Elise’s Comments (group member since May 25, 2016)

Elise’s comments from the Mills AP Lit and Comp group.

Elise Todd
Period 2

"If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! is had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe'er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical."

This is the opening monolouge of Twelfth Night. It is spoken by Duke Orsino because he is in love with Lady Olivia. He is basically saying that love is fickle. It will seem strong and unfading at one time and then it will seem "not so sweet as it was before". All we need to do to see a parallel in modern society is look at the divorce rate. So many people "fall in love", get married, and then divorce because their love faded. What may seem like love to teens and young adults comes and goes so much that they often go in and out of relationships not sure if what they're feeling is love or not. In Twelfth Night, the Duke doesn't even end up with Olivia. He falls in love with someone else! This shows how the love he is describing is the love experienced by everyone in the play as they fall in and out of relationships. In my opinion, "love" is not what we see firsthand in someone. It is the commitment we show as we spent our life with them.

Bella wrote: "Bella Speelman, Period 2
One of the most interesting aspects of Dickens’ Great Expectations is the existence of two endings; one in which Estella has remarried after the death of her abusive husban..."

Elise Todd Period 2
In my three paragraph response I personally wrote in favor of the published ending. I would say in response to your writing that you make a very strong point in that the book is "full of loss and heartbreak" and the unpublished ending goes along with that theme. I agree that the more abrupt ending does fit the melancholy mood of the book. However, I might point out that in the published ending, it never quite says that Pip and Estella "walk off into the sunset". I can definitely see how this is implied though. Estella says "and will continue friends apart" (514). She doesn't seem to see things the way that Pip does. I think in her mind, they weren't going to marry. I applaud your taking the work as a whole into account when deciding which ending fits though. Good job!

Elise Todd
Period 2

Taking all aspects of the two scenarios into account, the published ending is superior to the unpublished in that it is more pleasing emotionally, it is very dramatic, and it matches the rest of the book with the mindsets of Pip and Estella. They meet at the runes of Satis House which is where Estella learned her ways of manipulating men and Pip had his first lessons in demeanor. The circumstances make the encounter just FEEL right to the reader. Whereas their meeting in the unpublished ending is very nonchalant. Of course, every reader likes seeing something like destiny play a role in the narrative they are experiencing and one could almost say that it is present in the published ending.

The published ending also continues the dramatic flare that is constant throughout the book. The setting is so vivid we can practically see it in our minds. He describes the "old ivy" that had "struck root anew and was growing green on low quiet mounds of ruin" (511). The air was full of "silvery mist" that had been "touched with the first rays of the moonlight" (512). These images are perfectly placed here because Dickens constantly uses striking scenes like this one throughout his book: the marshes, Satis House, London, The Thames. It fits perfectly into his framework.

Another aspect of this final scene that fits with the rest of the book that the other version does not have, is the feelings of Pip and Estella toward each other. Pip wants to marry Estella throughout most of the book and his feelings continue in this manner in this ending when he says: "I saw the shadow of no parting from her" (514). This implies that he will, or at least wishes to, marry her. Contrariwise, Estella's last words in the book are: "And will continue friends apart" (514). These word show her aloofness toward him even at the end of their struggles. In the alternate ending, Pip seems to have no interest in Estella anymore and Estella seems to have a softened heart for Pip, or so he thinks, as he says that suffering "had given her a heart to understand what my heart used to be". These mindsets are completely different from the ones in the published ending, but those are the ones that fit Pip and Estella's characters the most. The ending published with the book is more cohesive and provides the reader with the most closure therefore making it the superior ending of the two.

Elise Todd
Period 2

Throughout Pip's life, he looks upon his new surrounding with much fear. One could make the agrument that he is much too fearful of his environment and those in it. However, his fear is necessary to show the reader just how new and changing his life was. For instance: When Pip gets his first exposure to wealth at Satis house, his wonder at the abandoned buildings is clear. He also takes a lot of time to describe many details of Lady Havisham and the room she is in. His wonder is so great that he is not able to play for Miss Havisham because he says "It's so new here, and so strange, and so fine-and melancholy". (66-67) Later when he meets "the pale young gentleman" who we later find to be Herbert, the way he describes stumbling upon him is almost mistery-like. After describing a little bit of his surroundings, he says: "I looked in at another window and and found myself, to my great suprise, exchanging a broad stare with a pale young gentleman with red eyelids and light hair. This pale young gentleman quickly disappeared, and reappeared beside me" (99). We know, of course, that this boy is very real, but Dickens had to make him seem mysterious in order to show the reader just how new it all was to Pip.

Pip is not only afraid when he is moving up in the world, but he is fearful when anything is new to him at his new station in life. The night that Abel reveals himself to be Pip's benefactor is a "stormy and wet" night. (334) This is obviousely a setting for mystery and fear; Abel's appearance and manner make the incident even more frightful. Even as Pip becomes more familiar with Abel, he still holds back because he is scared of him despite his trying to help him. Pip is overly scared of everything that is new to him, even when he has adjusted to high living. This was done by Dickens on purpose to express to the reader that Pip's life is always changing (as is ours) and often, fear comes along with that change. This technique used by Dickens adds to the overall excitement of the book by creating suspense and thrill along with the plot, thereby making his book even better.

Elise Todd
Period 2

Have you ever wondered why it is called The Great Gatsby? Why is it not just Gatsby? Well, you would automatically think that his wealth and power would make him great, but if we really think about the title, we can see that it is not his riches that makes him great. It is his undying love for Daisy. The casement for The Great Gatsby is when he demonstrates that his love is true when he dies for her. Although he does not directly die to save her, his death is a result of his actions for her. (144) It is through this event that we realize the true meaning of the book: love, not wealth, is what makes us truly rich. No matter how hard we try to fill our lives with selfish things, we will always feel empty unless we have deep relationships with those around us. Namely: love.

Elise Todd
Period 2

Every young adult/teenager has a desire to explore the world around them. This desire will often contribute to the rebellion experienced by most young people. The characters in The Great Gatsby, although they are not quite as young, are victims of this desire. It is the sole reason they have such drive to distinguish themselves to their loved ones and society. Nick says that they might have been "inadaptable to eastern life" (177), but perhaps that is something they needed to see for themselves in order for them to realize that it didn't work.

For those that stay home and remain near to their birthplace, they will eventually lack the life experience that is necessary to live a full life. On the other hand, one should not completely disconnect from one's family and hometown. Those roots are there for a reason. They hold us down when we get so caught up in our own lives that we lose our empathy. But it does happen often when we leave our homes, and move to a city. This is what happened to the characters in The Great Gatsby. They were simply drawn to the lifestyle of the East because they hadn't experienced it before. Their mistake was that they were so focused on their future that they forgot to acknowledge their past. Nick says “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” (36) He knew that it is healthy to have a mixture of new and old. When it comes down to it, the amount of each depends on the individual. Nobody can tell you how to live your life. What matters is if you decide and come to the conclusion on your own.

It would be really cool if we read Utopia by Thomas More! It has the potential for some really good class discussions.
Beowulf The Warrior or The Canterbury Tales.
Some lesser-known Shakespeare stuff. (A.K.A. Not Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet, but mabye his sonnets or other plays.) or writings of Ben Jonson!
Anything by Winston Churchill.

Elise Todd
Period 2

The Great Gatsby is no doubt a literary achievement. When great American literature is mentioned, The Great Gatsby is definitely one book that pops into your mind. The premise of the book is perfect. It is about a man who is in love with a girl he can't have. What better subject than forbidden love? However, there is one flaw: For the book being about love, Fitsgerald does not include enough passion betwen the lovers. For example, there is only one time in the whole book that we see them kiss and that is near the end when Daisy does so flirtatiously and quickly while her husband is out of the room. There is one other scene when they migt have possibly kissed, but that is when they are at Nick's house and he goes outside to leave them alone. When he returns, he sees them "sitting on either end of the couch, looking at each other as if some question had been asked, or was in the air, and every vestige of embarrassment was gone." (90) This makes it seem that they had kissed, but because Nick leaves, the reader is deprived of the passion of the event.
Fitzgerald would have gotten an even better response to his novel if he had gone deeper into the true yearnings of the pair of lovers. He does a great job at making Gatsby seem anxious and eager to advance on Daisy, but Daisy's attitude toward Gatsby and the chemistry between them once they are reunited is lacking. This might be because there really is so little time in the book when Daisy and Gatsby are together. Much of the book is dedicated to setting the story up and describing Gatsby's wealth. Perhaps if Fitzgerald had increased the time the lovers had together, he could have developed their relationship further.