Urban Anti-Hero

Tuesday

Introduction to Gin Jazz and Jay Gatsby

A “how to” approach to Humanities

-“Tug on anything at all and you'll find it connected to everything else in the universe.” - John Muir

-“Once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places, if you look at it right.” - Jerry Garcia

•Discuss the following film clip:

Wednesday

Intro to Humanities Skills

Reading

Tips for Reading Analysis

You need to understand every word in a text before you can begin to interpret its meaning. If you do not understand a word, look it up. That alone will improve your SAT Verbal score.

What is the surface meaning?

What is the deeper meaning?

Pay close attention to the title of a work. It will give you clues as to what the work is about.

Pay attention to anything peculiar.

Take note of lines that connect on a theme.

“Closer to the Heart”- Rush

And the men who hold high places

Must be the ones who start

To mould a new reality

Closer to the Heart

The Blacksmith and the Artist

Reflect it in their art

Forge their creativity

Closer to the Heart

Yeah, it's closer to the Heart

Philosophers and Ploughmen

Each must know his part

To sow a new mentality

Closer to the Heart

Yeah, it's closer to the Heart

You can be the Captain and

I will draw the Chart

Sailing into destiny

Closer to the Heart

“To His Coy Mistress” - Andrew Marvell

HAD we but world enough, and time,

This coyness, Lady, were no crime

We would sit down and think which way

To walk and pass our long love's day.

Thou by the Indian Ganges' side

Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide

Of Humber would complain. I would

Love you ten years before the Flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews.

My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires, and more slow;

An hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;

Two hundred to adore each breast,

But thirty thousand to the rest;

An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart.

For, Lady, you deserve this state,

Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear

Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found,

Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

My echoing song: then worms shall try

That long preserved virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust:

The grave 's a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapt power.

Let us roll all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball,

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Thorough the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

Visual Literacy

The Four Step Process

1.Description – This involves taking inventory of what is in the work: the forms, the shapes, colors, people, buildings, and so on, and the technical means employed-how the work was built up in its medium. The viewer should label these elements with words and phrases. Value judgments should be kept out of this category.

2.Formal Analysis- This involves looking at the way the elements are organized and seeking out the logic of their organization. How is the work structured and why is it structured that way? Avoid interpretation in this stage.

3.Interpretation- This involves analyzing the meaning of the work. What does it aim to communicate? What is its message if any? What themes does it deal with? Do not make value judgments here.

4.Judgment- This is a matter of appraising the aesthetic merit of a work relative to other comparable works. Is it mediocre, a masterpiece, strong in this way and weak in that? How does it stack up? Note that the aim is to assess quality, not personal preference for instance, it’s perfectly possible to like a work you know is mediocre, because it shows, for example, a familiar scene from your home town. In calling for judgment, do not include preferences, but appraise the quality of the work.

Tips for Analyzing a Visual Text

•Go back to something that surprised you. Ask: Why did the artist do that? Just to be provocative? Was there a message? How does it fit into the whole work?

•Go back to something that interested you, a sense of motion in a painting depicting a still scene, an emotion powerfully expressed, anything. Ask: How did the artist get the effect? And why-how does it contribute to the whole work?

•Look for something that puzzles you about the work. Try to unravel the puzzle.

•Make mental changes. What if you changed a color, a material, removed an object? Use your thumb or hand to mask objects and to explore how this changes the work’s impact.

•Look for “reinforcement” across the work, ways that the artist handles things in one part to strengthen another part or an overall effect.

•Look for technical features of the work: the handling of color, form, line, composition, the way the layout of the work controls the motion of your eye around the work. Probe how the work functions as a mechanism to engage your vision and thinking.

•Compare the work with another you know that relates in some way-by the same artist, or from the same period, or concerning the same topic. What are some similarities and contrasts? And why are they there; what do they imply?

Brueghel - Landscape

Tips for Film Analysis:

Take an inventory of each shot. What do you see in the background? Look for something meaningful.

Think about the shot. What is the camera doing? Why? Why does the director want you to see this scene from this angle, and in this manner?

Special effects. What are they and what is the purpose?

Script. What is being said? How are we to interpret this?

Music. Why this particular song? Pay attention to the lyrics of the song. How do they connect to the film’s subject matter?

Written Analysis

Essay on opening scene from “Apocalypse Now”

Take note of the SPECIFIC examples that the writer alludes to, and how he uses them to support his thesis.

Notice that there is no “reporting” or recapitulation of the entire scene. He assumes that you are an educated audience, and that you have experience with the subject matter.

Note the structure of the essay.

Homework- Read the following:

How did Victorian morality change American societal conventions?

-Social Darwinism and Victorian Morality

“The aspect of Victorianism that is perhaps most familiar is the divide between the private and public spheres. The Victorians cherished the home and the family as cornerstones of respectability, physical and social environments where the individual found solace from the vicissitudes of daily life. Women had a special role in maintaining home and family, and thus assumed a position as moral guardian. In this sense, Victorian women enjoyed a degree of influence. Women also assumed influence in the wider role through their work for various humanitarian and reform causes. That said, Victorianism dictated strict gender roles. Individuals, and especially women, were generally ignorant of their sexuality, and women furthermore were divorced from power because they had few legally recognized ownership rights. The "cult of domesticity" was as much a hindrance as a source of self-pride.”

-Capital with Cultural Capital and the Middle Class

“Manners are of more importance than laws. Upon them, in a great measure the laws depend. The law touches us but here and there, and now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. They give their whole form and colour to our lives. According to their quality, they aid morals, they supply them, or they totally destroy them.” - Edmund Burke

-Cult of Domesticity

Read The Cult of Domesticity and True Womanhood - The Gibson Girl

What are the ideals of womanhood?

What “rights” do women have? What does this say about the woman’s “place” in society?

Thursday

Introduction to F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The Great American Dreamer”- Why did they choose this title for the documentary?

“Early Success” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The uncertainties of 1919 were over - there seemed

little doubt about what was going to happen - America was going on the greatest, gaudiest spree in history and there was going to be plenty to tell about it. The whole golden boom was in the air - its splendid generosities, its outrageous corruptions and the tortuous death struggle of the old America in prohibition. All the stories that came into my head had a touch of disaster in them — the lovely young creatures in my novels went to ruin, the diamond mountains of my short stories blew up, my millionaires were as beautiful and damned as Thomas Hardy's peasants. In life these things hadn't happened yet, but I was pretty sure living wasn't the reckless, careless business -these people thought — this generation just younger than me. For my point of vantage was the dividing line between the two generations, and there I sat — somewhat self-consciously.”

20th Century American Modernism Characteristics

The “Dividing Line Between two Generations” - The Victorian Generation

The 400

Aided by the social arbiter Ward McAllister, whose life work was the codification and maintenance of the rules of social intercourse, Lina Astor attempted to codify proper behavior and etiquette, which had formerly been a lingua franca among the city's Establishment, as well as determine who was acceptable among the arrivistes for an increasingly heterogeneous city. McAllister once stated that, amongst the vastly rich families of Gilded Age New York, there were only 400 people who could be counted as members of Fashionable Society. He did not, as is commonly written, arrive at this number based on the limitations of Mrs. Astor's New York City ballroom. (McAllister, an Astor cousin by marriage, referred to her as the "Mystic Rose".) Her husband's lack of interest, not only in the social whirl but in Lina herself and their marriage, did not stop but instead fueled her burgeoning social activities, which increased in intensity as her children grew older.

Mrs. Astor was the foremost authority on the Aristocracy of New York in the late nineteenth century. She held ornate and elaborate parties for herself and other members of the elite New York socialite crowd. None was permitted to attend these gatherings without an official calling card from Mrs. Astor herself. Mrs. Astor's social groups were dominated by strong-willed aristocratic females. These social gatherings were dependent on overly conspicuous luxury and publicity. Moreso than the gatherings themselves, importance was highly placed upon the group as the upper-crust of New York's elite. Mrs. Astor and her ladies therefore represented the Aristocratic, or the Old Money, whereas the newly wealthy Vanderbilt family would establish a new wave of New Money. [1]

Mrs. Vanderbilt, as a new member of socialite New York through the copious amounts of money that her family had earned rather than inherited, represented a type of wealth that was abhorrent to Mrs. Astor and her group. For this reason, Mrs. Astor was reluctant to call upon the Vanderbilt girls. As retaliation, Mrs. Vanderbilt, upon the opening of 660 Fifth, invited all members of blue-blooded New York society, except Mrs. Astor and her daughter, Carrie. Carrie, having looked so forward to the event, had had a costume designed weeks in advance, which matched that of several of her friends, who had been invited. Mrs. Astor, being slighted, therefore had no choice but to deliver a calling card to the Vanderbilts to secure her daughter's place at the ball, and to keep herself from being humiliated in not being invited to the event of the year. [2]

In 1883, however, Caroline Astor was forced to formally socially acknowledge Alva Vanderbilt, the first wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt, thereby providing the Vanderbilts, the greatest "new" fortune in New York, entrance into the highest rungs of society. An oft-repeated New York legend has it that Alva Vanderbilt had planned an elaborate costume ball with entertainments given by young society figures for her housewarming, but at the last minute notified young Caroline Astor (Lina's youngest daughter) that she could not participate, because Mrs. Astor had never formally called on Mrs. Vanderbilt. More likely, Mrs. Astor had noted the rising social profile of the Vanderbilt family, led by Alva and Willie, and viewing them as useful allies in her efforts to keep New York society exclusive had called formally on the Vanderbilts prior to Alva's lavish ball which Mrs. Astor herself attended. The Vanderbilts were subsequently invited to Mrs. Astor's annual ball, a formal acknowledgement of their full acceptance into the upper echelon of New York society.

John Singer Sargent
Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler
1893

The Ideal Victorian Woman

-The Gibson Girl

The Gibson Girl was the personification of a feminine ideal as portrayed in the satirical pen and ink illustrated stories created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United States.

She was tall, slender yet with ample bosom, hips and bottom in the S-curve torso shape achieved by wearing a swan-bill corset. Her neck was thin and her hair piled high upon her head in the contemporary bouffant, pompadour, and chignon (“waterfall of curls”) fashions. The tall, narrow-waisted ideal feminine figure was portrayed as multi-faceted, at ease and fashionable. Gibson depicted her as an equal and sometimes teasing companion to men.

Many models posed for Gibson Girl-style illustrations, including Gibson’s wife, Irene Langhorne (who may have been the original model, and was a sister of Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor) and Evelyn Nesbit. The most famous Gibson Girl was probably the Belgian-American stage actress, Camille Clifford, whose high coiffure and long, elegant gowns wrapped around her hourglass figure and tightly corseted wasp waist defined the style.

The Gibson Girl personified beauty, limited independence, personal fulfillment (she was depicted attending college and vying for a good mate, but she was never depicted as part of a suffrage march), and American national prestige. By the outbreak of World War I, changing fashions caused the Gibson Girl to lose favor. Women of the World War I era favored a practical, more masculine suit, compatible with war work, over the elegant dresses, bustle gowns, shirtwaists, and terraced, shorter skirts favored by the Gibson Girl.

Madonna and the Unattainable Victorian/Medieval Ideal

The Victorian Mother

“Victorian mothers were put under tremendous pressures and expectations when it came to mothering their children. Prior to this time, mothers raised their children based on what felt natural and instinctive. Moving into the mid-nineteenth century, however, mothers were expected to follow conduct and medical books for wives, mothers, and newborns, as well as use new products on the market for mother and baby. The duties that were placed upon the woman were "to maintain and develop the child’s complete physical, mental, and spiritual health, pretty much without the help of the father" (McKnight 2). Mothers took care of domestic matters and their children, while men were free to concentrate on work and public affairs (Shiman 35). Motherhood, thereby, had came to be a skill that had to be learned rather than acquired by observing other women who had been mothers.”

Homework- Read the following and answer the questions in preparation for a discussion:

Flapper Jane

A Flapper’s Appeal to Parents

- What, according to the flapper, do parents need to understand about the younger generation? Be specific.

- How did the author of "Flapper Jane" regard the "flap" over flappers?

- How does the flapper controversy help us understand the 1920s?

Friday

Journal Entry- Respond to the following quote:

"By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment has long since passed which determined the future."
- Zelda Fitzgerald

Essential Question: How does tradition become a worrisome fetter?

“Known as the "Era of First Youth Rebellion", the 1920s was a decade of risk and rebellion (Bowen, 1969). Teenagers forgot about their modesty and plunged into habits they once never dared to touch. Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald commented of the ‘20s, "The uncertainties of the 1919 were over. America was going on the greatest, gaudiest spree in history. Frequent smoking and heavy drinking became a part of a typical teen’s everyday life. The Prohibition Act was passed intended to stop this uproar, but instead brought out the rebellious spirit of the age and sparked a stronger desire for alcohol. Since they could not purchase alcohol legally, Americans went out and bought materials to make their very own alcohol at home. Illegal sale of alcohol, "bootlegging", was also very popular. Cigarettes were advertised widely during this decade, and the American Tobacco Co. even came up with non-fattening cigarettes. Targeted for women, ads came up with "Try a Lucky (cigarette), instead of a sweet!" The increasing popularity of cigarettes and alcohol added to the rowdiness of teens.”

The Flapper

“Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. Flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual manner, smoking, driving automobiles and otherwise flouting social and sexual norms.[1]

Flappers had their origins in the period of Liberalism, social and political turbulence and increased transatlantic cultural exchange that followed the end of the First World War, as well as the export of American jazz culture to Europe.”

"I don't want to live. I want to love first, and live incidentally."
- Zelda Fitzgerald

My candle burns at both ends;

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—

It gives a lovely light!

Edna St. Vincent Millay, “First Fig,” from A Few Figs from Thistles

“Today women are on the whole much more individual. They possess as strong

likes and dislikes as men. They live more and more on the plane of social

equality with men . . . [and] there is more enjoyable companionship and real

friendship between men and women.”

Margaret Sanger, quoted in A More Perfect Union

-- "Tea for Two" from "No, No, Nanette" by Vincent Youmans

Flappers are we
Flappers are we
Flappers and fly and free.
Never too slow
All on the go
Petting parties with the smarties.
Dizzy with dangerous glee
Puritans knock us
Because the way we're clad.
Preachers all mock us
Because we're not bad.
Most flippant young flappers are we!

- On the other hand, Dorothy Parker wrote:

The Playful flapper here we see,
The fairest of the fair.
She's not what Grandma used to be,
-- You might say, au contraire.

Her girlish ways may make a stir,
Her manners cause a scene,
But there is no more harm in her
Than in a submarine.

She nightly knocks for many a goal
The usual dancing men.
Her speed is great, but her control Is something else again.
All spotlights focus on her pranks.
All tongues her prowess herald.
For which she well may render thanks
To God and Scott Fitzgerald.

Her golden rule is plain enough -
Just get them young and treat them rough.

Homework- Read “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” and answer the following questions:

“Bernice Bobs Her Hair” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

When the story opens, why does Warren dance with Bernice?

When does Bernice learn what Marjorie and her friends think of her?

What agreement do Marjorie and Bernice make?

WHen Bernice asks Charley Paulson for advice about bobbing her hair, what reason does she give him for considering it?

Although Marjorie pretends to her crowd that she is indifferent to Warren’s sudden interest in Bernice, what does she tell Bernice?

After snipping Marjorie’s braids, what does Bernice do with them?

Monday

Journal Entry- The Ivory soap advertisement below states that, “Youth has taken the artificiality out of American taste.” What does this say about the Victorian era and the transition that America has made?

Discuss “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”

-Describe Bernice’s transformation.
-What specific examples do you see of the erosion of Victorian morality? Why and how are women changing?
-How do the changes in fashion mirror the changes in morality?

Homework- Read “Head and Shoulders”- Fitzgerald pg. 3-24 and answer the following questions:

-How are Marcia and Horace different?
-What is Marcia’s profession and how much does she make per week?
-What is Horace’s profession, and how much does he make per week?
-What professional changes do they make in their careers and why? How is this a sign of the times?
-What is ironic about the end of the story?

Tuesday

Journal Entry- Who is the head of your household and why?

Read the following link about Women in the 1920’s

-What factors lead to women leaving the home to find work?
-Use facts and statistics to prove that women are entering the work force.

Discussion: How is “Head and Shoulders” a sign of the times?

Wednesday

Essay Writing Lesson

-Essay Structure
-Intro Paragraph
-Thesis Statement
-The Conclusion

Thursday

In-class Essay: How do F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Bernice Bob’s Her Hair” and “Head and Shoulders” show the cultural transition from the Gibson Girl and the Victorian ideal to the “modern woman” and the flapper.

Homework - Read the “The Cruise of the Rolling Junk” - F. Scott Fitzgerald (Analysis)

The Automobile- The Vehicle for Cultural Change

Friday

Essential Question: How do technological advancements lead to social/cultural change in America?

Discussion: What did you do on your first day when you an officially licensed driver?

There was no greater symbol of the 1920's than the automobile. The impressive leather coaching and customized interiors radiated luxury and prosperity. The relative ease of operation and reliability meant freedom. Beneath their hoods many of the cars exhibited impressively large engines, delivering speed and excitement.

The automobile was arguably the most important catalyst for social change in the 1920's, liberating Americans from often restrictive home or neighborhood situations. Many women used the cars to save time in their daily domestic chores -- in turn giving them more free time, in which they could educate themselves, or find a job. The younger generations loved the car as an escape from the chaperones. A juvenile court judge criticized the auto as a "house of prostitution on wheels," due to the relatively large quantity of "inappropriate" sex occurring in the car. Businessmen, possessing a faster, more personal form of transportation, could live farther from the city and subway stops. Consequently the suburb lifestyle began in places like Queens and the Bronx. Rural Americans loved the car as a ride to town and the social circles.

Automobiles had existed before the Twenties, but were expensive, unreliable, and generally only toys for the rich. What made the auto so influential in the 1920's was its increased availability and dependability. Scientific management and the assembly line increased factory productivity and decreased cost, making the auto more affordable. By 1930 every 1.3 households owned a car, versus 44 households in 1910. Henry Ford was largely responsible for this movement, pioneering efficient production methods and striving to produce a reliable and practical car for the masses. His legendary Model-T, produced between 1913 and 1927, was sold as low as $290 (+-$2,900 today). Its successor, the Model-A, sold for as little as $460 ($4,600). There was a movement in America to make Henry Ford president.

However, there was also a large high-priced auto market. The Coolidge Prosperity fueled the prices of such monsters as the Locomobile Model 48, for $13,000($130,000), and the 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom, selling between $17-18,000(180,000). These luxurious cars undoubtedly functioned as status symbols, transporting the occupants in a style that cannot be found today.

Car advertisements of the 1920’s - What do the following advertisements convey about the automobile? What, in addition to the car, are they “selling”?

“By the mid 1920s the typical American town was in full sexual bloom. The change came with erotic fashions, literature and movies, and an unsuspected sexual aid, the automobile.”

Car Crash Statistics 1923-25

Driving in New York 1928

Funny 1920’s Taxi Skit

Homework- Read pages 182-200 in “Diamond as Big as the Ritz”.

Old vs. New Money

-Astor vs. Vanderbilt
-West Egg vs East Egg

Diamond As Big as the Ritz Discussion:

- Read about Croesus. What connections can you make between the legend of Croesus and “Diamond as Big as the Ritz”?

-Is there a question of morality when someone accumulates this much wealth? Is it questioned in this story?
-Explain the following quote: “He had lost his way when riding in the hills, and after a day without food he began to grow hungry. As he was without his rifle, he was forced to pursue a squirrel, and, in the course of the pursuit, he noticed that it was carrying something shiny in its mouth. Just before it vanished into its hole--for Providence did not intend that this squirrel should alleviate his hunger--it dropped its burden” (192).

- Look at the definition of Providence below. Why does Fitzgerald mention “Providence”, and what is significant about this?

“Providence in general, or foresight, is a function of the virtue of prudence, and may be defined as the practical reason, adapting means to an end. As applied to God, Providence is God Himself considered in that act by which in His wisdom He so orders all events within the universe that the end for which it was created may be realized. That end is that all creatures should manifest the glory of God, and in particular that man should glorify Him, recognizing in nature the work of His hand, serving Him in obedience and love, and thereby attaining to the full development of his nature and to eternal happiness in God. The universe is a system of real beings created by God and directed by Him to this supreme end, the concurrence of God being necessary for all natural operations, whether of things animate or inanimate, and still more so for operations of the supernatural order. God preserves the universe in being; He acts in and with every creature in each and all its activities. In spite of sin, which is due to the wilful perversion of human liberty, acting with the concurrence, but contrary to the purpose and intention of God and in spite of evil which is the consequence of sin, He directs all, even evil and sin itself, to the final end for which the universe was created. All these operations on God's part, with the exception of creation, are attributed in Catholic theology to Divine Providence.”

-Compare the following passages:

“It is youth's felicity as well as its insufficiency that it can never live in the present, but must always be measuring up the day against its own radiantly imagined future--flowers and gold, girls and stars, they are only prefigurations and prophecies of that incomparable, unattainable young dream” (195).

“Everybody's youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness” (216).

-What can we deduce from the following Fitzgerald quote about his experience with the wealthy?

“That was always my experience—a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school; a poor boy in a rich man's club at Princeton.... However, I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works."
—F. Scott Fitzgerald

-Make connections to the following quotes:

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money of their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made" (Gatsby).

“Stunned with the horror of this revelation, John sat there open-mouthed, feeling the nerves of his body twitter like so many sparrows perched upon his spinal column.

"Now, I've told you, and I shouldn't have," she said, calming suddenly and drying her dark blue eyes.

"Do you mean to say that your father had them murdered before they left?"

She nodded.

"In August usually--or early in September. It's only natural for us to get all the pleasure out of them that we can first."

"How abdominable! How--why, I must be going crazy! Did you really admit that--" (204).

DAY 2

History of Big Business vs. The Government