The Great Gatsby's American Dream

In reading the Great Gatsby, I found it interesting the lack of morals some of the characters have, or even the double standards that are implied. You have tom who is having an affair which he thinks is ok then when he suspects that his wife is having an affair he goes nuts. This just goes to show the double standards that are in the book. You can also see that there was a corruption of the American Dream in this book. I do not know if this was the way everyone felt about the American Dream or if it was only Fitzgerald’s view of the American Dream. What was and what is the American Dream? Is the American Dream to become wealthy and have different standards then other people? The characters of the Great Gatsby show that the American Dream is declining and that it is not held to as high a standard as it once was. The American Dream was about discovery, being an individual, and being happy. In the Great Gatsby, the American Dream is how much money you have and how you flaunt that money, and what your social standing is.

Wild Wild West

This week we are to put our idea down on paper as to what we are doing our Wild Wild West website on. I am have a hard time doing this. We have looked at so much these last couple of weeks and I have so many different ideas. I have thought about doing my web site on Annie Oakley and other larger then life frontier people. I have also thought about taking a look at the move west from the Native Americans point of view.
I am thinking of doing my website in the legends of the frontier like Davie Crockett, Daniel Boom, the pioneers of the west and how they conceded the west and the Native Americans. I have also look at how the American dream has changed with the westward movement. Have we given up any of what we thought the American Dream is or have we developed a better American Dream. Are we a free country or are there limitation on our freedoms of the.
I have also been thinking of how is the westward movement of Americans different from the Mexicans movement northward. Are there anything the same about these movements or are they totally different.

Phoebe Ann Mosey (Annie Oakley)

This week I looked at the Annie Oakley web site. I find it very interesting that there are so many different stories that about her. I was intrigued when I found out that she was born here in Ohio. For the early twentieth Century, She and her husband traveled a lot in her early years. It is very interesting that she met with the queen of England on her trip to England. Many people today see Annie Oakley as a spokes woman for women’s rights. This may be how we look at history now but is this how Annie saw herself? Did Annie Oakley see herself as a women’s rights activist? Annie Oakley was a hero to many women of her time in the things that she did like learning to shoot a gun and even working. Annie and her husband Frank Butler switched roles after Frank found out that Annie draw a bigger and better crowd when she preformed her act.

Annie Oakley was a poor girl from Ohio that made a living shooting small game to help her family. After a while of shooting in competitions, she was band from them because she kept winning them and nobody was able to come even close to besting her. Her husband Frank Butler was not even able to beat her he missed the last shot and she made the shoot. Even in to her 60’s she was able to make people marvel at her shooting abilities. She was also known for her shows in the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West show. She traveled to Europe and met royalty on her way. Annie was also in a movie made by Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope.

mental nepantilism

Borderlands/ La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua was very interesting to read. When I first started to read it I did not think that I was going to like it. But as I finished the reading I found that it gave me a different perspective on how Latinos must feel when that come to America. Then it got me thinking that nowadays it is the Latino’s that feel this way. However, in years past it was different minorities. People feel that they cannot walk in two different worlds and still be part of America. People feel that they have to give up a part of themselves to be American if you are an immigrant of any kind.
In the paper that we read by Anzaldua she states that “it is not enough to stand on the opposite river bank, shouting questions, challenging patriarchal, white conventions.” I think she is trying to say that you cannot change things if you are on the outside look in, you have to participate to get things to change.
Anzaldua also states, “The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.” This quote is very versatile it can be used for everyone that has had or is going to have a problem. Once you become active in finding an answer to a problem then you have to right to complain if the outcome does not turn out in your favor, but you do not have the right to complain about anything if you are just a bystander and do not like the way things turn out. To have a say you have to let your voice be herd.
The reading this week is geared to the Latino movement but if you look deep enough you can find where if the minority was changed to a different group it would work for anyone. This I find very interesting. All minorities are part of La Frontera. Each minority has had to stand up for their rights.