The Hearth and the Salamander

         Guy Montag is a fireman in charge of burning books in this futuristic society.He wears a helmet with the number 451 on it (the temperature at which books burn). While walking one night, he meets Clarisse, a seventeen year old who questions the society she lives in. She has "wild" ideas of what society used to be like and she rebels against the norm. Guy is intrigued by Clarisse's individuality, and he starts to spend more time with her. Clarisse makes Guy start to question his life and the society he lives in.

          Although this book was written a pretty long time ago, it predicted a lot of things that have come true today. For example, many people are obsessed with technology and instant gratification. this book predicts a society that is ruled by technology. Reading is illegal in the book because it threatens the control of the government by provoking people to think individually. Most people in this dystopian society are dependent on anti-depressants and sleeping pills, because they are so unhappy. They don't think or even talk to each other.

          Clarisse is one of the few people that is not obsessed with technology and pursues individual thinking. She kind of reminds me of Katniss because she lives in a controlling society that opposes individuality, but she is is curious about how she can escape it. 

Great Gatsby Essay

The Great Gatsby has many themes, but the main theme is the withering of the "American dream." The American dream is essentially the opportunity for success and prosperity. Throughout The Great Gatsby, there are many examples of the withering of this dream. The main characters in the story live the American dream, yet they are not happy. These characters become so obsessed with their wealth and success that they lose sight of their morality, which ultimately leads to their demise.

In the book, Jay Gatsby embodies the quintessential American dream. He was raised in poverty, but he became rich and successful to impress Daisy. Although he was successful, he sacrificed his morality to attain his wealth. All that matters to Gatsby is having material possessions, so Daisy will love him. He gives up everything to attain his dream. He leaves his family and home in the moral West and gets involved in shady business. Gatsby dreams of being with Daisy because she represents everything he wants: glamour and wealth. Tom says in the book that Gatsby was bootlegging alcohol and Gatsby basically confirms it, which shows his lack of morality. Gatsby flaunts his wealth and uses his material possessions to win Daisy's affections. Gatsby's obsession with money and Daisy eventually leads to his death. After Gatsby dies, only three people attended his funeral. This just shows that even though Gatsby had money, he had no friends because he was greedy.

Tom Buchanan is another prime example of the withering of the American dream. Tom is the egotistical husband of Daisy. Tom believes he is superior to the people that live in West Egg because he has always had money. Tom does not believe in equality which contradicts the American dream. Tom is greedy and does not want anyone to be able to rise out of poverty or their social class. Tom also has the "perfect" family and the "perfect" lifestyle, yet he indulges in immorality because of his greed. Tom has an affair with Myrtle which leads to her murder and the murder of Gatsby. Tom takes no responsibility for his actions because when he got caught up in the materialism of the East, he lost his morality.

Daisy represents all the materialism and lack of morality of the 1920s. All of Daisy's actions are motivated by her pursuit of money. Gatsby falls in love with Daisy, but she won't marry him because he doesn't have money. She marries Tom because he has money and social standing. Even her affair with Gatsby is motivated by money. Gatsby impressed Daisy with his extravagant lifestyle, so she decided she wanted to be with. Daisy becomes so obsessed with living her perfect life that she kills Myrtle for interfering with her "American Dream." Daisy becomes so corrupt by money that she exemplifies the disintegration of the American dream.

The 1920s was a time of luxury and materialism, yet it was a time of moral decay. For the characters in the story, the money they had was never enough and in the pursuit for more money, they lose their morals, love, and in two situations they lose their lives. In the 1920s, morality was lost, and the American dream was corrupted.

The Great Gatsby

         I feel like this book is kind of still sinking in for me. I can't exactly decide how I feel about it because  it is really different from any book I've ever read. I think the book was really depressing, and when Gatsby got shot, I wanted to throw the book down. Although it isn't how I wanted the book to end, It gets the point across and really shows you theme. 
        All of the main characters were living the "American dream," but none of them were truly happy. Also, none of the main characters had real love. Tom and Daisy don't really love each other, and Gatsby loves Daisy, but they don't end up together because Daisy is materialistic.
        One of the things I noticed was the part in the book where Gatsby talks about the reasons he fell in love with Daisy. He said that he liked that many men were in love with her and that she was wealthy. I think this shows how important wealth and social status were to Gatsby. To him, love and money are intertwined, which is the problem for most of the characters. Money and love are so closely related to each other with the characters that lose sight of real love and just pursue money. In this way, all of the characters of the book are corrupt. 
        I also noticed that even though Gatsby has wealth and status, he has no friends. At Gatsby's funeral,   there are only four cars including the hearst. He had hundreds of guests at all of his party, but only four people showed up at his funeral. I think this shows that wealth doesn't necessarily lead to happiness.