The Green Light

"Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her" pg 98. Although I don't know exactly what the green light symbolizes, it absolutely has something to do with Gatsby and Daisy's relationship. At the beginning of the book, Nick shares how Gatsby stood at the back of his house reaching out to the green light. Maybe the green light is a symbol for Daisy. It has a way of drawing people in from sea just like she has a way of drawing people towards her by her voice. Gatsby reaches out to the light like he's reaching out to her. He obviously is still in love with her; that is why he become embarrassed and doesn't know how to act around her. Ever since their reacquainting, they have pretty much picked up where they left off. As the quote states, the light seemed to be near her and now he didn't have to reach out to it since she was with him again.

Ambiguity

When I first read the title of the chapter called Night Life, I thought about actual night life, like parties and what they do for fun in the night. But as I read on, I got the real meaning of night life. Before this chapter, I kept wondering what happened to Rat Kiley and why O'Brien didn't tell us about his story. Then, I realized why. The author did a really good job of explaining the "night life" and why Kiley was taken to Japan. Because the troops had to travel during the night and sleep during the day, their whole schedules were thrown off. In addition to that, there was a blackness in the night, almost like death. Nobody could see. They were "a bunch of dumb Cub Scouts chasing the phantoms" (210).

Symbols

Up to where I am at in the book right now (pg 172), I have picked up on a few symbols that O'Brien uses, but two have really stuck out to me. Both occur in the chapter titled In the Field. To me, they are very similar and can be grouped together to mean the same thing. They are the monsoons and the rain. On page 155, the author states that "the monsoons seemed to be a lasting element of the war." The soldiers feel like the weather will never stop. They think that the monsoons will last forever. They are tired of the weather and just want to get out of it. Now substitute the word "war" for weather and monsoon. The soldiers feel like the war will never stop. They think that the war will last forever. They are tired of the war and just want to get out of it. Along with the monsoons is the rain. "The rain was the war and you had to fight it" (156). The soldiers were not only fighting the enemy, but also the rain, a two-front war. They are just tired of it all and seem like they want to go home.