Blog Post #4 - Explanatory essay

The importance of setting in The Great Gatsby

 

Where the story takes place is a major part of the setting. The setting has a tremendous affect on what happens in the story. Furthermore, the setting can do more than affect plot events. It can also establish the atmosphere, or mood of a story. And The Great Gatsby is an example of such a book which uses the setting effectively. The Great Gatsby is set on Long Island, in two areas known as "West Egg" and "East Egg". These settings in The Great Gatsby are specifically very significant because each of these locations is used to convey information about characters as well as the society in which the story takes place.

 

 

The East egg is considered to be the aristocracy of the social classes and home to the characters Tom and Daisy. East Egg is the location where the rich people who have inherited family money from previous generations meaning each family has prestige and rich predecessors. This type of money can be “old money” as it is passed through the generations and given to the new generations without effort or work. This aristocratic society has indulged in their money and material views that they have become immoral and superficial. And also, the image of the East Egg society is created as people of inconsideration and selfishness. Furthermore, Tom, a man of great wealth, lives in on an East Egg estate with his wife, Daisy, with whom Gatsby had once been involved and hopes to win back. They have both come from families who have been wealthy for generations and are considered as the ‘old money’ of society. In the East egg, they spend their lives manipulating people to meet their desires and care little about the collateral damage they leave behind. In short, The East Egg is an optimal literary setting mirroring the Eastern American society and the life of careless aristocrats.

 

 

The West Egg, on the other hand, is considered as the ‘new money’ of the upper class society and where Gatsby, main character of the story, lives. West Egg is where the newly rich live, bought or built extravagant houses to show off their newly acquired wealth that they earned. This can be called “new money”. Although those who live in the West Egg are super wealthy, they don’t have the high social status that the East Eggers have inherited with their money. However, people living in the West Egg would be considered as honest and hardworking people and retained their values. Jay Gatsby, the main character in the novel, is a man of great wealth who lives in West Egg. Gatsby didn’t grow up with money like Daisy but he acquired it. He owns a mansion and dresses well, but he lacks the background of an old and well established family. He is uneducated. Therefore, he doesn’t quite know how to handle his money or how to operate in his elevated social sphere. Gatsby often looks out longingly over the bay toward Daisy's house in East Egg and aspires to live in there. In brief, nothing but the West Egg represents well the Middle West society and the life of newly rich people with honest and hard working.

 

 

In ‘The Great Gatsby’, the settings are extremely important to help readers understand the story better. This is because each of these locations corresponds to a particular type of character encountered throughout the story and reflects the specific society where the story is set in. East and West Egg are the residential neighborhoods of the rich. While they both represent wealth, they are not at all the same; in fact, they represent two different kinds of wealth: East Egg where Tom and Daisy reside represents old wealth, aristocracy, and high social class while West Egg where Gatsby reside represents the new wealth, the quick and easy money earned unlawfully during the 1920's. Those places may have both pros and cons individually. And if you have an opportunity to choose either of those places, then where do you want to be born and live?

Blog post #3 - Geotourism

Geotourism in Jeju island

 

Jeju Island, Korea’s largest island, has long been the country’s favorite domestic travel destination thanks to its beautiful beaches, lush countryside and seaside hotels designed for rest and relaxation. And it is also voted one of the 2011 New 7 Wonders of Nature. Therefore, it attracts large numbers of tourists all year. As a result, people who live in Jeju have mixed feelings of joy and worrying about the effects of increased geotourism. The possible effects of geotourism in Jeju island, having both positive and negative, include providing local residents with jobs to earn their living by local businesses and also damaging the natural environment in there by crowded tourists.

 

 

One possible effect of geotourism in Jeju in positive aspect is that it helps local people earn a living. It means that local people respond to the growing number of tourists by finding jobs as tour guides or starting small tourist-oriented businesses. Thus, they can increase their income and improve their standard of living. For example, local people can work as tour guides in Jeju. The island offers visitors a wide range of activities : hiking on Halla-san, viewing majestic waterfalls, riding horses, etc. Therefore, by working as tour guide in Jeju, local people can help tourists enjoy lots of those exciting things and prevent tourists from being in danger. And also, local people can open lodging facilities, including private inns and guesthouse. If more and more tourists stay in these facilities, then the local people owned them benefit and it also leads to chances to hire more local employees. Consequently, local businesses benefit from the increased tourism. In this way, geotourism has positive impact on Jeju island.

 

 

Another possible effect of geotourism in Jeju island in negative aspect is that it destroys the natural environment of the island. For example, in Mt Halla, the highest mountain in Korea which is located in Jeju, trekking tourists generate a great deal of waste. Tourists on expedition leave behind their belongings such as oxygen cylinders and even camping equipment. Such practices ruin the natural beauty of the island. And also, if too many people visit this area, they can damage to the natural environment because most of them are not very careful about the environment. They usually throw away garbage thoughtlessly and use a lot of water. And it leads to environmental pollution. Therefore, geotourism may be harmful to the environment in Jeju.

 

 

So in summary, I talked about the effects of geotourism in Jeju island. I agree that geotourism has positive effects in many ways. And it is absolutely certain that it has negative effects, too. Therefore, if geotourism is badly managed, then it can destroy a place. However, geotourism is that tourism can be a positive force that benefits both travelers and local environments and economies. Therefore, we need to reduce the negative effects of geotourism in Jeju by being more careful about the environment and by treating it as precious.

  

 



 



 



Blog post #2 - Summary

Summary of "Living on an Urban Planet" (pp. 51-53)

 

In 1800, most people lived in rural areas, but from the 20th centuries, the number of people living in cities has been increasing rapidly. As large urban areas began to grow and spread, many people thought that it causes some serious problems like bad environments, disease and crime.

 

However, recently, people like urban planners, economists, and environmentalists have positive views on these urbanization. Many planners believe big cities offer a solution to dealing with the problem of Earth’s growing population. And, one economist insists that living in the cities is more efficient in economic aspect because it reduces the cost of transporting goods, people, and ideas. Also, one environmentalist says moving people out of cities would be disastrous in ecological perspective. It is because people living in out of cities like suburbs and rural areas use more energy and produce more emissions.

 

Therefore, rapid growth of cities is an inevitable part of development rather than a real problem. And now, it is important to focus on how to manage rapid urbanization. And urban planners regard Seoul, South Korea as a nice example of successful urbanization. As for Seoul, a poor country can urbanize successfully and incredibly fast. Furthermore, it enabled economic growth, which paid for the buildings, roads, and other infrastructure that helped the city absorb even more people.

 

Urban planners expect dense and carefully planned cities are important solution for lifting people out of poverty without wrecking the planet. Therefore, urban planners around the world continue to struggle with the problem of how to manage urbanization.

 

In my opinion, I agree that cities bring largely positive benefits. However, the urbanization has had huge impact on Korea's family system. The rise of "apartment culture" has encouraged smaller families with one or two generations living in a household. Many people, particularly in urban areas, live single and lonely lives. The ageing population means a large proportion of the people will spend long but lonely lives without anyone to care for them. Korea already has one of the highest suicide rates among the elderly. In the past, family members used to take care of the elderly and sick. But with the decline of the family many elderly people must take care of themselves. Therefore, although urbanization offers lots of conveniences, I am personally sorry about the phenomenon.

Blog post #1 - Self Introduction

Eunji's Self Introduction

Hi, everyone! My name is Eunji Lee. I am 22 years old. I am senior in Sungshin Woman's University majoring in Political science. I live in Seoul ever since I was born. In the future, I want to get a job related to international trade. So I want to be good at using foreign languages fluently. That is why I choose English language and literature as my plural major. Also, nowadays I am learning Chinese, too. It is hard for me to memorize lots of chinese characters. But, it has many interesting things, too. Actually, this is my fourth time to enroll Kyle's class. I am very happy to take a class educated by Kyle professor again. Through this class, I am expecting to have fun and improve my english skill. I hope to get to know each other. Thank you^^