Caitie’s Comments (group member since Jun 01, 2016)

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

Caitie Smith
Period 2

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.”
—Jaques in As You Like It

This short, yet strong quote from Jaques in As You Like It by William Shakespeare has a powerful meaning behind it. This speech, in the context of the play, was a continuance of the idea given by Orlando earlier in the play. Shakespeare draws attention to his readers in his plays through dramas that are lived/ ones he had to live throughout his life. The meaning of these lines is simply that humans are merely players, and they play their allotted roles in everyday lives. An example of this would be if someone is now a soldier, they are playing the role the Lord has given them. This goes along with lots of other professionals. Other roles, smaller in this case, could be a grumpy middle aged man, or someone who is excellent at a sport, or a young lover even.

Caitie Smith Period 2
Many authors when writing a novel are faced with the challenge of choosing to write with either literary realism or distortion. Charles Dickens decided to go down the path of distortion for his novel Great Expectations. This was a correct choice for Dickens to make based on the themes and ideas of the novel, along with the tone and unfortunate events that happen to take place. Two major ways in which Dickens shows distortion in his novel is through Pip and his love for Estella, and Miss Havisham as a character throughout the story.

Pip falls in love with Estella, a women from the upper class who is bitter and cold on the outside, and not afraid to show her ways of breaking men's hearts and leaving them behind with no misery. Pip also loves Biddy, a women who was from the lower class who didn't have the bitter outside Estella did. Although Pip knew it wasn't necessarily the right choice of mind, he loved Estella more. “Biddy was never insulting, or capricious, or Biddy to-day—and somebody else to-morrow; she would have derived only pain, and no pleasure, from giving me pain; she would far rather have wounded her own breast than mine. How could it be, then, that I did not like her the much better of the two?” (130-131). This situation from the novel is a perfect example of distortion. Pip loves Estella's level of social class and therefore feels stronger for her, distorting the idea that social class is what humans fall in love with. Estella also knows she has more money than Pip and treats him with disrespect. This is distortion in the novel as well because it is, essentially, harder for humans to love someone so strongly when they are treated so poorly. Though, Estella does love Pip despite how she treats him; he receives little to no love in return. Due to these distortions between Pip and Estella themes of love and wealth occur creating a stronger story for the reader.

Miss Havisham is another great example of Distortion in the novel Great Expectations, with her unwillingness and fear to move on. Miss Havisham was left at the alter, a memory which scarred her for life. She refuses to leave her home, a huge distortion of human actions; she's protecting herself from the future. Her fear of moving on from her first love and heart break is a distortion in the novel due to the fact that humans move on after time (even if its a long time), and she never does. Miss Havisham develops strong feelings of hate towards the entirety of the subject, a feeling which is distorted. Thus, while literary realism can create realer situations of the harsh realities of life for the reader, distortion creates stronger feelings that the reader can personally connect with, therefore making the novel stronger a whole.

Chiara wrote: "Chiara Walz
Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations has two different endings; the original ending is dreary, while the second ending is more fulfilling. In the initial ending Pip and Estella see..."

Caitie Smith
I definitely agree with you when you say that the published ending leaves you more satisfied as the reader, because its a love story and we, as the readers, want to see Pip being with the one he loves, which is Estella. I also agree with you when you say that the original ending goes with the theme and tone of the novel as a whole. The novel was more on the dark side with reoccurring unfortunate, tragic events, and the original ending kept these events going when Pip had to really say goodbye to Estella. I do, though, have to disagree with you when you say that the published ending was the right choice for Dickens to make. I personally feel that the published ending changed the ways of the novel, and through of the tone, leaving me unsatisfied with the ending; it felt weak in a way. I believe that the original ending kept Dickens tone strong and finished the story right, due to all the other tragic events that occurred. Overall loved your response, good job!

The first ending Dickens composed for his novel Great Expectations was a much more depressing approach to finish his novel. When staying with his good friend Edward Bulwer-Lytton Dickens decided to show him the ending to this great novel. Lytton then went on to convince Dickens to change the ending to a happier approach to please his readers more. Though, the published ending leaves the readers more pleased/satisfied, it clashes with the aesthetic of, basically, the entire novel.

Great expectations was written in a dark and remorseful tone. Throughout the entire novel unfortunate things seem to happen to Pip, making it quite obvious that this is not a happy story. Pip is abused by his sister, is rejected by the focus of his affection, loses his money, and is threatened by an escape convict; this story is far from happy. Dickens focuses more on the wealth and character of the characters inside the book compared to innocence and what everyone is expected to believe. The published ending contrasts with this because of the way Pip ends up getting full closure with Biddy, and actually ends up with Estella when reencountering with her at their place of meeting. Yes, staying with Estella makes the reader content, it is a love story after all, but this published ending, in a way, ruins the tone and ways of the entire novel all together.

Dickens novel gives off the idea that morality and integrity are more important than wealth, and lesson Pip learns through loving both Biddy and Estella. Pip shows this idea through marrying Biddy over Estella. Pip was in love with the idea of Estella's elegant wealthy lifestyle, but was not so in love with her bitter and cold outside, even though he knew inside she was lovely. Dickens also conveyed the idea that social class does define a persons character. Again, this idea is conveyed through Pip deciding to marry Biddy (who has less money) over Estella. The original ending gave the reader satisfaction of getting the full closure from Estella. "I was very glad afterwards to have had the interview; for, in her face and in her voice, and in her touch, she gave me the assurance, that suffering had been stronger than Miss Havisham’s teaching, and had given her a heart to understand what my heart used to be," (from original ending). The published ending gives Pip someone to spend the rest of his life with, something that the original did not give us, and this leaves the reader happier due to the fact that the novel is originally a love story. Although, the original ending matches with the tone and ideas of the entire novel all together much better than the published, therefore making it a better choice for his novel despite what Edward Bulwer-Lytton had to say.

Caitie Smith Period 2 The novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald was complete with utter romance and a very well thought out plot; it reached almost perfection. This wonderful novel, though, lacked character development. Reading deeper and deeper into this novel we the readers barely learned more about the characters or were brought deeper into their lives. We were only informed of the basic traits these characters held, rarely did we learn more, and if we did it was quite vague. This being said, it was hard to mentally connect/attach to any of the characters seen throughout the entire novel. Even connecting with the narrator, Nick Carraway, was hard to do. After reading the entire novel the reader is still left with a poorly developed narrator whom they have "been with" throughout the whole experience of the novel.

The title of this brilliant novel is "The Great Gatsby" and Gatsby himself is undeniably "great", but as a reader we know little to nothing about who he actually is. Yes, we know he loves Daisy and always will, and yes, we know he's rich and throws the most magnificent parties anyone will come to know, but we don't know much else of what this "great" man composes of. With the novel being set in the roaring American 20's, with the overdone parties, the music, the fashion, the drinking: one can easily fall in love with the novel, for it blinds you from what you're actually missing out on. We are hypnotized into thinking we know who this character Gatsby is known to be. His name itself can excite anyone who has heard of him in literature. Take away the one thing we really know about him (his love for daisy), and we the readers are left with remembering Gatsby for his parties, his money, and the sophisticated glamour he brings to the book. Gatsby himself is the most perfect example of the lack of character development in the novel. The Great Gatsby is written in almost perfection: its lacking ability to develop characters to the point where readers can find a mental connection is its one perfection breaking flaw.