Millie's Online Journal

Benjamin Button was born as a baby but with the body of an elderly person. He had severe arthritis and dementia. Queenie, a women at the old persons home raised him. Throughout his life he slowly becomes more youthful. He falls in love with a women called Daisy but they couldn’t be together because he was aging backwards.

Benjamin lost his mother at birth and his father dropped him on the door step of an old persons home. This shaped him into a quiet and gentle person. His youth made him a fragile person as he grew up. He knew what it was like to be abandoned so was always very caring and loving toward people. As he aged backwards he was very intelligent and wise.

Daisy is a very determined person. She had a professional career in dancing and worked extremely hard to pursue her dreams. One day she was in a car crash and broke many bones, ruining her dancing career. As she knew she could not go back to dancing professionally she decided to start a dance school so she could teach little children ballet. This shows her strength and determination to still do what she loves. Like Benjamin she is very loving. When she was in her 70s or 80s and Benjamin was now growing into a small child she moved into the retirement home to care for him. She was at the age where she was getting tired and wanting to relax but she still cared about him.

This film deals with the concept that time is inevitable. This means it is certain to happen or unavoidable. Our time is going to run out at some point and that we are all on a path that leads us to an end. In the film, there is a large clock in the train station that is rewired to run backwards. This represents Benjamin’s life. The day it was installed he was born. Born a baby with the body of an 80-year-old. From then on he aged backwards becoming more and more youthful and energetic each day. As the clock slows and gradually stops working benjamin grows younger and younger into a small child. The day the clock stopped is when Benjamin took his last breath. This shows that we all have a set date that our life will end and our clock will stop working.

The curious case of Benjamin Button has many similarities to The Great Gatsby. They both has a concept interwind of time will run out and we can’t control when our life will end. In the Great Gatsby, he tries to repeat the past and rewind time. But in the end this does not work for him and time eventually catches up with him. In this movie, there is a clock that controls Benjamins life and when it ends. This all shows that time can not be changed and our lives will always end when our time runs out.

A choir of birds sing so loud the whole camp can hear their tunes. Trees gently dance to their harmonies and beneath them, roses gradually wake from their deep winter sleep. Sun floods in and lights up the white walls like a stage-ready to perform. In the distance, a powerful sea rumbles like a hungry lion waiting for dinner. In the garden, each blade of grass basks in the morning rays and slowly remove layers of frost as the temperature rises. Bees and bugs leap from flower to flower and the smell of pollen leaks into the air. Above them, big branches support a treehouse fit for kings that watches over the field below. Beneath is a swing, that grows older each day looking more and more exhausted and heading into retirement. Out the front is a gate that guards unwanted guests. Branches and vines hug the wooden gate in a lacey pattern. Beside that is a garage full of engine-powered toys and odds and bobs. One car, two couches, three fridges for some reason I am still yet to learn and four motorbikes. A path of circular concrete steps painted all shades leads you back to the house.

The essence of lunch cooking can be smelt from the park down the road. Spaghetti toasties will always bring kids running. Inside, there are two rocking chairs that are older than Noahs Ark. A room full of tall and well-stocked cupboards is where all the hungry kids wait to be fed. Games, puzzles and books are crammed into a cabinet taller than me, kept safe for rainy days. Crisp white walls lead you through a maze and into the bedrooms where two bunks wait for the sun to fall. Beneath the carpet is worn, yet full of fantasy and memories. A ruby rose rug warms the ground underneath the beds. Sounds of the dishwasher buzz, the dryer whizz and the milkshake maker drown the racket of other children outside. On the kitchen bench, fresh flowers stand confidently in their vase. Slowly the petals age and fall to the tabletop.

Water drips from the ceiling like teardrops streaming from a child’s face. The house has been left alone with a leak for years waiting for a return. Leaves cover the ground like a warm winter blanket. Above them, trees encase the house creating a cave of branches. The garden looks more like a forest that needs to go to the hairdresser and the once clean and tidy treehouse is now camouflaged by the jungle surrounding it. The gate is now fully clothed in vines and the wood is no longer visible. The worn tire swing that was attached to an old branch is dead and broken. An arm of the tree has fallen to its grave and taken the old swing with it. Moss has made itself at home near the base of the tree and the deceased swing. It coats the tire and has also made its way to the slippery verandah. A green skating rink is now where the sun once glistened on the wooden deck.

Damp is the world the describes the feeling of inside the house. Rooms are crisp like refrigerators on the cold mornings. Dust now coats the once immaculate house. Water trickles from the swimming pool in the laundry cupboard. Shampoo, conditioner and other beauty products swim in the unwanted pool. Mould coats the casing of each product. A musty and damp aroma fills the room. Soggy walls line the south side of the house. For the past two years, the house has been miserable but not completely alone. Mice have made themselves at home in the soft pillowy towels. Evidence still remains of their being. The cupboard full of now ancient and unused board games is also thick in dust waiting again to be used. Stored in frames on the wall are small images of times long ago that will never be forgotten. A place kept for the next generation to come.

• start each sentence with a new letter and do not repeat –

Amelia kicked the ball into Roses face. She fell off her chair.

• describe the school on a hot summer day at lunchtime

As the bell went for lunchtime the quad started to fill with people. Beneath trees groups of kids chatter and laugh about their day. Birds sing and dance in the trees. Pink blossom flowers fall, landing on the bright green grass where the students are sitting.

but they can’t be heard over Amelia’s voice. Running across the quad, she jumps and leaps towards

rewrite the following sentence as show rather than tell……. The old house had been empty for years.

The paint was falling from the walls and a musty smell filled the room. Inside the fridge was evidence that no one had been here for many years. The closet contained clothes that could have come from a time capsule. The garden had transformed into an overgrown forest.

Morning Routine

• alarm
• pack bags
• make bed
• open curtains
• eat a banana
• clean teeth
• drive to swimming
• swim
• have shower
• get dressed
• have breakfast

present

My alarm goes off and I get up. I pack my bags and make my bed. I open my curtains and walk downstairs. I eat a banana and then brush my teeth. Mum drives me to swimming. I meet Rose and we swim.

past

Yesterday my alarm went off and I got up. I packed my bags and made my bed. I opened my curtains and walked downstairs. I ate a banana and then brushed my teeth. Mum drove me to swimming. I met Rose and we swam for an hour.

future

Tomorrow my alarm will go off and I will get up. I will pack my bags and make my bed. I will open my curtains and walk downstairs. I will eat a banana and then brush my teeth. Mum will drive me to swimming and I will meet Rose.

• Cantankerous – cranky
• Pong – stink
• Sacrosanct – blessed
• Diffident – timid
• Austere – formal
• Malevolent – murderous
• Voracious – ready
• Eradicate – erase
• Ardour – passion
• Ruminate – brainstorm

SCHOOL GROUNDS

• learning
• teachers
• work
• classrooms
• basketball hoops
• kids
• lunchtime
• books
• friends
• whiteboard
• pencils
• pens
• computers
• field

The tables and chairs sat waiting for us to take a set. The sound of keyboards moving fast could be heard. After an hour of boredom, the bell rang and people flooded out of the room. 20 minutes break was allowed before our brains had to focus again. Once that was up it was back to hands writing quickly. Most were watching out the window as children ran around on the green grass. The trees stood

Prepositions are the words that indicate the relationship between two things

Beyond the giant, the sun is setting. Above his nose is a winding forest of curly hair. At his crown is a large pine tree that watches over the rest. Beneath, the roots are winding into his ears. Past the ears, his nose stretches towards the platform. Within it, people are running from the nosey giant.

• The room was a mess
• The floor was camouflaged with clothes and the smell of Amelia’s stinky socks filled the room. A cyclone had hit the closet.

• The food was good
• Steam rose higher than the empire building and the smell of hot food filled my nose.

• The teacher was mad
• Her eyes stared through her glasses and into

Literal Language

My bed is a single bed that sits against the wall. It has a white duvet with two white pillows and one pink one. To the left of my bed there is a white bedside table which has a light, some flowers and a book on it. Above that is a panting of a blue flower. The wall that my bed sits on has a hanging photo frame with lots of photos in it. Underneath that is a grey beam bag.

Figurative Language

Sunlight dances through tall glass windows, bouncing off the crisp white walls and the duvet on the bed. As you walk in the aroma of sweet fruit fills your nose. Faint noises can be heard from the construction workers outside. The bed lays still waiting for the sun to go down. If you look close enough, there is evidence that the cats have been sleeping on my bed. A circle stands against the wall holding my photos.

• bed, windows, painting
• windows straight ahead
• bed to the left
• painting to the left corner
• white , pink, blue
• peaceful, calming,
• rectangles, circles
• cat fur from my lazy cat sleeping
• guava and lychee – candle – sweet
• smooth, soft, fluffy,
• construction workers – new subdivision

The Golden girl……….

In the novel, Daisy Buchanan is considered the gold girl or the centre of attention. She is well above the rest. Daisy is wealthy and she lives the American Dream. Gatsby believes she is the most perfect girl he could ever ask for or the ‘golden girl’. The quote “Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor” lets us understand that this life of Daisy’s is golden and far from a struggle. Her wealth has built her up above the poor. This quote explores the differences between social classes. Daisy lives in a world where everything is done for her as she is wealthy and privilege. The hot struggles referees to the poor – valley of ashes, who do not live the golden girl life. They live in poverty and constantly struggle their way through life wishing they could be in the high class like the golden girl.

Explain how Daisy could be considered clever. Use at least one quote from the text to support your answer

Daisy Buchanan is a very intelligent woman. She has been very well educated and she understood the way women where considered more of an object than a person during this era. She knew that the best thing she could do in that time period was to basically play dumb. They only way a woman could have any sort of status is if she had a man by her side and was wealthy and pretty. This is exactly what Daisy has done. Playing the dumb blonde that people assume has no idea what is going on. Even though Daisy fully understood that her gender was a lower class she was never outspoken because that would be socially unacceptable for women then. She wished for her daughter to lead the same life she did, being a foul was the best thing for her. We know this because of this quote “the best thing a girl can be in this world is a fool.”

The notes above talk about how Gatsby views Daisy as a possession to be collected. Explain this further. Find a quote from the text to support your answer and explain how the quote supports your ideas.

Gatsby has spent the last five years of his life trying tirelessly to win Daisy back. They were once together but then Gatsby had to leave Daisy married Tom. Ever since then it has been Gatsby’s soul purpose to get her back. I think that he has spent his life wanting to be with Daisy that it isn’t even about her anymore. He just remembers what it was like 5 years ago and he wants to repeat the past. It also could link to the way women were treated in the 1920’s because maybe he saw her as like an object that is missing in his life. He needed a woman by his side to live his extraordinary life.

Describe what life was like in the 1920s for women. After you have done so, explain why you think Daisy wants her daughter to be a ‘fool’ in this world.

The 1920’s was a very different time period. Women were considered to be more of an object than a person. They were in a lower social class than men and speaking up about their opinions was not acceptable. It was also expected of them that they get married have kids and then be a house wife. One of the good things that happened in the 1920s was their right to vote and have their say in politics was now granted. Daisy wished for her daughter to be a fool. This is because Daisy understands the time period they are in and that women were not as socially accepted as men. This is sad for a woman to realise and if they try and do something about it their life will be even worst. Just like Daisy pretends to be dumb and never speaks her opinion she wants her daughter to live a happy life and never realise what kind of horrible world they live in.

Towards the end of the novel, Nick says that Daisy and Tom were “careless people…they smashed up things and creatures, and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…”. Explain what Daisy ‘smashes up’ (figuratively speaking) in this story.

They are extremely wealthy people and their life is a never ending cycle of causing problems and expecting others to clean it up or fix their mess. Their wealth keeps them together because if they didn’t have money they would be nothing. Daisy is very classy and thinks she is above everyone. Throughout the book, she destroys things and hurts people carelessly. For example, she leads Gatsby on saying she loved him and then just gets up and leaves with Tom. She doesn’t even feel sorry for them. Daisy didn’t even care to come to his funeral.

Explain how Daisy could be considered ‘amoral’. Use at least two quotes from the text to support your answer.

Like said above Daisy is a careless person that damages peoples lives. She is very deceiving. This is because she lives the life of the American Dream and is seen as the ‘golden girl’ or that she is perfect when really underneath all of that cover she is a corrupt person. Daisy may know what is right and wrong in her life but yet she decides to ignore it. She had a affair with her husband, killed someone and didn’t even stop her car and lead Gatsby on that they were going to have a life together but then decided to just leave with Tom. Her wealth and class seem to cover up for the horrible things she did. This quote “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except for me” shows us that Daisy cares more about money than they person she actually loves which shows amorality.

Question 1

Provide a background description of Nick Carraway. Use the ‘w’ questions to help you cover the main points (who, what, where, when) and think about what information someone might need to be able to understand his role in the story. 

Nick Carraway is the narrator of the Great Gatsby. He comes from Minnesota and went to Yale. After that, he fought in World War One and then he arrived in New York to be a . We understand that Nick came from a wealthy family and he was a salesman who was soon due to get married but gave that all up and moved to West Egg. The place for the Newly Rich. He came to study business. On his arrival, he often kept the reason he moved quiet. He told people that he was just bored with sales. This is where we first see the dishonest side of his character.

Quotations

I am inclined to reserve all judgements, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and made me the victim of not a few veteran bores.”- Chapter One

This quote shows us that Nick does not judge other people and they openly tell him secrets because he won’t judge them. From this, we understand he is unbiased meaning he is a good narrator and we should be reading exactly what happened without his opinion changing the story. He claims that because he doesn’t judge people he has been able to talk and meet many people who tell him their secrets. Even though at the start of the book he has said he doesn’t judge people, we have seen throughout the story that in fact he does judge people and adds his own opinion.

“When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. “ – Chapter One

The Great Gatsby is written as a recount so when Nick is writing the book he is already back in the midwest. This quote talks about him wanting the world to be back in uniform, this means he wants his life back to normal and it is the opposite of West and East Egg. No more crazy parties or unusual events that happened on the daily that summer. He also mentions he wants no more excursions with the privileged this informs us that he did not enjoy the wild events that he was involved in with the overly rich people he met.

…wedging his tense arm imperatively under mine, Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square.”- Chapter One

In this quote Nick is compared to a chess piece in a way that he is just moved around the bored and the characters in the book use him. He is used to bring Daisy and Gatsby together and many other things.

I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” – Chapter Two

Nick is within because he knows them and he is dragged into their life but really it doesn’t suit him. He is not like them and doesn’t belong. He seems to watch from the outside as their life plays out. When it says enchanted and repelled this means he is interested in their crazy lifestyle but he also thinks it is disgusting and doesn’t approve. This shows us that he is an observer and intensely watches everything.

“Most of the time I worked…I knew the other clerks and young bond salesmen by their first names…I even had a short affair with a girl who lived in Jersey City and worked in the accounting department, but her brother began throwing mean looks in my direction…” – Chapter Three

Nick cares about other peoples opinions and he likes to be on peoples good sides. We know this because he stopped having an affair because her brother shot him a bad look. He cares about his colleagues and his career. He could be a little short of money and works very hard to earn that.

I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”– Chapter Three

This shows the cocky side of his character. He is basically saying that everyone else around him lies. He really thinks of himself as an amazing person. But we see throughout the book that he doesn’t exactly lie but he keeps vital secrets like Toms affair and Daisy and Gatsby being together.

“They’re a rotten crowd…You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together!’ I’ve always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him because I disapproved of him from beginning to end.”- Chapter Eight

This quote goes against Nicks claim about not being a judgmental person. He thinks everyone is bad apart from Gatsby but really he is almost as rotten as the rest. His whole life has been about Daisy and he would break the law for it. So how can he be above them? Nick often says he will do one thing and then he will go ahead and do another.

“I shook hands with him. It seemed silly not to for I felt suddenly as though I was talking to a child.”- Chapter Nine

Nick prefers the easy way out. Instead of shaking his hand Nick doesn’t really like conflict so he chooses to shake Toms hand instead of bringing up the real issue. He also doesn’t think Tom be will be able to deal with the situation because he is compared to a child and may not understand the situation and would over react.

I sat there brooding on the old unknown world…” –Chapter Nine

Nick seems to be a very thoughtful character and takes the time to really think about things.

Discus how Nicks character changes throughout the book

Nick went into the book saying he was not a judgemental person as this quote shows “I am inclined to reserve all judgements, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and made me the victim of not a few veteran bores.” and then the events in the novel change him as a person and he decides he has had enough of the crazy drama that summer. This quote supports that change “When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. “