Our Imbalance, His Circle

    I came across a quote my Stats teacher put up on her board one day: "A goal without a plan is just a wish." It stuck ever since because it's just so true. Humans have never ending goals. Some are trivial matters while some take a lifetime to fulfill.

    However, as we read The Raisin in the Sun, I began to notice that that quote doesn't apply to the Youngers. Walter aimed to open a liquor store in order to turn his and his family's life around and get them out of their "beat-up hole." Beneatha was all over the place, trying to do something most girls didn't do at that time: become a doctor. Mama simply wanted be able to live in her own house with her family. They all did have a plan to achieve their goals, but obstacles they could not avoid prevented them from reaching them. Their financial status and their social class and their skin color were all prominent obstacles that held them back. Their opportunities were limited to a "circle", as a matter of fact. Walter who has been a chauffeur his whole life was eager to escape those chains locked down by the whites. His longing for an opportunity to make a change only resulted in him getting completely scammed. His connections are shady and limited due to his black status. Beneatha was also confined because of her black woman status. Getting good education and being able to pay for it is already such a struggle for her. Her gender only added diminished her circle to smaller size. Her goal of becoming a doctor was looked down upon as too ambitious for her own good. Beneatha ended up loosing grasp of her dream due to the inevitable obstacles she knew she faced. Beneatha, who didn't care much for marriage, began to look favorably upon Asagai's future plan with her in Africa. At the end, the Youngers had to settle with only fulfilling Mama's dream, and they smiled on because at least they had family. The blacks keep running in a circle, unable to reach their dreams, and eventually believe that they don't have much of a choice but to appreciate the little they can have. Their mindsets run in a circle not because they're "realists," but because they don't have a choice. Discrimination and white supremacy still continue to serve as leashes in society, as was seen in the Supermarket video. Opportunities are unevenly distributed to all the races so often that people aren't even surprised to see it happen anymore. The individuals who use their privileges in order to make statements and bring justice should be applauded. They are the people's heroes. But I wonder, even with those fighting, will we ever have absolute equality, or will we have to continue to settle and appreciate our society's imbalance.

Do you Wanna Build a Snowman?

Looking at the two most recent Fitzgerald pieces we've read, there is a recurring theme throughout both stories. Materialism is a form of blinding corruption which ignites inevitable destruction and, consequently, leaves no memorable trace of existence. Humans tend to be attracted by greed and wealth. That tendency is evident in both the Great Gatsby and The Diamond as Big as the Ritz. Gatsby and Braddock were both blinded by their dreams of achieving ultimate wealth. While Gatsby's dream was directed in his pursuing of the wealthy and beautiful Daisy, Braddock's dream was reflected in his preservation of his family secret: the diamond mountain of wealth. His aim was to continue the legacy as the "richest man in the world." They were overwhelmed by their own goals, and their own greed eventually took them over.

Materialism is seen everywhere in society today. Teens come back from Black Friday and go around saying things like, "Hey! Look who just got the iPhone 6s!" "I wasn't sure whether to get those brown Uggs or the Hunters" "Ooo I love the parka in your Instagram pic!"People are so focused on material needs these days and forget to address the values that are actually important in life. Not only teens, but also adults try to fit in the material standards society has created. People don't want to be labeled as cheap or the less rich. If society doesn't inflict this standard on us, would people still want to have the hottest new phone or boots? Probably not. Similarly to beauty standards, wealth and material standards place people into classes of various levels to assume dominance over the inferior. In celebration of the first snow day of this school year, why don't we all drop our phones and go out to build a snowman!

It's all a Blur

The Roaring 20s was a time filled with mass culture, the Jazz Age, a consumer society, the "New Woman" aka flappers, and just an overall boost in wealth and materialism. A passage on page 40 in The Great Gatsby clearly portrayed the key aspects of this time period.

"By seven o’clock the orchestra has arrived—no thin five-piece affair but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums. The last swimmers have come in from the beach now and are dressing upstairs; the cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive, and already the halls and salons and verandas are gaudy with primary colors and hair shorn in strange new ways and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile. The bar is in full swing and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside until the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot and enthusiastic meetings
between women who never knew each other’s names."

With the introduction of an orchestra, a feeling of elegance and class is given off. The full orchestra with various instruments displays the wealth flaunted at parties during this time. Many people were earning easy money off the stock market and living to their fullest. Also the scene with swimmers coming back from the beach before prepping for the party produces a casual and laid back mood in addition to the classiness and glam. The people knew how to enjoy themselves and let loose with dancing and wine, but at the same time they knew to act in accordance to their social class when events such as parties came. The "primary colors" portray how everyone wanted to be the first. They wanted to be known as the originators of whatever is was. The wanted to be the red, blue, and yellow of the party, not the orange, magenta, or green that are only the secondary colors. Their shawls are so great that those of Castile can only dream of it. This again shows their abundance of materialism. Everything is just a blur as the round of cocktails float in; people who see each other greet each other for the sake of formality and forget on the spot. This whole lavish scene of Gatsby's party captures the epitome of parties and the blur of human morality during the Roaring 20s.