"Indifferent Proximity?"
"Did you ever see an amusement park?"
"No, Father."
"Well, go and see an amusement park." The priest waved his hand vaguely. "It's like a fair, only much more glittering. Go to one at night and stand a little way off from it in a dark place- under dark trees. You'll see a big wheel made of lights turning in the air, and a long slide shooting boats down into the water. A band playing somewhere, and a smell of peanuts-and everything will twinkle. But it won't remind you of anything you see. It will all just hang out there in the night like a colored balloon-like a big yellow lantern on a pole." Father Schwartz frowned as he suddenely thought of something. "But don't get up close," he warned Rudolph, " because if you do you'll only feel the heat and the sweat and the life."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, from Absolution
What does the aformentioned passage imply about the "American Dream", and what is your reaction to this possible modernist (pgs. 523-536 in Am. Lit. text) commentary? Please comment and incorporate specific references to lines from the passage, Winter Dreams, and The Great Gatsby. (Due By 2:30p.m. On Friday, April. 11th.)
"No, Father."
"Well, go and see an amusement park." The priest waved his hand vaguely. "It's like a fair, only much more glittering. Go to one at night and stand a little way off from it in a dark place- under dark trees. You'll see a big wheel made of lights turning in the air, and a long slide shooting boats down into the water. A band playing somewhere, and a smell of peanuts-and everything will twinkle. But it won't remind you of anything you see. It will all just hang out there in the night like a colored balloon-like a big yellow lantern on a pole." Father Schwartz frowned as he suddenely thought of something. "But don't get up close," he warned Rudolph, " because if you do you'll only feel the heat and the sweat and the life."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, from Absolution
What does the aformentioned passage imply about the "American Dream", and what is your reaction to this possible modernist (pgs. 523-536 in Am. Lit. text) commentary? Please comment and incorporate specific references to lines from the passage, Winter Dreams, and The Great Gatsby. (Due By 2:30p.m. On Friday, April. 11th.)
posted by Greg T at Friday, April 11, 2014
26 Comments:
It implies that it not worth taking the risk to see what is actually going on. I disagree it is always worth the risk and you need to always risk it for the biscuit because once you do, you'll discover how good the biscuit really is. Nick makes some risky choices trying to get to know Gatsby and Gatsby takes some risky decisions trying to get the love of his life back inviting strangers to his parties and not knowing what they are going to do such as steal anything or do anything that could harm others but he takes that risk because he hopes that one day the love of his life will walk through those big golden doors of his and he can get her in his arms again.
The passage implied that lights and sounds may be appealing from a distance but that up close its all just noise and heat. "But don't get up close," he warned Rudolph, " because if you do you'll only feel the heat and the sweat and the life." The passage relates the American Dream to a facade, a farce. The American Dream sounds good on paper, and looks good in the media, but when you become a part of it, you see it for the monster it truly is.
This quote shows how the American Dream isn't all it seems to be. A lot of people immigrate to America in hopes of becoming something bigger and better than what they already have, and a lot of them are disappointed to see that it's not all it's cracked up to be. It reminds me of the movie Clueless, where the main character says a girl is "a full-on monet", which means from far away, she's beautiful, but up close, "She's just a big ol' mess". That's kind of how the American Dream is, and it's also kind of what this quote is saying. Whether you're talking about an amusement park, or the American dream, from far away it seems nice, and you like the idea of it, but when it gets down to it, it's not as good as it seemed, just like Dexter's relationship with Judy. The idea seemed nice, and at first it was cool, but eventually the emotional trauma Judy was putting Dexter through wasn't worth it.
This is like the american dream in the sense that the American Dream is more of an illusion that cannot ever be fully satisfied. The American Dream isn't as real as many say it to be, like a glittering idea. But when you reach towards the glittering object, it fades and you experience the pain and suffering and the actualaily of the Dream. This is like the Great Gatsby because of Gatsby's outward appearence. With his lavish partieis and his extravigant clothing and material wealth, he appears to be a very full man. But once you get up close to him, it begins to fade, and you can see the emptyness in him. He is empty in that he has no substance, he is all flash, missing important qualities that every other person has, like love.
Its implying that the American Dream may seem great and so fun when looking at it from afar, but it isn't so great when you really focus on the little details. To achieve the American dream, it requires a lot of hard work, stress, and unnecessary troubles. My reaction is that things may seem nice when you don't look at them closely, but when you see the bad side of them they aren't very interesting or great. Everything has a bad side whether people believe it or not and thats when it makes things appear less great than they originally thought.
In life you have that one thing that always looks so wonderful and almost perfect, But when you get up close you could be let down, but you could also be enlightened and it be what you thought. And if your told its not great and not get too close the decision is really on you and weather your willing to take the risk. Something good may come out of it. It also depends on how much time and effort you spend on this thing and weather its worth it to you. Value is important but not money value its how much something means to you and what you will do to try or maintain something.
I think the main thing that this quote is saying is that sometimes things can look great from far away but as soon as you get up close your snapped back into the reality of life. Like in the Great Gatsby how he was wanting to be with Daisy for so many years and he went to extreme lengths to be with her. Then when he finally was with her it was a nightmare and there were so many things that he had not accounted for, and that was just like the amusement park because you see it from far away and it looks amazing. Then when you get up close you notice all the trash and mad people and all the lines and you realize it's not what you thought it would be.
The quote is pretty representative of the American Dream. It shows that there is always something to push you and lead you toward something else. In the passage it describes this amazing place that people desire to be in and enjoy all of the sights and sounds of the amusement park but the characters can only watch. It describes our goals in modern life as something we can only reach out to but once we get finally make contact with them negative things will happen.
I feel like this passage tries to tell us that things might look great and they might look like a lot of fun but there is always a risk to what your wanting to do. Like he says in the quote "But don't get up close" "because if you do you'll only feel the heat and the sweat and the life." This is the risk that that person has to take.
When you look at something such as a dream from the outside or a distance, that dream can look magnificent, but when you start living the dream that you have only seen from the distance you get a new look from the inside and you begin to see and feel things that you would have never even thought about from the outside. Every dream will have its down side, but does the upside make it worth it?
The passage comes off as almost dark and pessimistic about life. It explains how when you're struggling or in the dark, the other side looks so appealing. It appears to be everything you could ever want and the key to your life and happiness. You see other people in it and you want to be there too. However, sometimes it's just as bad as being in the dark. Things don't work out, and the glittering lifestyle isn't all that it's worked up to be. All your goals and dreams might not be worth the life you imagined. This relates a lot to The Great Gatsby. Gatsby sees Daisy and his life with Daisy to be his only purpose in life. He only has eyes for what his golden future with her might hold. Often she disappointed him. It had nothing to do with how Daisy was, but more to do with how he imagined and planned their lives to be. In the end, his golden dream didn't turn out to be golden at all. His purpose and vision for what his life was supposed to be had diminished, leaving him with almost no purpose at all. This passage to me is a caution, reminding you to not be so hungry for a lifestyle that appears to be glittering; it often is just a mirage.
It relates to the American dream because we all have big dreams and hopes for our futures and we have high expectations for life but sometimes our dreams don't work out as planned and once we get closer to our dream becoming a reality its not as great as we thought it would be. The quote is some what eye opening but a bit depressing at the same time. I say its eye opening because it is true, we are still young and haven't experienced many things yet and we have ideas of how things will be but its not always how we make it up to be, and that's just a part of life not learning and growing. Its a bit depressing because you get all excited and hopeful for your dreams to become reality but they don't always turn out right and could be rather disappointing instead of exactly how we wanted it to be.
I believe the passage speaks volumes about the ideal idea of the American Dream. Although the American Dream is different for everyone, this passage has a way of generalizing a dream that anybody may have, and putting an amusement park in its place. Everyone can relate to this piece, because I believe everyone has at one point in their lives has been the one looking on the amusement park from the outside, and has also been looking at the amusement park within. Both perspectives are dangerously different, and has great symbolism pertaining to one of your dreams, or even the idea of the American Dream. What the passage says to me is that when you have a dream, and you're chasing after it, you start getting all these pictures in your head of how your life will be once you finally reach your dream. Similarly, if you were never able to go to an amusement park, and you always thought it looked like so much fun, and you saw people around being happy to go, however you were just standing on the outside, I think there are few other things that would matter at a time like that other than getting into that amusement park somehow. In contrast, when you finally fulfill your dream or reach your goal that you've been honing after for so long and you're finally inside the amusement park, chances are that the images that you've created inside your head will not match up to the actual experience. Sometimes your mental picture vs. reality is harshly different, and sometimes it's different in a good way or a bad way. I think the most important thing to take away from this passage would be to always have a dream that's like your amusement park. And when you reach your goals, and you're finally standing inside the amusement park, that's when you realize it might not have been about reaching your dream or how much better your life would finally be once you got there, it's about the journey and the experiences you gain on your way. I think that's why it's so important to keep finding new dreams, to keep chasing after something. That's the ultimate dream.
“Indifferent Proximity” is a very interesting piece. While beating around the bush it is basically saying that if you have some type of dream or fantasy be careful. Something may seem to be spectacular and magical from a distance but when you get closer to that fantasy some of the magic wears off. I think this is true in some aspects but I completely agree with it. I think it is necessary to go to the fair. Even though it may be prettier from far away than it is up close and the ferris wheel isn't as fun as you wanted it to be, you will never know until you try. Once you walk into the fair you take a risk. You take the risk that either the fair will exceed all expectations and completely blow you away, or that the fair will be terrible and you rather of been at home or somewhere else. You have to take that risk if you want the reward but if your happy with what you have, dont go to the fair.
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This passage implies that the "American Dream" is not all it's seemed to be. I feel like the American dream is inspired by many short term goals that lead up to the end result. But you make so many goals for yourself and as they get more and more difficult, the end result may be almost impossible to reach. This relates to the passage because you have an image in your mind of how you want everything to go and in the end the result cannot be exactly like you imagine. No matter how much time you have spend fantasizing about that certain situation.
I think this quote is referring to the American dream by stating that the grass is always green on the other side. What I mean is that there is always something that appears to be better out there, like the carnival, but then when you get closer you realize it Grundy and not worth it, but you signed up for the ride. It says that you won’t realize how nice what you have is until you no longer have it. Then you wish you could go back sometimes and there will be those times you can’t, so be grateful for what you have.
I think this passage by F. Scott Fitzgerald applies to the American dream because it shows that you can decide wither you want to be involved in a certain thing or not. You can choose to go along with everybody else or you can choose to do your own thing. I also think the part in this passage where it says "don’t get up close, because you’ll feel the heat and the sweat and the life." is talking about how life can get really hard sometimes, but you can always work through it.
The aforementioned displayed in Scott F Fitzgerald passage, displays the American dream in many ways. The passage is basically describing a dreamy, fun filled night that most people would probably want to have once in a while, you can relate this back to the Gatsby in many ways as well, For example Mr. Gatsby is described his dream lady (daisy) throughout the whole novel and both are examples are showing how people are living the dream by enjoying life to the fullest
This passage uses an amusement park as an example, because roller coasters look fun from a distance, but once you get on it you're stuck there. You become dizzy and have no control of when the ride stops. This is a good example of life, because people are always looking in on someone or something thinking that it is perfect and happy there. In reality though, it may not be. Once you get in that group of people or "on that ride", there is no getting off. Even if it is bad.The father in this story is trying to explain to his son that he should just observe it, and know that there really is nothing good once you're on that ride.
The aforementioned conveyed in Scott F Fitzgerald's passage relates to the American Dream in several ways. To me the passage depicted life. Fitzgerald uses an amusement park to symbol life. When one looks at life as a whole,"You'll see a big wheel made of lights turning in the air, and a long slide shooting boats down into the water. A band playing somewhere, and a smell of peanuts-and everything will twinkle"(Fitzgerald). But he says to not get close because when you do you will see how tough and ruthless life truly is. He's saying that life's journey is not an easy one and is different for everyone. But if you persevere and overcome adversity the ending result is a beautiful twinkling amusement park.
The aforementioned passage by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a great representation of the American dream in a couple of ways. He mentions that the amusement park is has far more "glitter". As does the American dream when one first thinks of where he or she wants to be and do in life. It all seems so easy and obtainable until we get closer and realize hoe much hard work it takes and sacrifices one must make to make their dream possible. The slide shooting out the boats is similar to the many trying to see their dream through but is cut short and is thrown out. But just because as the closer we get to our dream the more we realize how rough and tough it can be doesn't mean we should quit. If our dream is that valuable to us then we should do our best to see it through to the end no matter what.
It implies that dreams may seem beautiful from a distance but when you get closer to the dream or goal, everything starts to fade away. "But don't get up close," he warned Rudolph, " because if you do you'll only feel the heat and the sweat and the life." You notice the imperfections and what it will take to achieve those goals. The anticipation is almost always better than the outcome.
The story talks about how it truly is not worth the risk, that from an outside perspective it may seem to be all nice and appealing, but that when you get in closer things are not what they appeared to be. This relates to the American Dream, because when your thinking about it, it might be appear to be dandy, but when you begin to pursue it, it is not as grand as you might have imagined. This quote relates the American Dream to a facade.
When I think about this passage from Absolution by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I think about how nothing is ever as it seems. This is also an occurring theme in the American Dream. While we think life is all fun and games and that success is obtainable through the flick of the wrist, life is in fact not an amusement park and it's not everything we want it to be. Life doesn't play by our rules. We play by life's rules. We a just mere pieces in the huge game of life trying to go through the many obstacles to obtain the "American Dream"
This passage directly relates to the american dream, we can sit and dream our entire lives, but ultimately I've never met a person that was truly happy after they accomplished there dream, they usually end up somewhere completely different than what they imagined in life which provides happiness. It's crazy to think about wasting our time dreaming but its not a waste in my eyes.
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