The Rags-To-Riches Myth

In my American Studies class we've been reading The Great Gatsby, so naturally we've been talking a lot about social status. Throughout the book, a "secret society" is often mentioned that only a select few are a part of. They represent the highest class a person can be and it consists of old-money. That's why Gatsby, as much as he tries, can never become a part of this secret society. He may be able to work hard and obtain as much money as them, but he will remain nouvelle-riche. The biggest difference between the nouvelle-riche and the old-money is that the nouvelle-riche couldn't dream to have the same sort of connections. 

With connections on my mind, I stumbled across a rather fitting post on Humans of New York. Before I get into that, Humans of New York is a blog where a man goes around New York photographing people and asking about their lives. He then posts a picture with a quote from them or a snippet from their conversation together. I come across these posts through Facebook, and now I am going to share one with you. 

I think this man encompasses Gatsby’s struggle of being stuck in the class you start in. In America, we like to believe in the “American Dream” narrative. That classic rags-to-riches story, where all you need is some hard work, perseverance, and a little bit of luck to succeed in life. As convenient as this story may be, I think that this may be an optimistic and naïve mindset. Instead, I think this man represents the American struggle of not being “taken seriously” when you come from a lower social class. We all want to think we can be anything we want to be, but in reality, does it all come down to whom you know instead of what you know?

Gatsby vs Gatsby vs Kane

           In my American Studies class we watched Citizen Kane instead of The Great Gatsby after we finished reading Gatsby. My teacher told us that he believed that Citizen Kane would be the movie that Fitzgerald would have made to represent his book. If I’m being honest, I had my doubts that Citizen Kane could be a better depiction of The Great Gatsby than the actual movie for the obvious reason that there is not Gatsby in Citizen Kane.

            That’s why I decided to watch The Great Gatsby and make up my mind for myself. I decided to watch the 2013 version of the movie and I have to say that I was a little disappointed since I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I can’t say the same about the movie.

            My first issue was how the white motif that often surrounded the upper class was portrayed in the film. In one of the first scenes we see Jordan in Daisy engulfed in these flowing white curtains that seemed to throw the white theme in your face. Even though subtlety was completely ignored in this scene, I found the lack of emphasis on certain parts of the book to be alarming.

            One scene that was completely eliminated was the whole elevator scene that implied Nick’s affair with Mr. McKee. In my opinion, that scene was crucial to understanding Nick as a character and why he acts the way he is, thus making it that much harder to connect with him. In addition to that, most of the characters were very exaggerated and I found them hard to relate to as well.

            All that being said, I’m not sure I necessarily believe that Citizen Kane is a better depiction of Gatsby than Gatsby. I think that the extravagant parties and Daisy’s murmur make Gatsby what it is, and without the character and the plot no movie can rival in representing a book than it’s actual adaptation. However, if you’re looking for a movie to show the struggle, emotions, and themes of a man trying to gain a place in high-society coming from nothing, Citizen Kane is the way to go.

Take It From Me

I officially turned in my junior theme today, which was a relief to say the least. Having gone through this process, I am going to write my tips for surviving the junior theme, or any other research paper for that matter.

1. Get as much research as you can.

There's no such thing as too much research when it comes to writing an inquiry paper. I found that the more I read, the more comfortable I felt when writing my paper. This was because it helped me to actually feel like I knew what I was talking about, and not just trying to fill space.

2. If you are given time in the library, use it.

If I'm being honest, I was not 100% focused every single day in the library. We would have days when we spent the full 80 minute block period in the library and after about an hour, I would start to get distracted. I didn't realize until after these days were over just how much of a gift they were. You have your teacher, librarians, and classmates to bounce ideas off of so by all means, take advantage of it.

3.  Choose your topic very carefully.

If you're spending a month on a singe question, or prompt if that's what your assignment is, you are most definitely going to want to be really interested whatever your topic is. I understand that sometimes this is going to be assigned, but if it's not, then you should find something you are passionate about because it will only make your paper stronger in the long-run.

4. Do not put off your annotated bibliography.

The annotated bibliography may not be the most exciting or glamorous part of writing your paper, but it can become time consuming. If you struggle citing sources like me, then you are going to want to have time to ask your librarians or other experts all of your questions. Not to mention for a large paper you are going to have a lot of sources and if you have to write a short paragraph for each then you are going to have to be realistic in how much time this will actually take.

5. Breathe.

Try not to stress out too much. Yes, this is a big paper. Yes, you should work your hardest. But no, it is not worth making yourself crazy. It's just a research paper so don't give it the power t o ruin your life.

Reacting To Abuse

In my religion inquiry, I stumbled across a frightening case that just recently occurred right here in Chicago. I'm referring to the court case regarding the sexual abuse allegations on priest Daniel McCormick. The anonymous victim, or John Doe, was abused from eighth grade until he was junior in high school, or from 2001-2005. For the ten claims made by Doe, there was a 3.15 million dollar settlement made after five years of deliberation. In my opinion, money can't make up for the emotional trauma that would ensue from a trusted mentor, priest, and teacher preying on you and violating your rights and trust. 

Unfortunately, this was not some rare, isolated event. In fact, in January of this year a group of lawyers released about 6,000 pages of reports of sexual abuse involving 30 other priests. In fact, in a personal interview with Bradley Malkovsky, religion professor at Notre Dame, he pointed to these sexual scandals as a cause for the loss of following. This seems like a very realistic allegation considering no parent would want to put his or her child in the dangerous and harmful position that John Doe was stuck in for many of his teenage years. 

Rise in Suppport, Decline in Practice

            For my Junior Theme, I am exploring the decline in religion among the millennial generation. One answer to this question I have learned about is that the millennial generation supports gay and lesbian rights more than any other generation that has come before it. According to a study from the Public Religion Research Institute, thanks to the millennials, 2011 is the first time in history that supporting gay marriage was not a minority position. This group is also the most unaffiliated group religiously for their age, at 25 percent unaffiliated (Pew Research Center).

            This connection between religion and gay rights is a pressing one in today’s news. Mississippi just passed a “religious freedom” law, which allows business owners to use their religion as a legal defense in a court of law if sued by a costumer. This means that if a customer was refused service or harshly treated for their sexual orientation, that said business owner could defend himself in saying it was because their religion doesn’t support gay rights.

            I believe that this type of disdain towards gay rights that is often connected to religion has caused there to be a decline in practice of religion with this younger generation. This is because if people now accept those around them the way they are, they don’t want their religious institutions to say that it’s not okay to be the that way. Obviously this is not a direct connection because not all religious institutions are against gay rights, but the fact that the support for gay rights rises as the practice in religion declines, I think it’s safe to say that there is a correlation.

What's to Come

For those of you who have read my blog before, you know that there's not exactly a theme for what I blog about. It's pretty much just whatever's on my mind or some random current event I stumble upon. Well, I'm just posting to tell you all that things are about to change.

My American Studies class just started a paper called junior theme (basically just a big research paper with a fancy name at New Trier). Our assignment was to ask a why question about a current issue in the world and then write an inquiry about it. So, with that being said, my why question is why is there a decline in the practice of religion among the millennial generation?

In my next several blog posts I will be exploring possible answers to this question. These topics include the increase in support for the gay community, scientific advancements, being scared off by religious extreme groups, and for varying opinions on social issues such as abortion. This is not every answer to this question that I will be looking in to, just a few I've stumbled upon thus far. So if any of you have any possible answers you would like me to explore, leave me a comment!

Feminist ≠ Bra Burning

Are you a feminist?

If you answered no to that question then you are not alone. Only 20 percent of people identify themselves as feminists (23 percent of women and 16 percent of men). However, when asked if men and women should have equal rights, 82 percent believe that they should. The definition of feminism, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is "the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes." So my question is, why aren’t those two statistics I just mentioned identical?

This is because there is such a stigma to the word “feminist”. Considering only 26 percent of the population thinks of this word with a positive connotation, there must me some pretty powerful misconceptions about what it means to be a feminist. It’s no secret that celebrities hold a lot of weight in the minds of today’s society, so let’s take a look at why some famous females say they’re not feminists.

  

Lady Gaga: I'm not a feminist - I, I hail men, I love men. I celebrate American male culture, and beer, and bars and muscle cars....

Marissa Meyer: I don't think that I would consider myself a feminist. I don't, I think have, sort of, the militant drive and the sort of, the chip on the shoulder that sometimes comes with that

 

           Kelly Clarkson: No, I wouldn't say feminist — that's too strong. I think when people hear feminist, it's like, 'Get out of my way, I don't need anyone.' I love that I'm being taken care of.

          

         Geri Halliwell: For me feminism is bra-burning lesbianism. It's very unglamorous.

 

Just by looking at these four statements, being a feminist means not loving men, being “militant” and self-righteous, being all by yourself and never letting anyone take care of you, and being a bra-burning lesbian. I think it’s clear why so many people are hesitating to call themselves feminists: because they have absolutely no idea what this word means. To combat this ignorance, McGill University started a Feminist Campaign showing images of Americans saying they are feminists.

I think that this is a common problem in America, not wanted to be associated with something just because you don’t understand it or are afraid of the connotation. Just look at a few of the examples from the McGill Campaign, there's no one type of person who's a feminist. So next time you hear the word feminist, it doesn’t mean you have to go set your bra on fire just to be a part of this movement. And it’s also not saying that men should never hold the door for a woman because they want to be independent and can’t have help from anyone. Instead, whether you’re a man or a woman, whoever gets to the door first should hold it for the person behind them.

Shout-out to Izzy D and Trish for the chat about feminism today that inspired this blog post.