Great Gatsby Ch. 8-9

(1) "As a matter of fact, he had no such facilities — he had no comfortable family standing behind him, and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere about the world."

(2) "All night the saxophones wailed the hopeless comment of the Beale Street Blues. while a hundred pairs of golden and silver slippers shuffled the shining dust."

(3) "His pride in his son and in his son’s possessions was continually increasing and now he had something to show me."

(4) "Gatsby’s house was still empty when I left — the grass on his lawn had grown as long as mine."

(5) "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Great Gatsby Chapters 6-7 week 2.2

Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke College

(Indent) The author's argument that people should give up trying to be perfect and be them self is valid in that no one will achieve perfection. No matter how much one may try, humans are hardwired with imperfections, and always will be. Expecting a human to be perfect is like expecting a tree not to shed its leaves, as long as the tree is healthy it will shed its leaves. The tree will consistently shed its leaves, just as humans will consistently be imperfect.

(Indent) To those in society, the word imperfection has a negative connotation. The reason to this is that humans consistently want to be perfect instead of accepting their imperfections and being them self. This further leads to disappointments, or "black holes." The entire human race is weighed down by these disappointments. Those who do not accept the disappointments are labeled to be narcissistic because they believe that they are perfect. In either sense, narcissism or disappoint, humans are doomed to being imperfect because humans seek to be perfect.

(Indent) Very few understand that it is impossible to be perfect and accept themselves as they are. Those few are the lucky among all people, for they no longer feel the need to satisfy the perfectionist needs of themselves or others and they no longer waste their time in that pointless effort. If all humans were able to do such a task as simply accepting themselves as they are and acting based on their personalities then the human race as a whole will be happier and more peaceful.

(Indent) Unfortunately, just as it is impossible to expect humans to be imperfect, it is impossible to expect all humans to accept their imperfections. Some of those in society are doomed to constantly feel the need to be perfect. Just another thing that needs to be accepted. Some strive to be perfect and others accept imperfection. No matter how much effort is put forth into overcoming this hard wiring in the human brain, it will ultimately be programmed into our very thoughts and souls.

(Indent) In my own experience, perfection was seen and imitated among those close to me. These people were just imitating it though. Perfection is unachievable. No matter how much one chases after it, it will always be unachievable. Chasing after the eradication of this imperfection is the ultimate imperfection. If imperfection was taken from humans, then no longer may we call ourselves human. The word itself denotes imperfection.

(Indent) If one seeks utopia and imperfection, they will never find it. It will be chased after and never found. The only thing a human may seek after is to lift the burden from their shoulders known as perfection. In my life, acceptance of imperfection has been met. Just as this writing has flaws, so does every human. These flaws may be forever sought after, but the idea of perfection will forever be unachievable. In this life, the only thing one can hope for is to be perfectly imperfect, to have flaws and strengths, to have mistakes and successes, to have a sense of being human.