1.12.17 Sarah kokoszka

Yesterday I was absent in class therefore when I came into class today I saw that we were starting class where we left off yesterday. Our topic today as was yesterday's was tragedy. What we specifically discussed about was the tragedy of Gatsbys death and all the factors that enhanced Gatsbys murder. We did some close reading in the text starting off at the part where nick goes to visit Wolfsheim. When Nick goes to visit Wolfsheim things were very sketchy. No one was in sight besides Wolfsheim and his assistant; Nick told his assistant that he wanted to see Wolfsheim but his assistant lied and told nick he was not home---- he clearly was. Once Wolfsheim realized it was nick at the door he allowed nick to come in and have a discussion. Wolfsheim told nick about how he basically takes credit for making gatsby who he was and how he cared dearly for him, but oddly did not want to attend Gatsbys funeral. He continues on how Gatsby had nothing and by the help of Wolfsheim he now had everything. This specific part enhances the tragedy of Gatsbys death because it shows how Gatsby had nothing in his younger years, and now at his death he still has nothing/nobody. Continuing on with our close reading we discussed Mr. Gatz, Gatsbys father. Mr. Gatz comes into town and starts to make things personal. Throughout the whole book we do not have a single character related to Gatsby, we have no one to tell childhood stories but once his dad comes into town for his death even more ideas get revealed. For instance, the fact that his dad calls Gatsby "Jimmy" enhances tragedy because it shows that Mr. Gatz and Gatsby had a type of realationahip, it shows that this was a pure, personal, father son relationship. Lastly we ended our class discussion talking about the last scenes of Gatsbys house. This huge, beautiful, elegant million dollar house that once held extravagant parties was now vacant and cold. Vandalized and empty the house no longer  was the place people made party memories. This emphasizes Gatsbys death even more because it shows that no one really cared for Gatsby genuinely and now his house of extravagance is now dead along with him.



An iconic photo of Jay Gatsby in the motion picture film