Lovely Literature

"Through this twilight universe, Daisy began to move again with the season; suddenly she was again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men, and drowsing asleep at dawn with the beads and chiffon of an evening dress tangled among dying orchids on the flood beside her bed." (151) The motif and symbol of death resounds in this work but in a subtle way for the most part until the end of the novel. This quote is embedded in the story that covers the majority of chapter 8 when Gatsby tells Nick more of his life story, focusing on the times when he met Daisy and was trying to keep her to himself. This quote tells when Daisy began to stop waiting for Gatsby because he was still poor, he was at Oxford for a few months, and apparently she cannot wait for her "true love" for six months to get back home. She began to drift back into her old habits and eventually found Tom Buchanan to marry. She told Gatsby in a letter while he was still at Oxford, and that one of the reasons she was marrying Tom was because he was somewhat of high stature in society and he was wealthy enough to keep her secure and give her what ever she wants. Back to the symbol of death, this quote speaks of the dying orchids on the floor when she fell asleep. The orchids are a reminder of the short-lived "loves" that she had that came and went as quickly as the flowers bloomed and died in her household. I feel like Daisy never really had "love" with any of these men, not even Tom nor Gatsby because she could never be satisfied. In the end, Gatsby, her longest standing orchid, died too without so much as her showing up to give her condolences.

There's no doubt in my mind that war changes people. It scars and scares them for life, leaving them with visions of death and decay.

In this novel, Mary Anne Bell changed. "At the girl's throat was a necklace of human tongues," [page 105]. If anyone tries to say that she didn't change from the All-American girl to the warrior girl, I will argue vehemently with you. Maybe she didn't actually change on the inside because she could have always had this rebellious side just waiting to come out, but she certainly changed her outer appearance and the way that came off to other people.

Tim O'Brien changed from little Timmy who was still in love with a nine-year-old Linda to a man who was capable of murder and capable of inflicting pain on another. "It's a hard thing to admit, even to myself, but I was capable of evil. I wanted to hurt Bobby Jorgenson the way he'd hurt me," [page 191]. It amazes me how much a person can actually change. Here is this man who was about to run for the border because he was scared to enlist, and then not long after he thirsts to hurt a man to make things even. Scary how humanity works.

War changes people from boys to men, girls to women. It makes people think about death daily. About saving their own skin. About getting home to their families and the girls and boys they love. I can legitimately say that I hate war. But I love learning about it. Kind of sick, right? Maybe I just like learning about people's mistakes and seeing how they spiral forward in history.

The point of this is that I've been thinking about the motif of this book quite a lot. Superstition and "what is the moral?" have been hanging around my head, as well as death, which is always a motif when it comes to a war story. The biggest motif though is change. These men change their lives and the lives of the Vietnam citizens by simply being present. Funny thing with change though is that it is a constant, but whether or not it is for the best is to be determined.