Success

American success is largely based on material success. The “American Dream” is the belief that anyone who works hard enough can eventually achieve financial success regardless of their background. The problem with such a narrow and materialistic definition of success is that it comes with many negative side effects. Even though Gatsby has achieved material success, he still emits a "strained counterfeit of perfect ease"(91), which shows that it wealth has not solved his problems. People become so obsessed with the materialistic things in life that they forget what really matters. According to Charles Derber, many of the values embraced by our society “suggest that success and happiness depend on procuring monetary wealth”. People are willing to buy cars and houses which they will spend years trying to pay off just to create this illusion of success. Many are willing to spend hours in line for good deals on Thanksgiving Day instead of spending time with their families. If we instill in ourselves that success means wealth then we will never be satisfied. Unless you are Bill Gates, there will always be someone richer than you and therefore you will never be content. The definition of success should be redefined to not only contain wealth, but also happiness and satisfaction because without these life is meaningless.

Deception Exists Today

“The History Teacher” by Billy Collins presents a serious dilemma in our society. In an attempt to “protect his students’ innocence”, the teacher fabricates many crucial events in human history. This is the teacher’s way of coping with the horrific truths in the past. Even though his intentions are pure, his way of teaching is not only deceptive but also fails to work. The fact that the children “torment the weak, and the smart” is ironic because while the deception was meant to protect their innocence, it has in fact corrupted them. The “smart” students are bullied because these students would represent knowledge and truth in a classroom of ignorance and lies.

One might expect lies in education to be limited to a work of fiction, but the truth is that deception occurs in schools even today. The second largest school district in Colorado attempted to alter the AP American history curriculum to “promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system.” (Washington Post) The proponents of change argue that removing the material about “civil disorder, social strife, or disregard of the law”(Washington Post) would also limit these things in our society.  This is very similar to the history teacher; both are attempting to fix problems through lies and both will fail. 

Punctuation Rules

Even though many things on Earth are rapidly changing and developing, there are certain things that should remain constant. People have begun to neglect certain elements of punctuation but this alteration is harming to the English language. Following established guidelines of punctuation enables a writer to convey tone effectively and for the reader to interpret the meaning correctly. Changing the current rules of punctuation would create unnecessary confusion in the literary world. The meanings of the various marks would be interpreted differently by each reader. The established rules have given a certain connotation to each punctuation mark. For example, colons "give you the feeling of being rather ordered around" and semicolons "tell you that there is still some question preceding the full sentence" (Source D). So while the people who would like to alter the rules might argue that social media sites, such as Twitter, force writers to be "concise and less flowery"(Source E), they fail to acknowledge the fact that punctuation can not only do the same thing, but also do it more efficiently. It can remove the need for "flowery" language while maintaining the intended meaning.

Beautiful Passage

“Their conversation is like a gently wicked dance: sound meets sound, curtsies, shimmies, and retires. Another sound enters but is upstaged by still another: the two circle each other and stop. Sometimes their words move in lofty spirals; other times they take strident leaps, and all of it is punctuated with warm-pulsed laughter- like the throb of a heart made of jelly. The edge, the curl, the thrust of their emotions is always clear to Frieda and me. We do not, cannot, know the meanings of all their words, for we are nine and ten years old. So we watch their faces, their hands, their feet, and listen for truth in timbre.” 

The above passage is one of the most beautiful in the entire book. The children are describing the conversation of adults as they see it. Morrison packs the passage with personification and imagery which gives insight to the imaginative minds of children. Instead of being spoken, the words “move in lofty spirals” and “take strident leaps”. This kind of personification is beautiful because it shows the innocence present in children. Several similes are also used in the passage to add literary beauty to it. The “conversation is like a gently wicked dance” and the laughter “like the throb of a heart made of jelly”. These comparisons make the passage more beautiful as well as reveal the mindset of children. The kids are so inexperienced in life that they compare things as simple as conversation and laughter to things they can relate with. This makes the fate of Pecola and the beatings of children even more difficult to understand. The diction used in the passage gives a gentle and moving feel to it. Words such as “lofty spirals” and “strident leaps” all add to this scenic and beautiful feel. 

There is No True Evil

There are many people that society has labeled as evil or just bad. Because they have done certain bad things, we think they are horrible people. What we fail to recognize, however, is that everything has a reason. There is a reason these people turned out the way they did and did the things they did.

This is clearly expressed in many of the characters in The Bluest Eye. In the prologue, Morrison states she doesn’t want to “dehumanize” the characters, even the ones that oppress others. This is why almost every single character in the novel has a redeeming back-story. Cholly Breedlove was humiliated by white men when he was younger. Finding no other way to release his anger, he chose to hurt women. Pauline Breedlove suffered loneliness due to her abnormal foot; she didn’t feel like she belonged anywhere.

The reasons for doing evil, however, do not justify the action. Even the worst of people, such as Hitler and Stalin, have reasons for what they did but it does not make it okay for them to do so.