Success

What it means to have success in America can be viewed differently according to time periods and the person who you are asking. However, success in America during the time of The Great Gatsby is defined by a rather simple format that you must fit into. To be successful, you must be of the white race and have a lot of money in order to prove your worth. Race has a large factor in determining what success means as their is only a single scene showing a successful black man who is described as "a pale well-dressed negro" compared to the numerous white, wealthy people shown throughout the rest of the novel. Also, although this "negro" is described as successful, he is also said to be "pale" which connotes that he is of light skin, which, like in The Bluest Eye, is viewed as higher in society than typical blacks. This scene illustrates that to be successful in America you must be of the white race, or at least resemble it like the pale black man. Everyone in The Great Gatsby that is viewed as successful are also very wealthy. Just like Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan are viewed as successful because of their wealth; despite it being old or new, compared to the people like wilson living in the valley of ashes who are described as lifeless because of their lack of wealth.

Appearance

"He smiled understandingly--much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life... I was looking at an elegant young roughneck" (Fitzgerald, 48).

The first description of Jay Gatsby that you're given in the book is a vivid description of simply his prowess. Fitzgerald seems to use a large paragraph to describe the appearance that Gatsby holds. In The Great Gatsby, appearance is a feature that holds a lot of relevance. If you didn't have this beauty, you were not fit for the upper hierarchy that the people of the east and west egg were made of. Fitzgerald uses his diction to show the importance of beauty in the 1920's as he describes Gatsby as having "one of those rare smiles... that you may come across four or five times in life". Even though some may be described with a very bland personality, like Wilson who is "a blond, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome", they will always hold some beauty, which is all you need to be successful in the world. Also, Fitzgerald shows the prevalence of beauty in women's standards during this time by saying that they must only be "a beautiful little fool" to be of some value to society. This quote exemplifies the oppression that women faced during the 1920's as they were only worth what their beauty made of them.

Modernization

The English language has been changing since the time it was created. From the era of shakespeare to our present day twitter obsessions, our english language has changed and our punctuation rules should change to reflect this societal progression. Punctuation is very important to the construction and understanding of our sentences and speech. A single comma can change the entirety of a sentence. The sentence "We invited the strippers, JFK, and Stalin" could have a completely different meaning due to a single oxford comma "We invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin".

As Henry Hitchings said in his article Punctuation, Social Media, and Evolving Rules of Communication, the modernization of punctuation in today is not a bad thing, "the reality is that language evolves in conduction with culture". Twitter has many characteristics that make it not only unique but beneficial to the modern day writer. The 140 word count helps people move away from being wordy because as Henry Hitchings says "why would you waste any of your precious characters on 'very' or 'really' when you could say something more substantial?". This is in fact a great tip to live by as you're are writing, because I myself have been told the same thing numerous times in English class. Also, contrary to popular belief, Twitter is not used solely by unintelligent people. People like the famous poet Andre Gibson use twitter to convey their ideas to a large population in a very quick fashion, which allows for immediate feed back. Punctuation is changing due to the growth of our society, which like the english language, is always subject to change. 

Colors of the Rainbow

"That streak of green from the june-bug light, the purple from the berries trickling along my thighs, Mama's lemonade yellow runs sweet in me... Only thing I miss sometimes is that rainbow. But like I say, I don't recollect it much anymore" (Morrison, 131). In numerous ways, this quote is remarkably sad but also strikingly beautiful. This quote marks the loss of innocence that Pauline has experienced throughout her life; the extravagant colors of life lost in the treacherous reality of life. This simple quote represents all the hurdles that Pauline has had to overcome, like her husband and unforgiving society, which have dulled out the colors in her life. The part of this quote which I find touching is when Pauline says "Only thing I miss sometimes is that rainbow". When she says she is missing the rainbow, she is referring to her childhood she missed out on just like "She missed--without knowing what she missed--paints and crayons" (111). However, when she says she missed the rainbow, she has finally realized what she missed by being so lonesome and obsessed with numbers, the paints and crayons; or in reality, the colors of life which she has long last felt. I myself can relate to this. Just today I was reminiscing on my childhood and how if I could, I would return to those carefree and colorful days. However, similarly to Pauline, I cannot recollect it much anymore due to the realities of today

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Ugliness

"Head full of pretty hair, but Lord she was ugly". This single line made me wonder if a mother could truly look at her own child and call it ugly. Something that she created. People always say "No one will love you like your mother does", but in many instances in this book like Geraldine with her child and Pauline with hers, this statement is false. After reading this line I wondered if Pauline actually thought her own daughter was ugly or was simply following the white beauty standards. Although many people believe otherwise, appearance is a rather important asset in our society today, however sad this is to say. People will always tell you that appearance doesn't matter, but in reality of our society it does. One quote which I believe holds a lot of relevance is that "appearance draws you in but personality makes you stay" because it is simply true. In The Bluest Eye, the motif of beauty and appearance is traced through the lives of the blacks who wish for Caucasian features in order to be "beautiful". In the story of how Pauline and Cholly meet, he is drawn to her due to her appearance but because of her personality they fall in love. However, beauty is not something that can be obtained, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder.