.....Hey, 57 - I was just wondering where you've been. Good to see you.

Would you be interested in posting your outline?

Greetings "57Chevy", You got my attention! That is one of my favorite movies that I watch often. Now maybe there are some contrast to Mr. Jay Gatsby and Don Draper. Here is my spin on it.
- Now Jay Gatsby was poor but very a ambitious young man. "High minded" as his father puts it. He too went in the military. He was deeply smitten by the spoiled socialite Daisy Buchanan. Which gave him motivation to become very wealthy, mysterious to most because he was so private. Unfortunately Daisy playing both sides of the tracks, married the rich jerk whom she had no love for but was a very suitable marriage, because he was rich. She knew her parents would have never received Jay because of his social status. So he reinvented himself becoming very, very wealthy and hoping to get Daisy back. He kept a very low profile. He had fabulous parties most of them he wouldn't attend peering from his royal study. Now Don, poor went into the military, stole another man's identity, aquired wealth, and is very much public with his reinvented personality. I must say Don is rather cockey with his, compaired to Jay.
Nevertheless Gatsby met his tragic doom due to his love for Daisy plus the hate of Daisy's husband.
So far Don has had some problems of his own. the serious car accident with Bobbie Barrett ( Just like Daisy and Jay) and a fainting spell with Joy fro m the "Jet Set". For some reason Don always has the ability to recover very well. His tragedy is in his mind. Running all those women and having no concious until he's confronted with the reality of going home or to work. Even that sometimes doesn't seem to phase him. Though I really do believe his role playing has a tremendous effect on him mentally. Jay on the other hand was cool as a cucumber, even on the hottest of days. Don is cool too but in an toubled kind of way, you can see almost see that something is bothering him most of the time. You're distracted because of what he looks like on the outside. Well did I do your paper for you or what. Now go get an A+! (smile)

I almost forgot something Betty, Don's wife. He was smitten by her too, but with Don Draper there is not too much that phases him at all. Not too many things hold his interest. Now with Jay Gatsby he had an obsession with Daisy to the point of reinventing the night they were together dancing in his military uniform and even telling her husband she was going to leave him to be with him (BOLD & CRAZY). Daisy and Betty are very much alike. They both have some one to assist with the children and are very much preoccupied with things in their mind and own personal place in life. They both have cheating husbands, that take care of some of the needs of their playmates. Most of all Betty and Daisy will go out and get whatever they want, when the mood hits them. I haven't read the book in ions so this is my spin from the movie. I think I'll go watch it again.

Good luck with your paper! You have picked fascinating subjects!

Oh by the way Jay Gatsby's story was he is a son of wealthy people in the midwest and that he inherited everything. His family died. He attend Oxford College in England a family tradition. This older friend of his stated that when he met him he was so poor he was still wearing his uniform so he took him home. Daisy remembered when he came home he was a Lt.. He told Nick, Daisy's cousin that he was a Captain and received a medal of valour. He owned Drug stores and oil. He really was a Big Time Gambler, Crook, Gangster and some more stuff. I hope this helps you and please tell us the results.

Dry Manhatten, I sure will. Let me tune it up some. My Professor emailed me about some corrections. ( could have waited till monday..)

Pink, it is so neat how people see things different. I feel Don Draper is more ambitious and willing to work for what he gets. Jay Gatsby was given a chance to work his way through college, but was disgusted and quit after two weeks.

My paper is called "Lies and Illusions".

What I found interesting is that both tales are set after a major war when times were good..but change was coming. The changes were so big one could feel it. Gatsby's time was WWI leading to the depression. Draper's time was WWII leading to the 60's uproars. The 60's are so complicated that I feel jsut saying the 60's gives enough meaning.
Both men were wary of loosing control. Gatsby did not like to drink, but Draper seems to be able to handle it. Both men had a name change. One on purpose, one for a purpose. Gatsby tried hard to fit in with a class he would never live to understand. Draper keeps getting a bit too far up for his comfort. He wants to live comfortable and still blend in. And he knows when to say nothing and is not showy. Compare him needing a car and not wanting to be showy to Gatsby's yellow car. I will post my outline as soon as I finish. Don't expect much, I am never going to be a writer. Being a good audience is what the good authors work for I suppose.
I was almost upset. I thought I had come up with a great topic. And now I am glad I went with it. I had to google something about Gatsby that I could not recall ( Oxford) and there were many people that compare Draper to Gatsby.
I am happy I am doing it my way. I feel that others make it seem Don Draper is a copy of Gatsby, I think Don Draper is better than Gatsby.

pinkpen, I sure thank you, I had forgotten about the rank in the military issues.

My paper is now called," Lies and Allusions"

I knew there was a good reason I am not an English major.

Also, my outline is on a 5th grade level. I am very embarrassed. At least she was honest. Wish me luck please.

I know I will never be published and am not trying to be unless it is for PhD purposes. I love to read, I live to read. I will read anything once. I will read some things over and over just out of love. I wonder why out of all those well edited well written works I have read that just a wee bit could not sink in enough for me to write a simple outline for a 5 page paper with no works cited.

Back to the grind.

Good Luck, 57 (my fellow Okie!) I'll be pullin' for you to get at least a B+!

I think you spell better than you realize. Some of it could be (and this is my problem, too) typing too fast...

Well, good luck! Be sure to let us know how things went.

Thank you SCfan. Sooner U. is harder this semester. I decided to put Gatsby and Draper on the back burner and just compare something I have done to a sport. It was quick, easy and I hope an A.

Dr. G. said she has to rent Mad Men now, my attempts made her very curious about the show. I hope she enjoys it. And when she saw Matthew Weiner's name, she said she loved Soporano's. I had to admit I had never watched it. She said I had to rent it because the non-HBO version would not give me a real feel for the show.

I really must thank her for working through the net this weekend. We had three days off because of ice and she did not want her classes to be behind. Pluds I have jury duty tomorrow and the net help was a gift.

Hey, 57, I did about four different term papers in college (good old Central State University in 1970's---University of Central Oklahoma now---UCO) all on Stonehenge... the same exact paper on every one---none of the profs ever knew and I got from B's to A- on them. Stonehenge sure came to my aid a lot in college. LOL

Yep, the reason I got my husband to watch MM with me to begin with (around the 3rd epi of Season 1) was I told him it was written by "the Sopranos guy" and he got hooked right away.

.....Hi 57.....For what it's worth, the skills you are talking about aren't congenital.

My take on it is that, like learning a new language, or reading music, learning to dance or do a sport, or learning a software application for the first time, so goes the paper writing, and academics in general. Not everyone has had the benefit of an Ivy League education.

Being new at something, and the accompanying growth, is not always a comfortable experience. Growth is painful!

I remember when you first posted here, and admired you for your academic endeavor, especially considering. Also, I'm not a critic, but I've always found your posts engaging, and I get bored easily, so that's something, right?

You are self-effacing, possibly to a fault, but the thing that stands out about you is that you think outside the box. You always have a thoughtful, and unique perspective on the ideas behind this show.

Now that you have us curious, keep us posted with the various iterations of this paper.

You have my support!

So right, Dry...it takes a lot of courage to return to college at a later age than is customary and even more courage to become a nurse...my most admired profession.

Nurses are truly gifts from God. Angels among us.

And that's the truth! : -)

....."Plhthtlthtlhtl....."

Thank you, Edith Ann....

Dry, you are sooooo funny!

Edith Ann and her giant rocking chair...so funny.

But..as for Lilly Tomlin... (see how easy it is to get me going on something?)...Ernestine the telephone operator was the best!

"One ringy dingy... Two ringy dingys...hello and a gracious good morning...have I reached the party to whom I am speaking???"
LOL

Good news! I sat down and just did the paper so I could do the outline afterwards! She loves it and the only correction was the lack of a period on one sentence! I will never pull that off again.

I compared choosing the perfect wall color to naming a child. The paper went back and forth on each topic and was in third person. her favorite part was was the last paragraph. Along the paper I had talked of colors with names like Eggplant, Artichoke, Café au Lait, Sierra Sand At Sunset and New England Snow. At the end I compared many of us with that child that was just an average Joe and called the colors purple, green, beige, rust, and white.

The Gatsby/Draper paper is on and when I make the outline less abstract I will let you all know and ask for advice. ( and hope I get some)

SCfan, with the internet an invention was made called turnitin.com. It can check for recycled papers and plagerism. The odd thing about writing is I love to try though I know I will never be apt. I wish I could tell a real author stories and let the author turn them or it into something that others could enjoy. I feel like it would be enough to have others enjoy it. Nothing in it for me except maybe a first edition that is signed. ;-) ( remember, only the BEST Miss Americas come from UCO)

Dry Manhatten, your compliment made my day. Thank you so very much. I have no words. Thank you.

I shall drive on and be proud.

I forgot to mention, I got to clep psychology and am doing a real research project. Not bad for a freshman that is not a psychology major. This will probably be the most exceptional thing I do in my life. And who knows, it could get published. But it sure will not be entertaining.

Hi 57Chevy,
Gatsby is my all-time favorite book. Here is a quote from it which could apply to both Jay Gatsby and Don Draper:

"The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end."

And for all of you, here are what might be the most beautiful words to end a novel: "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future which year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Good luck with your paper!