The "Dialectic" is a way of thinking about conflict and change developed by the philosopher Georg Hegel. It comes from an old word meaning conversation or debate. Basically, a dialectical understanding of change suggests that situations evolve through the working-out of contradictions between opposing ideas or forces (typically called the "Thesis" and "Antithesis"). This is especially relevant to chapter 7, where all of the conflicts in Gatsby come to head, leaving the situation dramatically different. A really simple example of this is the conception of a child. A sperm cell comes into a kind of conflict with an egg cell, which somewhat resists its entrance. But if it gets in, it becomes beginnings of a brand-new person - a "synthesis" where conflict creates something new. Of course, not every synthesis is a good one from everyone's perspective...
First, though, let's think about how this model applies to four short stories we read: I. "Masque of the Red Death" A. Thesis: The People want protection from the Plague B. Antithesis: The Prince locks them and the Plague out. C. Synthesis.................. II. "Repent, Harlequin! said the Ticktock-Man" A. Thesis: The B. Antithesis: C. Synthesis ................ III. "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman A. Thesis: The narrator's husband thinks she's crazy and needs to be locked up. B. Antithesis: The narrator does not think she's crazy, and that locking her up makes her worse C. Synthesis .............. IV. "A Mystery of Heroism" by Stephen Crane A. The country sends the solders to perform "heroic" acts of glory in battle B. Collins, who has never been heroic, engages in the heroic act of getting water C. Synthesis.................. Your assignment for the chapter is to post a paragraph comparing and contrasting the way the conflict in one of these stories is worked out with the way a conflict in chapter 7 gets resolved.
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Hannah Daitz
3/9/2016 06:05:29 pm
In "Masque of the Red Death" the thesis and the antithesis resolve in a synthesis where the idea of locking the plague pouts works for a short while, but over all the plague finds its way in and kills the Prince. In The Great Gatsby, I take the thesis Gatsby loves Daisy while Tom doesn't so Daisy belongs with Tom. This thesis is similar to 'masque of the Red Death" because it is the central problem of the whole book. The antithesis is the inner conflict of Daisy that she did in fact once love Tom and she hasn't been with Gatsby for 5 years. This is different then the Red Masque antithesis because it isn't a straight fact. The Great Gatsby has to do with Daisy's feelings making the synthesis a lot harder to come to. Even at the end of chapter 7 a clear solution isn't given. Daisy goes home with Tom and "neither of them were happy... and yet they weren't unhappy either." This line from page 145 shows that Daisy is still indecisive but is leaning towards staying with Tom.
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Kelly Farley
3/9/2016 06:27:28 pm
In the "Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe and "The Great Gatsby"by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the characters all have to deal with conflicts in which they attempt to resolve. The conflicts and outcomes have many similar qualities, but also include differences. The thesis in the "Masque of the Red Death" (MOTRD) is that the people want protection from the plaque. The antithesis is the prince locks them and the plaque out but keeps certain citizens in his castle to be safe. The synthesis from this is that it finally catches up with Prince Prospero as the prince and his favorite knights and subjects are eliminated by the plague. In "The Great Gatsby", the thesis is that Tom and Daisy do not have a good marriage and the antithesis is that Daisy and Gatsby are having an affair for a while after connecting again from when they were in love. The result of this(synthesis) is that this affair finally catches up with them once Tom finds out and they have to pay the price because Tom gets very upset about it. Some similar aspects of these conflicts are that their mistakes eventually catch up to them. Prince Prospero was being greedy and did not want to help anyone else, especially the dying, and just wanted to help himself and his favorite citizens which came back to kill him. Daisy and Gatsby have many mistakes catch up with them: Daisy letting go of Gatsby and deciding to marry Tom and Daisy and Gatsby deciding to have a secret affair without telling Tom. Another comparison between the two is that in both stories they have a perfect vision of how it will play out. Prince Prospero and others believed that they were all going to survive and Daisy and Gatsby have this dream of everything going smoothly and being able to end up together. Also, the conflicts are similar because both of the problems were ultimately not resolved. Everyone in the "MOTRD" has been killed but ultimately, nothing has been fixed because the plague has not been killed. In The Great Gatsby(up to chapter 7) this conflict has still not been dealt with because they all decided to ignore it and decide to have it resolved another day. However, Daisy and Gatsby at least had some form of justification for what was going on, whereas the Prince did not and was just being conceded. Tom had been having an affair with his mistress for a while and never seemed to care or love Daisy and she knew about it all. In contrast, in "The Great Gatsby", Daisy and Gatsby are slightly nervous of what could happen when Tom finds out, whereas Prince Prospero did not think he was in danger and believed that he and his specified citizens were untouchable. Another small distinction between the conflicts is that in "MOTRD", everyone is dead so they cannot further debate the conflict and try to resolve it. In "The Great Gatsby" everyone gets mad at each other and have to put the matter at hand aside, yet to be resolved. Overall, these conflicts in the stories had some comparable aspects, while also having some contrasting parts.
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Willow Martin
3/9/2016 07:07:11 pm
The conflict between Myrtle and Wilson parallels that seem in Gliman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper." In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the husband believes that his wife is losing her sanity, and in order to help "cure" her, he has them stay at a secluded house in the country. The wife claims she is not insane, but that the constant confinement she is forced to endure worsens her mental state. However, the husband refuses to agree to her requests for increased freedom and socialization. As a synthesis to the husband's thesis and the wife's antithesis, the wife's mind deteriorates until she reaches a point of pure "insanity" (then again, of course, much madness is the divinest sense...). At this point she attempts to "free" herself from the cage of the yellow wallpaper which covers the walls of her bedroom. She rips the paper from her walls, so that "[her husband] can't put [her] back." Both this conflict and the one between Myrtle and Wilson result in the wives' desperate attempt to find freedom. Just like how the husband in "The Yellow Wallpaper" confines his wife to their vacation home, Wilson literally locks his wife up in his house the day before he intends to move them. Wilson desires to reclaim his wife, and in this, his "honor", and (more specifically) wants to move them out to the West so that his wife can no longer cheat on him. Myrtle, in contrast, does not want to move, so she can keep going back to Tom and live out on the side her fantasy and satiate her craving for wealth and luxury, a desire which she believes Wilson can never satisfy. As a result of these dialectical tensions, Myrtle and Wilson get into a heated argument, during which Myrtle expresses her subconscious desire to be dominated (when she screams at Wilson to "beat [her]," like how Tom had beaten her). She then runs outside, believing she see's Tom driving by (for she had previously seen Tom driving Gatsby's yellow car that day, while he was in his was to New York). Running out in front of the car, abandoning all reason and rationality, she waves her arms and tries to signal to the yellow car to stop. What she intended to do if she had gotten the car to stop is up to the interpretation of the reader, but no matter what her next step would have been, she was clearly displaying her desire to have Tom take her away and liberate her from her husband. One major contrast between the circumstances of Myrtle and the wife in "The Yellow Wallpaper," however, is the differing natures of the freedoms which the two women sought. While the wife wanted to be free of the social confines instilled by society and enforced by her husband, Myrtle's desire of liberation from her husband was influenced by her desire to be essentially even more severely dominated by another man. The wife wants to escape from the prison of society, while Myrtle wants to relocate to a more luxurious cell.
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Olivia Smelas
3/13/2016 09:44:50 am
The synthesis of Edgar Allan Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" and the resolution of chapter 7 in the Great Gatsby parallel one another in interesting ways. The thesis in MOTRD is that the people want protection from the plague, the antithesis is the Prince locks them and the plague out resulting, only allowing protection to the richest and most affluent citizens resulting in a synthesis where everybody who was protected in small groups ends up getting the plague, including Prince Prospero and everyone gets screwed over. Chapter seven is similar in that everyone ends up pretty much screwed over.
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Olivia Smelas
3/13/2016 10:22:34 am
Sorry I accidentally posted before I was done. Anyway, I definitely agree with Kelly's interpretation of the thesis and antithesis of chapter seven. The thesis of chapter seven is definitely the unhealthy, unbalanced relationship between Daisy and Tom, and the idea that Tom thinks Daisy doesn't have any desires or thoughts independent of him, while he has to struggle to balance his affairs. The antithesis is the intensity of the romance between Daisy and Gatsby building to this climatic point where it is unreasonable and impossible for Gatsby to keep from Tom any longer. The synthesis of this boiling conflict is the affairs catching up to each other. Tom has a fiery outburst because he realizes his lifetime of self-idealization has just been destroyed by the very thing that was supposed to build it up, his trophy wife. Gatsby gets upset because Tom flattened, shattered, obliterated the false sense of self he had worked his entire life to create and perfect for Daisy. In a way, Tom is like Prince Prospero, Daisy is like the plague, and Gatsby is the literal "masque", the shrouded form that carried the red death into Prospero's castle. Daisy's voice is described throughout the novel as infectious, musical, it makes you feel like you're the only person in the world who the golden girl wanted to talk to... INFECTIOUS. Prince Prospero knew about the red death, he at one point acknowledged it, and chose to shut his doors to it. Prospero keeps himself locked in his castle with his special group of people, unaware of what's happening outside his castle doors. Tom knows Daisy is there, acknowledges her from time to time, but refuses to recognize the fact that she is an individual with her own thoughts, desires, and ability to act on them. Outside of Tom's white mansion, he hasn't a clue what his submissive little trophy Daisy does, beside what Gatsby wants him to know. He keeps Myrtle close enough so no one who matters gets word he messes around with a Valley of Ashes girl. So while Prospero and Tom sit upon their grandiose thrones of masculinity and wealth inside white walls, the red death and Daisy swirl around the outside. Gatsby is the human form of the Red Death, who brings it into Prospero's kingdom and destroys Tom's self idealization. I believe in the MOTRD the hooded red death wore an elegant cloak and mask that, though strange, looked similar to the others at the party... Gatsby is a West Egger, though he wears suits of expensive fine cloth, they are not black or white, they are a delicate pink. Even though Tom and Gatsby possess equal wealth, Tom has old money and Gatsby has new money. As badly as Gatsby wished to fit in with the east egg crowd, there was always something differentiating him from the rest. Gatsby made Tom realize Daisy was not some"thing" to be pushed aside or taken for granted. As soon as there was competition, Tom hopped right back on. The figure that brought in the Red Death was what made Prospero realize that it was a real issue that could actually affect him and his group of "specials"... That was just my take on it, I hope this makes sense.
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Olivia Jordan
3/13/2016 11:17:04 am
The thesis in the "The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilmanis is the narrator's husband thinks she's crazy and needs to be locked up. The antithesis is the narrator does not think she's crazy, and that locking her up makes her worse. Throughout the story her insanity progresses to the point where she envisions a women in the yellow wall -paper and in the end she believes that she has become the women herself. The synthesis of this parallels with that of ch. 7 of The Great Gatsby because through lack of understanding both the sanity of the women and the hopes of Gatsby's relationship with Daisy spiral completely out of proportion leaving both parties unstable.
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Suubi Mondesir
3/13/2016 05:39:33 pm
Gatsby and Nick compare and contrast to the narrator and her husband in the "Yellow Wallpaper". In each relationship one person was the voice of reason or the realist and the other was the idealist or risk taker, boarder-line insane person. You could also see these relationships as a deranged yin and yang. There's some type of balance but at the same time, there's none at all. Nick sees Gatsby as a dreamer and a symbol of hope he's likely to not see again, however Nick also sees this obsession Gatsby has for Daisy that's so unrealistic and insane. The narrator's husband also sees his wife as crazy and psychotic but never depicts her as a dreamer. In addition, both stories were not told from the same perspectives, but both relationships were resolved by taking one person out of the equation. That way only one yin or yang remained, not both coexisting, together. In "The Great Gatsby", Gatsby is killed and in the "Yellow Wallpaper" the narrator's husband faints. Another comparison would also be that both remaining people in the novel went crazy or continued to be crazy. But what does that mean? Does this just go to show there must be a balance, one can't exist without the other or do idealist and realist relationships make for toxic endings? Overall both the "Yellow Wallpaper" and "The Great Gatsby" shared parallels as well as differences.
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Brad Chavero
3/14/2016 05:40:44 pm
In chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby, the confrontation we have all been waiting for finally happens. It’s Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy all together in the same room with the vital subject of Daisy’s love partner as the conflict on the table. Tom and Gatsby quickly attack at each other’s pride with Tom picking on Gatsby’s fake past “Oxford, New Mexico!” (Fitzgerald 122) and Gatsby accusing that Daisy never loved Tom “Your wife doesn’t love you” (Fitzgerald 130). Eventually, all the arguing gets to Daisy and she admits that she did love Tom at some point. Taking advantage of this remark, Tom goes on to insult the businesses Gatsby is in and angering him to the point where he loses his cool and control of the situation. Gatsby really looked like he had killed a man at that moment and Daisy was now scared and sided with Tom now. Gatsby does get to drive her home but Tom boldly warning him that “Go on. He won’t annoy you. I think he realizes that this presumptuous little flirtation is over,” (Fitzgerald 135) finishing off Gatsby. This scene and conflict from the novel relates a lot to "Repent, Harlequin! said the Ticktock-Man". The two scenarios are similar because we have a battle of authority and rebellion. The Harlequin rebels doing everything on time according to the Ticktock-Man’s standandards while Gatsby plays the role as the rebel of wanting to have Daisy as the love of his life against the wishes of dominant Tom. Also, in both cases, our rebel ultimately ends up failing. In Ticktock-Man, Harlequin is captured and brainwashed to admit defeat and end his disorder, while in Gatsby, Gatsby leaves to drop off Daisy at Tom’s house and his plan to have her leave Tom completely fails and Gatsby also ends up with nothing. Additionally, both Harlequin and Gatsby had friends/characters who worked a little with their respective enemy. By the end of the story, it is revealed that the Harlequin’s wife helped in turning him in and Nick also spends time with Tom, knowing and noting of his cheating ways but not necessarily helping Gatsby with this knowledge. The two sections differ because Harlequin was a realist with his work in being practical to disrupt time by physically making messes and showing up everywhere late. Gatsby on the other hand, is a dreamer as he does everything very indirectly and to very high standards. At a point in his argument, he was winning, noting that Daisy never loved Tom and having him concerned about losing his wife, but then he lost everything by fully trying to live that dream by having Daisy admit it herself and pushing for her to agree with him against Tom. This excessiveness to live his dream unfortunately pushed Daisy away from Gatsby as it was a mistake that Tom took advantage of to once again secure his wife, securing the victory for team authority and putting down Gatsby’s fight.
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Courtney Fenty
3/20/2016 01:41:52 pm
I think the conflict in chapter 7 can be compared to the conflict in "the Yellow Wallpaper". In chapter 7 Gatsby and Tom are arguing over the fact that Daisy loves only one of them. Gatsby gets very emotional and almost hits Tom. Causing Daisy to spiral out of control from the overwhelming situation, Gatsby and Daisy leave resulting in the death of Myrtle and Gatsby as a wanted man, even though he did not first-handedly kill Myrtle. In " The Yellow Wallpaper" the narrator is considered crazy, but seems to be going even more crazy since being admitted into the mental hospital. The solution for her husband was to put her into this mental hospital, but she did not want this. From one perspective you could say he made her go crazy. From another perspective you could say she was just crazy and feeding more into her own imagination caused her to believe she was actually in the walls. This can be compared to chapter 7 because from one perspective you could say that Tom made Myrtle go crazy. Her longing to get away from Wilson and greed for wealth caused her to be blind to Tom's actual priorities. You could say the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" had a longing to get away from the reality and escape from her "prison" to the wall. In another perspective you could say Gatsby caused Daisy to go crazy because of his demand to say that she never loved Tom, she wasn't in her right state of mind causing her to accidentally run over Myrtle. In "The Yellow Wallpaper" the narrator's husband forced her into a mental hospital, but he pushed her over the edge by doing this, causing her to go more insane. The conflicts in chapter 7 and "The Yellow Wallpaper" can also be contrasted because no one actually was insane in "The Great Gatsby" and the story of "The Yellow Wallpaper" no one dies.
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Luke Devine
3/22/2016 06:31:51 am
The Great Gatsby's plot in chapter 7 parallels the plot of A Mystery of Heroism. In A Mystery of Heroism the main character Collins, a soldier, is sent off to battle to be a hero for his country. While in battle, he actually does become a hero and gets water for his battalion, but his courage is ruined by some other idiot This is very similar to Gatsby, as he sends himself off to be a hero and save Daisy from Tom. He actually does become a hero and gets Daisy on his side, but then some idiot Tom ruins his courage. Both of these scenarios result in a different situation, which are the hero and the idiot becoming furious at one another.
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Seamus Cochrane
3/23/2016 07:18:01 am
The synthesis of chapter 7 strongly resembles the synthesis to "A Mystery of Heroism". In the short story the main character runs through combat just to get water, demonstrating his courage to his comrades. Despite his heroic actions, the moment is spoiled by two other soldiers taking the water he risked his life for and spilled it, making a mockery of his courage. This synthesis is similar to the sythesis of chapter 7 because Gatsby risks his reputation for Daisy, and to Gatsby his reputation is his life. Gatsby showed his bravery by standing up to Tom and claiming that Daisy belongs to him. However, that act of courage is wasted when Tom laughs in his face and Daisy falters when Gatsby needs her. Because of Daisy and Tom, Gatsby's act was wasted, just like how the main character of "A Mystery of Heroism" had his action wasted.
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Matthew Vanderveer
3/23/2016 11:16:29 am
In the mask of the red death the thesis is the people on the inside of the wall who are protected from the red death, and the antithesis are the people on the outside of the walls who are being affected by the disease. Then the synthesis came out when the disease made its way inside the walls. This is similar to chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby. The thesis in this chapter is Gatsby and his plans for the future while the antithesis is Tom and Tom's plans for the future. the synthesis is the abrupt outcome landing Gatsby at the blame of Myrtles murder and his plan in pieces. They both have these two opposing forces driving an outcome.
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Jackie Izzo
3/23/2016 06:17:23 pm
In chapter 7of the Great Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, and Nick are all together in Tom's mansion. Both are fighting and having basically a masculine battle to show who is more superior. Tom does notice some flirting between Gatsby and Daisy. They soon go into the city and buy a room in the plaza. The fighting of Tom and Gatsby causes Gatsby to reveal that Daisy never loved Tom and even though Daisy is saying she is in agreement, thats not the truth. Daisy did still love Tom, eventually Gatsby freaks out and shows the ugly side of himself. In comparison of "Repent Harlequin! said the Ticktock man", both the ticktock man and Gatsby have similar conflicts within the stories. Harlequin is always making everyone get of schedule and become distracted. Eventually Harlequin breaks the ticktock man who is always on time and makes him late. Similarly, Tom causes Gatsby to reveal his angry and non gentleman side. Both Gatsby and the ticktock man have certain labels that they stand for. Eventually these qualities could be broken.
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Tyhler Harty
3/23/2016 09:12:16 pm
In "A mystery of heroism" the thesis is that Collins "heroically" goes into combat to obtain water for his his friends and comrades. The antithesis is that once Collins comes back from doing this "heroic" act of obtaining water one of the soldiers spoils it by kicking the bucket and spilling all of that "heroism" all over the place. The synthesis of this would be that Collins has no idea that he commits heroic deeds. Now this is very similar to the Great Gatsby chapter 7. The thesis of this chapter is that Gatsby believes that he may be able to get Daisy. The antithesis is that Tom will and does stop Gatsby from his plans with Daisy. The synthesis is that Myrtle dies because of this.
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Akin Gaddis
3/28/2016 05:41:11 am
An example of this is in the Masque of the Red Death. The Thesis is : People wants protection from the plague. The Antithesis is : The Prince locks the people and the Plague out. The Synthesis is : The Prince locks the People and the Plague out to protect himself. This is a Synthesis because it combines elements of the Thesis and Antithesis to make a new thesis or synthesis.
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Trey Soya
4/1/2016 10:19:58 am
"A Mystery of Heroism" by Stephen Crane is very similar to Chapter 7 in "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. "A Mystery of Heroism" depicts a soldier fighting a war named Collins who tries to become heroic by retrieving a bucket of water. Collins risks his life, gets the bucket and heads back. When he gets back, other soldiers knock the bucket over, ruining Collin's hard work. This is very similar to Gatsby. Gatsby tries to become a hero and gives it everything he's got to try to get Daisy. He then finally wins her and then all of a sudden Tom comes and ruins everything. There goes Gatsby's hard work.
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Ash Riegler
4/2/2016 10:39:49 am
The short story "A mystery of heroism" 's thesis is the actual acts of heroism. While the antithesis is once Collins doesn't feel like a hero. The synthesis is that the man, Collins has completed the act of heroism but yet he still does not feel like a hero at all. While in the Great Gatsby the thesis is that Gatsby believes he is equal to Tom and therefore the antithesis is that Tom sees class over gross wealth and would not agree with Gatsby. Thus making the synthesis of Gatsby retaining his wealth but simultaneously loses his class.
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Ford Zacks
4/3/2016 07:48:29 am
The conflict in “A Mystery of Heroism”, by Stephen Crane, and the conflict of Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby are very similar. In “A Mystery of Heroism”, the soldier Collins is put in a sticky situation. He and his fellow soldiers are dying of thirst on the battlefield. He has never been a heroic type of character but he decides that he will run across the battlefield to a well to get some water for everyone. His fear was holding him back but his desires pushed him forward. This is similar to what Daisy is going through in chapter 7. She is being held back by Tom and his brute force and control while she is being pushed forward by her true love for Gatsby. Collins could also be compared to Gatsby at the same time. Gatsby has never had to work extremely hard to get anything he wants. Now he is in a situation where he has to earn Daisy. So Gatsby puts in a valiant effort, but unfortunately he fails. This is just like Collins in a way. Collins runs across the battlefield, he gets the water, and he runs all the way back. However, when he returns, the buckets get knocked over and there is no more water. Valiant efforts do not always lead to success. It only takes one opposing force to screw you over. In Collins' case it was his idiot battlefield buddies. In Gatsby’s case it was Tom. That is the way it worked out for these two characters.
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Makenzie
4/4/2016 03:44:15 pm
In "The Yellow Wallpaper," her husband kept insisting she was fine, but she ended up going completely insane because he refused to get her better help, so the problem never gets solved, but creates a whole other problem. In "The Great Gatsby", Tom keeps insisting that Daisy won't go with Gatsby and basically scares Daisy into backing down. After that, however, Daisy hits Myrtle with her car, so there's no happy ending for them either.
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Kay Franzese
4/4/2016 06:51:58 pm
The conflict of Chapter 7 of the Great Gatsby and the conflict of the story "Repent Harlequin! Said the Ticktock Man" are very similar. Gatsby has his mind on obtaining a perfect life which includes Daisy. In the process of obtaining Daisy to complete his ideal life, he is disturbing Tom's life. In this case, Tom is the the Ticktock man trying to keep his life in order and Gatsby is Harlequin, the man disrupting the order. Eventually, Tom is able to strip Gatsby of his disguise and show Daisy who Gatsby really is. This pushes Gatsby to his breaking point and turns back into James Gatz, a poor and powerless boy. Once Harlequin was discovered, he was brainwashed and his desire to revolt was destroyed. He was reduced back to one of the followers of the Ticktock man's order. Both of the "lesser" characters were stripped of their disguise and reduced into powerless people.
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Keira Albano
4/5/2016 06:35:47 am
In "A Mystery of Heroism", a brave soldier risks his life to get water in the middle of the battle field. These moments are daring, and worth it until the very end when he spills his water and the expedition was not worth it. This short story greatly reflects Gatsby's journey throughout the story to obtain his life goal, a perfect life with Daisy how it was 5 years prior. Gatsby, much like the soldier goes through many struggles to get his dream, the soldier going through a battle field and Gatsby basically going through a war by standing up to the egotistical Tom. However, both the soldier and Gatsby's efforts are failed in the end, the soldiers water spills everywhere and Gatsby dies a tragic death, and very few attended a funeral, AND Daisy is STILL with Tom, despite everything they went through.
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Sydney Gannon
4/7/2016 06:46:12 pm
In "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman's husband locks her up in a room because he believes she has gone crazy. He's just trying to protect her, but she believes that her being concealed from the world makes her even worse. Which it eventually did when he actually went crazy thinking that there was a woman inside of the wallpaper. Something similar occurred in chapter 7 of "The Great Gatsby." Tom and Gatsby are both tugging Daisy in different directions and she has loved both of them at times in her life. They're both trying to lock her into their lives. They pull too hard and she finally explodes when she hits Myrtle at the end of the chapter.
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Shelley Banfield
4/7/2016 07:57:36 pm
In "A Mystery of Heroism" a soldier is sent to war by his country and attempts to fetch water for his group. Collins is stuck between the thesis of his country sending him to perform heroic acts and the antithesis of him never having done anything heroic in his life. He ends up successfully retrieving the water and bringing it to his group but it spills before anyone drinks it. At the end he is faced with the choice of either going to fetch more water and risking his life or staying with his group risking death from dehydration. This relates to Tom's struggle in 'The Great Gatsby' because he is stuck between two opposing forces. On one hand he is married to Daisy but on the side, he has an affair with Myrtle. The synthesis when everyone involved in the affair meet is that Tom cuts back on affairs for a while to try to prove his worth to Daisy. In the last few pages of the book, it is evident that he is still having one proving he has failed. The two characters, Tom and Collins were so close to reaching their goal of being heroic by fetching water and being affair free but they both failed miserably resulting in no heroic action and a new affair.
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Erin Ostrowski
4/8/2016 07:20:54 am
In the short story, The Mystery of Heroism, the thesis is that a soldier heroically goes to get water by running right into a line of fire in war. The antithesis is that the main character Collins has never been heroic in his life and now he decided to get the water. The synthesis is that he gets back from this almost fatal task and another person knocks over the bucket of water, washing away all of Collins hard work. This relates to Gatsby because he works so hard to be with Daisy and he finally decides to actually meet with her which was his heroic act. Then, he has the glory of obtaining his prize until he gets back to her home and has lunch with Tom and Daisy. Like in the story, he gets back to the start and a stupid person ruins everything. Tom finds out his wife is in love with Gatsby and comes between them. When Tom yells at Gatsby, Daisy admits she did love Tom at one point, putting him between Gatsby and Daisy. So at the end of both of these situations, the main character completes their goal, but it is ruined my some other person.
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Kaitlyn Viola
4/9/2016 11:59:47 am
The conflict in the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" parallels the conflict in chapter 7 of "The Great Gatsby". Both situations lead to disaster due to an imbalance between parties. In "The Yellow Wallpaper", the narrator's husband locks her away in hopes of lessening her insanity and mental instability. This confinement actually ends up worsening her condition, and essentially making her go crazier. Things crash when the husband faints after seeing her twisted behaviors. In chapter 7 of "The Great Gastby", Daisy becomes overwhelmed with the rising tension between Tom and Gatsby. The conflict is attempted to be avoided when everyone leaves for town, which is when Daisy hits Myrtle while driving with Gatsby. The death of Myrtle represents the uncanny outcome of attempted oppression of the situation. Both stories end with this result.
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