Jay Parini Essays

  • The Possessive - Empty Nest

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    quiet chirps of little hungry baby blue-jays. The little blue-jays chirp until the mother blue-jay returns with food . Afterwards, one attempts to fly and fall out of the nest. The mother blue-jay then quickly swoops down and catches the little one before he hits the ground. The baby jay can always depend on his mother when he needs her, but she knows that one day he will no longer rely on her. On that day, instead of plummeting to his death, the young blue-jay will spread his wings and fly away. He

  • Comparing Gravity's Rainbow and Vineland

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    "A screaming comes across the sky," which describes a V-2 rocket on its lethal mission, finds a way into Pynchon's latest work, albeit transformed: "Desmond was out on the porch, hanging around his dish, which was always empty because of the blue jays who came screaming down out of the redwoods and carried off the food in it piece by piece." One passage describes war. Another tells of birds stealing dog food. The change in scope is huge, but misleading. Some readers may scoff at first at Pynchon's

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Character Analysis of Daisy, Gatsby, and Nick in The Great Gatsby

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nick Carraway shows many important values throughout the novel, one of them portraying friendship. Nick is a very loyal and trustworthy friend in this novel. Nick Carraway is Jay Gatsby’s closest and only companion. Nick said, “I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited—they went there” (Fitzgerald 45). Gatsby did not have friends that appreciated him enough to comprehend his inner being (Fitzgerald

  • Relationships in James Agee's A Death in the Family

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Family (1938) by James Agee, a family has to use these advantages in order to make it through a very difficult time. During the middle of one night in 1915, the husband, Jay, and his wife, Mary, receive a phone call saying that Jay's father is dying. Ralph, the person who called, is Jay's brother, and he happens to be drunk. Jay doesn't know if he can trust Ralph in saying that their father is dying, but he doesn't want to take the chance of never seeing his father again, so he decides to go see

  • John Jays Hammond JR.

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    John Hays Hammond, JR. John Hammond was one of the greatest electrical and mechanical inventors of his time. The things he invented during his lifetime impacted history a great deal. According to John Pettibone, John Hays Hammond, Jr. was born in 1888 in San Francisco, California (Pettibone 1). Most of his life Hammond was known as Jack. He was the second son and namesake of a world-famous mining engineer, who was the friend, confidant, and almost running mate of William Howard Taft. Jack’s father

  • Vanity In The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    For the love of Money, People will steal from their brothers, For the love of money, People will rob their own mothers… People who don’t have money Don’t let money change you… -- The O’Jays After reading "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg," by Mark Twain, the (above) song "For The Love of Money," by the r&b singing group The O’Jays resounded fervently in my head. The song’s ongoing message of the ill affects money can have on a person almost parallels that of Twain’s brilliant story

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Character Analysis of Daisy, Gatsby, and Nick in The Great Gatsby

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    her arrogant, cruel, and unmannered husband, she will remain wealthy and taken care of for the rest of her life by staying married to him. Works Cited Baker, Charles R. "F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby." American Writers Classics. Ed. Jay Parini. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 109-124. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Adobe Reader. PDF. Goldsmith, Meredith. "White Skin, White Mask: Passing, Posing, and Performing

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Life, Narrator, and Criticism in The Great Gatsby

    911 Words  | 2 Pages

    This is a book called “The Great Gatsby.” A lot of affairs, sex, and violence happens in this book. We will meet traitors and best friends will even betray each other. Some girls in this book are also a deceiving. In The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald has explored three separate themes: his own life, narrator Nick Carraway, and literary criticism. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald has explored three separate themes: his own life, narrator Nick Carraway, and literary criticism. Back then

  • F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

    1667 Words  | 4 Pages

    In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald analyzes three main characters, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Nick Carraway. The Great Gatsby is a story about finding out who people really are and how far they will go to protect their secrets from spilling to everyone. The Great Gatsby is like a story of our time, we have the rich and the poor towns, we have people who cheat on their spouses, and lastly, we have racism towards different cultures and races (Schreier). Many ironic events take place throughout the

  • Affairs, Nick, and Gatsby in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nick is the narrative reader in The Great Gatsby. Gatz was a poor person that changes his name to Gatsby. Tom was a cheater and was unfaithful to Daisy. Daisy was a flirt and rich. Myrtle is a poor women that lived over her and her husband’s garage shop. Myrtle would let Tom push her around because he was a rich man that would let Myrtle forget that she was poor. “She never loved you, do you hear he cried. She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me (Fitzgerald 139)”

  • Gatsby, Nick, Daisy in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

    1598 Words  | 4 Pages

    unhappy marriage, but is content until she meets Gatsby again. Gatsby and Nick each love Daisy in different ways and want to see her happy. However, despite their best efforts, the three characters all part ways, and there is no happy ending for them. Jay Gatsby is the main character in The Great Gatsby. He is the mysterious character that the story revolves around. Nick is his neighbor that gets invited to Gatsby’s party that set in on Gatsby being a mysterious person that has so many people talking

  • An Analysys of The Great Gatsby

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald was a romantic and creative man. His work for his novel, The Great Gatsby, was like no other novel ever written at that time (Tolmatchoff). Fitzgerald mad The Great Gatsby not only a romantic and mind blowing novel, but an allusion (Hays). The Great Gatsby was different and this is what made Fitzgerald a beautiful, soulful, and illusionist for his work (Tolmatchoff). In The Great Gatsby , Fitzgerald had involved affairs, lots of parties, and murders in the novel. The Great

  • Tricks and Lies in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1704 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Gatsby is a book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the year 1925. It is set in a fictional town of West Egg, in the summer of 1922. Throughout the book, Fitzgerald describes Gatsby, Nick, Tom, and Daisy. He describes Gatsby in a sense of being mysterious because of a shady past. Then there is Nick who plays the most important role of the book, and is the narrator of the story. Fitzgerald also describes Tom and Daisy as the couple who just cannot seem to get it right. The Great Gatsby is

  • Jays Treaty

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    power whatever; such in that time will be its popularity, wealth and resources," stated by George Washington in response to demonstrators over the Jay Treaty. 1 Washington's remark was regarding the public's uproar following the release of information on the status of the discord with Great Britain. The people had just been informed of the contents of the Jay Treaty which were: 1) Britain agreed to give up the fur posts in American territory, 2) Britain also agreed to submit to arbitration the questions

  • Blue Jays Feeding Habits

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    All About Blue Jays Blue jays live on the edges of forests. They are also found in parts of cities, as well as oak trees. Sometimes people see them in the woods. You can see some in cities. Most Blue jays are in parks. Blue jays aren't the only jays out there. For example, the Stellers jay has less white in his wings. His head and chest are black with darker under parts. A Scrub-jay's crest and wings are solid blue, and its tail is white, black and barring. Blue jays usually build their nests

  • The Undeniable Influence of Kanye West

    1461 Words  | 3 Pages

    new style of introspective lyrics and soul-inspired rap production in the mainstream. When West first showed up (late 90s and early 2000s), the world was a different place. Fans of the genre were most likely listening to gangster-rap, artists like: Jay Z, Notorious B.I.G, 50 Cent, Tupac, Ice Cube, Eazy E, N.W.A, Wu-Tang, Nate Dogg, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg (Best Gangsta Rappers), the kind of music that dominated mainstream rap at the time. Rappers and fans of rap were mostly in a gangster-influenced

  • Nick’s Implied Feelings for Gatsby

    1351 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Gatsby is a story set in the 1920’s, also known as the jazz age. It was published in 1925. In the 1920’s, new things were happening: women were becoming more liberated, there were many parties, and dating was more casual. The author Fitzgerald was also familiar with homosexuality even though it was illegal during that time (Froehlich; Heying). In the novel, Nick tells the story of a man named Gatsby, who was in love with his neighbor, Daisy. One of The Great Gatsby’s themes is love. In

  • Antagonists Live in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    While F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel "The Great Gatsby" encapsulates the spirit, excitement, and violence of ‘the Jazz Age’ and Robert Browning’s poem "My Last Duchess" reveals the political, social and domestic power wielded by Ferrara (the Duke), it is apparent by juxtaposing the characters of Tom Buchanan and Ferrara that even decades apart there has been very negligible changes in the behaviour of men in a patriarchal society. Despite the fact that Tom and Ferrara are from different time, they share

  • Bad Choices in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1582 Words  | 4 Pages

    tragic outcome. A Street Car Named Desire featured Blanche; Blanche spent her whole life trying to get some attentions. Death of a Salesman featured Willy; Willy spent his whole life trying to apply the idea “Be Well Liked.” The Great Gatsby featured Jay Gatsby; Gatsby spent his whole life trying to win back Daisy. All of those characters ended with tragic outcome. Blanche was sent to asylum by her own sister. Willy committed suicide after felt humiliated by his sons. Gatsby was murdered with a gunshot

  • American Dream in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    how the American dream of “hard work, determination, and devotion” was deteriorating because society had become greedy and materialistic. In addition, moral values were in decline and that was illustrated by Tom Buchannan and his affair with Myrtle, Jay Gatsby and his illegal bootlegging business, and Daisy Buchannan and her affair with Gatsby. Tom Buchannan, a major antagonist in The Great Gatsby, contributes greatly to the decline of the Franklin’s America. Rather than working hard and achieving