Michael's Blog

To start this blog I would just like to say that reading and writing cursive was never my strong point, so this is pretty close to translation work for me. At that, I think these types of journals are beyond interesting. To be able to read the inner scribbles of a man like Whitman can reveal a lot about him. Especially as we see him writing about Lincoln, a man he idolized. The first thing I noticed was the "notes for a presidential elect" note. I liked to think that Whitman was thinking to himself the advice he would ever give Lincoln if he was to meet him. You can also see what looks like "dialogue between Mr. W and "president elect"". I also like the way he either stops short of finishing his sentences or marking some out, it shows us a poet elevated to an almost deity-like position made to be more human and fallible. In reading the notes on these pages, I learned that Whitman wasn't himself an artist and it was more likely that a drinking buddy o...

The American dream is hard to pin down to a T because it is such a constantly changing thing. I would describe the American dream as the white picket fence, and the "atomic family". In the view of the general public, maybe not so much. But I truly think the American dream is what Fitzgerald described in TGG, the ability to never worry about how much you have or what you're spending. A life of squalor for the gain of looking good. I think it could be argued that it ties closely with American values of freedom and self-determination because of how much freedom a seemingly unlimited amount of money provides a person. Over time, the American dream has changed greatly as we can see both from our own experience, our parent's experiences, and literature and history. I would also say from my maternal grandfather being "fresh off the boat" so to say, I got a very different view of what he thought the American dream was and how that was shown to me. I know that has i...

Big fat freebie. Sorry Mrs. G.