"I, Too, Am America"

It takes a long time to hand-craft a table. The sheer amount of work that presses into one solid piece of wood, shaping it, contorting it, and expecting it to become a set four-legged product of life is unimaginably colossal. This process, however diversified, is a product of society. Society shapes, twists, smooths, and forces a table into a set design. The trivialized kitchen table is unadorned. Its ebony surface reflects the ideals of those who sit around it and dictate. The reflective surface, slightly marred by scars and imprints, throws distorted images across its exterior. Yet, this lovingly polished table reflects not only one color, but many, ranging from the blase white to a rich mahogany. "I, Too" believes in a unity that such a table can only give. The table top is for sharing experiences, life-changing moments, moreover, equality that is everlasting. Everyone has to eat at a table. This seemingly prosaic moment is a monumental experience everyone goes through. The verisimilitude fostered by this eloquent poem is brought together through this extended metaphor between the united kitchen table and the United States of America. This table's surface is scratched by the similar experiences like segregation and marginalization that all the population has at one time been through. Langston Hughes effectively displays his theme of equality in unity at the ordinary kitchen table of America.

The Nation as a Whole

Jay Gatsby and the American hero, Benjamin Franklin, despite seemingly different, have a lot in common. Both are self-made men - invented literally out of thin air. On top of this both seem to be magicians- the kind that are cons. Benjamin Franklin with his many personas - Silence Dogood and Anthony Afterwit- seems to be the very drawing board for Jay "Gatz" Gatsby. The only difference is that Gatsby had a more dark side, whereas Franklin wanted to better society.
These parallels that are drawn between the two men serve, only to show how the American dream has lasted beyond the 1700s and well into the 1920s. Fitzgerald drew from Franklin to show how the "American Dream" has become and ingrained part of society. It is always lurking about. Over the course of the novel, Gatsby, like Franklin, comes to represent the nation. Gatsby represents the promising idea that one can  successfully reinvent oneself. Although Fitzgerald writes about this optimism, he definitely does not share it. Unlike Franklin's embodiment of the self made man, Gatsby's ultimate death marks the boundaries of the corruptness of the American dream.
The Great Gatsby, seems to epitomize the "American Dream", while yet displaying its hideous corruptness. Gatsby carries all the fraudulent connotations of this 1920 American Dream which Fitzgerald has seen fit to compare to Franklin's position as the epitome of this ideal dream. Gatsby and Franklin together form the nation - both ideal and opulent to corrupt and decayed on the inside.

Inspiration

Words form from thoughts. Thoughts form from experience. Experiences form from events. Events happen every day of our lives. These events we record. In history. In diaries. In memories. In pictures. We even write these snapshots of life into our books. Pictures of life inspire us.
F. Scott Fitzgerald saw a vision in a piece of art. The cover art for his book The Great Gatsby, was actually written into the book itself. He uses the image to relay themes of the life he portrayed in the novel. It spoke about hope, immorality, moral decay, social issues, warnings, and mystery.

We picked apart this art and stripped it open to the naked eye. We appreciated it for what it told about the human condition. 

Recently, art is becoming less appreciated. If we see a scenic shot, we snap a picture and save it away. Every day people try to be inspiring with phrases and words these inspirational pictures - using parts to note details that might seem important. Yet people are abusing this. They believe slapping anything uplifting on a scene is correct. It's not. 

Art is worth a thousand intelligent words. Copying and pasting a quote on a picture reveals nothing about the picture or anything deeper about the words. Words and pictures have to connect. 

This is my favorite image. The words have meaning. Be yourself. Don't be anything society wants you to be. It gives you two choices - each for you to interpret on your own. For example, I believed bold meant outspoken, not the norm courageous. Italic meant malleable, easily influenced yet strong in position. It meant authoritative. This image told me to not be normal and interpret it with a normal eye. Be myself.  

The world is always outspoken. We just really need to think before we write, create, or even start to form an idea about humanity.