To Build a Fire" the narrator describes a man who decides to walk out in the freezing cold. We see how the man has no imagination and no common sense to know that it is too cold to be walking around. Then man also has a companion, a dog who knows the danger of being alone so he stays with the man. In this story the dog has more common sense than the man since he knows it is too cold and dangerous out. The dog is smarter than the man because the dog knew how to deal with the situation while the man simply went along through the dangerous conditions. Naturalism is connected with this story since it's showing how the forces of nature are stronger than man and man can never go against it. The man's confidence in this story end up hurting him since he is clearly weaker than nature. Naturalism emphasizes the way humans don't know how to deal with risky/deadlysituations. They only know what's right in front of their faces, but don't know how to react or save themselves.

Gatsby- color gold

In the novel The Great Gatsby, the color gold is constantly seen associated with the character of Gatsby. To me the color gold represents wealth and riches which is what Gatsby is seen as in the book. Gatsby has the perfect life. He has a huge mansion and a lavish life which is represented through the color gold. "His bedroom was the simplest room of all_ except where the dresses was garnished with a toilet set of pure dull gold." In this quote we see how the color gold is constantly being described with all the objects Gatsby has. Even though Gatsby appears to have the perfect life, it's all fake and not up to reality. He's been working his whole life on achieving his dream of wealth and a lavish lifestyle, and he has finally obtained it. But towards the end, he realizes that he has step up his standards too high and will never be completely happy with his life. The color gold represents in the novel the riches all the characters are constantly seeking to obtain.

The Great Gatsby- one symbol

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses many symbols throughout the novel. One of the symbols is drunkness. We are constantly reading about characters being drunk throughout the novel. We get this impression by Fitzgerald's way of expression some character's lack of eyesight or blurry vision. He also makes characters misunderstand words and meaning. The drunkness symbol connects with the lack of communication characters have which relates to modernism. Modernism is the growing fragmentation and isolation of society which is seen in this novel. Fitzgerald also uses drunkness to criticize society of the 20's. He's expressing the constant partying and drinking which took place. He's also criticizing marrige by expressing the affair Tom has with Myrtle. All these things symbolize the way society was in the 20's and how careless it was.