The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald - my thoughts

         “The Great Gatsby”…  One of those glorious stories that creates so many thoughts in your head! I believe I’ve experienced the full range of feelings while reading it. Intrigue, admiration, fondness, excitement, sympathy, shame, anger and frustration…  I  am telling about MY perception of the book..

          But the point is that the genius Fitzgerald’s language makes the story understandable and close to all of us. Everyone sees in it something or other. You know like in a colored flower field someone marks blue blossoms, when another notices only yellow ones…

         And yet for me it is about a poor boy then a young man who was so blind and ridden by his ambition (not love!) to be a part of high society that was struggling for it until the very last breath. He remained a poor boy, wasn’t be able to understand why with all his wealth and popularity and glitter all’s gone wrong? Even Daisy, his love, his affection behaved not in a way he was expecting it.  To tell you the truth I hated this silly and careless girl at the end, the end that became so sad for Gatsby…  I felt pity for him, pity mixed with annoyance because of his failure to sort out life priorities!

         Without any doubts the novel will be being discussed on different levels for many decaded. Though it narrates about the society of 1920s, it hasn't lost its relevance until now...

        Here is a curious article by Rosa Inocencio Smith who compares Tom Buchanan (a "bad guy" and Daisy's husband) with D.Trump how-the-great-gatsby-explains-trump 

        And what do you think?

P.S. The edition of “The Great Gatsby” I got from my dear friend Lara contains three precious additions: General Editor James L. W. West III’s note on the text, Eleanor Lanahan’s (Fitzgerald’s granddaughter) foreword and an introduction by two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward. All three things give a full insight into the story and its history!

True Memories of a Great Writer

I'm absolutely sure there is no such a person on Earth who doesn't know Jack London... You might read one of his impressive novels: "The Call of the Wild" or "White Fang". Or you might watch the movies based on his stories. You might just be 'forced' to learn his works while you were studying at school... One way or another you heard of him at least once. 

He was a bright star. A man who always tried to do something to change his life for better. He failed and started again and went on. Anyone could envy of his hardworking nature and perseverance. But today not just about him. Today I would like to share with you my impressions and thoughts after reading London's relatively unknown autobiographical novel "John Barleycorn". 

It stroke me... London didn't just tell us something, didn't describe some events. The book isn't just his memories. But he made me feel his joy and pain, understand his intentions and think about his inner turmoil...

The main character in the novel is alcohol. Sounds weird, doesn't it? But only think how this substance affects the way of life of some of us.  And it is not about the very liquid, but about people's behaviour after contact with it. I can judge about this because I live in the country where the whole nation can't drink in a decent way.. I think there is no family where they wouldn't have suffered from that calamity. Even among my relatives I have (unfortunately already had) a young man who had stopped breathing just because was deadly poisoned by alcohol... Murders, accidents, car crashes, suicides, toxications happen every week under alcohol's affection. People get mad, make their loved ones' life unbearable and lose their own...

London explains what causes them to begin, to make the first gulp and carry on. He explains every small detail: every physical sense and every thought. He tells who was beside him and how they provoked him and why he wasn't be able to say "No".  He undergoes all this and shares it with us. He tries to alert the whole society!

"...The way to stop war is to stop it. The way to stop drinking is to stop it... Treat John Barleycorn like tuberculosis germs. Don't let him lie around, licensed and legal, to pounce upon our youth. Not of alcoholics nor for alcoholics do I write, but for our youth, for those who possess no more than the adventure-stings and the genial predespositions, the social man-impulses, which are twisted all awry by our barbarian civilisation which feeds them poison on all the corners. It is the healthy, normal boys, now born or being born, for whom I write..."

Jack London, John Barleycorn, 1913

This book should be the part of all educational programs by literature. My conviction is it could help avoid a lot of serious problems in somebody's life... 

P.S. I give my endless gratitude for this book to my friend Lara! Without you I would never know about this novel...

ADVANTAGES OF TEACHING

               

               Наверное в тысячный раз утверждаю: у меня лучшая профессия на земле... Почти каждый день эта мысль витает у меня в голове.. И, поверьте, неспроста! 

            Мне очень повезло преподавать английский язык в необычном учебном заведении. В то время как в общеобразовательных школах учителям приходится из года в год "кружиться" в основах грамматики и лексики (кто-то меня хорошо поймет: Present Simple, Present Continuous, My Family, London is the capital of Great Britain...), мне доводится иметь дело с особым английским! Ведь мои ребята изучают в нашем техникуме настоящие и реальные профессии: технолог продукции общественного питания, химического производства, сварочного производства, организатор грузовых перевозок и т.д. Как следует из учебной программы английский язык для таких профессий должен быть специфическим. Что я и стараюсь делать...

                  Конечно, сказать об этом довольно просто, но на деле все совсем не так. Я не являюсь специалистом ни в одной из перечисленных профессий и не владею их терминологией даже на родном языке! Теперь можете представить, насколько тщательно мне приходится готовиться к занятиям. Ведь прежде чем чему-то научить студентов - ты должен владеть этим сам и на очень высоком уровне. Иногда необходимо прибегать к помощи технических словарей или просматривать видео с подробным объяснением какого-либо процесса или явления... В общем, зачастую голова просто "взрывается" от потока новой и непростой информации еще и на неродном языке!

                      Но! Это потрясающе! Скажите, что в жизни заставило бы меня читать про стратегический сорсинг на английском? Или выучить названия химических элементов на английском? Или уметь описать полный цикл движения товара на английском? Или знать названия разных видов фундаментов на английском? Поверьте, продолжать можно очень долго... И этим я обязана своей профессии. Она дает мне возможность, силы, мотивацию на самосовершенствование, на освоение новых просторов знания и развитие внутреннего мира. Поэтому каждому из нас необходимо умственно трудиться, развиваться и становиться лучше. Особенно если вы - учитель...

Вот несколько из моих последних разработок, как раз направленных на освоение непростой профессиональной лексики:

Serving Techniques

What is Welding

Water (for students of Chemistry)