Aristotle vs. Plato

By: Ben Jones, Gabriella Elliott, Savanna Pettet, and Shyam Patel

*This blog post includes the questions we researched and answered about Aristotle and Plato. The questions and answers also go along with the interview video.

Aristotle

1. What were Aristotle's personal beliefs?
   - He believed that all people desired happiness but happiness was only achieved when a person used his/her intellectual abilities to their full power.
   www.westerncultureglobal.org
   
2. What was Aristotle's view on literature?
   -He believed that literature is determined by our qualites/character and that these basic combinations of traits show in the actions at critical moments.
   
3. What was Aristotle's philosophy?
   -He believed that understanding the material in reality can be achieved by properly identifying the essential traits of the materials and distinguishing these traits.
   www.historyforkids.org
   

Plato

1. What were Plato's personal beliefs?
   -Plato, like Aristotle, believed that all people desired happiness in some way; however, he believed happiness was the result of a healthy soul.
   www.oregonstate.edu
   
2. What was Plato's view on literature?
   -He believes that it is difficult to put theorys and ideas in words, but readers will understand them after long thought, discussion, and questioning.
   www.gap-system.org
   
3. What was Plato's philosophy?
   -He believed the nature and destiny of a man has an individual soul chained to a material body and that the metaphysics ultimate reality is spiritual in nature.
   www.cals.ncsu.edu

Aristotle vs. Plato

Mark Antony's Speech about Julius Caesar

Read the following funeral speech from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. What does it say about Caesar? What was his "flaw" that is repeated constantly? Is it a flaw? How does the speaker feel about him? How does he compare to Gatsby?

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar ... The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it ...
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
(For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men)
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral ...
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man….
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason…. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

Figurative Language Chapters 8-9

Vocabular Chapters 8-9

Chapter Eight Summary Quiz

Summarize chapter eight in 6-10 sentences.

Justin Courtney and Ariana

(Daisy)- "Maybe it just sags, like a heavy load." -because she dont know who to choose between gatsby and tom.


(Tom)- "stinks like rotten meat"- Because he only thinks about his self when it comes to happiness.

(Gatsby)- "Or fester like a sore, and then run?"-Even though it hurts that he dont have daisy he just keeps going.

(Nick)- "Explodes"- gets uptight about daisy and gatsby's situation.

Nikki, Zandy, Jessica, Shyam and Ruby.

1.) Gatsby- Festers like a sore and then run. His dream hurts him for years and just continues to hurt like a sore and is renewed every time he looks at daisy like walking on a sore

2.) Daisey- Explode. daisy sees all her dreams explode around her, with the two men she cares about realizing about each other

3.) Tom- Stink like rotten meat. tom had what he wanted but his jealousy stinks and ruins those around him.

4.) Myrtle- Crusts and sugar over like a syrupy treat. her dreams are built on good intentions but to much of a good thing will ruin

5.) Nick- dries like a raisin in the sun. he watches his dreams shrivel up and die slowly through the whole chapter

 <--- (:

Death of the American dream. Ben D., David Sedano, Kyle Pedley, Anthony Bristow, Heidi Duarte

Gatsby- "Does it explode"
In that room in New York all of Gatsby's dreams exploded when Daisy could not say she loved him the whole time.

Daisy-"Or does it crust over like a sugary sweet?

Tom- "Does it stink like rotten meat?"

Tom stinks like rotten meet because he is buff and strong, but you dont want to be around him because of his arrogance.







Nick- "Maybe it just sags like a heavy load"
Nick's dream is like a heavy load because he not only has to deal with his own lost dreams but also with everyone else's since he was stuck in the center of all the other character's problems.

Myrtle- "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?"

. Myrtle is dried up also because she was killed by a car and dried up.

Myrtle is tom's mistress, she is deciveing, crupt, and vain. Myrtle is very self absorb in her actions when she purchases a items or when speaking her lanuage used is very vulgar and she seems to not care about anyones needs but her own.

Natalie Watts, Kenneth Hill, Hunter Smith, Ben Jones, Stephanie Watson

Gatsby: Or does it explode? His whole love life is slowly dying. He has been turned down by Daisy the love of his life.

Myrtle: Does it stink like rotten meat? She is dead and once someone is dead or the meat is rotten there is no going back to change anything.

Tom: Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? The reason that tom is compared to a dried up raisin

Nick: Maybe it just sags like a heavy load?

Daisy: Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet?

Conner, Quatey, Tyler, Brenden

Tom: Crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet because his dream of moving out west with Daisy hasn't happened.

Mrtyle: Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun. Myrtle was hit by a car and her dream was to move. The fact that she died, she doesn't get fullfilled.

Nick: Dries like a raisin in the sun because he watches slowly as his dreams shift away

Gatsby: I would say that Gatsby's Dream stinks like rotten meat because he knows that Tom and Daisy may yet still be in love. Daisy couldn't even say that she never loved Tom

Daisy: To have a good, happy life.

"Sugar Coated" Confused but not Disoriented

Kayla, Crystal, Deneshia, & Rachel

Daisy: "Or fester like a sore-- and run?" Her dream is to have a happy and normal life with Tom. Her dream is a sore because, she keeps trying to have that life with Tom but the love affairs with Myrtle causes her pain.

Tom: "Crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?" His dream was to move out west with Daisy and his daughter. He wants this dream but he gets caught up in sticky situations that prevent him from achieving his dream.

Myrtle: "Or does it explode?" Her dream was to move, however since she died she couldn't achieve this dream.

Gatsby: "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" His dream was to get Daisy back into his arms. As the days pass though it seems unlikely that he will win her back

.

Nick: "Maybe it just sags like a heavy load" His dream was to get a bond business. However his father only promised to give him money for a year so Tom has to look for a job to keep living and keep up his college work.

Death of the American Dream

"A Dream Deferred"
by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

Read the poem. What is the poet saying about dreams that are never fulfilled or realized? Apply this poem to the American Dreams of the characters in The Great Gatsby. Which one of these similes ("like....") applies best to each character's dream in the novel? Detail and explain why. Analyze the characters: 

1. Gatsby   2. Daisy    3. Tom     4. Myrtle    5. George Wilson   6. Nick

Individually, make a keynote for each simile in the poem for the character who you think it applies to.

Figurative Language Chapter 7

Vocab Chapter 7

The American Dream Today

Is the American Dream still possible today? Currently, protestors in "Occupy Wall Street" are fighting for what they believe is their rights to the American Dream. Is their cause right? Do they have the right idea of our Forefathers' intention for the American Dream?

Read the articles from the links below and comment on whether you believe the American Dream is still possible today.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-ford/the-american-dream-politi_b_1010153.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/occupy-wall-street-ows-the-american-dream-20/2011/10/13/gIQAiANbhL_blog.html

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/17/3212325/killing-the-american-dream-with.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-sipprelle/where-is-my-american-drea_b_1024171.html

http://www.universalsports.com/news-blogs/article/newsid=562962.html

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/kingwood/opinion/generation-no-longer-understands-meaning-of-american-dream/article_d410a786-bcf9-559b-8e42-5a9819254697.html

http://www.tctimes.com/news/living-the-american-dream/article_8494081c-fc5c-11e0-a6bd-001cc4c002e0.html

Figurative Language Chapter Six

Vocabulary Chapter Six

Figurative Language Chapter 5

Vocabulary Chapter 5