SOPH GREEN extra credit Gatsby 2010
Most be posted before Tuesday, May 4.
"So one of the greatest American novels ever written is about the rich and wanna-be rich and famous of the 1920s?" asks the Unknown Student.
Yup, answers your English teacher.
"It's so outdated, isn't it? I mean, these characters and what they want in their lives. They're from another time period. They couldn't possibly teach me anything, anything that's relevant today, anyway, " the Unknown Student again remarks.
That's where you're mistaken. Gatsby still speaks to the modern American about important themes like honesty and greed and working hard to achieve your dreams, the English teacher explains.
"How so?" the Unknown Student retorts.
Let's end this conversation now, of course, with an assignment, that might support your English teacher's opinion and answer the Unknown Student.
Choose one of these prompts, and respond HERE at Schoolsville in a minimum of 25 blog lines or 200 words for 3 pts. EXTRA CREDIT.
1. Write about a modern athlete who was accused of "cheating" at his or her sport and who, like Jordan Baker, was able to escape the law or punishment of any type.
2. Write about a modern tycoon or gambler, someone was caught and accused of a crime (like Meyer Wolfsheim), but who was able to escape the law or punishment of any type.
3. Tell me about some modern Honest John (it's an old expression for a "real" honest person) who was deceived and destroyed by someone who was dishonest. You know, someone who is like a modern George Wilson.
4. Wanna get personal? Tell me a personal story in which you found out that something you dreamed about, had high hopes about, really wanted to see or experience, wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. In other words, the reality didn't match the dream. Daisy became Gatsby's dream. He spent five years trying to get enough money in order to get her. Then he found out that she wasn't in love with him as much as he was in love with her. She wasn't "all that...."
5. Come up with an updated version, 2010 style, of The Great Gatsby. It can't be set in the 1920s with the exact same characters. Who are the new characters? Where is the story set? Change the plot a little bit to give it a 20th century flare. Have some fun. IF she could act, wouldn't Paris Hilton make a great Daisy?
posted by JTF @ 1:18 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
One day I was sitting at my best friends house watching T.V. and this commercial came on. At first my friend Garri and I couldn’t figure out what it was but then as it went on we finally realized it was a trailer for a new upcoming scary movie. After the commercial was over we both turned to each other and I still can see the blank look in Garri’s eyes, it was as if someone had brain washed him. We just laughed at each other and continued to watch the T.V. Twenty minutes later a new trailer advertising the same movie came on and this time I was more intrigued by it and I actually wanted to see what was going to happen. The movie was titled I know who killed me starring Lindsay Lohan and at the end of the trailer she kept saying, “I know who killed me!” When the picture changed over to a new commercial I found myself yelling at the T.V. “WHO KILLED YOU?” Two weeks later I found myself sitting in a dark theater next to my mom for one purpose only, to find out who killed her and ok maybe it did look like a good movie. Thirty minutes into the movie and I was beginning to rethink my decision. The movie was rated R and I just thought it was because of the blood and killing that was going to take place, but boy was I wrong! The movie should have been rated X. You know those awkward moments you have when you’re watching T.V. with your parents and something inappropriate comes on, and you both just sit there not saying a word? I got to have millions of those moments while watching this movie with my mom. We only made it through about an hour of the movie before we decided to leave. I was so upset that the movie turned out to be so terrible and not even a bit close to a horror movie. I still remember walking out of the movie theater and not saying a word to my mom. I couldn’t believe that they built this movie up so much and made it look like such a good movie, and it turned out to be such a horrible movie. It was a major let down. To this day my mom is very hesitant on taking me to rated R movies, which is why I always look into any movie that I want to see from now on.
A professional football player on the Buffalo Bills who got away with murder, literally, was Oj Simpson. Oj was accused of committing murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Nicole’s acquaintance. There are still disputes on what really happened that night but what they can collect with witnesses and evidence is that at ten o’clock p.m. on June 12, 1994, Nicole was in her condominium. Goldman was there returning a pair of sunglasses that her mother had left earlier at a restaurant. A single man came through the back entrance of her condominium and this man brutally slashed Nicole and stabbed Goldman about thirty times. Nicole’s ex-husband, Oj Simpson boarded an American Airlines plane that night. His flight took off at 11:45. Simpson received a ride from his limousine driver who was supposed to be picking him up at that night. His limousine driver, Allan Park, reported at 10:25 no one answered his door. Finally, Park saw a man, who he assumed was Simpson entering his house at 10:56. Even though all the facts and evidence led up to Oj being the murderer of these two innocent human beings, he was acquitted. Some people call this trial, “a great trash novel come to life.”
A modern athlete who has been accused of cheating in the past is Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong is a seven time winner of The Tour de France. Because this bike race is so difficult many of the riders have been accused and or have taken performance enhancement drugs. Lance retired in 2005 after his seventh consecutive win of the tour. A month after he retired, the French Press accused Lance of taking the same enhancement drugs many riders had been disqualified for in the past. Although the tests came back and have always come back negative, many people do not believe that Lance has never taken enhancement drugs. People do not believe it because of the major comeback he made after his struggle through cancer. Lance always dismisses the accusations and criticizes all the people who do not believe in his incredible story. Lance says,"To all the cynics, I'm sorry for you, I'm sorry you can't believe in miracles. This is a great sporting event and hard work wins it."
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