Gatsby Essay

Prompt: 1. Describe and analyze the significance of the last line of The Great Gatsby.

The novel The Great Gatsby has many references to the past and Gatsby’s battle with time. As you read the book, you see that he is stuck in the past, and it is almost always on his mind. At the end of the book you are left with, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” The last line of the book has a lot of significance and is almost a reflection of Gatsby’s life. It leaves you with a metaphorical thought in your mind that connects directly back to many parts of the book.

This quote is comparing the lives of Gatsby and even Nick to boats, rowing hard against the current trying to get back to the past. It is a constant struggle, and even “beating on” never gets them there. Throughout the book, although we all understand you cannot get back to the past, Gatsby is always thinking he can get there. It is an uphill battle, being “boats against the current” never shows that getting there is simple. On top of working hard you have many other obstacles. Ocean currents are powerful and can sweep you away, just like the forward progression of time and you end up even further away from your goal, and for Gatsby that goal was the past.

The placement of this line shows how significant it is to the whole novel. Since it was the last line, not only does it leave you with something to think about, but it shows how Nick feels because he says “we” as he wraps up a reflection of his life on West Egg and Gatsby’s funeral. I also think that the placement of this line shows that if Gatsby was still alive at the end of the book, he would still be beating on against the current and even in death; he might still be doing so. Being wrapped up in the past, or something else could be what ends your life. Even if we don’t know it, we all are beating against the current for something. Gatsby’s whole purpose in his adult life was to get Daisy and as soon as he gets close everything falls apart, showing that maybe no one is ever meant to prosper that much and get the girl or what they want the most.

Throughout the book, there are many places where Gatsby struggles against the current of time continuing on and they connect to the last line. Right before Gatsby dies on page 161, one of his servants lets him know that he was going to drain the pool since “Leaves’ll start falling pretty soon.” And Gatsby says “Don’t do it today. . .You know, old sport, I’ve never used that pool all summer?” This whole story is set in the summer, where lavish parties are going on and he even gets to be with Daisy again. Everything starts looking up for Gatsby towards the end of this seemingly endless summer. When it comes time to wind down and do something as simple as drain the pool, you can tell he is holding on to the season through the pool, he doesn’t want to move into the unknowns of fall, or move into the future. He was content living in the past, and now maybe even the present with Daisy by his side, but even this summer would eventually become a part of the past. This directly connects to the significant line at the end of the book, even when Gatsby has what he had been waiting for, he would’ve continued going back to the past over and over again.

One of my favorite lines from a summer camp song is “the seasons they go round and round. . .we’re captured on a carousel of time, we can’t return we can only look behind from where we came” I think this song is a perfect way to describe how time and the past effects most of us, and Nick for the most part. Even the present eventually becomes the past, so Gatsby, even with Daisy, still would always be trying to get back. The last line leaves you thinking about what could have been, and how the story would have continued, but it has a clear message that shows things would have stayed the same. This last line had a perfect connection to Gatsby’s situation throughout the book and his struggle against the current of time. As soon as you read the line, the significance stands out immensely; it leaves you thinking about all of the different times where Gatsby had been beating on, a boat “against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Current Events-MSB

1.Sewage Spill

A sewage spill in Mission Valley led on Wednesday to a coastal pollution alert in Ocean Beach, about five miles to the west.

*An hour after the spill, 1,370 gallons of sewage had spilled into the river


2. Hold Onto Your Butt

An awarness event that was meant to educate people about how to dispose of cigarette safely and how the ones thrown on the ground can effect the ocean and wildlife.

*Cigarette butts are the most littered item in The United States and the world.
*They account for nearly one in every three items collected during Surfrider cleanups


3. EPA to place limits on power plant water pollution

For the first time in nearly 30 years, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to limit the quantity of toxic metals that coal-fired power plants release into waterways.

*I thought it was really interesting the the EPA hasnt had a toxic metal standard in 30 years. I can look further into other EPA policies


4. San Diego Water Deal

Early yesterday morning, the Legislature signed off on what can only be described as a landmark package to help safeguard one of this state’s most precious commodities: water.

*This will mean a more reliable water supply for Southern California because water can be pumped from north to south without disturbing the salmon, delta smelt and other wildlife in the Delta


5. La Jolla Seals

A judge ruled Friday that harbor seals that have colonized the cove in La Jolla for more than a decade can remain there. That overruled an earlier decision to have the city remove the seals because their waste bacteria was dangerous for humans.

*Seals began moving into the cove in the 1990s, and their population can be as high as 200 at times.

Honors-The Roaring Twenties

In the 1920's the United States was on the rise in industrialization, technology, the economy and the overall moral of the American people. Between 1922 and 1927, the economy grew 7 percent a year which was “the largest peacetime rate ever.” The times were named the roaring twenties, and “If anything roared in the “Roaring Twenties,” it was the industry and commerce.” America was in the going through a large change that would have a lasting effect on the country.

One of the most significant changes was the development of technology. New machines were being created and were being widely used in factories and business places. Some of the new machines included steam turbines, electric motors, belt conveyors, and many others. The radio was also created in the twenties, and it ended up being one of the most important technologies of the time to the American people. Other things being manufactured at this time include; wristwatches, cigarette lighters, film and frozen food. More and more things were being invented at this time, so the labor force was growing to keep up with demand, despite the new term “technological unemployment”.

Another important change was prohibition, the banning of making and selling liquor. In 1920, this law went into effect after reformers had been trying to reduce the consumption of alcohol. Citizens were still allowed to drink, just not make, sell, transport or import any kind of “intoxicating beverage”. It was widely backed by Catholics, Protestants, corporate executives and labor leaders because people during that time they firmly believed that “it corroded family life and weakened society.” This did not stop most people from drinking, even though some estimates said that consumption was down by as much as fifty percent. A new industry was created from prohibition, there was a lot of profit to be made in the alcohol bootlegging business. “Thousands of poor immigrants looked to illegal bootlegging to move them out of the slums.” The flow of money and making a living became more prominent and people of all classes were benefiting.

An additional change that had a lasting effect on the United States, was the amount of time people spent working versus how much time people spent doing recreational things. In 1920, the average hours a person would work a week was 47.2, and by 1930 it had decreased to 42. The time spent on amusement and recreation went up an overwhelming 300 percent. Spectator sports became a favorite American pass time, from wrestling to college football. Sports stars like Jack Dempsey in wrestling, or Babe Ruth in baseball had Americans paying millions of dollars to watch them do their sport. Also at this time, Hollywood started making motion pictures regularly, and almost all Americans went to the movies. Additionally, dancing became popular at parties, which put the jazz age in full swing. Americans were focusing less on work, and more on spending money and having a good time and seemingly nothing could bring them down.

The roaring twenties were times filled with materialism, new technological advances, bootlegging, having a good time and economic growth. Industries were growing, and everyone was expanding and buying more. The automobile and construction industries were two of the biggest “boom industries”. By 1929, there were 26 million cars, one for every five people. But it was not just these industries on the rise, everyone was thriving. People spent less time working and more time watching movies and sports, dancing and listening to the radio. Things like celebrities and sports stars became popular because media was also starting to become more widespread. The enormous changes of the roaring twenties sent the United States in a direction of forward progress economically and socially. Some of the inventions, machines, and mentalities still have an American culture today.

Source of information and statistics:

James West Davidson, William Gienapp, Christine Leigh Heyrman, Mark Lytle, Michael Stoff. "Chapter 24- The New Era." Nation of Nations. McGraw-Hill:Boston, 2006.

Hold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day

Hold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day

The event I chose to post was the Hold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day that the Surfrider foundation is holding. At this event, people will be standing at busy intersections near beaches holding signs, passing out ashtrays, stickers and raise overall awareness to the people walking and driving by. They will also be cleaning the areas they are at and keeping tack of how many cigarette butts they find.

I think the most important information was the facts and the whole purpose of the awareness day. I thought it was very interesting to learn that cigarette butts are the most littered item in the United States. It was also important that they gave background information on the issue as a whole, not just how it effected the beaches and water.

Exact percentages of the amounts of cigarette butts in our oceans. They did have a good ratio (every 1 in 3 pieces of trash picked up is a cigarette butt at beach cleanups) They also didn't mention which beach has the biggest cigarette butt problem.

This plays into my Media Saves the Beach work because I think it would be interesting to include "did you know" fact about beach litter and/or cigarette butts.

MSB Organizations

Surfrider Foundation
The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans, waves and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education.

Important Interactions
(with different levels of government)

**CA Beach Monitoring Funding Restored

*The Surfriders foundation and several chapters, (San Diego included) worked to restore the funding for the California beach water quality water monitoring program. Several organizations urged the California legislature to restore the funding, and Surfrider urged their members to call their elected officials. They had the funding restored for 2008 and part of 2009. The description of this accomplishment also mentions that there was an option to extend the funding through 2010.


link to information...scroll down to number 105


**City of San Diego Sewage Settlement
In 2001 the Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper sued the City of San Diego for chronic sewage spills. When this happened, the city was averaging nearly a sewage spill a day and they had spilled more than 45 million gallons of sewage into local waters during the five years prior. The suit was meant to bring the city into compliance with the law and to improve the quality of our waters after a spill.

On May 22, 2007, the San Diego City Council approved a final settlement. The settlement forced the City to invest almost 1 billion dollars into the sewage infrastructure.

link to information...scroll down to number 76



WiLDCOAST

WiLDCOAST protects and preserves coastal ecosystems and wildlife in the Californias and Latin America by building grassroots support, conducting media campaigns and establishing protected areas.

Important Interactions
(with different levels of government)

**WiLDCOAST is funded by several government angencies, including the City Of San Diego, Port of San Diego, San Diego Airport Authority and Combined Federal Campaign.

A link to a list of their supporters

**In early 2008, WiLDCOAST began a partnership with Mexico’s National Commission for Protected Natural Areas (CONANP)to protect coastal areas in Northwestern Mexico. Since then, they have made progress to preserve the coastlines of Laguna San Ignacio, Bahia Magdalena, the Valle de los Cirios and the islands of the Gulf of California.

link to the story

The Great Gatsby-Nick and Gatsby

Gatsby and Nick are both somewhat detached from their surroundings. Compare and contrast this sense of detachment. How are they similar and/or different in this respect?

Out of the two men, Nick is more detached from the whole party scene and Gatsby is the one who runs it. I think that Gatsby is detached from the social interaction part of the party, he is always mysterious and no one really knows him besides Nick. They both are pretty socially akward, and keep to themselves. Neither one of them gives off the personality of the life of the party even when Gatsby is hosting. At the first party Nick goes to, Gatsby doesn't even introduce himself.

I think their detachments are different because Nick was almost thrown into the high life, and at this point in the book he is still mocking it a bit. While on the other hand Gatsby is definitely a part of the high life and the social scene, so he wasnt thrown into it, but he doesn't look down upon it the way Nick does.

The Great Gatsby Chapter 1

The narrator is one of the characters named Nick Carraway, his perspective seems very negative towards all of the social and money standards over on the east coast. He seems like a very simple man who doesnt know the ins and outs of the social society, and is very condescending (it seems like he feels like hes not as arrogant) or envious about it. He doesnt seem very social either.

He shows the outsider perspective, which matches really well with his personality and outlook on everyone and everything in west and east egg. His descriptions have a lot of intellectual thought and he seems to always be almost subtly analyzing whats going on, so you get a very real and straight picture of the places and the people. He relates more with people who might be reading the book, the person who may have some money, but is just working to get somewhere in life, and gets thrown into the high society life even when he doesnt want to.