American literature - semináře - zápisy

Past:

• Nick Carraway says that the future is always receding in front of us, and that we're forever beaten back towards the past. Is the future attainable in The Great Gatsby? Or, to put it another way, can it ever be tomorrow? -

• Nick tells Gatsby that "you can't repeat the past," but he insists at the end that we're constantly "borne back" into it. Did he change his mind, or are these two different ways of saying the same thing?

• Is the past remembered realistically? Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan alike think nostalgically about the past, but are they ever able to confront reality?

• Is Gatsby driven by his memory of the past or his dream for the future? Is there a difference?

• What are Nick's visions of his own future?

Gender:

• How does class affect the expectations for male and female behavior?

• What is "work life" like for men of Tom's class, Nick's class, and George Wilson's class?

• How do men treat women in The Great Gatsby? How does Tom treat his wife Daisy and his mistress Myrtle? How does Nick treat Jordan? How does Gatsby treat Daisy? How does George Wilson treat his wife Myrtle? And how does the way that a man treats a woman comment on his character in this text?

• How do women behave at Gatsby's parties? Is this behavior "normal" or induced by alcohol?

• Does Daisy represent the "ideal woman" of the upper class? Why or why not?

• What do women want from men in The Great Gatsby? Is it different for different women? What do men want from women?

Wealth:

• In The Great Gatsby, what role does wealth play in people's life expectations? Could Gatsby have achieved his childhood goals without wealth? That is, did he really care about the money, or just about the things?

• Does money bring happiness in The Great Gatsby, destroy happiness, or have no effect?

• What does Gatsby mean when he says that Daisy's voice is "full of money?" Does he mean this negatively? Why does Nick agree with him? Does this comment say more about Daisy or Gatsby?

14. 11. 2018

Major minorities in the US

• Dominant group – a group of people who have more power in a society than any of the subordinate groups

• Ethnicity – shared culture, which may include heritage, language, religion, and more

• Minority group – any group of people who are singled out from the others for differential and unequal treatment

• Subordination

• In 1990s – major minority groups:

  • African-American

  • Native Americans = indigenous people = first nations = Alaskan

  • Hispanics

  • Asian, Pacific Islands

• Scapegoat theory – a theory that suggests that the dominant group will displace its unfocused aggression onto a subordinate group

• Social construction of race – the school of thought that race is not biologically identifiables

• Subordinate group – a group of people who have less power than the dominant group

• Minority – a culturally, ethnically, or racially distinct group that coexists with but is subordinate to a more dominant group. As the term is used in the social sciences, this subordinancy is the chief defining characteristic of a minority group